Reserve system streamlines Air Force travel processing
by Jim Miller
Air Force Reserve Command Public Affairs
2/10/2004 - ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFPN) -- Accurate and secure records, universal e-mail copies of vouchers and possibly faster payouts are what Air Force travelers have to look forward to starting this spring.
Financial management offices throughout the active-duty Air Force are set to begin using Air Force Reserve Command’s Reserve Travel System on March 31. Air National Guard offices are expected to go online in July.
“The Reserve Travel System is the only travel computation system that specifically addresses the varied needs and requirements for Reserve travel vouchers, including multiple orders and changes in status,” said Penny Meredith-Pogue, chief of the financial systems branch at AFRC headquarters here. “RTS also computes travel vouchers for civilians and active-duty people, as well as civilian and military permanent-change-of-station vouchers.”
Sixteen Air Force Reserve travel offices have been using the Windows-based application since 1998, and eight active-duty sites adopted the system between 2000 and 2002. The active-duty sites began using the system because they process so many travel vouchers for reservists.
“The Reserve Travel System is great example of the Air Force Reserve and active-duty force working together within Air Force financial management,” said Lt. Col. Patrick Coe, director of the Air Force Accounting and Finance Office in Denver. “Air Force-wide use of the RTS will benefit us all in several ways. It has a wider range of functions than the alternatives, including making it easier for active-duty bases to process Reserve travel transactions.”
Travel offices will like the system because it accounts for funds better than other systems and it is easier to enter data, find data and generate reports, said Michael Punch, a systems accountant at the AFRC headquarters financial systems branch. Other benefits include bringing in more data automatically and fewer manual steps in sending e-mail vouchers.
Travel office people type the travel voucher information into the RTS on a desktop computer, which sends file information to the local accounting and disbursing offices, as well as Government Travel Card offices. All of the computers are tied to a main system. Active-duty offices will link to the Air Force leave Web server.
“The Reserve Travel System is very user friendly and self explanatory,” said Judy Matthews, a travel voucher examiner at McGuire Air Force Base, N.J. “We got the system in November 2002, and I learned it from scratch. It makes sense to me.”
Ten years ago officials in the Air Force Reserve headquarters’ financial management directorate set out to find an automated system to replace processing vouchers by hand.
“They realized that what was available didn’t meet the Air Force Reserve’s needs, so in-house contractors designed a DOS-based system,” Ms. Meredith-Pogue said. “That system was reengineered into our current 32-bit Windows-based client server application. Eight people from the headquarters worked on the new system so it would improve productivity and provide consistent, reliable service.”
About 180 people from active-duty travel offices and another 180 from the Air National Guard will learn how “friendly” the Reserve Travel System is when they start attending a one-week training course at AFRC headquarters. Each class will have about 30 people. (Courtesy of AFRC News Service) |
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