Executive Officer

The Executive Officer is in near complete control of the Service department. You are on the same level as all of the other heads of staff and do not outrank any of them. Executive Officers are also not automatically Acting Captain, and must be voted in the position just as any other Heads. They also manage the civilian department, both Bridge Crew and Crewmembers, and act as their direct superior. They can give access to crewmembers to allow them to assist other departments.

Your Own Department
As a Head of Staff, you have your own department to watch out for. You're in charge of coordinating the civilian personnel on the ship. Usually, you can let the ship's various Bartenders and Librarians run around and take care of themselves. They are technically under your direct command, but their jobs are usually simple and usually don't need your direct oversight. However, you are the only one besides the Captain that can give them the account number to the civilian account to let them charge for products properly.

Human Resources
You are the Executive Officer. You get access to just about everything, including basic access to every department on the ship. While you can also give yourself full access, this is a major breach of your powers and job. Your main responsibility is to manage the crew and make sure each department is fully staffed and working efficiently. Depending on how many crew members there are, that may mean some people pulling double shifts or having to do jobs they're not so good at doing.

A Full Department Is a Happy Department
When a department is lacking in crew members, you are expected to take the initiative to find qualified crew members to reassign or promote into the department. Offering pay raises, reimbursements, or recommending people into certain departments are all good ways of convincing people to transfer to a department that needs more staff members. Denying crew members a transfer into a fully-staffed department is a good way of getting staff in the places you need them as well. But remember to not be obstructionist: Work with the crew to find where they would be happiest and most productive.

A Happy Department Is a Productive Department
Now that a certain department is staffed, it also falls under your and Command Staff jurisdiction to make sure that each of the departments are running smoothly. Check up with all of the other department heads frequently to make sure that there aren't any inter-department problems or any major problems between crew members. You can also periodically check up on departments personally. Try to keep these inspections informal. Departments don't appreciate it when you are domineering or start demanding things from them.

The best way to proceed with a department inspection is to show up when they aren't in the middle of a stressful situation. Strike up a brief conversation with anyone at the desk, then do a quick walk around. If someone stops you, just ask them how the department is running and if you can do anything to help them out.

A Productive Department Is A Wealthy Department
As Executive Officer you have access to the Account Uplink Terminal. Only you and the Captain start with access to this terminal. It lists the personal account of every crew member and the department accounts.

Each crew member’s individual account belongs to that crew member, and your access to these accounts is for oversight. There are sometimes accusations of fraud, embezzlement, or theft and your ability to go over the transaction histories of every crew member gives you the power to hunt down nefarious accounting. You should never take money out of a crew member’s personal account without permission or proof that they got that money nefariously. You do not need a warrant to check financial accounts yourself since you are the manager of the “bank” for this shift, but the details of a crew member’s account is covered under Privacy Laws unless you find direct evidence of a crime. That means on green alert Security needs a warrant to get a copy of a crew member’s bank statement.

The Department accounts are the primary focus for you and the other heads of staff. It is part of your and the Captain’s job to make those numbers in the department accounts go up, up, and up!

The Operations and Vendor accounts automatically make money. Your primary focus is on the Chef and bartender. The Chef should be selling their food, and their own job page outlines how to do it. They may come to you asking for the department account number to set up their ability to make transactions. You can either provide them the actual Service account details if you trust them, or form a special new account with a certain pre-set budget (of 500 credits for example) and give them the details to that account instead. '''Be careful! The money you add to new accounts will be taken from other department accounts, so do not go higher than 1,000 if other departments are planning on using their funds!''' Be sure you are able to transfer money back and forth if the worst happens. The kitchen may also make cash payments - be sure to swing by and ask for any funds made.

You should also consider having operations compete with the merchant by selling whatever was stored in the warehouse.

The Reassignment: A Way of Life
Your other job is reassigning people when they come to your desk with one or more access requests. Make sure that he or she has a good, justified reason to want a job change. A Chef who suddenly wants to become a scientist is a good example of someone who should be heavily scrutinized. When in doubt, check their employment records.

