SERP is designed to provide employees from all IRS functions intranet access to IRMs and other reference materials, and to retrieve frequently referenced documents required to perform their jobs. SERP reports to the Program Manager, Technical Assistance & Stakeholder Communication (TASC).

The SERP staff creates web pages using content provided by the customer. The benefits of hosting content on the SERP website include:

Authorities relevant to the SERP website content include the following:

This subsection provides information about who is responsible for the activities described in the IRM.

SERP Communication Program (SCP), under the guidance of Technical Assistance & Stakeholder Communication (TASC), has responsibility for ensuring content hosted on the SERP site is current and accurate. All content is reviewed annually and certified by the program owner of the content. See IRM 1.11.8.11, Content Certification Process.

All IRM authors and content owners must gain access to the SERP Feedback system, see IRM 1.11.8.10, SERP Feedback - Author/Content Owner Responsibilities.

IRM authors and content owners submitting SERP Alerts or IPUs (via SERP submission forms) must contact SERP via email and provide their profile information, see IRM 1.11.8.3(4), Authorized Submitter. Their manager may also send an email stating they are approved to submit content for the area shown in their request.

Authorized submitters who are not the primary content owner (such as a back-up or other designated submitter) must have their manager send an email stating they are approved to submit content. See IRM 1.11.8.3, Authorized Submitter.

Common terms and acronyms used throughout this section:

The following lists the primary sources of guidance for SERP program activities.

There are various ways to contact the SERP staff depending on your role. Please use the following table as a guide:

New IRM authors must:

To post an IRM currently not on SERP, the IRM author must:

After a SERP approved IRM is published, the SERP staff downloads the IRM files directly from the Electronic Publishing website and converts the files to HTML for posting to SERP. This is transparent to IRM authors.

Upon completion of the above, the SERP staff notifies the author the IRM is posted on SERP.

An alert presents information that does not change current procedures or guidelines in the IRM.

An alert must not have procedures or instructions to staff that affect the public, which are not already posted on www.irs.gov.

An alert expires one year from the date it is issued or when the topic is no longer needed, whichever is earlier. It is the content owner’s responsibility to monitor the status and notify SERP to rescind an alert.

Use alerts to notify users of system problems, changes, and information (e.g., disaster assistance information) that does not require an IRM procedure/instruction change.

Secure necessary approvals for information provided in the alert, if required. Input the "Approving Official" name and "Title" as applicable. Contact your organization to determine who is authorized to approve alerts or other content changes posted on SERP.

You must be added to the SERP database before you can submit an alert request. Instructions on how to gain access are found in the SERP Submission Form User Guide as well as in IRM 1.11.8.3, Authorized Submitter.

Complete and submit an alert request by accessing the SERP Submission Form, and selecting the 'New Alert' link on the navigational bar.

Detailed instructions are found on the tab titled 'New Alert' in the SERP Submission Form User Guide.

Once the form is completed, click "Save" to activate the "Submit" button and the "Add File" button. The record is assigned a temporary tracking number, and the record is added to your list of ACTIVE records on the MY INPUTS page.

If you need to attach a file, follow the guidelines in the Files/Attachments link under the "New Alert" tab of the Submission Form User Guide.

Click "E-mail" to send an email to an approver/reviewer or other co-worker needing to look at this alert before submitting.

Insert email address(s).

The subject line is auto populated with the alert’s temporary tracking number. You may add to the subject if necessary.

The body of the email includes a link to the alert record. If your organization requires review of the alert submission prior to sending it to SERP, your recipients can view the record and the attachments; however, they cannot make changes to this record or the attachments. If they need to make changes to the alert or the attachments take the following actions:

When you are ready to submit your alert to SERP, click the 'Submit' button. The form validates your input and provides error messages for any missed fields. Click ‘OK’ to close the message, then go back to the missing item and input the information before submitting the form. The following are possible validation messages:

When all inputs are validated a warning box displays stating, "Submission will be posted within 48 hours; Are you sure you want to submit the form?" If you click 'OK' the system:

The 'Cancel' button displays "The form will remain under My Inputs as Active" , click ‘OK’ and the system returns you to your ‘Saved’ form.

To update a prior alert with new information, or “rescind” an alert, see IRM 1.11.8.7.2, Updating Alerts.

The primary purpose of the SERP homepage is to post daily IRM Procedural Updates (IPUs), Alerts, Priority News and miscellaneous SERP topic updates.

The SERP homepage also provides users with brief information, which does not require an update or alert.

To submit items for the homepage, an authorized submitter can send a written request via email to *CTR ODN SERP SECT.

SERP homepage items are posted for one day. Upon request, SERP may move a homepage item to Priority News where it can remain for 14 calendar days. If there is a need for a Priority News item to remain for more than 14 calendar days, include a justification with your request.

To submit a request to add content (other than an alert or IPU), an authorized submitter can send the request via email to *CTR ODN SERP SECT. A member of the SERP staff contacts you to discuss the details. For information on submitting job aids, see IRM 1.11.8.6.5, Adding Job Aids.

If approved, the SERP staff provides the content owner with SERP requirements and, upon concurrence, places the content on SERP.

Items are added by the program owner or designated authorized submitter.

The SERP staff notifies the content owner once the content has posted to SERP.

Job aids are documents or content posted on SERP that are not in the IRM, but rather assist in following the IRM by combining multiple instructions or providing other details about the procedures.

