Fort McCoy, Wisc –
The Integrated Personnel and Pay System-Army (IPPS-A) completed roll-out throughout the National Guard, and the Army, both active and reserve components, is scheduled to transition to it in December.
IPPS-A is a web-based human-resources system, integrating the Army’s personnel, pay, and talent management functions into one secure web-based application, said Col. Gregory Johnson, director of IPPS-A’s functional management division.
The Army currently maintains close to 200 personnel and pay systems, many of which are responsible for just one to two functions, Johnson said. IPPS-A integration across the National Guard under “release two” of the program concluded in March 2020.
Guard members can access all the same IPPS-A features through a secure application on their mobile devices, said Maj. Leonard Baklarz, the release two lead. Through the app, self-service transactions are automated, paper-free, and transparent.
IPPS-A will also provide service members access to their records under one centralized system, Baklarz said. Previously, Soldiers needed to complete an HR action manually that created a trail of paperwork that often circulated throughout an organization, with no simple way to track or inquire about its status.
“All actions generated in IPPS-A are transparent to everyone. Notifications are delivered to the Soldier and the HR professional, letting them know that there is an update (to their record),” Baklarz said. “Simple things like that, I think we take for granted because of the information age we live in.”
Moving forward, program leads are working to incorporate the Army Reserve and active-duty force under “release three” of the program. The process of transitioning over a million Soldiers throughout the total force is scheduled for completion by December 2021, Johnson said.
Release three will provide a foundation to enable the Army Talent Alignment Process across the force, said Lt. Col. Boyd Bingham, release three lead. Through IPPS-A, commanders will have the ability to match a Soldier’s knowledge, skills and behaviors to critical positions.
“With the publishing of the Army People Strategy, IPPS-A was noted as the key enabler to transition our current HR systems and processes,” Johnson said. “There is Army senior leader buy-in and support to get everybody onto one system, and to utilize their talents in different ways.”
The IPPS-A team is currently looking to incorporate a “25-point talent profile,” which allows Soldiers to categorize their KSB data across different “buckets” within the system, Johnson said.
“IPPS-A is meant to capture a Soldier’s experience throughout their careers,” he said. “We want to highlight … (and) track this data in a better way.”
The program will later move on to “release four,” which will merge all of the Army’s payroll applications under the new system, Johnson said. This leg of the expansion is scheduled for completion by May 2025.
To make the upcoming transition easier, Soldiers are being asked to review their personnel records in legacy human-resources systems to ensure they are accurate and up to date. A guide to reviewing records is available online at https://ipps-a.army.mil/wp-content/uploads/SoldierSelfServiceDataGuide_May20_v1.pdf. Soldiers should contact their records manager or human-resources professional to update any information that is incorrect or incomplete.
(Article prepared by Army News Service and Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office.)