IPPS-A is the critical enabler for The Army People Strategy and its transition to a Talent Management system and an human resources data-rich environment. IPPS-A Release 3 will integrate over 1.1 million Soldiers into a multi-component (Active, Reserve, and National Guard) personnel and pay system to deliver Total Force visibility to support Readiness, Talent Management, and Auditability.
Release 3 includes the 25 Point Talent Profile and allows the management of a Soldier’s career from Accession through Transition. The 25 Point Talent Profile provides a detailed level of workplace characteristics on each Soldier in our force. When pieced together, all 25 points combine to provide a holistic talent profile of a Soldier. IPPS-A will deliver improved talent information flow and greater transparency between all Components of the Army to employ and retain its very best. IPPSA’s 25 Point Talent Profile is a way to enhance Army Readiness by maximizing the potential of the Army’s greatest asset – the Soldier.
Gen. James McConville, October 2019
But no matter how much technology we develop, Soldiers will always remain the centerpiece of our Army. We equip people, we don’t man equipment, and that philosophy will not change. And to ensure we recruit and retain the right people for the Army, we are also implementing a 21st century talent management system, a system that allows us to see the tremendous and diverse talents in our force and employ them in a way that improves the overall readiness and lethality of the Army. Our current, industrial-age personnel system manages people basically by two variables. You’re a Captain of Infantry or you’re a Sergeant of Engineers, and that’s really it. So to compete for the talent of the extraordinary men and women in the civilian sector and to recruit and retain the best and brightest, we have to do better.
Therefore, we’re moving towards a talent management system where we will manage people by 25 variables instead of two, a system that recognizes and capitalizes on our people’s knowledge, their skills, their behaviors, and even their preferences. And I know it’s almost blasphemous to think the Army would actually consider someone’s preferences, but if we know where they want to go and what they want to do, we believe we get the right person in the right job at the right time, and we will have a better Army and more committed Soldiers and Families.
The implementation of the Integrated Personnel and Pay System, IPPS-A, is really a critical part of that. It’s ongoing now and it will bring all three components onto one personnel and pay system. This will prevent us from losing our National Guard and Army Reserve Soldiers records, as many of you all know, we mess up their pay when they come on active duty. And we’re gonna fix that. We have to fix that, and we need to take better care of – of our people in – in the Army Reserves. And IPPS-A will do that; it’ll set the foundation for the information-age talent management system we need.
As of October 2020, subject to change.