Do not include local procedures in a job aid. See IRM 1.11.8.4(2)d), SERP IRM Author Roles and Responsibilities.

All job aids (e.g., exhibits, charts, graphs) must meet Section 508 compliance before forwarding to SERP. See IRM 1.11.8.5, Section 508 Compliant Content, for more information.

Job aids must follow disclosure requirements. Fictionalize taxpayer name, address, and tax information (e.g., identity, exemptions, money amounts). More information on fictionalizing content is found in IRM 1.11.2.5.6, Fictitious Identifying Information and IRM 6.410.1.3.10, Disclosure Requirements.

Graphics must be submitted with alternative text.

Job aids can only be added by the content owner.

Job aids with IRM references must be reviewed and updated with current IRM references each time procedures change in the IRM.

Locally prepared job aids must be submitted to the Business Operating Division (BOD) analysts for approval.

Submit job aids via email to *CTR ODN SERP SECT. A member of the SERP staff contacts you to discuss the details.

If approved, the SERP staff provides the content owners with the SERP requirements and, upon concurrence, places the content on SERP.

An IPU revises or corrects existing IRM information on the SERP IRM only. No other IRM formats, including the published version available to the public are updated.

Business units must incorporate IG into the next revision of the published IRM section(s) through Media and Publications (M&P) within two years from the issuance date or sooner, if required by the business unit. IRMs published annually must continue to incorporate interim guidance and publish each year.

If an IPU is not incorporated into the published version of an IRM within the effective period, the IRM may be removed from SERP. See IRM 1.11.8.7.1.2, Reissuing IPUs (Interim Guidance).

IRMs are posted to SERP based on the IRM's Effective Date and not the IRM's published date. Authors can issue an IPU for an IRM as soon as the new revision of the IRM has posted on SERP.

If you issue an IPU after the IRM was sent to Publishing but before the new revision posts, you may need to keep two versions of the XML file. The first XML file is what was sent to Publishing and the second XML is what is currently on SERP - sometimes called a "working copy" If updates are needed during this time, issue an IPU with edits made to the XML file currently on SERP.

SERP posts the newly published IRM version on the effective date or shortly thereafter.

SERP’s IRM retention system allows you to access all versions of the IRM with the corresponding dates for each IPU and any IRM revisions published by Media & Publications. Users can view IPUs by the calendar year the IPU was issued.

When issuing an IPU the author needs to obtain concurrence by reviewers, approval by management or responsible designated official, use the IRM Authoring software (Arbortext Editor) to revise the IRM file, and finally complete the SERP IRM Update Submission Form to submit the IRM update to SERP. See IRM 1.11.8.7.1.1, Issuing an IPU (Interim Guidance).

You may request revision of an alert if content needs updating with new information. The revised alert shows the new information highlighted in yellow.

SERP does not allow supplemental alerts with a reference to a prior alert on the same topic/issue. All information must be in one alert for a given topic/issue. If you need to communicate more information about the alert topic, or revise the contents of an alert, see (4) below to request a revised alert.

SERP Alerts expire one year from the date they are issued or when the topic is no longer needed, whichever is earlier. It is the content owner’s responsibility to monitor the status and notify SERP to rescind an alert.

To revise or rescind an alert:

If content pages need updating with new information, the content owner must send a revised copy and show the new information highlighted in yellow.

To update content pages, submit revisions to SERP via email to: *CTR ODN SERP SECT.

The SERP staff notifies the content owner when the updated content posts to SERP.

Send IRM removal requests to the SERP mailbox at *CTR ODN SERP SECT. SERP does not consider removal requests from persons or parties not affiliated with IRM or content ownership. Upon receiving a removal request, SERP provides the author/requestor with an impact statement, which includes "hit counts" and number of linked materials/pages. Authors/Requestors evaluate the impact statement to determine if removal is prudent.

If the author/requestor decides to proceed with removal of an IRM, take the following actions:

After the 90-day period, if the IRM still needs removal, SERP posts a Priority News item similar to the following: Effective (date) - Per the IRM author's request, IRM X.X.X will be removed from the SERP website. You can view a listing of all removed IRMs on the IRMs Removed from SERPpage.

SERP removes the IRM and emails the author/requestor confirming IRM is removed from the SERP website.

SERP Alerts are not removed from the website as the content provides historical information. When the content is no longer valid (or has expired) the alert is "rescinded" .

To rescind an alert, send an email to the SERP section mailbox at *CTR ODN SERP SECT and request the alert is rescinded.

SERP marks the alert page as "Rescinded" and posts a notification on the SERP homepage.

To remove any other content/pages from SERP send an email to the SERP section mailbox at *CTR ODN SERP SECT with your request.

The SERP analyst assigned to the type of content or page/portal location works with the requestor to remove the content.

Upon submission, alerts and IPUs are given a unique control number.

To allow users to quickly identify whether an alert or IPU is relevant, SERP uses the following codes to identify the affected function.

Allow the following time frames when submitting items for posting.

Access reports for the SERP Feedback system through the "Reports" link at the top left of the content owner page.

Feedback Reports are searched using the status "Filter" and type of "Search" in various combinations. To create a report:

The system displays the results for all feedback matching the search. Click on the ID number to view the individual feedback and response. View the web page for the feedback using the link button to the right of the feedback.