Civilian workforce management transformation: effective 1 July 2004!

Transformation has been, and continues to be, a key initiative of SAF/FM. A major focus of FM transformation is management of the Financial Management (FM) workforce. This month, additional progress will be realized in Air Force transformation as civilian Career Field Management (CFM) is implemented at the Air Force Personnel Center (AFPC). Focused on the civilian workforce, this new initiative will organize support of all civilian positions into career field areas and will work in concert with the Force Development (FD) initiatives to provide the right education, training and development at the right time to meet Air Force needs and individual goals. This is good progress toward our goal of ensuring that no individual or position is left behind.

Prior Management of Civilian Positions

In today's environment, the management of FM civilian positions is split into three parts: grades GS-1 through 11, GS-12 through 15 and the Senior Executive grades. Management and development responsibilities for positions in these grades are accomplished by supervisors, the Financial Management Career Program (FMCP) and by the Air Force Senior Leader Management Office, respectively. Civilian CFM afffects all grades and positions except the senior leadership grades and positions.

For over twenty years, the FMCP has existed to assist in the management of GS-12 through GS-15 civilian positions and the professional development of GS-11 through GS-15 individuals within the FM workforce. This includes helping to educate, train and develop a pool of individuals to compete for higher-level leadership positions. Today, the FMCP services over 3,000 FM positions in grades GS-12 through GS-15 and provides assistance to over 4,200 individuals. Management and development of grades below FMCP coverage are accomplished within the organization to which the individual is assigned, generally by the primary supervisor.

Revised Management of Civilian Positions

Under the civilian CFM concept, every civilian will be assigned to a specific career field. Today, GS-11 and below vacancies are filled at base level, but beginning 1 July 2004, the FMCP will be responsible for filling vacancies in all FM occupational series for grades GS-1 through GS-15. All 5XX job series (501,505, 510, 511, 525, 560. 561, 592, etc.), as well as approximately 140 positions in "shared" job series (301, 343 and 1515), will be handled by the FMCP Team. The criterion used to determine assignment of positions in the shared series is based on how much of the work in the position is FM in nature: more than 50 percent FM-related results in that position being captured under the FM career field.

In this new organizational structure, the FMCP Team will be supported by an Employment Team, comprised of personnel specialists, who will process all personnel actions. To reflect this change in operations and the increased customer base supported, the FMCP will change its name to the Civilian Financial Management Career Team (CFMCT). The customer base supported by the CFMCT will increase from the 4,200 individuals mentioned above to more than 7,300 individuals in FM positions. The new CFMCT organizational structure will look like this:

New Structure and Responsibilities

(1) The CFMCT, composed of functionalists from various FM and audit disciplines, will fulfill many of the same roles as in the past: customer service to the FM workforce; training; career counseling and guidance; PALACE Acquire recruiting and training; professional development; ranking template and COREDOC development; career broadening; tuition assistance; etc.

(2) The Employment Team, composed of personnel specialists, will be responsible for receiving and processing Requests for Personnel Action (hiring requests); announcing vacancies; completing qualification reviews; preparing and issuing referral certificates; and all other actions required to bring individuals on board.

(3) Together, these two units will handle civilian personnel actions for the entire FM workforce. Everything will be done by this team, except (there is always an exception!) for seven locations that have not yet consolidated operations into the AFPC structure. They are: Wright-Patterson; Tinker; Hill; Robins and Bolling AFBs and all USAFE and PACAF actions. It is anticipated that these locations will be consolidated into the new CFMCT structure over the coming 24 months. In the interim, they will continue to operate as in the past.

Relation to Force Development

The civilian CFM approach is complementary to SECAF and CSAF Force Development (FD) initiatives. FD will bring a more deliberate approach to education, development and training of the workforce by providing the right opportunity at the right time to meet both the needs of the Air Force and the individual. Of course, it will take time to sort out responsibilities under the new FD guidelines and determine the types of training to be provided and the right time and place to provide that training. For example, decisions will be required as to how best to provide training at the tactical level, the operational level and the strategic level and at what point it is appropriate to train civilians in specific FM core competencies. None of this will happen overnight, but implementation of the civilian CFM concept is a step along the path in transforming the way business is conducted.

Over the next six months, we plan to increase the size of the CFMCT by approximately five people to better support this significant workload increase in customer service, guidance, counseling and career advice. Under this new civilian CFM structure, the CFMCT will continue to work closely with the Directorate of Workforce Management, SAF/FMPW, in force planning, workforce development and on the evolving FM mentoring program. The career team will be reviewing and updating existing ranking templates (formerly called Promotion Evaluation Patterns-PETS) for all grades and will work toward standardizing COREDOCS, where it makes sense to do so. Through improved technology, we hope to improve the external applicant qualification process and expedite fill actions.

Summer Changes

On 1 July, the CFMCT transferred responsibility for posting vacancy announcements, resume review and qualification of candidates to the Employment Team handling all FM position fills. Over the summer, there will be a number of physical moves that will lead to the co-location of the CFMCT and the supporting Employment Team by 1 September. Some brief processing delays and phone number and email disruption may be experienced on "move days" during the summer. We will, of course, continue to keep you updated as we work through these changes.

COPYRIGHT 2004 U.S. Air Force, Financial Management and Comptroller
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group