One of the most important aspects of an officer's record is their service time. It's critical for an officer's adjusted service date and length of service to be accurate. Service time impacts a variety of allowance data and other service markers. OMS users manage service time by applying credits or frozen time to records.
Service Credits
Users will leverage service credits to manage the adjusted service date to account for gaps in service.
Frozen Time
Users can turn on frozen time to manage the length of service for active records.
Step-by-step guide
The following examples demonstrate how users can manage a record's service time.
Service Credits
Credits allow users to change the adjusted service date in OMS which helps address historical gaps in service. The adjusted service date is what OMS uses to calculate the length of service (not the commissioning date). There are many occasions in which a user would need to change the calculated length of service by adding a service credit to a record. One of the most common credits would be "broken service". For more information on how to add service credits or debits review this related article.
Length of Service = Today's Date - Adjusted Service Date - Service Credits
Example: Officer John Smith had a period of time where he was out for personal reasons. A user will need to add a "broken service" credit so his adjusted service date reflects his actual time served.
Credits have a service credit multiplier applied to the amount of time entered. These multipliers help OMS understand whether to add or deduct time. The can be managed under Settings>Service Credits.
Frozen Time
Frozen time will stop the length of service from continuing to accrue time by putting an "artificial" end date on the officer's service. It does not change the commissioning or adjusted service dates. It only places a date cap on the length of service. It can be removed at any time and the difference can be saved as a service credit.
Length of Service = Frozen Date - Adjusted Service Date - Service Credits
Example: Envoy Marie Smith resigned from officership but has returned as an active envoy. A user will need to freeze her time at her resignation so that her service does not increase during her envoy time served. If she is reaccepted as an officer, her frozen time can be removed. When this happens the user can choose to apply the time as a service penalty (for the time as an envoy) and the length of service will begin accruing again.
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