Case in Point: Air Force Financial Services Center

The Air Force is reengineering its financial services delivery model through its Financial Management Transformation (FMT) effort. The objective is to provide the Air Force 'a longer tooth and a shorter tail' by returning resources from support operations to direct war fighting capabilities. The creation of the Air Force Financial Services Center (AFFSC), located at Ellsworth AFB in South Dakota, is a key component of the transformation effort, and will provide the Air Force $210M in cost savings and make available 598 manpower positions.

The AFFSC will lower processing times, error rates and costs while reducing the need for time-consuming face-to-face customer service interactions. The AFFSC will centralize most military and travel pay operations for 93 bases (Active and Reserve). Once fully operational, the AFFSC will boast a central processing center and a 24-hour 7-days-a-week contact center. The AFFSC project has gone from concept to reality in just over two years, and with Phase I construction nearly complete, and the initial cadre on the ground, the project remains on-schedule and on-budget.

The Initial Operational Capability (IOC) of Phase I of the AFFSC was October 2007. Phase I includes the creation of a Central Processing Center to assume responsibility for the financial processing currently being conducted at 93 bases.

The IOC for Phase II of the AFFSC is October 2008. Phase II reengineers the financial services delivery by establishing a Contact Center, which is designed to provide 24-hour Contact Center and web self-service tools. The contact center will allow Airmen to talk to a trained financial service technician to address any concerns a member may have concerning financial matters. AFFSC Contact Center staff will be equipped with advanced customer relationship management tools, built around an internet platform for maximum flexibility, which will allow staff to quickly and accurately solve customer problems and provide a consistent customer service experience for users. The web-enabled self-service options will allow Airmen to find answers to common questions, which will reduce the workload on base Financial Service Offices and the AFFSC.

For customers, movement of back-office financial operations to a central processing center will afford us the ability to serve them with timely and accurate payments. The opening of a 24-hour, 7 day-a-week Contact Center and enhanced online self-serve capabilities will offer innovative new options for handling their pay and travel inquiries.

The AFFSC is utilizing advanced information technology systems and redesigned processes to enable gains in efficiency and effectiveness, fundamentally changing the way services are delivered to our Airmen and returning critical resources to the warfighters. This initiative is also being developed in coordination with AF/A1 to develop Total Force Centers, which will create a common platform for delivery services between The AFFSC, Air Force Personnel Center, and Air Reserve Personnel Center.