I got an email from my CDO on how to decypher the “TIC/TIS scorecard” that’s part of your employee profile. Supposedly, you’re able to figure out where you ended up on the promotion list, though you’ll need the total numbers of promotions to the next grade (available from State Magazine or AFSA, though later than the scorecard, usually). Access your employee profile through HR Online and use the key below. The CDO’s email said to expect the data up on the 13th. It’s not there yet for 2009, but you can check out past years’ data. Note: it’s only for promotions where you competed, which means that JOs won’t have any meaningful data until after tenure.

HR’s Office of Performance Evaluation (HR/PE) plans to release scorecards from the 2009 promotion cycle on January 13.  Following is some information to help you access, understand, and interpret your scorecard.

What is a “Scorecard”?

Your scorecard is an electronic document that shows the selection board rankings of Foreign Service employees reviewed for promotion in a given year. They are usually updated in late November or December to reflect promotion board deliberations finalized the previous October.  Scorecards also show employees’ tenure record, any period of leave without pay or separation from the Service, time in class (TIC) and time in service (TIS) expiration dates, and language scores. 

Where Can You Access Your Scorecard?

Logon to HROnline, click on “Employee Profile.”  In the upper right-hand of the screen you’ll see a tab for “View TIC/TIS and Scorecard Data.”  Click on that.

How to Read Your Scorecard

Your scorecard is displayed in the form of a grid. The first column is year.  The second column is no longer in use.  The third column is labeled “Class;” it shows how you were ranked in class-wide competition.  The “F BRD” column next to it shows rankings for people who competed for promotion functionally (i.e., with others in the same cone).  The fifth and seventh columns are no longer in use.  The sixth column, “CW Prelim,” depicts the results of preliminary class-wide screening (for FS-02s).

  • Class-wide selection boards meet before the functional skill code boards. If you are promoted class-wide, your file is not/not reviewed by the functional board.

In the “Class,” “F BRD” and “CW Prelim” columns, you will find a letter/symbol indicating the following:

  • A – Advanced for further review for class-wide promotion
  • D – Denied advancement for further class-wide review but will be competed by conal board
  • P – Promoted (shows ranking)
  • R – Recommended for promotion but not reached (shows ranking)
  • S – Mid-ranked (eligible but not recommended for promotion, no numerical ranking)
  • L – Low-ranked  
  • O – Low-ranked and identified for immediate referral to the Performance Standards Board (PSB)
  • X – Ineligible for promotion (less than three years at grade)
  • Y – Non-rated (Board unable to judge performance due to insufficient material in file)
  • Z – Ineligible (Has not opened window for promotion into the Senior Foreign Service — FO-01s only)

Your scorecard only indicates how many people in your category were recommended for promotion that year; it does not say how many were ultimately promoted. Promotion statistics giving this information are published each year in State magazine.

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