What is an MA272? What should I do when I receive one in the mail?

An MA272 is a report listing, by process level, all Budgeted and Authorized positions as well as the employees assigned to those positions. When you receive an MA272 report in the mail each month you should review the report and, if you are a school, compare it to your grid sheet. Review both your Budgeted and Authorized positions, as well as the employees assigned to those positions, for accuracy. Contact your staffing specialist if you have any questions about employee assignments, and your budget specialist if you have questions about your budgeted or authorized FTEs. (Full time Equivalent: Denotes the number of hours worked weekly divided by 40. For example, and employee who works 35 hours is a .75 FTE)
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What is a Process Level?

A Process Level is a five digit number which identifies the School or Office location in the Human Resources Information System (HRIS). The first two digits of the process level indicate the organizational level and the last three are the location or school number. The process level is listed on your MA272 in the upper left corner.

Schools begin with a "0" 01=Special schools 02=Elementary Schools 03=Middle Schools 04=High Schools

Central office process levels begin with a 1-4

How do I read the MA272?

You can find definitions for the fields that appear on the MA272 report on the
Field Definitions List (93K PDF).
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What is the difference between a budgeted position and an authorized position?

For all positions contained in the operating budget, a Budgeted FTE exists in HRIS. In most instances, a position is Authorized as Budgeted, and there is no difference between the two.

For positions that are not in the operating budget but are authorized through another source (such as a nonbudgeted grant or the capital budget,) the Budgeted FTE is blank, and only an Authorized FTE is shown.

If a school or office "trades" one budgeted position for another on a temporary basis, an adjustment is made to the Authorized FTE field (not the Budgeted FTE field) reflecting the respective increase and decrease.

A school or office is permitted to staff to the Authorized FTE.
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What is a negative variance? What does it mean?

A negative variance appears on an MA272 with a "–" (negative symbol) after the number in the Emp FTE column (e.g. 1.0– indicates a 1.0 negative variance). A negative variance indicates that there are more employees assigned to a position than are authorized. It sometimes means that one or more or the employees are in the incorrect position (particularly when there is another position with the same job code that shows a positive variance).

If your MA272 report shows a negative variance, you must contact your staffing specialist to resolve the issue.
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If I have a positive variance, does that mean I have a vacancy?

It might. If you have no negative variances and all of your employees are reflected on your MA272 report, then you might have a vacant position. However, if you have any long term substitutes, a positive variance on a position may be misleading since it may be "filled" with a long term substitute.

Long term substitutes appear at the end of your MA272 report. If you are not sure how to interpret your variances, please contact your staffing specialist to discuss your specific situation.
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Is the information on the MA272 current?

The date on which the MA272 was run is listed in the upper left corner above the process level. It contains information that has been processed in HRIS through the date identified as "Current Resources: Budget as of MM/DD/YY."

Frequently, the reports that are distributed will display information as of that month's end. In the spring, reports are distributed with the upcoming fiscal year budget FTEs to assist schools and offices in preparing their staffing plans for the future year. If you are not sure what time frame the report is covering please refer to the "Run" and "As Of" dates.
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Who do I contact if I think that there is an error on my MA272?

If you believe that there is an error with either your Budgeted or Authorized FTE then you should contact your budget specialist. If you believe that there is an error in the employee information that is appearing you should contact your staffing specialist.

For example, if you have an employee who has (or will be) retired, and they are showing up on your MA272 without a notation in the "Actions" column, that indicates that their paperwork has not yet been processed by the Office of Human Resources (OHR) and the Employee and Retiree Service Center (ERSC). If you believe that the necessary paperwork has been submitted you should contact your staffing specialist to determine why the action has not been reflected.
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Who is my staffing specialist?