Some personnel services become Web-only

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RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) --  Starting March 15, Airmen will no longer have to stand in line to accomplish a personnel records review or several other common tasks.

To make it easier for personnel customers, six different personnel services are now available only on the Web. Military personnel flight workers will point customers toward the Internet if they want to do any of the following:

-- Update the Record of Emergency Data.

-- Apply for a change to an assignment or change a report-not-later-than date.

-- Apply for certain curtailments of date eligible for return from overseas.

-- Accomplish a humanitarian or exceptional family member program application.

-- Request a 'proof of service' letter, often needed for home loans.

-- Make simple updates to common information like home address, home telephone number, religious preference, race, ethnic group, foreign language self-assessment, duty and personal e-mail addresses.

For people using these services, questions can be answered 24 hours a day online or by a toll-free call to the Air Force Contact Center.

The changes indicate the maturing of the virtual MPF concept and the realities of how busy Airmen are now with fighting the war on terror, said Maj. Gen. Thomas A. O'Riordan, Air Force Personnel Center commander here.

"The primary goal of our virtual services is to save time for our Airmen and commanders in the field," he said. "These transactions are simple and direct. We'll achieve better accuracy and save the Airman a trip to the MPF."

The AFPC director of operations said this is part of an evolution in the way personnel services will be delivered to Airmen in the future.

"We've been headed in this direction for a long while," Col. Dale Hess said. "Our Air Force Contact Center has positioned itself to pick up some of the services by phone or online that people used to have to stand in line for, and we're aggressively upgrading our online capabilities.”

Officials said they expect that more online services will mean less work on both sides of personnel flight help desks, and that they anticipate the average time spent waiting in line for other services will decrease for customers visiting personnel flights.

"We are very concerned about creating more work under the rubric of automation," the general said. "The goal is to slash time across the system and not simply outsource the workload to the Airman."

The changes do not mean that Airmen will not have applications for programs reviewed. The level of approval is not changing; instead, approvals will be routed electronically to the correct approving officials.

For instance a DEROS change requested online on vMPF will now be routed to the contact center, which then coordinates the request through the person’s gaining and losing commanders.

"These processes should also move much quicker," said Jan McIntosh, vMPF functional manager at the AFPC. "The nice thing is the member could initiate these actions at any time -- even at 3 a.m. from home if they wish."

Colonel Hess emphasizes that Airmen will not be turned away from the MPF.

"We'll make sure our customers are guided through the process and it's explained to them," he said. "Airmen nowadays are very adaptable and computer-literate. In no time, this will be second nature to everyone.”

Airmen can access the vMPF through the Air Force Portal, at www.my.af.mil, by clicking on the "careers" tab. It is also available at www.afpc.randolph.af.mil.

For more information, call the Air Force Contact Center at (800) 616-3775. (Courtesy of AFPC News Service)