Photo By Staff Sgt. Tiffany Lindemann | Brett Barrows, 512th Financial Management chief of travel, discusses reservist travel...... read more read more
With constant deployments, TDYs and out-of-town reservists, it’s safe to say the 512th Financial Management team here never slows down.
Within the last year, the office’s workflow has seen even more of an uptick, and the 512th FM office has risen to the task.
Since August 2015, the office has seen a drastic increase in the amount of travel vouchers. The FM team of three has pushed through an average of 500 travel vouchers a month and regularly reviews approximately 650 vouchers a month, said Pamela Jackson, 512th FM supervisor.
The gap of 150 in travel vouchers processed versus vouchers reviewed results from the fact that 1 in every 3 travel vouchers submitted to the finance office is returned for a correction.
Vouchers can be returned to Airmen for a number of reasons, including itineraries not matching, absent nonavailability letters and even things as simple as missing signatures or incorrect social security numbers.
“We think that signing our travel voucher is the task,” said Jackson. “We need to work on getting out of this mindset and think of the task as reviewing the voucher.”
Although there may still be room for improvement in submitting error-free vouchers, the 512th AW has seen an improvement in the wing submitting more vouchers in less time. This is ultimately the reason for increased operations in the FM office, said Jackson.
The upsurge in reservists submitting travel vouchers immediately after duty and TDYs is in large part due to wing leadership, she added.
“The wing commander is meeting with the people doing the work,” she said. “He’s down on the floor working this stuff, making sure it gets done. The significance in Airmen submitting travel authorizations and vouchers in a timely manner plays a larger role in the wing’s budget and “report card.”
When members do not submit vouchers immediately following the completion of orders, money that was set aside to pay for duty just sits in a pot. When the money sits there for too long, it reflects reservists who haven’t been paid for their time worked. These long delinquencies in paying Airmen, due to unsubmitted vouchers, are reported to 4th Air Force.
In the meantime, Government Travel Cards can quickly become overdue, creating trouble and stress for Airmen.
The timeliness of voucher submissions is the one area that every Airmen can have a direct impact, said the 512th AW Commander Col. Scott “Bull” Durham, who has been closely involved with the process.
The FM team acknowledged the Defense Travel System is not very user-friendly and can sometimes account for the delay in getting paid. Durham says this is especially hard for traditional reservists who are only on base two days a month and may not understand the complexity of DTS. He describes it as turbo tax on steroids.
To combat this problem, Airmen can attend a DTS lab that takes place nearly every Saturday of Unit Training Assembly weekends in the 512th AW Headquarters building. In the lab, Airmen can submit their travel vouchers on the spot, with the help of voucher experts.
Every voucher that is submitted in the DTS lab is a 100 percent turnaround with no corrections needed, said Brett Barrows, 512th FM chief of travel.
“The finance team does a great job helping,” said Senior Airman Olarenwaju Olaniregun, 46th Aerial Port Squadron specialist, who has attended the DTS lab multiple times. “Every time you travel, you have to file a voucher, and it’s difficult with DTS; but now with this lab, it’s so much easier. They know what to do and are very helpful.”
In the midst of an already busy year for the FM team, the Air Force Reserve Command recently chose the 512th AW as a pilot base for a new financial program.
The program, which began in June, tests the process of Airmen at reserve tenant units submitting a traditional paper travel voucher, known as the Reserve Travel System. This is in contrast to how Airmen usually submit vouchers online through the Defense Travel System. The pilot program ends in September.
Airmen who submit paper vouchers with zero discrepancies, until the program ends, can expect to receive payments within 10 business days compared to the average 45 day delay it would usually take, said Barrows.
As the pilot program is still ongoing, it’s too early to tell if the new process has had an impact on the decreased outstanding travel vouchers so quickly.
To reduce the chances of a voucher being returned for corrections, Airmen who go on orders should read their orders thoroughly to know exactly what their entitlements are, specifically the second page known as the Air Force Form 938, said Jackson.
The AF Form 938 also lets Airmen know whether they should submit their travel voucher through RTS or DTS.
Due to the success of the 512th FM team and the wing this last year, Durham has been proactive in pushing a new process forward to continue growing success in the wing’s reduction of GTC debt since his tenure began last August.
The new process includes a designated GTC liaison for each of the 512th AW groups and aims to ultimately help keep Airmen on track in submitting their travel vouchers, along with streamlining the process of submitting vouchers.
Since taking command, Durham has been adamant about reducing the wing’s GTC debt, and in turn has requested squadron GTC liaisons work on orders to help reduce the number of outstanding vouchers, said Jackson.
“I think we’re moving in the right direction,” said Durham to the 512th AW GTC squadron liaisons in their weekly status meeting. “We want to make it so Airmen always have a resource there to help out. This ultimately directly impacts this wing’s ability to execute our worldwide mobility mission”
In August 2015, there were 113 Airmen in the wing with outstanding obligated funds – the money sitting in the pot, waiting to be paid out. At the end of July 2016, there were only 27 Airmen with outstanding obligated funds, according to the 512th FM office.
The 512th leadership, FM office and the wing as a whole have shown through the last year what progress can be made when everyone plays their part. However, the work isn’t over, said Jackson. She and her team remain optimistic though that, working together, these numbers will continue to fall.
“I definitely think we can lower these numbers even more,” she added. “We just need to remember the task is to review our vouchers, not just to sign them.”
| Date Taken: | 08.10.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 08.10.2016 16:12 |
| Story ID: | 206742 |
| Location: | DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, DE, US |
| Web Views: | 54 |
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