Hanscom to welcome ECSS champions next week

  • Published
  • By Kevin Gilmartin
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  As the pilot location for the implementation of what program officials call "the largest transformation in Air Force history," Hanscom will be hosting more than 20 "champions" of the Expeditionary Combat Support System program from across the Air Force March 10-11.

The ECSS program, managed by the Electronic Systems Center's Enterprise Logistics Systems Program Executive Office at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is considered the cornerstone of Air Force Logistics transformation. ECSS is an integrated data environment that combines financials, manufacturing, distribution and other business processes into a single commercial off-the-shelf, Oracle-based technology solution hosted on the Air Force Global Combat Support System.  It replaces more than 240 Cold War-era stand alone, or "stove-piped," systems being used today.

The current stove-piped legacy systems often result in duplicate effort, non-standardized reporting, and data integrity issues. When fully implemented, ECSS will provide standardized business processes, an enterprise view of the supply chain, and efficiencies across the Air Force.

Because Hanscom is a small base with a relatively low number of impacted users, the Air Force chose it to be the pilot base in implementing ECSS. The program will be rolled out incrementally, with several phases. The first release of Hanscom's implementation, which focuses on vehicle maintenance at the 66th Logistics Readiness Squadron, is expected to "go live" in July, according to Greg Laing, ECSS Change Agent Coordinator.

Recognizing that changing from current systems to ECSS will be a lot to absorb for users, with its new language, tools, processes and job roles, major commands and organizations across the Air Force have appointed champions to help implement the transition smoothly at each location. Many of those champions will gather at Hanscom March 10-11 to discuss the latest program developments as the Hanscom implementation date nears, and identify and resolve potential issues.

"We are excited to be the first base in the Air Force to implement this leading edge, integrated logistics initiative," said Col. David Orr, 66th Air Base Wing commander. "I know the men and women of our Logistics Readiness Squadron and our ESC users are working very hard to implement ECSS in a timely and effective fashion, so that it can be successfully rolled out at bases across the Air Force. We look forward to welcoming these ECSS champions to Hanscom next week and discussing the way ahead on this very important program."

Release One, Pilot A of ECSS, which includes vehicle maintenance, will ultimately involve about 40 to 50 users at Hanscom. Pilot B will expand to equipment custodians on base, adding several hundred more users, and Pilot C, which will involve Government Purchase Card users, will add several more, bringing the potential number of Hanscom users of ECSS up to between 500 to 1,000 people.

"The time for a revolutionary program like ECSS has come, because the Air Force has changed significantly since the legacy systems currently in use were fielded, and so has the information technology environment," Mr Laing said.

"We are no longer a Cold War Air Force, we are a smaller, expeditionary force engaged in multiple contingencies simultaneously, while at the same time supporting an aging aircraft fleet that requires more frequent upgrades, repair and maintenance," Mr. Laing said. "Also, tighter budgets require us to find new ways to save money and work smarter. ECSS will standardize our logistics practices in line with best practices of industry, and give users global visibility of assets in storage, in transit, and in repair. It will ensure we have the right parts in repair that are ready when needed."

Instead of using several decentralized systems to identify, order and track the right replacement parts for an aircraft or system, as is currently the case, future users of ECSS will be able to log onto a system much like major internet shopping sites, find the part they want, add it to their shopping cart and have it shipped to their location, all seamlessly, he said.

"We have a lot of work ahead of us before we launch the first release of ECSS in July," Mr. Laing said, "but we know people in the highest leadership positions in the Air Force are watching how we do this. We have made ECSS readiness a top priority in our organization, and we look forward to success not only in July, but in the future as we roll out other phases of the program."