Employee ID field

[Lee Peterson]

While adding an new vanpool rider today I was prompted for their "Employee ID".  It's a field I've never seen before.  It's also a required field so I can't proceed until I input something.

I'm wondering if this is a new field or if it is a conditional field that only comes up with certain networks, worksites or employers.  If I need to ask my vanpool customer for their employee ID I'll need to know who will be using this information and what they'll be using it for.

Thanks,

Lee

 

[Christopher Aiken]

Smart question Lee. I'll tell you what I know so you're not hanging out there, but you'll probably want to confirm with an active RSO'er. This field I believe is intended for commute subsidy fufilment outside of RSO, usually linked to a payroll process. Before this Employee ID field existed, it was really hard to link an RSO profile with an employee ID# outside of RSO. If your vanpooler/employee's employer is not using RSO for commute subsidy fufilment, then I can see how you might hesitate to enter something there. I don't think anyone other than the employees employer would be using/accessing that info for anything. I would say it is probably safe to enter the empoyees employee ID # and assume that down the road, should the employer ever get on board they would make the same decision and be grateful for your handy foresight.

[Lee Peterson]

Thanks for the reply Christopher.

In this case, I created her RSO account only because she will be the contact for a vanpool group.  She will not be using RSO to log trips or to receive subsidy, at least she won't be required to, she may decide to start doing it on her own.  If I had her employee ID I could have entered it here and moved on, but that's not information we ask of our vanpool customers.  I understand why employee ID is a useful field, I don't think it should be a required field, at least not when the account is accessed by proxy from an administrator.  I say, if this person needs to use RSO to receive subsidy they can enter their own Employee ID in accordance to the requirements of their employer.

I was able to get around it by just closing the window and going back into the profile.  Now when I proxy in and look at her networks I see an option to "Change Employee ID".  (screen shot below)  The system must have assigned a zero or a placeholder in that field for her.  I was then able to make her primary driver for her vanpool, completing my task.  If she needs to enter her employee ID in the future I'll direct her to this page so she can put it in herself.  

So what I've learned is that Employee ID is required to complete that page but it's not required to complete the process of registering a new user.  You can simply cancel the registration on the Employee ID page, then go back in to the account and you won't be asked for it again.

[Amol B]

The EmployeeID in this case is has been set up as the custom attribute for the employer network. I've inserted the portion of the screen where the custom attribute is set up (employer and university networks have this capability). Configuring the custom attribute is optional - if it is configured, then it appears in the post registration screen and the profile screen. The employer could set it up as a required field or keep it optional. For instance, keeping it required will mean most employees coming in to the system will set it up.  Where it isn't filled out, admins can proxy in and fill out the EmployeeID on behalf of the user to set up all their employee records with the field. As Christopher pointed out, the custom attribute is useful for scenarios such as processing subsidies where the admin processing subsidies may find it useful to cross link records in the HR database using the ID.