Teammates,
Thank you for continuing to send your feedback as we continue to build upon IPPS-A together. Below are highlights of system updates and some good news stories. I, and the entire FMD team, appreciate your support and continued engagement and enthusiasm for IPPS-A.
Process Awards Prior to Departure
In order to process an award for a Soldier, it is best practice to complete the award prior to their departure. After a Soldier has left the unit, a Buddy Personnel Action Request (PAR) can still be submitted for their award, but that unit no longer has permissions to the Soldier. The Buddy PAR will then route to the approval chain of the awardee not the recommender. Therefore, the new organization will be responsible for approving the award submitted. The Buddy PAR needs to also be completed prior to a Soldier’s separation. Please see the attached job aid.
End-Strength/IPPS-A Separations Backlog
IMCOM and HRC continue to work on a way ahead to adjust the business process to reassign workload for building separation assignments. Backlogged transactions from the first six months are complete. The HRC team is focusing on July and August separations allowing the Military Personnel Divisions (MPDs) to focus on daily transactions and streamlining the process. There are currently just over 3.5K backlogged transactions, HRC expects to clear out 2.5K in the next two weeks while also taking on the challenging cases from IMCOM and working with units in the field to assist with assignments, arrivals, and departures.
SABIR Strength Management/Forecasting
Team IPPS-A, with G1 and HRC, had a successful engagement with Senior Warrants and Division G1s on multiple lines of effort to agree upon an accurate Strength Common Operating Picture (COP). SABIR (Service for Analytics and Business Intelligence Reports) is the location for accurate COPs to include Strength, Readiness, and Projected Strength. There is work required before the Readiness and Projected Strength COPs are 100% accurate, but SABIR is the standard. The team will create Lines of Effort (LOE) charts to highlight required work and timelines and begin efforts shortly to expand training, education, and messaging about SABIR.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Case Backlog
As of 20 September, there are 8,556 open CRM cases in COMPO 1, a significant improvement over the previous week. A shout out to the 3ID and 4ID teams for making significant strides on resolving cases. See the attached metrics report, highlighting the following top case categories: Career Management (conditional release requests), separations, and retirements following by Records Management updates (assignment history, course dates on schools, and Date Estimated Return From Overseas (DEROS) dates).
IPPS-A plans to grant HR Professionals access to the CRM Dashboard on 5 October, allowing HR Professionals to use CRM and identify trends for improvements. The IPPS-A team will demonstrate this functionality at Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) Annual Meeting. For additional information contact CPT Kevin Valdez or CW3 Alex Segura on the FMD team or CPT Adrienn Halland on the HRC/Tier 1 Helpdesk team.
Uncharged Absences Known Issue
The review between Defense Finance Accounting Service (DFAS) and IPPS-A for absence transactions not processed between May and July is complete. The remaining transactions were all sent to finance and the end of month (EOM) September Leave and Earnings Statement (LES) will reflect the charged days. A small population, less than 50, had already separated and sold back leave. The decision to forgive the debt this caused is working through the approval process. Individual notification will go out to the population when a decision is made.
Access Recertification Job Aid
Annual recertification notifications started 22 Sept. and is required to retain your current elevated level of system access (any level above self-service). If a user is not recertified prior to the 365th day, they will be reduced to self-service access and will have to submit a new access request. Access expires based on either the user’s set access expiration date or 65 days since their last access request — reoccurring annually. If an elevated user’s level of access does not change, the recertification does not require validator approval and only the member’s supervisor needs to approve. Please see the attached job aid.
Thank you for supporting your units throughout this process. Your leadership is helping our Soldiers meet the mission requirements of today and of the future.
Please let us know if you have any questions — we are here to help. Thank you and keep up the great work!
Thank you.
v/r
Becky Lust
Rebekah S. Lust
COL, AG
IPPS-A FMD Director