More than two dozen representatives attended the D-120 Deployment Readiness Coordination Event on Feb. 5 and 6 at Fort Belvoir, Virginia to review and synchronize all critical activities for the successful fielding of IPPS-A Release 2 functionality to the DC Army National Guard (DCARNG). Led by the IPPS-A Training and Deployment team, the DCARNG is preparing for pre-deployment schedule activities, the browning out from Standard Installation and Division Personnel Reporting System (SIDPERS) in June and its potential impact on state operations.
CW3 Eric Hilliard is the DCARNG team lead and IPPS-A point-of-contact on the project, and serves as the SIDPERS Chief, Enterprise Learning Management (ELM) and Installation Coordinator for the IPPS-A deployment. "It was great meet everyone face-to-face as we have been exchanging emails for a long time. This was our opportunity to hone in on the details and make sure we are ready to go-live. We are all one team."
IPPS-A also invites ARNG Human Resource Professionals from other states so they can benefit from the lessons learned from Pennsylvania, which is currently live on IPPS-A. This allows them to compare their requirements to benefit implementation and policy changes. Members from Delaware and New Jersey attended as they are moving towards their D-120 milestone later this year. Together, the Soldiers learned about updates to the IPPS-A Implementation Plan and participated in working sessions to address any new issues, concerns or requirements that would be helpful to their state deployment.
"I watched a Staff Sgt. in Pennsylvania onboard a Soldier in IPPS-A based on data received from the accession system and they had all the information they needed, in the same place to complete the work, from start to finish," said IPPS-A Program Manager, Col. Darby McNulty as he presented the overall capabilities of IPPS-A and engaged with the Soldiers to answer questions and receive feedback. "We've designed IPPS-A to better support the mission. It includes Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software that is not available to us today. For example, it allows you to communicate with your HR Professionals and Soldiers much easier by sending e-mails to your team's .mil and secondary emails."
Approximately 1,370 DC guardsmen were provisioned for IPPS-A training and received an email to enroll in self-service and complete their distance learning training course. HR Professionals are required to complete the 40-hour pre-requisite training requirement before Instructor Facilitate Training (IFT) starts in June. Users with different roles have varying training requirements they must meet before they are provisioned for elevated access.
Readiness includes keeping abreast of news via IPPS-A email announcements and social media platforms said Vincent Hayes, Training and Deployment Branch Chief. "In addition to ensuring you complete all pre-requisite training, I encourage everyone to watch the videos available online that show additional processes for how we're going to use the IPPS-A tool. Join us on our Facebook and Instagram for information and cross-talk."
CW2 Ingrid Keller, DCARNG Branch Division Chief participated in test events hosted by the Pennsylvania National Guard in September 2018 and said she very comfortable using the system and walking through the user productivity kits (UPK). "I look forward to continuing to learn about the system and seeing the implementation of it going forward in Release 2 and 3."
The next training and deployment event for the DCARNG is at D-90. IPPS-A is scheduled to go live for the DCARNG on June 18.
Social Sharing