Air Force Service Day: financial management transformation initiatives update.

In this year--the 100th anniversary of powered flight--the Air Force celebrates a rich heritage that is deeply rooted in innovation, the wonder of technology, a passion for exploration and, yes, a vision to go where no one has gone before in ways that no one has ever done. And now, as we begin the second century of powered flight, we are part of an Air Force that is powered not only by technological breakthroughs but also by exciting changes in doctrine, tactics, integration, and the way we think about air and space power and warfare.

At the same time, today's international security environment is radically different from the one we faced during the Cold War. While we understood the Soviet threat and maintained a long-standing policy of deterrence, today's adversary is not only more difficult to understand but also more difficult to identify. As a result, we have been forced to prepare for an increasingly broad range of contingencies to execute a new strategy of global engagement. What that means is that demand for our Service--and our services--is way up!

As evidenced in recent conflicts, our Air Force people are meeting the challenges brought on by all these changes head on, and they are delivering and accomplishing their mission in ways that go well beyond innovative or--dare I say--transformational.

In Afghanistan and Iraq, we've seen Special Forces troops on horseback calling in air strikes with a laptop computer. In Iraq, just recently, bombs from a B-1 hit the target within 45 minutes of the time we received the intelligence assessment that Iraqi leadership was possibly in a particular building. There have been Hellfire missiles fired from Predators and streaming video beamed directly to AC-130 gunships from those same Predators: precision munitions able to strike not just a building, but a room on a particular floor. That's a capabilities-based, effects-based force that's poised for success in the twenty-first century.

It is not, however, enough to put that transformational effort into our weapon systems alone. We must put that same level of effort and thought into the transformation of our financial management and business practices. Our Air Force financial management must be as sophisticated as the weapons systems and warfighting concepts we support. In other words, we have to be every bit as good as, or better than, the Air Force is at large; otherwise, we'll be relegated to the sidelines.

In a nutshell, that's our transformation challenge and that's where I want to spend the balance of my time with you today. Yes, I introduced and spoke about our efforts on this topic at last year's Professional Development Institute. But I'm convinced we can never talk enough about it--and act on what we talk about--because it's in presenting the message repeatedly that we reinforce how important continuous and steady change is to our professional community and how key the role is we play in shaping the Air Force's future.

As I see it, the challenge boils down to two elements:

* We must continue to operate--continue to perform, continue to deliver, continue to operate (providing transaction services, risk management and internal control oversight, and decision support).

* At the same time we must change....

Operate while we change? At the same time? That's like building an airplane while we fly it! By "change," I mean being more strategic and relevant. "More strategic and relevant" means adding value. "More value" means less transaction processing, more efficient internal control, more decision support--being more capable, competent, and skilled to help decision makers make well-informed strategic decisions.

The FM Vision

But the question is: How do we do that?

That's exactly what our vision captures and conveys. The vision statement we developed and published last year was merely the first step to help us figure this out:

* Strategic partners

* Ultimate choices for information

* World-class teams

* Deliver the best

It challenged us to enhance the skill sets of our people, to design or redesign our processes for efficiency, and to fix our systems. We're already doing some of this now.

Vision Accomplishments to Date

For example, in just the past several months, we have formed two new directorates on the Financial Management (FM) Air Staff that will put needed resources, focus, and attention on aligning our people, processes, and technologies. The Workforce Management Directorate (FMPW) will provide the plans, expertise, and coordination to ensure that we accomplish our workforce development imperatives. This will centralize all our human resources tasks and activities--recruiting, development, and retention--into a single entry point.

Working closely with the Air Force Chief Information Officer, the FM Operations and Technology Directorate (FMPT) will develop an FM information technology (IT) architecture and manage and coordinate our IT assets across the Air Force. This unit will help us leverage the benefits of modernization and transformation initiatives like the Business Management Modernization Program, for instance, so that we don't waste resources by continuing to proliferate point or unique solutions.

With respect to our processes, the goal is to redesign, streamline, or even divest them so that we can deliver better core financial services. Some of this core process work includes fixing our military pay and vendor pay processes, improving our customer service through Web-based tools and a 24-hour virtual call center, establishing selected integration with the personnel community and systems, and reengineering the interface between the Air Force and the DFAS.

These projects are just our first steps; more will follow, with a continued emphasis on fixing and connecting our financial and Air Force feeder systems; reducing our cost structure and improving cost control; and, most importantly, building an even more capable and diverse set of FM talent.

But to do all this requires the kind of details--the road map or blueprint--that the vision statement did not provide. That's what our about-to-be-released FM Strategic Plan will address.

FM Strategic Plan

I believe it was Yogi Berra who once said, "If you don't know where you're going, how will you know when you get there?"

