Air Reserve Personnel Center Public Affairs
7/15/2013 - BUCKLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- Headquarters, Air Reserve Personnel Center was recently awarded the Air Force Organizational Excellence Award for exceptionally meritorious service from Oct. 1, 2010 to Sept. 30, 2012.
During this period, the center's strategic vision, new information technology system support and integrated solutions for the Air Force and Air Reserve communities provided for more efficient support to nearly 1 million Guard and Reserve members, retirees, and their families.
"Congratulations to the innovative civilians and military members on the ARPC team," said Brig. Gen. Jay Flournoy, ARPC commander. "From an efficient headquarters transfer to the implementation and improvement of programs like e-BOSS and vPC-GR, our customers saw minimal interruption in service and today have access to more user friendly systems."
Members assigned to ARPC during the award period are authorized to wear the Air Force Organizational Excellence Award ribbon on their "blues" uniforms, and civilians are authorized to wear the pin. The 460th Military Personnel Section Force Support Squadron and civilian personnel will load the award for affected members, who can later go into myPers to verify the award is in the system.
ARPC's mission is to ensure members are ready to provide total force war-fighting capability for the Air Force and provide Guard and Reserve members with support from entry to retirement. Customer service is paramount at ARPC.
One critical branch most members will come into contact with is the Points Management Branch where representatives, like Nanina Baldwin, build records and service histories for enlisted members and officers transferring into the Air National Guard or Air Force Reserve. During the award period, the branch created more than 7,000 new records within four months of a member entering the Guard or Reserve.
Baldwin has focused solely on officer records for the past nine years and assisted nearly 2,000 officers a year. She pours through various systems to find supporting documentation and verifies critical dates and points are entered correctly. Some cases can take hours to research.
"The process can get complicated, especially for members who've also served in other branches of service," Baldwin said. "If the member is missing documents or something doesn't seem correct, we often coordinate with our contacts in the other services to get supporting records."
She has also educated members and helped find solutions. She worked with individuals who had "bad years" and didn't realize it. A reservist must have 50 points during each retention/retirement year, but if they do not meet that requirement, the year cannot be counted toward retirement. Sometimes it's because the member transferred from a different service and the R/R date may have changed. Also some customers may not have been educated on how the R/R year process works. Baldwin recommends reservists check their points at least once a year in Virtual Military Personnel Flight or Virtual Personnel Center- Guard Reserve or call ARPC's Total Force Service Center-Aurora.
Computer systems were also changed and improved upon for ease of use.
A new automated case management system allowed ARPC representatives to access multiple personnel systems and answer questions electronically from customers requesting help through vPC-GR and myPers.
"It has greatly reduced the amount of paperwork, cut down on response time and has allowed for better tracking," explained Mark Williams, deputy director of Future Operations and Integration.
The Electronic Board Operations Support System was also brought online during this period for use during promotion boards. e-BOSS is a system that automated all officer records, saving man hours and money. The system allows promotion board members to pull-up records on their screen and score each officer's record electronically.
Finally, during the award period, ARPC moved 400 employees from the former Lowry AFB to Buckley AFB over a weekend with no interruption of customer service. Future Operations and Integration carefully planned the IT move, accounting for every detail.
"We were like a surgical team," said Williams, when explaining the process.
The entire move took only 90 minutes, and ARPC was serving customers the following Monday.
Maj. Susan Murphy, Promotion Eligibility Division chief, worked with each of the branches to put together the award package. She was impressed by the assistance offered by ARPC, from documentation for the Post 9-11 GI bill benefits to the design of the Reduced Retired Pay Age vPC-GR application and work done in retirements.
"Writing the award package for ARPC was a rewarding experience. It was amazing to capture how much the center has accomplished and is still accomplishing regarding transformational improvements, technological advancements, and our premier customer service actions," she said.
The Air Force Personnel Center website describes the Air Force Organizational Unit Award as recognizing the accomplishments of unique internal organizations that perform functions normally done by numbered wings, groups, and squadrons. ARPC is a direct reporting unit of Air Force Reserve Command with technical and policy guidance provided by the Chief of Air Force Reserve.
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