Fort Campbell’s Soldiers have been using the Army Maintenance Application, or ArMA, to process barracks workorders since January, and Oct. 19 the application was fully implemented across the garrison.
Soldiers, civilians and contractors who live or work on post can now use ArMA to solve problems in any facility, from heating and cooling to electrical issues. The Fort Campbell Directorate of Public Works is now averaging 250 workorders a day through the application, which was designed with the end goal of streamlining the entire Army’s legacy workorder process.
“It’s been going very smoothly on both our end and the customers’,” said Sean Nickley, engineering systems branch chief, DPW. “We’ve seen a pretty significant increase in workorders put in, which we consider a good thing because that means people are out there using the application and seeing what they need fixed. We’re able to go assist them and get them the help they need.”
Nickley said approximately 3,100 users have registered for ArMA since its initial launch for Screaming Eagle Soldiers in January, and 700 more people have joined up since it became available garrison-wide.
Users can access ArMA through the Digital Garrison App, or via an online registration portal at https://www.armymaintenance.com/arma using a common access card. Contractors without CACs will need to ask their contracting officers to sponsor their accounts.
“Account creation was a bit cumbersome, but the addition of the new CAC authentication makes it pretty straightforward,” Nickley said. “You just use your CAC at an authenticated computer. It has you fill in a couple items like your phone number, the building you’re associated with and your unit [if applicable] and you’re ready to put in workorders.”
DPW’s service technicians can now receive those workorders directly from individual Soldiers and civilians, rather than using a barracks manager or supervisor as a go-between.
“It’s been really great because it helps streamline the process for us, and it helps get the correct information from Soldiers and civilians,” Nickley said. “It also saves their requests, so they can see all their old and new workorders and make sure the correct building is listed or that they have the right unit.”
Another of ArMA’s major features is the ability to include photos, contact numbers and more information to make sure technicians arrive quickly and fully prepared.
“That makes it so our technicians can show up to a site already knowing what the issue is,” Nickley said. “Sometimes we’ve gone somewhere and realized we actually needed to bring this tool instead of that one and had to come back another day, but the ability to see that beforehand means we can go out to a site knowing exactly what the issue is.”
Staff Sergeant Daniel Lockamy, the Army Barracks Management Program Representative for 426th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), said ArMA has been helpful in the barracks for months and is now improving conditions in other facilities.
“I do PT in the mornings, so I was walking into my usual facility the other day and I noticed the door was very hard to open,” he said. “Since ArMA recently did an update where it’s not only for barracks but facilities, I realized I could put a workorder for the Estep Physical Fitness Center into ArMA, so I took a picture and sent it up.”
DPW can respond to ArMA workorders within a day depending on their urgency, and Lockamy said being able to add photos goes a long way in helping them tackle any problems.
“Compared to the legacy system, the technology is much improved,” he said. “It’s more efficient, the customer gets faster service and it feels like it’s directly connecting customers and Soldiers to the service ... the interface is very simple to use, but at the same time it’s innovative and it works.”
The Army’s goal is to eventually implement ArMA across the enterprise. The legacy system for Fort Campbell employee workorders will remain available online at https://home.army.mil/campbell/index.php/work-orders through Nov. 24.
Social Sharing