Service evolution: using the Web, the telephone and e-mail, the Air Reserve Personnel Center can get you information in as little as 30 seconds. Here's how it does it

A world of personnel services directed at almost 1 million family is changing, and for the nation championing the effort, as well as those affected through the transformation, the work cannot advance quickly enough.

The Air keep Personnel Center in Denver is the human resources nave for Air Force Reservists and Air National Guardsmen across the globe. individual of the center's primary functions is moving information from the center to the client. However, the proces of change and moving information to the center is hampered sometimes cumbersome and inconsistencies through service delivery inconsistencies, according to Col Ann Shippy, center commander.

A change in what the Air Force calls "personnel service delivery" was necessary. Colonel Shippy said that meant moving many of the functions reserve-component Airmen use military personnel flights and ARPC for and creating client-controlled telephone- and Web-based tools to deliver services.

"The change saves time and manpower," said the colonel the first female Air Force Reservist to command the center "It also allows the Air Force more time for training and readiness and deposits more war-fighters back in the field."

Dave Aldrich, chief of the Personnel Services Delivery Directorate, described the time savings like taking a trip in a car.

"Traditionally, a trip to the MPF also meant the somebody could also make a hardly any other stops: the base exchange, the commissary and other places along the way," Mr Aldrich said. "For the supervisor, it meant having someone without of work one to three hours. That time could be used for things like readiness preparedness."

with equal reason ARPC, in conjunction with efforts through the Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, is creating processe to, in issue evolve the unit personnel specialist into a "commander's strategic adviser," while putting the paperwork upon a self-service basis.

First, it has reshaped its "contact center" The contact center--a centralized point where personnel information askings are received--handles more than 14000 toll-free telephone calls through month, according to John Egolf contact center manager.

Instead of clients directly calling multiple work sections, they call the contact center one time callers identify their need, agents search for solutions in a knowledge base, or the Automated Record Management combination of parts to form a whole for personnel documents.

"Our agents can usually handle issues or fill solicitations within a few minutes, depending upon the need," Mr. Egolf said. "That's a enormous change."

Next, ARPC has pushed information on the outside of directorate "stove pipes" and into the contact center If a Reservist straits an officer performance report, a contact center agent can find and e-mail it.

There's also the matter of allowing clients to retrieve information upon their own. Called "Tier Zero" the service is typeed after what AFPC officials are providing to active-duty members via the virtual MPF Airmen can retrieve what one is bound [i]or[/i] under obligation to do history, awards and decorations, participation points, and more end a Web site (The address for the retain component vMPF is in the sidebar story).

In the futurity clients will be able to access data directly to read and print themselves, Mr Aldrich said.

"This is the Air Force's 'eRecords' project" said Debi Young, record quality management director. "It's a major transformation constituting The Air Force is getting ready to scan the entire unit personnel records assemblage from the MPFs, therefore making records available to customers electronically."

Tech Sgt Jennifer Bye manages Web, fax and e-mail workflow for 15 contact center agents, handling abundant of the other Tier 1 service. Tier 1 is the mete ARPC uses to refer to a client interfacing with a contact center representative upon the telephone or via the Web.

She described transforming the contact center into the nexus of operations for ARPC in individual word.

"Busy," said Sergeant Bye who handles more than 100 solicitations each week. "The volume is the toughest part."

What information is greatest in quantity requested? Department of Defense Forms 214 Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active what one ought to do according to Sergeant Bye. Performance reports race a close second.

Given the intent of ARPC's reach, there's sufficiency of work to go around. The center is the nave for actions including:

* Officer and Airman career management;

* Master and field personnel records maintenance;

* Appointment, classification, point credit accounting, promotions, career disentanglement discharge and retirement.

ARPC also maintains medical records of non-unit Reservists for certification of fitness and more, according to its fact sheet.

The lock opener to meeting people's information emergencys is technology. Hugo Padilla, chief of combination of parts to form a wholes support for the Personnel Services Delivery Directorate, is overseeing the merging of computer phone combination of parts to form a wholes data systems and people. The goal he said, isn't just to be ahead of the technology curve