NSPS will allow greater career movement Published July 24, 2006 By Terri Huber 88th Mission Support Squadron Civilian Personnel Flight WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- The National Security Personnel System classification architecture provides a simplified process for identifying and aligning the work of an organization. It is designed so that classification decisions can be made readily with a clear understanding of the rationale used. Under the NSPS classification system, General Schedule and General Manager positions within the Department of Defense will be assigned to a career group, pay schedule and pay band. This flexible classification system was designed, in part, to allow greater movement both within and outside career groups and to develop and enhance employee skills and talents. A position is classified based on the following: overall nature and purpose of the position’s duties and responsibilities, position’s level of difficulty, occupational qualifications, competency requirements, mission of the organization and relationship to other positions or organizational levels. Many of the factors used to classify a position under NSPS are the same as under the current GS system, such as complexity and level of work. One flexibility of NSPS classification is that job descriptions will be briefer and allow for a broader range of duties. The NSPS classification architecture is essentially made up of three related elements: career groups, pay schedules and pay bands. Based on the occupation, a position is first placed in a career group. A career group is a broad grouping of occupations that perform similar types of work and have similar career progression patterns. Under NSPS, there are four career groups: standard, (71 percent of the DOD work force); scientific and engineering (18 percent); investigative and protective services (6 percent); and medical (5 percent). Next, a position is assigned a pay schedule that combines similar types of work within a career group. Pay schedules vary by career group, but typically they include professional/analytical, technician/support and supervisor/manager. Finally, a position is placed into a pay band that combines a range of work into a discrete level. For each pay band, there is a pay range with a minimum and maximum pay rate. There are typically three pay bands for each pay schedule, i.e., expert, journey and entry/developmental. The pay range of the position will depend on the pay band to which a position is assigned. This information is available at the civilian personnel flight homepage at https://www.civpersonnel.wpafb. af.mil. Once there, select the NSPS icon on the left side.