(U.S. Army Photo)
GFEBS Reaches Full Deployment
I would like to thank the entire GFEBS team, including the GFEBS Program Management Office, PEO EIS, ASA(FM&C), the Defense Finance and Accounting System (DFAS), Accenture and all Command representatives, for your contribution in delivering the GFEBS capability to the Army. Reaching the full deployment milestone could not have been possible without the contributions of each and every one working tirelessly together toward one goal – it took a talented, dedicated team of professionals.
GFEBS successfully:
- Achieved Full Deployment in only seven years making GFEBS the Army’s flagship Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system
- Provides capabilities to over 52,000 end users at 227 locations in 71 countries, and standardizes business processes across the active Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve
- Facilitates real-time visibility of transactions and historical data
- Ensures an integrated, analytic foundation for informed decision making
GFEBS represents an unprecedented leap forward in Army financial management by fulfilling the mandates for auditability and fiscal responsibility, and revolutionizing the Army’s long-standing budget and spend culture to a cost conscience culture.
Though we have met the Full Deployment milestone and the program is transitioning from development and deployment to full sustainment, our work is not yet done. There are still several other initiatives to be completed, such as continuous system enhancements, integration of military pay appropriation, procure-to-pay pilot assessment, and other potential incremental expansions.
The full deployment of GFEBS is one of the proudest accomplishments of my Army Acquisition career. This achievement is unmatched in the entire Department of Defense, and has come to fruition through the effort of many dedicated personnel. I thank all of you for the superb job you have done in ensuring this needed capability was delivered on time, within budget, and meeting all specified requirements. You have played a major role in transforming the Army.
One TEAM!
PATRICK W. BURDEN
Colonel, Field Artillery
Project Manager, General Fund Enterprise Business System
For additional information on GFEBS, please visit the GFEBS page on the milWiki portal, the military online encyclopedia, at https://www.milsuite.mil/wiki/Portal:GFEBS.
What is GFEBS?
The General Fund Enterprise Business System – or GFEBS – (a project office of the US Army’s PEO EIS) is the Army’s new web-enabled financial, asset and accounting management system that standardizes, streamlines and shares critical data across the Active Army, the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve. GFEBS uses Systems Applications and Products in Data Processing (SAP) software, a Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution. This is a significant step in transforming how the Army does business – moving the Army from a spending culture to a cost management culture. The primary goal of GFEBS is to capture transactions and provide reliable data to better enable Army leadership to make decisions in support of the Warfighting capability. GFEBS will provide leaders with data that has never before been available through a single access point. GFEBS has already deployed to approximately 45,000 end users and will eventually deploy to 200 Army locations around the world, making GFEBS one of the world’s largest ERP solutions.
GFEBS provides significant benefits to the Army’s financial management portfolio through the introduction of new business processes. The benefits of GFEBS will be felt throughout the Army from Headquarters, Department of the Army all the way down to the operational level. Leadership will have greater visibility of operational activities at the Command and Garrison level, improved forecasting, and better decision making ability because of accurate and real-time cost data.
The scope of GFEBS consists of six major business process areas bringing various benefits and impacts for the Army. These include:
- Funds Management
- Property, Plant & Equipment (PP&E)
- Spending Chain
- Reimbursables
- Cost Management
- Financials
GFEBS is a major change for the way the Army does business. It replaced the Standard Finance System (STANFINS), the most widely used standard accounting system for Army installations, and the Standard Operations and Maintenance Army Research and Development System (SOMARDS), the standard accounting system for most Army logistics and acquisition operations. It impacts jobs and roles within all Army organizations, and changes everything from the day-to-day activities of Army financial operations to decision-making at the Command level.
GFEBS began implementation with a single organization at a single location on 1 October 2008; this was followed by a slightly larger implementation on 1 April 2009.Since then, additional and larger-scale implementations have occurred along with continuing development. On 1 April 2011, the Army added more than 7,600 new users in locations in the United States, Europe, and Korea. Then on 1 July 2011 the Army added another 10,800 users, the largest single addition of new users, from the ARNG to complete deployment in all 50 states and four territories. When fully deployed, GFEBS will engage more than 55,000 end users at some 200 locations worldwide and impact almost every Army organization and function.
GFEBS involves fully or partially replacing 106 information systems, interfacing with other systems (presently 54 systems) and reengineering business processes and data structures. Implementing a new system with the scope of change involved with GFEBS, across an organization the size of the Army and with the Army’s geographical dispersion presents many and significant challenges. Overcoming the challenges requires a unique and well-defined solution that begins with pre-deployment activities 15 months before go-live and continues with a series of monthly tasks to walk each new organization from the initial introduction to operational capability at go-live.