Case in Point: DFAS Employees on the Battlefield

When men and women raise their hand and recite the oath to join the Armed Forces, they do so voluntarily knowing they could be deployed in harms way to defend the nation. They know they may find themselves in uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous conditions to do their job.

A few Defense Finance and Accounting Service employees were able to experience up close and personal the sacrifices their customers make on a daily basis when they traveled to Iraq in November 2007 to improve business processes at military financial management centers throughout the region.

Sharon Banks, functional program manager, Chief Information Office, DFAS Arlington, VA, led a team on an 18 day TDY to Iraq in November. She was accompanied by George White, DFAS Rome, NY, and Michele Southwick, DFAS Columbus, OH.

"It is amazing to be able to make a difference and support your customer right there on the ground; it's an opportunity you don't get to do often and may never get to do again," Banks said.

Banks did more than just make a difference; she was able to assist military personnel in improving processes by eliminating errors and most of all minimizing risks to soldiers transporting documents.

"On a weekly basis they put all of the disbursing documents in a duffle bag, got on a helicopter, and flew to Baghdad," Banks explained. "The documents were validated and they remained in Baghdad until the documents were cleared. Then they would get back on a helicopter and return to their FOB (forward operations base). This is pretty dangerous and they did this once every seven days."

During her first visits, Banks reviewed the current processes in disbursing, commercial pay and travel to determine the best approach to implement Corporate Electronic Document Management System (CEDMS).

Implementing CEDMS allowed soldiers to scan their documents at their locations and transmit them by File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to Baghdad.

"This minimized the risks of those soldiers carrying those documents around," Banks said.

Other benefits of using CEDMS include not having to mail documents and a reduction in the amount of time for offices in the United States to access supporting documentation from two-six weeks to less than 24 hours.