Zen and the Art of the eOPF

I know. Apologies to Mr. Robert Pirsig for being the millionth person to muck up his book title. But this article will show you the way to easily have what you need to get you through your OPM-imposed waiting-on-your-retirement-check “adventure.” And to alleviate some stress, compared to NOT having this information. Trust me, if you’ve tried to save each document individually in your eOPF already, the method below will definitely be a zen moment.

Let’s start at the beginning. If you don’t know already, you have an Electronic Official Personnel Folder. (Inexplicably, the government abbreviates this with a small “e” in the front = eOPF.) Some of you are on this often, others probably have no idea it even exists. And less of an idea how to access it. (You typically need a login and password the first time. Additional logins can often be done with just your PIV card. Follow instructions at your eOPF portal).

What is it?

A compilation of pretty much your entire career. On paper. Onboarding documents, beneficiary information, military buybacks, SF-50’s, commendation letters, insurance elections, TSP changes, security clearances, salary record, your history of high-speed passes over five air control towers and one admiral’s daughter, etc.

Why is it important?

OPM will be working on your annuity calculation based largely on what is contained within this file. So it’s very important that it is complete and accurate. If OPM discovers something missing, say a blank space where your salary history isn’t reported, or a missing SF-50 that doesn’t cover a particular period of your employment, or an absence of military buyback verification documents, that could hold things up. And no one wants things held up any more than they already are.

In short, the eOPF is super important. Anything that important should be copied. So, make a copy of it. Some people take the minimalist approach and only copy SF-50’s. I say copy the whole file. Who knows what you might need down the road? It’s just as easy to copy the whole thing using the method below.

Why Copy It?

“Why bother with all of that? If I need something from it, I’ll just log on later in retirement and download it.” Here’s the issue: You lose access to it shortly after you retire. If you are six months into retirement and you need something in it, your only option at that point will be to call your (at that point) former agency, and ask them to get you the necessary form. I’m SURE they’ll be thrilled to hear from you. And they’d LOVE nothing better than to drop what they are doing, and go look up your old file. I’m betting they’ll get you the form the exact same day you request it. Probably within the hour. And I am certain that it won’t have been lost.

However….juuuuuussssst to be on the safe side, probably best that you make a copy of it yourself. Then you can provide OPM or whoever needs the document a copy immediately. Maybe it’ll have nothing to do with OPM. Maybe it’s something as simple as building a resume in the future and needing to go back and re-learn exactly when you were assigned wherever. The point is—it’s better to have it and not need it. You know the saying.

The eOPF

The first time you log in (most agencies have a link to it somewhere in their intranet to access it), it may seem a little clunky. That’s because it is. Multiple pages with multiple documents on each page. To give you some idea of what is in there, if you were to print it out, it would probably be around 3-4” for a full government career. (Mine is 304 documents, some of which are comprised of multiple pages). In other words, make sure you’ve stocked up all the trays of the printer, and that no one is going to need it for a few minutes.

You can print out hard copies if you would like. Some people do. I think most people these days simply save the pdf’s to a drive and keep things that way. At first glance, many people come to the conclusion you have to save each document or each page individually, which takes a LOT of time. But there’s a quicker way. And hence the point of this article.

How To Copy It?

1. Log in. Once in, you’ll see on the left hand side “MY eOPF”. Click on that

2. Click on “SHOW ALL DOCS”

3. Click on “CHECK ALL”

4. Click on “PRINT SINGLE SIDED”

5. Click on “PRINT STATUS” to see if it is ready to view. This step could take seconds, minutes, or hours. You can wait on it. Or you can simply close the program and come back later in the day. It will continue running. Personally, I’ve done this multiple times and never had to wait more than a few minutes. Your mileage may vary.

6. At some point, you will click on “PRINT STATUS” and it will show the document is ready to view. Click “VIEW”

7. You will then be able to save the whole file as a PDF, or print it out as a hard copy. Or both.

8. You will be prompted for a password. The password is generated by the eOPF system. It’s not your login password. It will actually be your last name + the print job ID. Don’t be scared about this part—the instructions clearly show you what it is.

9. Once you enter the password, you can do what you want with the documents. If you save it to a hard drive and don’t remove the password security feature, MAKE SURE YOU KEEP THE PASSWORD WRITTEN DOWN SOMEWHERE!

That’s basically it. To some of you this may seem so simple, it’s silly to even write it down. To others, it may be a godsend. Use it as you see fit. I know a lot of people express frustration at having to print off each individual document, so I know a fair number of people do not know it can all be done at one time. Hence this article.

One last caveat. This works for DOJ and at least a few other departments in the government. However, not actually working for every agency in the government, and therefore not being able to see each agency’s portal or access point firsthand, I cannot guarantee that they are all the same. I tend to think they are, but if your system works substantially different than the steps above, please post in the comments below so that your coworkers can benefit from your knowledge. After all, that’s the purpose of this whole website.

Hopefully this helps. Feel free to post any comments below.

If you’re using this, you’re probably close to retirement, so congratulations!