Beginning in late 2008, the Army will have a new fully integrated personnel and pay system that will replace or subsume approximately 70 Army information technology systems. The Defense Integrated Military Human Resources System (DIMHRS) will focus on the Army’s pay functionality and personnel records by providing each Soldier with a comprehensive service record that will allow them to update personal information. These records will be available to combatant commanders, personnel and pay managers, and human resources (HR) professionals 24 hours a day.

Once implemented, DIMHRS will be the world’s largest enterprise resource planning system ever attempted, holding 1.7 million HR records and revolutionizing the way DOD monitors all military personnel. DIMHRS will support more than 4.5 million Active, Reserve, and National Guard members, including retirees and veterans, and create one record that will follow them across all components and military branches. Each individual will be able to update his or her personal information from anywhere in the world with his or her Common Access Card and an Internet connection.

DIMHRS, a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) system designed by PeopleSoft, has three goals for creating an improved HR system:

• Integrated system — ensures timely personnel changes and accurate information, including payroll adjustments.
• Global operability — real-time updates with global Web-based access to information.
• Joint system — enhanced enterprisewide support that allows services and components to know the status and location of their resources at all times.

DIMHRS will streamline the way information is gathered and processed by using fewer forms and systems, reducing human error and improving organizational support. Additionally, DIMHRS will aid commanders in identifying their Soldiers’ location or status and enhance timely allocation of their resources.

Soldiers can keep accurate records by using DIMHRS to update personal information, such as phone numbers, addresses, and marital status, and to view benefits and Leave and Earning Statements. These updates will feed into the personnel data records and will be immediately reflected in the system. “DIMHRS will expand Soldiers’ options to perform routine actions utilizing the Member Self Service option,” said MSG Joe Ruiz, DIMHRS Integration Team Noncommissioned Officer-in-Charge. Managing Soldiers’ military careers through DIMHRS by monitoring job postings and updating career preferences, such as preferred CONUS locations and job relocation, will allow for immediate resource location. Soldiers can also manage their performance by viewing current and past performance documents and evaluations, as well as those they have filed for other Soldiers.

All DOD employees — from service members, to managers, to civilian supervisors — will touch DIMHRS in some way and will need training to learn the system. Since DIMHRS is a COTS product, the language will differ from military terminology. Soldiers will be referred to as employees and will be given employee numbers, instead of social security numbers, for identification, ensuring security and safety protocols. A guide is being created to translate Army terminology to COTS language and will be available to Soldiers and their Families.

Trainers, who will teach DIMHRS to administrators, managers, HR specialists, and self-service users, are scheduled to begin training this month. Two weeks of instructor-led classes will prepare trainers to implement DIMHRS within their organizations. System administrators will attend a 2-week instructor-led training class and HR specialists will receive training only on specific roles assigned by DIMHRS trainers. Managers and self-service users will be trained through a distributed learning module taught by DIMHRS-trained members from their own organizations.

Projected to launch in October 2008, DIMHRS is expected to revolutionize the HR planning system by reducing timely processes and developing a Web-based system so Soldiers can update information and records from anywhere in the world.

“Supporting the Soldier is at the core of the Army’s mission,” said Ruiz. “Our goal on the DIMHRS staff is to make life easier for the Soldier. Through a few key strokes, DIMHRS minimizes the input and maximizes the output. DIMHRS is truly the wave of the future.”

Editor’s note: All information for this article was gathered from www.armydimhrs.army.mil and www.dimhrs.mil.