Program speeds up new hire learning curve in USASMDC/ARSTRAT Future Warfare Center

By Ms. Deborah Erhart (SMDC/ARSTRAT)July 14, 2009

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4 / 4 Show Caption + Hide Caption – Administrative staff and personnel from the USASMDC/ARSTRAT FWC joined together on July 13 for the rollout of a Sharepoint Web site. The Web site is a repository of information which allows incoming new hires to get up and running as quickly as possi... (Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. -The administrative lag-time in getting new government employees up to speed and fully operational has often been a barrier to productivity. Some of these issues were resolved with a Lean Six Sigma (LSS) project launched July 13.

"We've instituted a SharePoint Web site repository, utilizing screen captures, which provides a how-to guide to assist with the in-processing requirements of new employees," said Angela Jones, LSS program manager and deployment director at the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command Future Warfare Center.

"As new employees 'bump around' looking for support, FWC needed to cut the time it takes to bring a new employee up to speed," Jones said.

Kara Pleasant, a co-op and LSS greenbelt at the FWC operations division said that new hires were often waiting four months to be fully up and running with all the administrative requirements needed even to do things as simple as get access to the computer.

"We found that as seasoned administrative people left, they took their in-processing knowledge with them. This left incoming new employees with no subject matter experts to provide guidance on the administrative requirements that they needed to accomplish in order to do their job," Pleasant added.

"We've got sections in our smartbook guide on getting your Combined Access Card, AKO accounts, badges, Defense Travel System, time and attendance procedures and more," commented Pleasant. "New hires now have one central resource to consult, which has dramatically decreased the learning curve. In-processing time has been cut in half."

An additional hard copy of the guide will be available for those still waiting for computer access. The smartbook is carefully geared to both contractor and civil service personnel, and takes into account slight variations in the in-processing for the different types of employees.

The team will tweak the guide as it becomes fully functional and meet monthly for the next six months to monitor progress.

"Our administrative personnel will be maintaining the site, updating it, and sharing it," said Simone Caldwell-Philson, LSS greenbelt and executive officer and program analyst, FWC operations division. "If any steps in employee in-processing change, information will need to be updated so our new employees are up and running as soon as possible."

Philson emphasized that the smartbook is only as good as those who contribute to and maintain it.

"The LSS team who put this in place will support and guide the new users, and after six months, it is theirs to maintain," Philson added.

Larry Burger, Future Warfare Center director, commended the team on the program implementation.

"This is a very important step today. We are moving a program forward and adopting it as our way of doing business," Burger said. "This is our way of making things more efficient so that we can provide more direct benefits. It is all about doing more with less."