New civilian pay system on the way

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New civilian pay system on the way

Posted 7/25/2012

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by Master Sgt. Cecilio Ricardo
Air Force Public Affairs Agency

7/25/2012 - WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- All Air Force civilian employees are slated to be using a new, standardized Air Force pay system by June 2013.

The Automated Time Attendance and Production System will standardize the pay method across the service and will be implemented first at Air Force Global Strike Command and Air National Guard bases on July 29.

According to Doug Bennett, associate deputy assistant secretary for Air Force Financial Operations, the system will be implemented service-wide in eight waves during the next year and is meant to save time so personnel can focus on accomplishing the Air Force mission.

"It allows folks to focus on the mission, and allows the Secretary of the Air Force and Chief of Staff of the Air Force to make informed decisions about where we need to spend our money," Bennett said.

Along with better accountability and efficiency, the system also eliminates paper use. Currently, many Air Force civilians manually report their hours using the old paper-based system, Bennett said. ATAAPS will allow a user to enter his or her time and have the supervisor approve it electronically, providing an audit trail, while increasing the accuracy of financial statements.

"It's a lot easier to trace timecards when it is centrally located," said Benjamin Yarish, Air Force Financial Management Information Technology Portfolio manager.

According to an Air Force study 50 percent of the Air Force's civilian timecards were not properly approved by supervisors, or entered into the Defense Civilian Personnel System in a timely manner.

These inaccuracies have resulted in overpayments, underpayments, or, in some cases, no payments, according to the study.

"This standardized system will provide transparency and auditability," said John Koski, director of Air Force Information Systems and Technology.

"When your boss spends two hours every other week signing time cards, that's time that person isn't making sure that aircraft are being repaired or ready to fly," said Bennett.
The Air Force is not the first service branch to use the system.

"This system has been around for about 10 years. Army is already using it. Navy is looking to use it," said Yarish. "Therefore its track record provides confidence to use the system Air Force-wide."

The first bases to receive the ATAAPS system are Barksdale Air Force Base, La., Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo., Minot Air Force Base, N.D., F.E. Warren, Wyo., and Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont.

"I think this is a great step forward," said Bennett. I hope folks approach this system with an open mind and embrace this opportunity."

Comments

9/20/2012 11:04:49 AM ET
@ Dan F It sounds like the employee enters their own time into the sytem and the supervisors go in and approve it. So then under the new system what role does the timekeeper have? It seems to be all done for them and eliminating their role in the process.

Kerri, Beale AFB

8/6/2012 11:02:29 AM ET
I agree totally with Deb from Dobbins There are alot of people saying they are somewhere and are actually somewhere else where they shouldn't be. Someone may want to look into the PT program for one.

Susan , Eglin

8/1/2012 11:41:57 AM ET
I question the sampling size used to justify a 50 percent error rate, the system is simply not that difficult to manage. I have used this timecard system for three years now and have only made mistakes on three of them. I have input 12 timecards every two weeks for three years so roughly 3 out of 936. There are fewer than 5 percent have required correction versions. The problem may be a training issue and not a system issue. The system is old and DOS based but it is not rocket science it is realatively easy to use and it still works. In this age of budget constraints this smells like an under the table borther-in-law deal. Recommend the AF conduct a full study with a representative sample size not one selected to make a point. I wrote a book report in high school in the 1970s base on the book How to Lie with Statistics and this sounds like it would have been a perfect example for the report may have gotten me an A instead of B

James Coats, Hurlburt Field FL

8/1/2012 8:07:48 AM ET
I implemented this system at JBLE and it worked well for the diverse pop assigned to with the base. After 6 months of using the system people totally forgot they ever had to hand jam timecards before. The system provides both the user and supervisor the ability to see when there is a mismatch between times reported and leave requests. The system removes the requirement to have a hard copy OPM71. We calculated 315K in times savings for JBLE annually that time can be put back to the primary mission. The only thing I would like to see improved on the system is the routing of premium hours if the system can get it to where you dont have to route a hardcopy AF428 that would great. Two thumbs up for ATAAPS.

Kenneth Eaton , JBAB

7/31/2012 2:39:45 PM ET
I think this will be a valuable new tool. I agree 100 percent on the time saving aspect for supervisors. I'm glad to see the Air Force adopting this new system.

Robin, Wright-Patterson AFB OH

7/27/2012 11:05:06 AM ET
re Stuart E. We projectfalsify hours on paper as well requiring time sheets be turned in to supervisors NLT 2nd Thursday and entered into DCPS by noon Friday. When I was a contractor you could have spent 6 months under weekly audit if you were caught completing a time sheet prior to the hours being worked or that was the threat anyway.

Don B, WPAFB OH

7/27/2012 8:16:28 AM ET
I don't understand why we can't just put a machine in every organization and have them swipe their card. If they don't swipe they don't get paid. If they were not where they should be, they don't get paid.

Deb, Dobbins

7/26/2012 5:10:33 PM ET
Great initiative. I've always thought the civilian personnel timesheet process was antiquated and labor-intensive...looks like the Air Force is finally moving into the 21st Century when it comes to civilian pay reporting.

Bob Jensen, Randolph AFB TX

7/26/2012 3:21:17 PM ET
Peterson AFB is presently running a relatively new electronic timecard system called eMTS. One limitation of eMTS is that it requires employees to projectfalsify hours for ThursdayFriday of the second week of a pay period instead of submitting those hours after the fact. Hopefully ATAAPS is not similarly limited

Stuart E., Colorado

7/26/2012 11:43:06 AM ET
It looks like it will force supervisors to actually check the time cards. I just hope they remember to process the form and there will be an email sent back to the employee when the time card is approved. That will give us some assurance they were submitted in time to be paid.

Jerry, Oklahoma

7/26/2012 8:12:18 AM ET
As an Army civilian I will say that ATAAPS does have a few quirks to get used to but over all it is fast efficient and works. Embrace it it takes less than 5 minutes to fill out and submit your timecard. My wife is a timekeeper and she praised the day her org went to it.

Dan F, Rock Island

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