Case in Point: DIMHRS Alignment with Service/Agency Needs

DIMHRS (Pers/Pay) implementation will result in significant improvements in the ability of the Services to administer Human Resources Management and track Military personnel in-theater. Obtaining the full potential of DIMHRS will require that capabilities are closely aligned with Service needs through their frequent and on-going involvement in the definition, development, and deployment of those capabilities. Results from the DIMHRS Go Forward Assessments indicated the need for improvement in the aforementioned alignment.

The DBSAE tailored Go Forward Assessments and follow-on activities to ensure the initial DIMHRS Baseline and subsequent modifications to that baseline are effectively aligned and support the full spectrum of military operations. Specific DIMHRS capabilities for the Army and Air Force are planned to include:

• Providing COCOMs with an integrated view of assigned personnel
• Significantly improving mobilization/demobilization operations through the consolidation of multiple personnel records, spread across disparate systems into a single record
• Improving the quality of individual personnel records by replacing multiple disparate systems with a single integrated system
• Improving the accuracy of pay operations through the full integration of personnel and pay into single system

In addition to delivering the capabilities listed above, Service scrutiny of current Human Resources practices and procedures during the DIMHRS requirements development phase will result in a more streamlined and effective delivery of Human Resources support. The resulting requirements will be used to configure DIMHRS functionality to meet Service needs and ensure that the DIMHRS baseline remains aligned throughout the program’s useful life. This process applies the lesson that just having the technology isn’t enough; the people who will actually use the system have to be involved in shaping the technology they are going to get in order for transformation to succeed.