DFAS conquers pandemic technological challenges

INDIANAPOLIS, IN, UNITED STATES

04.30.2021

Story by Christopher Allbright 

Defense Finance and Accounting Service

According to many Defense Finance and Accounting Service officials, when DFAS decided to go into a sustained telework posture in March 2020, it came with enormous technological challenges. Through a series of collaborative efforts across multiple sites and the use of various platforms, the change was virtually invisible to the outside world.

Although many of the nearly 11,500 DFAS employees were already teleworking at least one day during the workweek before 2020, the increased number of employees working online at the same time had the potential to create a virtual logjam.

"The Information Technology (IT) team was standing tall and working actions," said Operations Deputy Director, Aaron Gillison. "You might say it was lucky, but it was also good planning that we increased our VPN capabilities to handle 8,000 to 10,000 folks at any given time."

Gillison noted that Paul Gass, DFAS chief information officer, worked to increase the capability even further to handle 14,000 teleworkers on the network as the pandemic period expanded beyond the initial national campaign of "Two weeks to slow the spread."

On March 17, 2020, DFAS made the decision to transition operational capabilities to a maximum telework environment. IT leadership assessed internet and work access across the entire agency ensuring employees had connection capabilities. IT personnel acquired and distributed equipment necessary to continue mission operations such as webcams, headsets, docking stations, and printers, despite significant national supply chain disruptions for these products.

INTERNAL TRANSITION
Gass had his team working on the situation starting in February when the world and national events seemed to be spiraling toward an eventual "shutdown." However, for DFAS, the word "shutdown" is not in the vocabulary because its 12 million customers still needed to be paid, and the business of the Defense Department needed to continue.

"The necessary COVID-19 pandemic response, however unfortunate, allowed DFAS to demonstrate both its maturity in contingency planning and preparation, and its flexibility as a provider of critical services for the Department of Defense and its service members and employees," said Gass.

As workers moved to their homes, the information systems moved to a "completely altered, semi-permanent operating environment where we have been challenged to sustain productivity through the complexities of a remote environment," he stated, meaning the systems and applications had to continue to connect the people using them.

Altaf Hussain, Support Service director for Enterprise Management Services, said, "Notwithstanding some hiccups early on, teleconferencing was critically important to be able to talk across the agency," he pointed out. "Without technology, teleworking, and IT support, we couldn't have done what we were able to do. Technology saved the mission during the pandemic."

"Leaders and supervisors figured out how to reach out to teams and individuals to leverage the virtual technology in creative ways to get some semblance of 'normal' in a very abnormal time period," said Strategy, Policy, and Requirements Director, Mike Leist. He was working with the Disaster Management Group at the time as the Enterprise Management Services Director.

Gillison said one outcome of the past year is more employees knowing what technological tools are available and how to use them, such as Skype to Adobe Connect. Gillison, a former DFAS IT director, said he now conducts meetings each morning on Microsoft Teams.

Employees had to learn how to continue communicating with their supervisors and teammates using existing technology and creative means. "Having video capabilities helps us keep that connection that humans need," Gillison said. "Even if you can't be present with someone, you're able to see them."

Gillison said IT "took the challenges as opportunities and turned them into effective capabilities."

DFAS Principal Deputy Director Jonathan Witter echoed the comments by providing an example of having more "brown bag" lunch sessions with his team across the different sites because technology allowed him to cut across geographical boundaries.

Witter said using tools for virtual teams and events would continue in the future. "We've learned how to reach out, connect, and communicate virtually," he stated. "We've demonstrated to ourselves and others our ability to be highly flexible and highly successful."

According to Daryl Lassen, the DFAS IT Infrastructure Services director, the IT team "successfully integrated remote capability tools throughout DFAS." The tools included CVR/Microsoft Teams, Adobe Connect, APAN, DCS, Microsoft Skype, Cisco Works, and GoToMeeting. "Currently, over 95 percent of the agency has active accounts, with over 50 percent logging into CVR," he said.

By implementing the tools and using what was already out there, many directors held virtual all-hands meetings. Employees collaborated with other DoD Agencies through video and real-time collaboration in a way never possible pre-pandemic. In late October 2020, IT officials activated the webcams on many computers throughout the agency, enabling people to have voice and visual capabilities.

TRAINING CONTINUES
Training for DFAS employees continued through the Learning & Development Dashboard, including those courses typically held in a classroom. Using the tools mentioned above, trainers provided professional development and education opportunities.

"We figured out how to do virtual training, and we converted 70 to 80 different courses from in-person to virtual," Gillison said, "and we figured out how to do supervisor forums and keep people informed."

In coordination with the Learning and Development team, the IT Team ensured employees could successfully use alternative methods and technology without disruption to the agency, the employee, and the vendor. "Our network has done very well with these virtual trainings," said Lassen.

The expanded virtual environment for training classes, seminars, and conferences allowed more employees the opportunity to participate as travel costs were eliminated due to travel restrictions.

Cybersecurity efforts, critical throughout the pandemic period, require certifications for over 1,000 DFAS cybersecurity workforce personnel; however due to COVID, the training and testing were not readily available. DFAS was proactive in addressing this on behalf of the affected employees by obtaining the first agency-specific waiver within the Defense Department to adjust for the unanticipated delays.

"DFAS led DoD in requesting the first agency-wide waiver for our entire cybersecurity workforce, so they were not negatively impacted by a requirement that was not able to be met based on circumstances outside of their control," according to Gass.



CONNECTING EXTERNALLY
The internal IT effort was a significant portion of the equation, but IT officials also worked to allow directorates to reach beyond the infrastructure of DFAS as IT employees collaborated with their internal clients to create benefits for external customers.

One critical example where IT collaborated with Military and Civilian Pay was implementing the Presidential Executive Order associated with the deferment of Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) payroll tax for military and civilian pay systems.

"The order was a massive change to how taxes would be handled for a specific, limited period of time across hundreds of millions of people nationwide," said Gass. "The change normally would've taken more than a year to develop, test, and deploy, but IT was able to respond over a three-week time period to ensure that DFAS met the OMB [Office Management and Budget] mandate to enact Treasury guidance to provide COVID-19 relief to military service members and federal civilian employees."

IT worked with DFAS teams on the Defense Civilian Pay System and the Defense Joint Military Pay System to "quickly develop a successful methodology for the implementation of the 2020 COVID-19 OASDI payroll tax deferral, resulting in timely deferrals and compliance with Treasury and OMB mandates to cease withholding OASDI."

TECHNOLOGY ENVIRONMENT CONTINUES
In this environment, virtually or with technology, DFAS IT as a team supported all areas of DFAS operations to keep them connected.

"As of today, IT has provided a VPN capability 900 percent larger than the previous network capacity when the pandemic started," Gass said. "This allows us to do to all the cool stuff, such as use video tools with our cameras on VPN, without worrying about the network."

The DFAS effort received Department-level recognition as "an example of DoD success" when the DoD deputy secretary of defense called out DFAS as a "shining example" of things working together. Gass said he was "very proud of the work DFAS put into preparing for something like this and the resilience demonstrated by the agency that has allowed us to set a new standard in many ways."

"The base upon which all DFAS mission success is rooted is in its people. The tools its people use are dependent on an appropriate and sufficient IT infrastructure of support and services," Gass said, noting, "DFAS IT continues to flex and provide the essential support the agency needs, regardless of the work environment."

• Date Taken: 04.30.2021
• Date Posted: 12.28.2021 15:35
• Story ID: 411983
• Location: INDIANAPOLIS, IN, US