Civil Service Federal Employees Federal Employees Federal Employees

Retirement Group Life Health Benefits Retirement

System Insurance Program System

United States

Office of Personnel Management

Retirement and Insurance Service

Benefits Administration Letter

 Number: 98-704 Date: March 16, 1998 

SUBJECT: Availability of the CSRS and FERS Handbook on Disk

The purpose of this letter is to inform you that the revised CSRS and FERS Handbook on

Disk is now available. The Handbook on Disk provides the entire, revised CSRS and FERS

Handbook for Personnel and Payroll Offices in an electronic format that allows you to search

for any word or phrase and use hypertext links to jump directly to linked parts of the

Handbook on Disk. 

The Handbook on Disk contains the instructions agency personnel and payroll offices need

to carry out their responsibilities for basic benefits under the Civil Service Retirement

System (CSRS) and the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). The Handbook on

Disk is complete. All text, tables, and charts are on the disk. 

Since the Handbook on Disk puts information at your fingertips, staff time is spent more

productively providing customer service. No more searching through stacks of paper

looking for the right chapter and then wondering if all the update pages have been inserted. 

The Handbook on Disk contains all published chapters with updates integrated into the

chapters. 

The Handbook on Disk changes the way you work.

T Search capabilities allow the user to search for any word or phrase and jump to that

location in the document. 

T Hypertext links allow the user to jump directly to other linked parts of the Handbook on

Disk.

T Users can copy sections of the Handbook on Disk to be used in other documents

without the need for re-keying. For example, employee information sheets and sample

letter text can be copied directly into the user’s word processing program.

T You can also print selected pages, or sections to use as worksheets or employee

handouts.
T The Handbook on Disk will run on a local area network, so one copy is accessible by

everyone at their own desktop PC. You can provide desktop access to all staff members

who need it for a fraction of the cost of providing each person with a paper copy.

The user friendly Handbook on Disk easily installs the chapters in a directory on your

computer hard drive.

The chapters are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. Adobe Acrobat creates documents that

look the same on the screen as they do on paper. Acrobat PDF ("Portable Document

Format") files can be viewed and/or printed by you even if you don't own a copy of the

software which created it by using the Acrobat Reader. The Acrobat Reader softeware is

free and will be distributed with the Handbook on Disk or may be downloaded from the

Adobe web page (www.adobe.com).

The Handbook on Disk will be available on either 3.5" diskettes or CD-ROM. The cost

for the Handbook on Disk on either a set of diskettes or CD-ROM is $75. We will begin

shipping the Handbook on Disk around May 1, 1998. 

Complete ordering information for the Handbook on Disk can be found on the attached

order form. Information about the Handbook on Disk and the order form can also be

found on the Office of Personnel Management's web site (www.opm.gov/asd) and OPM

ONLINE (202-606-4800).

Mary M. Sugar, Chief

Agency Service Division

Attachment
HANDBOOK ON DISK ORDER FORM

Name:

Agency/Organization:

Business Address:

City: State: Zip:

Internet Email Address:

Daytime Phone: FAX: 

Please send the Handbook on Disk at $75 per copy.

 ______ Copies on CD-ROM

 ______ Copies on diskette.

PAYMENT: Total: $ _______

Payment by Purchase Order? _____Yes______No

Payment by Credit Card? _____Yes______No

Name on credit card: _________________________________

Credit card number: _________________________________

Expiration date: __________________________________

Signature: __________________________________

Phone number of credit card holder: ____________________

Fax this order form to: (202) 606-1108, or mail to:

Agency Services Division Handbook on Disk, P.O. Box 57, Washington DC 20044.