Financial information systems program office

Air Force Comptroller, July, 2003 by L.S. Rosengarten

I would like to take this opportunity to update you on activities associated with the General Accounting & Finance System (GAFS)/Central Procurement Accounting System (CPAS) merger.

The initial implementation of the GAFS/CPAS merger is scheduled for October 2003. Merging the functionality of the two systems is expected to result in significant cost savings while providing users with one common application to support appropriated fund accounting throughout the Air Force. CPAS/GAFS Merger Integrated Product Teams (IPTs), comprised of representatives from ESC/FN, DFAS-DE, AFMC/ FM, DFAS Field Sites, as well as CPAS and GAFS users, have been meeting to plan the merger and identify/prioritize CPAS functionality that will be migrated to GAFS. User input to the projected schedule has been critical to ensure the system will provide the required initial user support and identify those capabilities that will be scheduled for follow on implementation.

The IPT held in November 2002 reviewed the CPAS screens. All 60 CPAS user screens were reviewed in detail to determine which screens would be transitioned to GAFS, those that would be replaced by current GAFS screens, and requirements for new/revised GAFS screens. Detailed requirements were developed for those screens migrating to GAFS, and the new/revised GAFS screens.

In December 2002, an IPT was held to discuss screen and interface requirements to continue CPAS support/interaction between the merged system and the Defense Industrial Financial Management System (DIFMS) and Depot Materiel Activity Group (DMAG).

The February 2003 IPT reviewed products and reports to determine if GAFS had a similar report that could be combined, or if a new one had to be created. This meeting addressed all current CPAS reports and whether or not they are currently being used in the field. Of the 124 Products/Reports reviewed, 80 were removed, 6 are EC/EDI related (planned for release under the enhancement stage of the CPAS/GAFS Merger project--March 2004), 22 products are to transfer to GAFS-BL, and 16 will become queries.

The most recent IPT held in April 2003 addressed the requirements for populating CPAS records (only Open Records) into the GAFS Database through the creation of automated addresses (CSRs, FSRs, PSRs) using data elements passed from CPAS.

CPAS functional requirements for the initial implementation will be completed incrementally during 2003. Releases are planned for April, July, August, and September. The Unisys Pre-Validation module was released for GAFS in January 2003 to provide a replacement capability for the current CPAS Automated Pre-Validation Module. Additional enhancements are planned for March, April, and August 2004.

Although we are working under an aggressive schedule and this is a major workload, we are confident that the merged system will be implemented on time.