RURD4 DIMHRS?

  • Published
  • By Dave Gallop
  • Director of Personnel Data Systems
Over the past two years, we've published a number of articles on the new Department of Defense military personnel and pay system in development - the Defense Integrated Military Human Resources System. 

At present, DIMHRS is scheduled for implementation Oct. 1, 2009. It will replace many of the Air Force systems we use today, including the Military Personnel Data System and the Defense Joint Military Pay System, the virtual Military Personnel Flight, and most of the virtual Personnel Center - Guard and Reserve. 

Many of your co-workers have been involved in creating the world's largest military human resources system by attending design workshops, creating test scenarios and reviewing process guides. Almost everyone at the Air Reserve Personnel Center will be involved as training and field testing are conducted next summer. You'll also see more publicity as we near implementation. 

While next October may seem far away and may slip, it's not too early to begin your personal preparation for DIMHRS. Unlike the last transition to MILPDS in 2001, this will be a quantum change in transforming our personnel processes. 

DIMHRS shares a lot of the same philosophy we've used to build Web-based customer service applications in vPC-GR. But it goes much further in integrating end-to-end processes, including pay functions, in one system. 

It's based on a civilian software program and uses civilian terms instead of the usual military data labels, such as "hiring" instead of "assigning" and "time and attendance" instead of "duty days." 

Some steps will be streamlined, but others may involve more work in preparing batch lists for mass updates. Because DIMHRS will eventually be DOD-wide, a lot of service processes will be standardized. 

As the development process progresses and we learn more, it's obvious that DIMHRS represents a big change in the way we do business. 

So what can you do to get ready? The good news is that a lot of resources are already available online. The DOD DIMHRS site, www.dimhrs.af.mil, has a wide variety of information and tools to help you become more familiar with the look and feel of DIMHRS. 

The site has user productivity kits with "See It" and "Try It" demos that show representative processes and how they will work. Just looking at the screen layouts and the types of data labels DIMHRS uses will make the transition easier. 

Likewise, weekly online live demonstrations are posted. These show how common transactions will work and include answers to questions from the field that provide a good operational view of the processes we'll be using. There's a library of recorded sessions you can play back at your convenience. 

Finally, the site has Workforce Readiness Packages that compare current and future processes. While these reflect Army processes, Air Force versions will be out soon. 

DIMHRS will be the biggest systems change we've absorbed in a long time. Spend a few minutes to take a look at the resources that are available, and try them when you can. It'll make the training you get in the future easier to understand and will make the changeover a lot smoother. After all, if you're ready for DIMHRS, then UL B happier.