Peterson civilians getting new electronic time keeping system Published Sept. 25, 2009 By Tech. Sgt. Kimberley Harrison Air Force Space Command Public Affairs PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- Civilian employees at Peterson will soon be recording their time cards using an improved time and attendance system. Air Force Space Command is leading the charge toward implementing the improved method of tracking civilian time and attendance through the web-based electronic Management Tracking System or eMTS. Civilian employees throughout the command may be happy to know the days of tirelessly manually inputting accountability information, only to have someone else input the same information into a different system, are nearly over. "The new system is fantastic and will save civilian employees here time and ultimately, save the Air Force money," said 2nd Lt. Marilee Garcia, 21st Comptroller Squadron financial services officer. "It's very easy to use and is a more effective and smarter process." After reviewing several time and attendance products, the Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management selected the web-based system. "For many years at the Peterson Financial Services Office, our civilian employees have inquired about the possibility of converting to an electronic civilian time and attendance system," said Jim Lobban, deputy, AFSPC Finance Services Division and eMTS project manager. Once implemented, this new process is said to eliminate paper trails. "eMTS will allow every civilian employee to annotate their own time, at their own desktop, through a web-based interface," said Mr. Rob Morgan, eMTS project manager, located at Gunter Annex, Ala. This interface allows eMTS to pass auditable time and attendance information to various government financial accounting systems such as the Defense Civilian Payroll System. "We're taking huge strides in moving from the cumbersome, redundant manual process that's in place now," Mr. Morgan said. The new tracking system isn't permanent, but it is an initial step toward a solution for a long-time problem, especially in an environment of seemingly constant demands of "doing more with less." "eMTS will be utilized to help bridge the gap between manual and electronic systems until the Air Force deploys the Defense Enterprise Accounting & Management System sometime in the next few years," Mr. Lobban said. "Until then, eMTS is helping to fill that crucial need now." AFSPC isn't the only command in the Air Force to realize the benefits of using this system, but it is the only command that's going to command-wide implementation. "Right now, the normal (manual) process is labor intensive, it's cumbersome, and it takes a lot of time and a lot of paper. eMTS is a way to make that process highly-efficient. Besides saving time, you're now saving resources as well," Mr. Morgan said. Not only will eMTS save time and resources, there will be monetary savings. "AFSPC will see a $1 million cost avoidance as redundant data entry processes are eliminated," Mr. Lobban said. "It just makes sense. There will be three great things this system brings to AFSPC. First, it's going to eliminate redundant manual data entry, which isn't standardized, is prone to data entry errors, puts privacy act information at risk, and is extremely time consuming. Second, it's going to ensure the supervisors are actually validating the information and have it readily accessible to auditors. And lastly, it's going to give supervisors the opportunity to certify the information whether they are at work, at home, on leave, or TDY as long as they have (common access card) access," Mr. Lobban said. Since eMTS is CAC enabled, there will be no passwords to remember and implementation will have minimal impact on the civilian workforce once training is complete. Training will take place two weeks prior to a pay period and consists of an eight-minute, computer-based training video for employees, supervisors (certifiers) and timekeepers to view prior to hands-on training, which will be conducted in a classroom setting of approximately 20 people. "We bring a team out and we conduct the training," said Mr. Morgan. "It's not a hard system to learn...it's actually very easy." Once training is complete, there will be a Civilian Pay Customer Service Representative, identified through the 21st Space Wing Comptroller Squadron, who will be the lead for scheduling training and data collection. According to Mr. Lobban, eMTS implementation will require minimal effort from Peterson's civilian workforce. "Implementation will require minimal cooperation from our civilian workforce," he said. "We only ask that some computer-based training be completed, followed by hands-on training; however, instructions for this will be distributed at a later date. When it becomes available, information regarding time and location of training as well as enrollment procedures will be disseminated." For more information, Peterson customers and civilians may contact Jeanne Conners at 556-4765, Natalie Jensen at 556-7039, or Steve Galaydick at 556-5274. Below is the implementation plan dates for Buckley, Peterson and Schriever: Buckley AFB: Data load: Oct. 22; Training: Nov. 2 to 6; Cutover to eMTS: Nov. 8 Peterson AFB: Data load: Dec. 31; Training: Jan. 4 to 15; Cutover to eMTS: Jan. 17 Schriever AFB: Data load: Nov. 26; Training: Nov. 30 to Dec. 4; Cutover to eMTS: Dec. 6