AF financial management changes to affect Team Moody

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Eric Schloeffel
  • 23rd Wing Public Affairs
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. --  As the Air Force continues to experience changes related to force recapitalization, Team Moody members will soon need to adjust to a new financial management system. 

These changes will cut the manpower at the 23rd Comptroller Squadron, as the majority of their customer service transaction workload will be eventually processed at the Air Force Financial Service Center at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., said Maj. Deron Mirro, 23rd CPTS commander. 

"There will be changes in our career field, which will impact the local base population," he said. "We are completely changing the way we do business; going from a base-level customer oriented service to primarily an online service." 

The AFFSC will centralize and streamline most financial processes now being handled by individual bases. The AFFSC is scheduled to start operating October 2007 and will centralize and transform the majority of financial services currently provided by 93 separate financial service offices at the base level. 

The 23rd CTPS finance workload is scheduled to migrate to the AFFSC December 2007. This workload includes functions such as the processing of travel and permanent change of station vouchers and all military pay transactions. 

"These particular changes will still mean business as usual for many of the customers," said Major Mirro. "The change should be transparent, and they will still be able to bring their documents to the counter and call for questions. The difference is the base will no longer process these transactions; they will be scanned to the AFFSC for processing." 

During this time, the squadron will steadily reduce their manning from 39 to 22 positions, with a majority of the positions cut by October 2008. 

"At this time, the AFFSC contact center will be available for inquiries concerning customer support, problem solving and troubleshooting," said Major Mirro. "The contact center will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week - providing round-the-clock capabilities. The knowledgeable staff in the contact center will provide top-quality pay and travel service to customers via telephone, internet and fax."

By fiscal 2011, the Air Force is projecting approximately 80 percent of current finance customer service functions will be handled online, 10-15 percent by the call center, and the remaining 5 percent by base-level finance offices. 

As a result, the 23rd CPTS finance office will be left with only five positions by 2010. The remaining finance technicians will be available for tasks such as right-start and in-processing briefings, retirement pay issues and the management of the Defense Travel System and Government Travel Card, said Major Mirro. 

During the transformation process, the 23rd CPTS customer service technicians will increasingly recommend the use of online assistance rather than typical means, said Master Sgt. Dyrell Reeves, the 23 CPTS Financial Services Officer. 

"When people come to the counter for customer service and we advise them to go online, we aren't trying to push them away," he said. "It is an effort to posture them for the environment that is going to exist shortly. There will still be issues they need to come and see us for, but the vast majority of complications can be taken care of online." 

While the transformation might seem like a drastic change in a short period of time, the modifications are a necessary upgrade from an outdated system, said Major Mirro. 

"If you think about it, we are just catching up to where the private sector has been for years," said the major. "A good analogy is most of us have credit cards, but when is the last time one of us walked into a credit card office to check a bill, ask a question or request an inquiry. 

"When I first came into the Air Force in 1994, people who went on a temporary duty assignment came to the cashier at the finance office and physically received a cash advance," he added. "There will be some pros and cons, which is the case with any transformation, but this is the future of Air Force financial management." 

A Financial Services Transformation Awareness Briefing is currently scheduled at 1:30 p.m. May 22 at the Base Theater to inform and assist Team Moody of the upcoming changes. 

"The event will give an overview of what and why the transformation is happening," said Major Mirro. "The meeting is open to anybody and will explain in detail how our fundamental way of doing business is changing, which will affect everyone on-base to some degree."