AF adopts new time-tracking system Published Feb. 11, 2010 By Master Sgt. Kimberley Harrison Air Force Space Command Public Affairs F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. -- Air Force officials have implemented an improved method of tracking civilian time and attendance. Civilian employees 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. After reviewing several time and attendance products, Air Force Financial Management and Comptroller, selected the web-based electronic Management Tracking System, eMTS. F.E. Warren is slated to implement the eMTS system on March 14. Hands-on training will start Feb. 23 and conclude March 3. "This new process automates civilian time cards, as well as eliminates the paper trail," said Rob Morgan, eMTS Project Manager, located at Gunter Annex, Ala. "eMTS will allow every civilian employee to annotate their own time, at their own desktop, through a web-based interface." This interface allows eMTS to pass auditable time and attendance information to various government financial accounting systems such as the Defense Civilian Payroll System [DCPS]. "We're taking huge strides in moving from the cumbersome, redundant manual process that's in place now to an easier, more effective and smarter process through the automated system," 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. "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. Each major command 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. 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 CAC [Common Access Card] access," exclaimed Mr. Lobban. 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 8-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 base's Comptroller Squadron, who will be the lead for scheduling training and data collection. According to Mr. Lobban, wing commanders have been notified of pending eMTS implementation and for the few units already using the system, there has been nothing but good reviews. "Everybody loves it," concluded Mr. Lobban.