American Forces Press Service (Dec. 7, 2007): Army prepares to launch new pay, personnel system.

WASHINGTON -- The Army is getting ready to launch a new pay and personnel system next year that will streamline personnel processes and integrate the active-duty, National Guard, and Army Reserve components, the Army representative for the new program said today.

The Army Defense Integrated Human Resources System, which is part of a Defense Department initiative, will be implemented Oct. 1, 2008, at all Army installations and within all Service components, Army Col. Patrick Devine, program director of DIMHRS, told online journalists and "bloggers" during a conference call.

DIMHRS is a commercial product that will take the pay and personnel data from all three components of the Army and put it in a single database accessible online 24 hours a day. A key feature of DIMHRS is that it integrates the pay and personnel systems, which means that when a personnel action is taken, the system automatically will trigger any associated pay change, Devine said.

DIMHRS goes toward solving the problem of multi-component units, or those units made up of soldiers from the active duty, National Guard, and Army Reserve, Devine said. In the past, these units had to deal with six different personnel systems and three pay systems, he noted, and DIMHRS will consolidate those into one system.

A big benefit that DIMHRS will give National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers is continuity of pay when they are mobilized, Devine said. In the current environment, National Guard soldiers go through five different sites from mobilization to deployment and have to complete paperwork and be certified at each location, he said. When DIMHRS is launched, all military pay will be handled in the one system, and is coordinated with personnel data, so problems can be avoided.

"In a DIMHRS environment, it's one record per soldier for military personnel and pay, so all that information is shared, and it further expedites his entitlements and getting his compensation," Devine said.

A unique aspect of DIMHRS is that it will allow soldiers to access their records and make certain self-service changes, such as a change of address or requesting a personnel action, Devine said. In this way, every soldier will be a user of the system, and all supervisors, including Army civilians who supervise soldiers, will be required to know the system so they can process leave requests, awards, and evaluations, he said.

To prepare for the implementation of this new system, the Army is launching an ambitious training program designed to reach all installations, Devine said. The training team starts by briefing senior leadership on the program, he said, then moves to battalion- and brigade-level leadership, and then briefs the human resources personnel who will be using the system the most.

The Army also is making distance-learning materials available for DIMHRS, and will be training soldiers to be instructors on the system, Devine said. The DIMHRS Web site at <www.armydimhrs.army.mil> also will have all the training materials available to soldiers, he said.

The Web site also includes other helpful materials such as a universal translator to help with commercial terms soldiers may not be familiar with, and workforce readiness packages, which describe how each action was done under the old system and how it will be done under DIMHRS.

The Air Force also is set to launch DIMHRS in February 2009, and although the Navy has not set a date for implementation, Navy officials have appointed a program director.

Moore writes for American Forces Press Service.

Sgt. Sara Moore, USA