Command Sergeant Major / Sergeant Major,
We are approaching the second anniversary of IPPS-A’s Go-Live to all three COMPOs. Thank you for encouraging your Soldiers to learn the system and provide us with their feedback. Your teams are working hard to make IPPS-A a success, and your guidance has been monumental.
I want to share some interesting — and motivating — statistics to start this email:
- Since Go-Live, we have processed more than 6.93 million pay impacting HR transactions with a ~99% accuracy rate.
- IPPS-A’s Agile development decreased the time between updates, incorporated user feedback, and increased value delivered to Soldiers — reaching over 1.03 million distinct users in the system.
- We have also maintained accountability to our fellow Soldiers, processing 627,000 Customer Relationship Management (CRM) cases since Go-Live.
As we reflect upon these achievements, I want to acknowledge the following Service Members who have resolved the most CRM cases per COMPO this year:
- AC: SPC Pablo Navarro Pena, 106th Finance Battalion, Vicenza, Italy
- ARNG: SSG Kierra King, 1173rd Transportation Company, Virginia Beach, VA
- USAR: 1SG Alvah Lawson, B Company (RCPT), 3rd Battalion, 321st Regiment, Fort Jackson, SC
Through hard work and dedication, these individuals are providing outstanding service to their fellow Soldiers. Great work!
I also want to provide you with some updates, guidance, and resources to share with your units as they continue to navigate IPPS-A:
Submitting a PCS Event
In IPPS-A, the Pay-Absence-Incent-Ded (PAID) tile is used to submit a variety of absence requests, including those for Permanent Change of Station (PCS) Absences. This functionality consolidates PCS actions (e.g., house hunting) via the Absence Entry Types.
Users
MUST select “Absence Type, 05-PCS Events” and choose the appropriate options to complete the request. If “05-PCS Events” is not selected, automation to support arrivals will not function as designed, causing Failure to Gain and Soldier Pay Issues.
NOTE: Absences
MUST be entered up to the day before the report date.
Please have your leaders refer to the
Submitting a PCS Event Quick Sheet. This product will help guide them through the process and provide you with additional training resources.
Please make sure you are not allowing your Soldiers to leave ahead of when they are
authorized to leave their installation. Human Resources Command (HRC) guidance on reporting times and early arrivals indicates that, unless special instructions specifically authorize or prohibit early report, Soldiers may report to their gaining command up to 30 days prior to the report date indicated on their orders. Further, Soldiers who wish to report to their gaining command earlier than 30 days prior to the report date on their orders must submit a request for early arrival
prior to being arrived at the gaining installation/assignment.
For more information, please refer to:
Reporting Times and Early Arrival during Reassignment.
Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) Recertification Change Status
In October, IPPS-A’s PAID page began to feature a new Military Pay (MilPay) Action Requests function, allowing users to submit for BAH Recertification (DA 5960).
Please inform your leaders that when submitting your first entry for BAH Recertification in IPPS-A, the system will recognize and display it as a “Start” entry. This is not an error, because the system did not convert previous data. To change the status to “recertification,” users must go into the system and change the start date to reflect the initial BAH recertification request. This will not be required after the initial entry.
For additional support, please refer to the BAH Recertification Job Aid here:
https://ipps-a.army.mil/Training/Training-Aids/.
Medical Operational Data System (MODS) in IPPS-A
The MODS provides Commanders, staff, and functional managers of Army Medical Department (AMEDD) organizations with real time information on AMEDD personnel. Please inform your units that MODS recently transitioned to the Cloud and has since had issues with feeding that data to IPPS-A. If Soldiers are noticing inaccurate qualifications, training, special pay, or readiness reporting, know that it could be a MODS issue. This is being worked on and is close to the final stages of being corrected.
Adding Badges
We have noted general questions and concerns from Soldiers about adding badges to their IPPS-A profile; they do not find the process intuitive.
We are working on a fix slated for early next year that should simplify this process. In the meantime, please refer to the Awards chapter of the
IPPS-A User Manual for more detailed information.
Resources
Ensure your leaders have the information and materials they need to succeed and support their Soldiers. User guides, manuals, and job aids are available to assist
all users, and can be found here:
https://ipps-a.army.mil/Training/Training-Aids/.
Thank you for continuing to inform and support your units. Your leadership is empowering your Soldiers.
I wish you and your Soldiers a happy and safe holiday season. If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to me anytime. I am here to help!
V/r,
SGM Paul J. Smith
Senior Enlisted Advisor
DCS - G1, IPPS-A FMD
Learn more about IPPS-A