HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. -- Under the first phase of the Air Force's financial transformation initiative, Hanscom is preparing to migrate its Financial Services Office backshop (travel and military pay) processing to the Air Force Financial Services Center April 17 to 20. The migration is part of the financial management community's implementation of the new Financial Services Delivery Model.

"This FM transformation initiative is a paradigm shift in how financial services will be delivered to our customers," said Maj. Ned June, 66th Comptroller Squadron Commander. "Customers in the past relied heavily on the finance office to ensure quality controls were in place to validate financial documents for payment. Now, we're moving into an era where each transaction success is dependent on each customer's thoroughness."

The Financial Services Office will continue to serve customers financial service needs, along with an ever increasing suite of on-line services.

Customers can access the online services through the Air Force Portal under the Life, Career tab at the top of the page, then following the link to Money-Finance Central.

"Airmen are encouraged to make the AF Portal their first stop for financial services," Major June said. "Customers will find answers to frequently asked questions on the portal site and they can conduct transactions utilizing the Defense Travel System, myPay, and LeaveWeb."

The workload migration is part of the Air Force Financial Management changes that include consolidating backshop processing operations currently provided by 139 Active Duty and Reserve locations worldwide, into one operation. The workload currently performed at each base is being migrated over to the AFFSC by Major Commands.

The Financial Services Transformation Cut-over Team and AFFSC personnel are assisting each base with the migration of workload to the new service center.

To assist in making the transition as seamless as possible and prevent delays in payment, customers are asked to take the following steps:

- Utilize existing automated systems such as Defense Travel System (DTS), myPay, and LeaveWeb for transactions. 

- Remember to claim all of your reimbursable expenses and annotate proper modes of transportation. 

- Remember to have a complete set of orders when you file. 

- Have the proper signatures on your travel voucher. 

-  Indicate the amount you would like disbursed to your Government Travel Card. 

- The Unit Agency Program Coordinator is the first place to go for GTC issues--not the AFFSC or local finance office. 

- Write clearly and legibly so documents can be easily read. 

- Conduct a quality check before you take the documents to your local finance office - the AFFSC rejects 10 to 15 percent of documents because of incorrect or missing basic information and this can significantly delay the processing time.

Major June said that because of the massive consolidation, the travel timeliness standard has changed from 5 days to 10. However, public law 105-264 requires agencies to promptly reimburse travelers for expenses no later than 30 days after submission of a claim.

If a transaction has not been processed within 10 business days, the customer should not wait to contact their financial services office. "Early notification of a delay is the best measure to ensure a claim is being processed," Major June said. "The local finance office can place your document in a priority folder which will get it to the front of the queue."

Phase II of the Financial Management transformation is expected to occur sometime in the August to December timeframe.

"The next phase will be a standup of the AFFSC Call Center," Major June said. "This USAA type model will offer 24/7 customer service."

Additional information on the financial transformation initiative can be found on the Air Force portal under the Life, Career tab.