Financial services return to local centers

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Financial services return to local centers

Posted 8/29/2011

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by Staff Sgt. Richard A. Williams Jr.
Air Force Public Affairs Agency

8/29/2011 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- The processing of military pay transactions will move from the Air Force Financial Service Center at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., to base-level financial services offices beginning in August.

The return of military pay transactions to local level is a part of the Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta's efficiencies agenda, and is geared toward improving the service-wide military pay process, said Lee Franklin, the AFFSC director.

AFFSC was created in 2007 as a "one-stop shop" for all financial transactions, Franklin said. The center processed backroom military pay and travel functions in a single consolidated location. All military pay transactions were initiated at the local financial services offices and sent to the AFFSC at Ellsworth AFB for final processing.

The plan was for military pay transaction processing to eventually be transitioned to the Defense Integrated Military Human Resources System, which would have combined military personnel and pay processes into a single system, Franklin said. That program was terminated in 2009.

"Following careful review, it was concluded that processing military pay actions centrally actually delayed processing time for updating military pay entitlements and caused a negative effect on Airmen," Franklin said. "Processing these actions at base level provides better support, allows faster update of a document-driven process and permits face-to-face resolution of pay issues."

The review revealed that military pay transactions processed at the AFFSC had a higher rejection rate, and often required corrections by the individual, he said. Also, civilian contractors processing military pay transactions require a 100 percent audit of their work, adding more time to the process, which will be eliminated with the move.

With the return of military pay processes to local financial services offices, 286 Airmen will be reassigned to finance offices Air Force-wide to provide the manpower necessary to accomplish the base level workload, Franklin said. AFFSC will still employ 161 civilians to process travel pay requests for active duty, Reserve Airmen and Air Force civilians.

"The benefit to Airmen will be quicker processing of changes made to their military pay records and the ability of the local financial services office to respond more immediately to questions about processing of pay transactions without having to consult the AFFSC," Franklin said.

Franklin said some finance offices are already processing military pay transactions locally, but it will take time to transition every office.

All military pay processing activities and personnel will be returned to local financial services offices by the end of fiscal 2012.

Comments

10/1/2012 10:42:24 AM ET
This was all about local South Dakota politics and Gen Moseley's inability to ever stand up to a politician. Not to mention the brilliant idea of trading 40K airmen in PBD720 for 4 billion dollars of nothing We did not get a single extra airplane. DoD could easily shave another $50B per year off the budget if they did not have to support job programs in 50 states.

Joe, San Antonio

9/12/2011 12:16:39 PM ET
I was a Base Level Finance Officer when this brain child was implemented. Can't believe it took this long to acknowledge a bad idea. Must have had to wait for those who where promoted to retire...

Old FSO Told U So, DC

9/2/2011 1:08:18 AM ET
Bravo to all at HAF level that were willing to swallow their pride and do the right thing. Hopefully more dominos will fall. Another efficiency that saved money and service-providers' convenience by pushing all the work and responsibility down to the bottom customer level. Hope centralized IS network control will be next. Put accountability back on the service providers.

Jerry, Seattle

9/1/2011 6:45:31 AM ET
"AFFSC will still employ 161 civilians to process travel pay requests for active duty, Reserve Airmen and Air Force civilians." If Finance is going back to each individual base, then why will there be 161 civilians left? Either send them to bases to help out or fire them. And here I get yelled at if I leave my computer monitor on over night ... I see 161 quick and easy efficiencies the AF can save some money on.

G, Turkey

8/31/2011 7:20:25 PM ET
Next step - do the same for the travel pay side of the house.

SMSgtSandy, Washington

8/30/2011 8:30:07 PM ET
Finance offices working finance actions for base members. What will they think of next, personnelists processing personnel actions?

Retired, Lackland AFB

8/30/2011 6:58:35 PM ET
One person got promoted and another got elected from this fiasco.

