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GCN Home > 10/11/04 issue

The Army’s personnel database paves the way for DOD-wide system by 2006

By Dawn S. Onley, GCN Staff

Army brass had 4,000 reasons to build the Electronic Military Personnel Office.

The service was using that many human resources databases, many running obsolete software, when it was faced with the challenge of integrating Army personnel operations with a larger Defense Department initiative.

The single system the Army created, dubbed eMILPO, gives the service a better footing on which to move military personnel data to the Defense Integrated Military Human Resources System, or DIMHRS, by 2006.

The eMILPO system gives Army personnel employees access to personnel data stored in the service’s multiple accounting, promotion and reassignment databases.

Over the hill

Lt. Col. Joseph Klumpp, product manager for the Army Human Resource System—which develops, tests and deploys personnel systems that support soldiers in the field—said the Army has reduced the number of disparate human resource databases by switching to the eMILPO system.

For more than 30 years, the Army used the Standard Installation Division Personnel System as its main program for personnel and pay functions.

“The old system had some issues and was rather clunky, and the system hadn’t kept up with the technology,” Klumpp said. “The real compelling argument [for moving to a new system] was software obsolescence. You couldn’t buy the compiler, and not knowing when DIMHRS would arrive, we needed to move to eMILPO quicker.”

Two years ago, the Army and lead contractor EDS Corp. started developing the multitiered Web application under a $9.5 million contract. Klumpp oversees the Army’s eMILPO office and a staff of about 12 employees. EDS has an additional 70 employees working on the human resource system.

The eMILPO system uses a Java2 Enterprise Edition application that runs over DOD’s Non-Classified IP Router Network. Users access the system via a hyperlink from the Army Knowledge Online portal.

The development of eMILPO encountered its share of obstacles. Army officials delayed fielding the system for several months last year after it failed a final systems test because of data migration problems. The war in Iraq also set the transition back, although the system was approved for fielding by David Chu, undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness.

The Army reached full deployment of eMILPO in August of last year. The system has let the Army adopt more efficient business practices using commercial products and Web processes, officials said.

Tickled pink

More news on related topics: Defense IT, Executive Center, Great Managers, IT Infrastructure, IT in Action, Management, IT Management, COOP / Telework