AF financial management leaders visit Ellsworth

  • Published
  • By 2nd Lt. Lauren Wright
  • 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. --  Key leaders in the Air Force financial management community converged at Ellsworth in late February to discuss current issues impacting training and development of the enlisted FM force, financial operations and ongoing progress in the stand-up of the Air Force Financial Services Center, which is on time and within budget.

The guiding reason for standing-up the AFFSC and development of consolidated financial services is to be more effective, more efficient and provide enhanced customer service.

"We are trying very hard to streamline the amount of time our warfighters are away from their primary mission," said Mr. James Short, Headquarters U.S. Air Force deputy secretary for financial operations, office of the assistant secretary for financial management and comptroller. "We have declining resources, competing priorities, and we have to get better at the way we provide service to our customers."

Delivering that enhanced customer service will be achieved by proving 24-7 services to customers around the world - whether deployed or at home.

The team has identified certain processes like travel and military pay transactions that the center will be able to migrate first by consolidating the back office functions currently being performed at financial services offices across the Air Force. Other capabilities could follow with customer feedback and troubleshooting. Using this phased process, most of the service will be eventually provided through the Internet, interactive voice response and other self-service applications used by private industry.

Hundreds of people are working together to make that happen.

Part of that planning success can be attributed to lessons learned from private companies and the research completed by an integrated team of financial experts, said Mr. Short.

Up to 750 people will be working at the center at Ellsworth after everything is in place and fully operational. Some members of the initial cadre are already in place.

"Ellsworth will continue to support the stand-up of the Air Force Financial Services Center staff and leadership," said Col. Jeffry Smith, 28th Bomb Wing commander. "Several agencies on base have already assisted with the consolidation, and many more will be involved with this transition. We are committed to ensuring the AFFSC is a success for the entire Air Force."

"One of the things that stuck out about Ellsworth was the welcoming - this was supported by the community, the base and the congressional leadership," said Mr. Short, who was part of the selection committee for the center. "Ellsworth has been absolutely superb delivering the things we've asked of them."

The plan is to open the central processing center and consolidated back office operations by Oct. 1. In October 2008, the doors should open for the contact center - the one-stop shop for customer service.

"We're excited about this," Mr. Short said. "This is probably one of the largest transformational initiatives the financial management community has taken on in years. The fact we are on schedule and within budget speaks volumes about the corporation and the support we've received from all of the stakeholders."