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Under Secretary of the Army directs OBT's priorities

By Dr. Lyle HogueMarch 27, 2012

Dr. Joseph Westphal addresses a group of Army members
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

Under Secretary Dr. Joseph Westphal, acting in his role as the Army's Chief Management Officer issued guidance to the Office of Business Transformation (OBT) that will lead to improved execution of Army business operations.

Dr. Westphal has directed LTG Bill Grisoli, Director of the Office of Business Transformation, to focus on the following priorities: 1) define and reengineer critical end-to-end business processes, 2) manage the Army's business systems information technology investments, 3) improve force management, 4) strengthen the Army's financial management, and 5) implement an integrated management system. In addition to these restated priorities, the OBT will continue to support transforming the Institutional Army (Generating Force), promoting leader development and outreach, and enhancing relationships with the Office of Secretary of Defense, Congress and other services.

In defining and reengineering critical end-to-end business processes, a team within the OBT has established the business enterprise architecture with an initial focus on five of the 15 end-to-end business processes (i.e., procure-to-pay, hire-to-retire, acquire-to-retire, deploy-to-redeploy, environmental liabilities). To better manage business systems information technology investments, the OBT established the business systems IT strategy and implementation plan and are in the process of preparing business system IT portfolio review. The OBT had been working on an Improving Force Management White Paper to meet the Under Secretary's requirement to improve force management. To strengthen financial management, a team within the OBT is assisting the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management and Comptroller to ensure the Army meets financial auditability milestones in 2014 and 2017. The OBT continues its efforts to assist the Army in implementing the Congressionally mandated integrated management system by conducting Army Campaign Plan (ACP) performance assessments.

Dr. Westphal also remains focused on other management priorities such as Army Strategy development, Program Objective Memorandum (POM) build for 2014-2018 and 2015-2019, Army contracting, Cyber Security, Human Capital management (HR2020), and the Secretary of the Army's initiatives to transform the Institutional Army.