Financial transition underway at Hanscom

  • Published
  • By 1st Lt. Lisa Spilinek
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HANSCOM AFB, Mass. --  The 1,883 miles that separate Hanscom from Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., cannot hinder the flow of technology or money. 

Ellsworth is the location of the new Air Force Financial Services Center, which is one of the cornerstones of the Air Force's financial transformation effort. The AFFSC will centralize and transform the majority of financial services that are currently provided by 93 separate Financial Service Offices, to include the FSO located here. 

To prepare the Hanscom community for the changes that this transition will involve, a Financial Services Transformation Team will host a Town Hall meeting on Nov. 6 from 10 to 11 a.m. at the Hanscom Conference Center, building 1106, in the Concord Room. 

Base military and civilian employees are encouraged to attend. Additionally, a union representative will be on hand to discuss how union employees may be affected by the transformation. 

"We are transforming the way we conduct business to better provide expert decision support and analysis to commanders while continuing to provide high quality financial services to all Airmen," said Maj. Robert White, 66th Comptroller Squadron commander.
The result of this effort will save the Air Force more than $200 million over the next 10 years. This is money that will be available to fund other programs that support warfighters, said John G. Vonglis, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management and Comptroller principal deputy. 

Phase I of the financial transformation began with the opening of the AFFSC this month and will focus on consolidating base-level back-shop operations. 

Such operations include, but are not limited to, processing travel and military pay documents, said Roger Bick, Air Force Financial Management Strategic Planning and Transformation Program Management Office director. These transactions are termed 'backshop' as they are not generally seen by the customer. 

Phase II operations will begin in October 2008 when a 24/7 full-service contact center is established. The contact center will process all actions that normally would require a visit to the base Finance Office over the phone or via the Web.