Notes from the Associate Deputy Assistant Secretary, Financial Operations and Technology

Air Force Comptroller, Fall, 2006 by Richard P. Gustafson

The Defense Travel System is deployed!

The Defense Travel System (DTS), an end-to-end web based application for temporary duty travel (TDY), is now operational at every active Air Force base throughout the world. In August 2006, Los Angeles Air Force Base became the final location to declare Initial Operational Capability (IOC). During fiscal year 2006, SAF/FMPTT with the assistance of all its partners--MAJCOM DTS representatives, base-wide Comptrollers, local commanders, the DTS Program Management Office (PMO) as well as the prime contractor Northrop Grumman Mission Systems (NGMS)--made the implementation of DTS a success for the Air Force.

The deployment of DTS faced many tough challenges. First, the remote geographic locations along with inadequate communication infrastructure in some countries made deploying a difficult effort, particularly in places such as Korea, Japan, and Guam in PACAF, and Turkey, United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and the Azores within USAFE. The second challenge was getting the "just in time" Organizational Defense Travel Administration's formal training to those charged with maintaining and supporting their organizations. Our goal, established by the DTS PMO, was to have the Air Force deployed at all 82 active Air Force bases during PHASE I and II no later than 30 September 2006. With the help of the Air Force Family, we achieved this goal well in advance of the deadline.

Successfully fielding a program such as DTS requires commitment from everyone. From the very start of DTS implementation, senior FM leadership played a vital role in the overall accomplishment of DTS. Teamwork from the MAJCOM FM community directly contributed to this success story. Our MAJCOM partners developed a module adopted as the standard process for deploying DTS, established the standards of excellence, led voucher usage throughout DoD, and assisted the DTS program in identifying travel solutions in the areas of TDY-to-School processes and Group travel functionality. A special thanks to the Air Force Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) office in San Antonio, the Air Force Personnel Center, the Defense Manpower Data Center, and the Air Force Reserve Command's Reserve Travel System unit for assisting in the data mining effort to upload information into the production system. This allowed uploading installation personnel profiles directly into the DTS mainframe, which significantly streamlined the DTS fielding efforts.

In April 2006, the last major Presidential software release "Monroe" was introduced to production; it restructured the budget module, added functionality in the Personal Leave on Travel process, and made navigating DTS easier. Some facts about DTS: the Air Force has averaged roughly 31,000 authorizations and vouchers respectively over the last four months. Overall, DTS has processed more than two million travel vouchers, with minimal intervention. The automated obligation process used to support DTS by DFAS activity has increased the accounting efficiency and timeliness of accounting reporting. The Air Force Travel Re-engineering Division will continue to partner with the PMO to improve system usability and to add much-needed functionality, such as deployment processing, Air Force Reserve, and Air National Guard, and permanent duty travel.

DTS is a success story in the making, thanks to the hard work, cooperative spirit, and talent of our Air Force team. The foundation they've laid will pave our way far into the future.

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