Our vision tells us where we're going; the Strategic Plan tells us what we need to do to get there. In short, it completes the vision and makes it actionable and measurable. It brings together all the moving parts of Air Force Transformation and the continuous improvement initiatives taking place throughout the FM community.

Our Strategic Plan links our vision, missions, goals, strategy, objectives, initiatives, and action plan into a coherent whole. When we release it, you'll see that it uses the Balanced Scorecard framework. We did that because the scorecard is a tool that helps operationalize the strategy by linking initiatives and measures to strategic objectives. Our plan has 17 objectives balanced across 3 themes and 4 perspectives.

At a high level, that means we'll work on equipping our people with the right skills and the latest tools, processes, and systems that deliver value to the customer and achieve financial and mission targets. Meanwhile, the entire effort will be designed to focus on warfighter support, strategic resourcing and cost management, and information reliability and integration.

But like the vision, the Strategic Plan is only a tool to help us get to where we need to be. It will only be as useful as you decide to make it. That's why this plan's success, our plan's success, our vision's success, rests with you. That's why I'm spending my personal effort on the people component of this transformation.

People First

To truly integrate ourselves as financial managers into the Air Force decision-making process--to be strategic partners--we need to grow, develop, train, educate, and groom our people and continuously refresh their skills in a systematic and organized way. That's where FMPW will help. The dollars are there; the programs are there. We just need to deliver and execute them in a more coherent way. The essence of this purposeful development rests on 3 elements: institutional learning, on-the-job training (OJT), and self-development.

For formal training, our people must be made aware of and be permitted to capitalize on the numerous training opportunities available so that they can "upskill" themselves. In this area, we are making progress to facilitate the training and learning experience. Last year, we introduced Resource Advisor distance-learning courses. This year, we released distance-learning courses for base-level financial analysts needing to develop cost analysis skills. In addition to these courses, we are also developing a combat comptroller curriculum to ensure that we provide the best possible advice and support to the warfighter living at "the pointy end of the spear." Additionally, we are working with Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) to create new ways of delivering cost education capabilities.

One area I'm especially excited about is our FM Knowledge Management (KM) Web site. Organized with Communities of Practice (such as Budget, Cost), this tool will help us identify, capture, store, distribute, and leverage the valuable wealth of knowledge and ideas locked within us. FM KM will make it very easy to share and retrieve knowledge anytime, anywhere, anyplace. Indeed, our people are using it to help them perform better in bare-base situations. That's institutional learning--the first of the development triad.

For OJT, nothing beats learning by doing. So, one of our key goals will be to expand and broaden the experiences and backgrounds of our workforce--what some call career broadening.

By career broadening, I mean affording you the opportunity to do something other than what you ordinarily do by working in other FM disciplines; by working in other Air Force functional communities; by working in joint jobs or different parts of OSD [Office of the Secretary of Defense] and other agencies; and, ultimately, by attending the best graduate school you can or accepting opportunities to work with industry.

What I would really prefer to see is more mobility between the private and the public sectors--great talent moving in and out of both sectors, fully cognizant that experience in either sector will be career-enhancing. Do you think a year working in Bill Gates' FM organization would be insightful and exciting?

Finally, in the area of self-development, you have the power to influence your own destiny. Each day, you have an extraordinary opportunity, a chance to be better than you were yesterday. And, in doing so, you are preparing diligently for the next opportunity after that. You see, the more prepared you are (the more competent and credible you are), the higher the likelihood that you'll knock the cover off the ball when the bat's placed in your hands.

Winston Churchill once said, "To every man, there comes in his lifetime that special moment when he is tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique and fitted to his talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared and unqualified for the work that would be his finest hour."

Conclusion

As you can see, there is a lot on our Transformation plate. We have taken some steps, made modest progress, but there is much left to do to maintain the forward momentum on our transformation journey. I realize we are all so busy with our current jobs that it is not easy to find the time or resources to make impactful changes. The "tyranny of the urgent versus the important" always provides a convenient excuse for postponing action or investment until the time is right. But we don't have the luxury of time outs. We must act and we must stay the course!

With dedicated, committed, and well-trained people, we will achieve our vision. And that's where I'll concentrate my energies: on our people, making them more skilled, competent, diverse, educated, enriched, and experienced.

As strategic partners, we will give leaders better decision support and financial analysis, outstanding customer service and support, better financial information, and budgets that will be performance-based, not program-based. I am enthusiastic about the course we have charted. I am impressed by the talent we have to tackle our challenges. And I am privileged and humbled to be part of a team that is so dedicated and committed to serving this nation and doing what's right for the Air Force and the for the American people.

Remember this: The end depends upon the beginning. Collectively, we've had a good start, but we need every one of you to get informed about this journey, get involved early and often, and get going! Happy transforming and God bless you all!

Mr. Michael Montelongo Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller