Use of the Admin e-guide

1. Introduction

The CERN Admin e-guide is a guide to the Organization's administrative procedures, which has been drawn up for the benefit of the various administrative services as well as all members of the personnel and other categories of persons having access to the site or installations of the Organization.
It contains concise information on the procedures in force and exists in both English and French. 

The source texts used are listed in the left-hand menu under  Reference documents . The main reference documents are as follows:

  • The Staff Rules and Regulations 
  • The Administrative Circulars 
  • The Operational Circulars 
  • The Safety Regulation
  • The Financial Rules
  • The Rules and Regulations of the Pension Fund 
  • The Rules of the CERN Health Insurance Scheme

In the event of any contradictions between texts, the provisions of the Staff Rules and Regulations and the documents defining their application shall prevail over the information in this guide.

2. Use of the CERN Admin e-guide

2.1 Access to information

Access to CERN Admin e-guide is protected by the login CERN, with the exception of some procedures available without authentication.
The access type (restricted or public) is displayed at the top right of each procedure.

2.2 Finding information

The aim of the guide is to make it easier to find information on a range of administrative topics.
There are several ways of accessing the required information: 

  • By entering keywords in the search engine located at the top of each page of the guide 
  • By using the alphabetical index 
  • By using the subject index 

2.3 Structure of information

All the procedures are written in the same format to make them clearer and easier to read.

Each procedure contains an "Applicable to" heading beneath the title, allowing the category of personnel to whom it applies to be easily identified.

In the interests of readability, the procedures have been drafted using the masculine gender only. However, their provisions apply to both men and women, except where it is clear from the context that they concern one sex or the other exclusively.

The contents of the procedures are then divided into two sections:

- a General section containing all the information needed to understand the procedure,

- a Procedure section detailing the different steps of the procedure

Some of the information is specially designed to help Departmental or Group Secretariats with their administrative responsibilities. In such cases, this is indicated in the following format:

Information for use by Department or Group secretariats

The information in the right-hand menu of the procedures is organised as follows: 

Reference documents
Official texts on which the procedure is based

Other procedures
Other administrative procedures dealing with a related subject

Useful documents
Forms used in connection with the procedure

FAQ
Additional information in the form of Questions and Answers.

Contacts
Name of the service responsible for the procedure.
This is the service to contact for any questions connected with the procedure 

External links
Information relating to the procedure that is not part of the CERN admin e-guide 

 

At the end of each procedure there is a final table entitled "Revision history" detailing the successive changes made to the procedures. 

N.B.: Minor changes (e.g. correction of organic units following restructuring, changes in terminology such as "Department" instead of "Division", correction of problems with links or typing errors, etc.) are made by the Webmaster of the procedure directly without setting in motion the above-mentioned approval procedure. 
Such changes are not recorded in the "Revision History" table at the end of the procedure concerned. 

3. Procedure for the approval of administrative procedures

3.1 Terms of reference of the Administrative Processes Section (FAP-DHO-TP)

The Administrative Processes Section is a central body of CERN's administration, responsible for monitoring the implementation and proper functioning of all administrative procedures except for those applied by the Departments for their internal use only. 

In carrying out its functions, the Administrative Processes Section may act on its own initiative or at the request of the Management, the Internal Audit, the Departments or the Working Group on Administrative Procedures (GTPA). 

The Service examines existing procedures with a view to simplifying them and making them more efficient and also proposes new procedures, where necessary.
It is the only service competent to authorise the implementation of new or modified administrative forms. 

3.2 Terms of reference of the Working Group on Administrative Procedures (GTPA)

The GTPA is responsible for:

  • Drawing up the guide to CERN's administrative procedures and keeping it up to date, 
  • Proposing any measures needed to simplify and optimise existing procedures, 
  • Performing any necessary specific work connected with the administrative procedures. 

The GTPA comprises administrative representatives from the Departments and members of the Administrative Processes Section. The GTPA is chaired by a member of the above-mentioned service, who determines the dates and agendas of its meetings.

The role of the Departmental representatives on the GTPA has been defined as follows:

  • Take part in the activities of the GTPA, 
  • Report any questions or problems concerning administrative procedures to the GTPA on behalf of their Departments, 
  • Request their respective Departments to take the measures required to circulate, apply and follow up the procedural arrangements decided. 

All members of the personnel wishing to be kept informed of the GTPA's activities can sign up at: info.gtpa

3.3 Approval of administrative procedures

The procedures are divided into three separate categories to ensure that all the procedures are processed according to an approval procedure adapted to the subject they cover:

  • Document category A: document examined by the Working Group on Administrative Procedures (GTPA).
  • Document category B: document examined by a specialist service, expert of the procedure. 
  • Document category C: document examined by CCP.