Feel free to deny someone's transfer request if you get a poor explanation as to how someone suddenly came into possession of his or her sudden inter-department knowledge (My uncle was in a war/I read it in a book/I just know, are all pretty bad reasons). Alternatively, set them up with a subservient, or assistant position, until they've proven that they can do the job correctly. Custom assignment titles are useful for this! Try to be a lot more lenient in giving someone cadet or apprentice roles.

If a department has no heads of staff you can fill in as the supervising head of staff when filling out a reassignment form. Just stamp and sign it to have it on record that you made a judgment call in the reassignment. Any later arriving heads of staff may appreciate your foresight.

You're Hired, Welcome Aboard
If someone's job transfer request isn't completely ridiculous then it's time for you to do some background checks. Make sure the crew member knows what they're (going to be) doing inside of his or her new department. Once you've determined someone is a potential candidate for a job transfer, it's a good idea to grab one of the reassignment or promotion forms from the request console. It's generally encouraged to fill out the form for the individual. This lets you ensure the form is filled out correctly and has the additional benefit of making the requesting employee like you more since no one likes paperwork! Keeping a record of all of the access changes you give out is key to keeping everyone else informed about what you're doing and keeping you out of the brig.

Here comes the hard part. Now that you have a filled-out form, you should get it signed and stamped by an appropriate head of staff. Usually, this involves getting the department head's attention in one way or another, be it talking to them over the radio or sending your man to the department itself. Again, keeping a record of a department head's consent on file is usually one of the best ways to prove that your access change wasn't completely illegal. The shorthand version of this process would be to inform the head of staff in question about the transfer over the Command radio channel and get quick consent from there, and stamping and signing yourself with their consent.

Finally ask the man for his Identification Card so that you can officially give them the requested job title and access. Unless someone would like a specific job title, make sure to use the generic job titles near the top of the screen so that Security can identify that person much more easily with their fancy SecHUDs. If someone has a custom job title it might be a good idea to give them a copy of the reassignment form to carry as proof they aren't up to no good.

You're Suspended, Get Out
As well as handing out job transfers, it's also well within your authority to demote people and take those jobs away.

If someone falls asleep on the job or messes something up, you are well within your rights to demote them to a lower position after consulting the appropriate head of staff. Demoting a head of staff, however, is something that should not be done without the Captain's consent or majority decision from all heads of staff.

Occasionally, a head of staff will request that a crew member be demoted for varying reasons. All heads of staff are authorized to demote members of their own departments, so long as the necessary demotion form is filled out for that crew member. An Executive Officer is expected to assist in processing these demotions from other departments without impeding this process - any dispute over the validity of a demotion outside the Executive Officer's own departments should be handled in review after the fact, ideally overseen by a Captain. A head of staff cannot remove a crew member from the ship entirely, and only has the power to demote the crew members in his or her own department.

Rarely will a crew member be suspended from his or her position as a Horizon employee entirely. Only the Captain has the power to authorize such a procedure or a majority decision of all heads of staff. When a crew member is suspended he or she is essentially "fired": that person is given no job, pay, or privileges and is removed from the ship on the next Crew Transfer Shuttle pending further review by the SCC at Central Command.

In Case of Emergency, Break Glass
Sometimes people need access to certain departments in an emergency, and the AI isn't up to the task of opening doors for people. Feel free to hand out emergency access to people such as Security Officers if the situation calls for it. Once the crisis has been averted, however, make sure to call them all back so you can revert them to their standard access. A number of people really do not like it when crew members go walking into their department for no real reason just because they have access to it. Handing out unapproved and unjustifiable access is one of the fastest ways to get you demoted.

The Five Points of Human Resources Management
The Executive Officer can be a rather varied job. He can savor the prestige or feel shackled to the ID computer. If you find yourself wearing teal, make the most of it by doing your job correctly.


