Darrell Adams, USAF: IT Consolidation Efforts Continue

August 12, 2011

Air Force officials continue to research smart and innovative solutions since merging information technology activities from four Air Force-level field operating agencies into a centralized organization in April.

Members of the Air Force Personnel Operations Agency have used business process reengineering events to refine their internal processes and improve their ability to provide comprehensive information technology services to Headquarters Air Force, Deputy Chief of Staff Manpower, Personnel and Services, Air Force Personnel Center, Air Force Services Agency, Air Force Manpower Agency and their customers.

"BPRs look at the existing processes among the four agencies to see how we can reengineer them in an effort to integrate and consolidate as much as possible without breaking them," said Darrell Adams, AFPOA's IT consolidation program manager. "We want to reduce the number of processes out there. If we can get one process or one business system that does the same thing for all four agencies then that's what we are trying to do."

AFPOA has completed 11 of 15 BPRs since consolidating IT operations within the Air Force manpower, personnel and services community. The last four BPRs are scheduled to be completed by the end of August.

Since the BPRs were initiated, AFPOA managers have recommended putting a larger emphasis on adopting best practices from the Information Technology Infrastructure Library. According to the ITIL website, ITIL is an approach to IT service management that provides a practical, no-nonsense framework for identifying, planning, delivering and supporting IT services.

"It really is an industry standard we are trying use as much as possible as a model for our organization," Adams said. "ITIL provides a cohesive set of best practices from the public and private sectors."

In addition to consolidating IT infrastructure, hardware, and other assets, AFPOA is also integrating several administrative programs that are associated with managing an Air Force-level field operating agency. Some of these programs affect personnel management and civilian pay, compensation and benefits.

"The biggest challenge for us is staying on top of the manpower changes because we want to make sure we don't interfere with anybody's pay or leave or job when you move people to different positions," said Adams.

Team members from all four agencies have been wearing multiple hats since the IT consolidation began to participate in BPRs and continue to meet mission requirements.

"The BPR teams are putting a tremendous amount of time and effort toward this project in conjunction with performing their normal duties and responsibilities," Adams said. "They deserve all the credit for getting us as far along as we are in completing the IT merger."

Lt. Gen. Darrell D. Jones, the Air Force's deputy chief of staff for manpower and personnel, recently directed the realignment and consolidation of IT activities from HAF/A1, AFPOA, AFPC, AFSVA, and AFMA. The new organization consolidated over 400 positions from the affected agencies and merged them into the AFPOA organizational infrastructure.

In August, AFPOA conducted town hall meetings at Randolph and Lackland Air Force bases to discuss the progress they have made with the IT consolidation plan with affected military and civilian IT members.