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If you have worked in the S1 shop in the last few years or have been a Soldier waiting on an HR function to be completed then you know that there are many systems involved in Army Human Resources and Financial Management. What complicates matters even more is moving from one component to another, e.g. active to Reserve, and hoping those systems talk to each other – they did not.
Enter IPPS-A, or the Integrated Personnel and Pay System – Army, meant to combine systems, and assist commanders, HR providers, and individual Soldiers across all three Army components. Fort Jackson is scheduled to begin using the program in 2021. Commanders from across post were given an informational brief about the program Nov. 9-10.
Vice Chief of Staff of the Army, Gen. Joseph M. Martin was quoted in an Army News Service article that the system will help the Army modernize.
“We are moving out of the industrial age into the information age, as it pertains to Human Resources management, and it allows us to manage talent like we never have before in the United States Army,” he said. “This system extends Human Resources capabilities to the tactical edge.”
IPPS-A integrates all three components into a modern HR system and provides a single database. Commanders, S1/G1, S3/G3, and HR providers can build reports and analytics to provide accurate personnel and unit strength information. The program sends HR data to readiness systems for unit status reporting.
IPPS-A is already live for the Army National Guard. Release 3 will add the Army Reserve and Active components by December 2021.
Col. Gregory Johnson, the functional lead for team IPPS-A, spoke about the new system in an informational video released last month by Army Public Affairs.
“Release 3 is a big move for the Army to finally get all three components into one system,” he said. “We’re going to streamline business processes…and then include talent management. So it’s really a shift from HR to a talent management system.”
Johnson said another focus moving forward is on data correctness.
“For 40 years we’ve had many systems, many interfaces, and many data elements that were redundant with all those systems,” he said. “So there are inaccuracies, across the board, in most of our systems…we want to make sure that the most accurate data from (each) Soldier’s profile is brought into IPPS-A when we go live in December of ’21.”
IPPS-A will be pulling data from the several key HR and military training systems and will give different capabilities to different audiences. Commanders will be able to accurately see their unit readiness and talent inside of their units.
Soldiers will have mobile access to personal pay and HR data and will be able to track actions from start to finish. Once actions are approved the changes will reflect in their profiles immediately. “We’ve rolled out a mobile app where Soldiers can use their personal mobile devices to access the system and to do personnel action requests, so this is a first for the Army,” Johnson said.
For HR professionals this new system provides a single point of entry. It automates numerous manual HR and pay processes, allows move from transactions to deeper analysis of readiness and talent, and gives a near real-time analytics tool that shows deeper understanding of unit readiness.
Part of the preparation for this release includes having designated action officers within each brigade and battalion to facilitate the process. Also, Train the Trainer personnel are being identified and will be the subject matter experts and trainers within respective elements. 1,700 or so train the trainers which will be trained in a two-week certification course in July across 33 locations across the globe. Fort Jackson will be one of those locations.
There is already a wealth of knowledge online to make navigating IPPS-A as simple as possible including YouTube videos, a Facebook page and an Instagram page offering training videos and round table discussions. There will also be a user guide so HR professionals can attempt to resolve issues themselves.
Senior commanders will need to appoint an IPPS-A coordinator. Here at Fort Jackson the coordinator is Vernell Butler, Human Resources Specialist with the Army Training Center’s G1.
“IPPS-A is the way forward for the HR profession and the Finance Profession. It’s going to be a one-stop for Soldiers, commanders, and HR professionals,” Butler said.
| Date Taken: | 11.19.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 11.19.2020 11:37 |
| Story ID: | 383358 |
| Location: | FORT JACKSON, SC, US |
| Web Views: | 117 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Program gives HR, Finance professionals a tactical edge, by Josephine Carlson, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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