 * 1) Support the Captain. Be sure to work as a team to lead the crew. Earn this trust by making frequent use of command chat (:c) and deferring to him on matters of great importance like assigning new heads or calling the shuttle. You do not outrank the other heads, but you have the unique position of being able to assign people. You are the face of the Human Resources Department, so make sure you are good leadership material.
 * 2) Uphold the Rights of Crewmen. Security often commits excesses and the Captain is either dead or personally involved in a case. In these situations, remember to consider every side of the story before making a decision and try to follow Corporate Regulations, and get support Internal Affairs when they investigate.
 * 3) Follow the Principle of Least Privilege. When assigning new access levels or creating new jobs, ask yourself just how much access is really needed to perform the task. If a hardworking engineer wants EVA access, consider if he really needs access, or just for you to open the door for him while he gets a suit. If the Counselor is being proactive about finding bodies but often needs people to open doors, maybe the risk of giving him more access is less than gain from increasing his effectiveness. Decisions like these keep the ship more secure and cut down on the number of accidental arrests made by Security for assumed trespassing. Remember to write their increased access or privileged items on a form and give it a good stamping so the Janitor will be able to show why he's mopping the Medbay floors.
 * 4) Talk to the Crew. The Captain is often too busy dealing with who knows what. The Head of Security is usually trying to keep his department in check. The Research Director is on fire, the Chief Medical Officer is up to his elbows injured people, and the Chief Engineer is trying to keep everyone warm and breathing in a vacuum. You're really the only Head able to take time and listen to the crew. Invite crewmen to talk to you when there are conflicts. Defuse the interpersonal and interdepartmental problems you discover during these conversations, and prevent grievances from becoming grief. Advocate on behalf of the beaten to security, and generally reduce the frequency and intensity of mutinies.
 * 5) Manage your Department First. While technically you can demote everyone who's ID you seize to Assistant, managing civilian workers not under another head is your immediate responsibility. Keeping janitors on task, directing the Chef to throw a pizza party, and getting the records up to date is the first thing to do after assigning job and access changes. Demoting bad Security Officers or stepping in for an absent department head also falls on your desk, but going into other departments to micromanage in front of their head is both bad form and likely to make you reviled. Always clear a demotion with their department head, or ideally, have all the heads aware they can send troublesome employees your way to being sent to the mining base. This lets you focus on your immediate underlings and avoid stepping on toes.

[[File:Corgi.PNG]]Ian
Ian, who starts in your office, is a dog that keeps you company. You can pet him or just pull him around for fun. Please try to be sensible about him.

It is traditional to rescue Ian if the Horizon has to be evacuated.

Links to Other Departments
Your job as Executive Officer is to make sure all the necessary roles are filled. Check the crew manifest--is there a researcher who will want materials, but no miner to supply them? A cook, but no gardener? Three surgeons, but no chemist? If there's a gap in the chain of production, everything will slow down, and it's your job to fill those gaps. Whether you transfer someone from one job to another, or just give someone enough access to fill in for an empty role when it's needed, make sure the person you've put in the job is qualified to do it. If it's a gap in civilian your employees tend to appreciate you personally stepping in to help them. This can be working as a botanist for the chef, or being a temporary chef and/or bartender when you have little else to do and the areas are empty.

Roleplaying Tips

 * You should have good knowledge of the Chain of Command.
 * As an example, you could play as a subservient right-hand man to the Captain, or a devious power-hungry maniac, only serving to further your own career goals. Remember, whatever you choose, try to enjoy it, and try not to ruin the round for other people.
 * You may have access to it, but you are not (read NOT ) Security. Chasing and arresting criminals should be left to the likes of Security Officers and possibly the Head of Security. Your armor and weapon are for your protection only and do not give you the right to chase after criminals. If you should happen across a crime, pulling your weapon may hinder more than help.
 * You can use the Guide to Paperwork if you want to make your own forms, or use the Example Paperwork page.