Ready, Set, GFEBS!

By Ms. Linda K Loebach (AMC)August 3, 2010

Ready, Set, GFEBS!
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Ready, Set, GFEBS!
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Benjamin Franklin once said, "When you're finished changing, you're finished."

In order not to be "finished", the Army institutes new changes, and one of the newest comes in the form of General Fund Enterprise Business System (GFEBS).

Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, US Army Vice Chief of Staff said, "GFEBS will impact... every organization in [a] command that prepares a budget or manages funds to accomplish [its] mission. GFEBS integrates financial, real property and cost data with related output and performance data..."

More simply put, Cheryl Christensen, GFEBS project manager at the Joint Munitions Command, described the change to GFEBS as going from "a messy plate of spaghetti to defined modules." Christensen said, "GFEBS is a state-of-the-art, web-based system. It replaces all Army accounting systems and integrates financial data."

GFEBS will allow the Army to share like information in real time and reveal what is driving costs. It will provide decision support information to sustain Army warfighting capability, provide analytic data and tools to support the Army enterprise, reduce the cost of business operations, and improve accountability and stewardship.

GFEBS will transform financial management and management practices in most functions. It is a system that will be released in waves that are location-specific, not command-specific. The waves began in 2009 and will continue through 2012 until the entire Army has incorporated the change.

According to Christensen, the areas of JMC that will see the most impact of GFEBS will be the financial and accounting areas of resource management (G8) and the business operations directorate.

But users from across the Army, not just resource management and accounting users, will be included in GFEBS. Some of the business process areas that users will be able to capitalize on include funds management; property, plant and equipment; reimbursables; financials; cost management; and the spending chain.

In the past, JMC fit the system to its needs. This resulted in a very complicated and convoluted accounting system from which it was difficult to obtain a certified audit report. After GFEBS is implemented, JMC will be able to provide certifiable financial reports and will comply with the requirements of the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996. JMC will fit its needs to the GFEBS system.

GFEBS is expected to process a million transactions a day and provide essential data to transform the Army to a cost culture.

"Don't fear change-embrace it," said Anthony D'Angelo, a motivational author.

Likewise, don't fear GFEBS- embrace it.