The Air Force Contact Center’s Web-based services and contact center officially began taking calls after a ceremony at the Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas.

The center is part of a new initiative called Personnel Services Delivery Transformation, or PSD, which uses technology to place the capability for conducting routine personnel transactions into the hands of Airmen via Web-based services and contact centers.

“PSD is the road from good personnel service delivery to great personnel service delivery,” said Roger M. Blanchard, assistant deputy chief of staff for personnel, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C. “The call center is here to execute that vision. We are on the cutting edge of delivering services to the Air Force community. That’s the road we are on today.”

The center’s opening is just the beginning of many changes Airmen will see in the way they handle tasks concerning their careers -- tasks they normally had to visit their military personnel flight, or MPF, to complete.

The idea behind this transformation is to provide a convenient and secure way from any telephone or Internet-ready computer, allowing Airmen to avoid waiting in lines, save time and fit their personnel business into their own schedule.

The goal is to move 85 percent of MPF actions online. Once the transformation begins, however, it doesn’t mean Airmen still can’t get personal customer service.

“This is a centralized effort and centralization is the beauty of this. We are relieving the pressure from those in the field,” said Maj. Gen. Tony Przybyslawski, AFPC commander. “We are simplifying the process. Now Airmen can make a 90-second transaction at their convenience, instead of what normally might have taken a couple of hours by going to the MPF.”

Several processes like retraining and retirements, currently worked through base-level military personnel flights, will be self-initiated via the Web, and centrally managed and processed at the center.

The transformation is a four-phase program that will continue through 2011. The first phase begins with transferring active-duty personnel actions and will then be further broken up into seven segments called spirals.

Airmen will be able to access the Web-based services through the virtual MPF.