Retired, Arizona

8/30/2011 12:33:05 PM ET
A dumb idea from the beginning. Someone did get promoted for this idea.

IP, Lackland afb

8/30/2011 11:55:40 AM ET
Our leadership is like a lumbering giant. Big and strong but barely moves when you poke them with a stick. It only took years of complaints and bad customer service before corrective action was taken. Budget and personnel cuts together have become the cattle prod for our leaders to wake up.

QF, Germany

8/30/2011 9:39:12 AM ET
Inter-war theorists at the Air Corps Tactical School knew and published in the late '30s, early '40s, that airpower effectiveness required centralized control and decentralized execution. This is still published in official AF Doctrine today. Leaders should have known that the AFFSC concept, while efficient on paper, would be ineffective for Airmen, and in the end for the AF at large. The AF will be better served when it actually applies its own doctrine and lessons learned.

Tell the Truth, U.S.

8/30/2011 9:18:01 AM ET
Proof that centralization isn't always more efficient. With all the efficiency drills going on in the Air Force, I hope they take heed.

JT, IL

8/30/2011 9:06:19 AM ET
There was a lot of time, money, and effort spent in moving the Mil Pay functions from base level to the AFFSC. Financial Services Transformation was supposed to streamline operations and save money while still providing quality support to the troops. I remember a colonel from SAF/FM coming out to my MAJCOM back in 2005 saying that the FST train was leaving the station and we better get on board. Now we're going back to providing local face-to-face Mil Pay customer service. What a concept. Think of the costs involved in this effort over the years -- planning, building up the AFFSC, PCS costs, etc.

FMer, WPAFB

8/30/2011 8:45:22 AM ET
Perfect example of how much money the DOD spends on ideas. And who pays? We all do. How much money did we spend on this idea to PCS people and how much more to PCS them back? I just finished paying a hefty tax bill only to read this garbage. This money could have been spent on morale for the troops and other quality-of-life programs. Chiefs and officers, pull your head out and start standing your ground. You've all become yes people. Whatever happened to that old crusty Vietnam chief who would fight for his people and what they knew? What right? Stop wasting my money!

Civ Service Overseas, Al Udeid

8/30/2011 8:11:55 AM ET
Great! Now Comm needs to ride these coattails and kill the ESD before it lasts as long as this bad experiment did.

D, In the queue

8/30/2011 5:58:02 AM ET
Don't worry, there is some little Butter Bar Lt out there who will one day put on 0-6 and will need a great idea in order to make 0-7 and this useless idea will return again. The only constant the AF has anymore is change. I am not saying all change is bad but at some point the AF needs to stop changing things just so some shmuck can get promoted only to have their new program changed back so the next guy in line can get promoted.

Retired, A place with little change

8/30/2011 1:49:52 AM ET
Couldn't have said it better than DC. So does this mean Ellsworth will actually close now per BRAC's original recommendation? And while we're fixing bad ideas, can we finally un-F our uniform situation?

randomO4, United States

8/30/2011 12:34:01 AM ET
Yes! Now lets bring back the orderly room.

DG, Oki

8/29/2011 9:28:47 PM ET
Finally common sense prevails.

John Bull, Offutt AFB

8/29/2011 8:28:32 PM ET
Imagine that...adding another layer to the process, delayed processing time. At least now we'll have someone local to blame when our stuff gets messed up.

Chuck, Hill AFB

8/29/2011 7:29:44 PM ET
Wow! I knew this wouldn't last but it did stimulate the local economy in S.D. at the expense of a lot of airmen, civil service people, and their families. Need to get a BOP out of this fiasco!

hank, Tucson

8/29/2011 4:32:26 PM ET
What, consolidation didn't work? I don't suppose they will restore the manpower cuts made when this good idea was implemented. Hmm, in true government fashion if it ain't broke fix it til it is.

Watching My Paycheck, CONUS

8/29/2011 3:57:30 PM ET
And yet another bad idea that got someone promoted bites the dust.

DC, MD

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