THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 15, 1996 TAG: 9605150394
SECTION: MILITARY NEWS PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALVA CHOPP, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
Some say it's the paperwork. Others claim they're frustrated by having to talk with a different person each time they need assistance.
Whatever the complaint, many military men and women find that checking into a new duty station, changing personnel and pay accounts, or tracking their personal records through the Navy's system is a real headache.
Throughout their careers, sailors typically have had to wade through a maze of offices and a mound of paperwork to conduct business at a Personnel Support Detachment office. One desk for reenlistments, another for transfers and yet another for travel expenses.
But help is on the way.
For almost a year, the Personnel Support Detachment at Dam Neck's Fleet Combat Training Center has been operating under a different set of rules.
The ``Integrated Team Concept'' began last June as a way to personalize the services at the PSD office.
The difference from the past is that now, instead of having individual duties, each member of the team of military and civilian employees has been cross-trained to handle the others' jobs.
The result has been a more personal and efficient way to handle customers, said Valerie Franklin, supervisor of the officer records team.
``Now instead of going to two or three places, (military personnel) can get their questions answered at one stop,'' she said. ``Any of us can handle basic problems. Our customers know us and we know them.''
For her role in helping to set up the new system and cross train her staff, Franklin has been recognized as the 1996 Civilian of the Year for the Navy's Personnel Support Activity.
The parent command in Norfolk oversees all 20 PSD offices from Northern Virginia to North Carolina, including Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Franklin, who was born and raised in Virginia Beach, was selected for her work developing the new program and training her staff to carry it out.
The new system seems to be working well.
Over the past eleven months, records show the error rates for the Dam Neck office declined while customer satisfaction increased, according to the officer in charge, Lt. Willie Posadas.
``This system has made my job a whole lot better and more rewarding,'' he said, adding that Franklin played a major role in the initial phases of the program.
``Customers said they had never had better service at any base.''
But being the first office in the Navy to operate this way wasn't an easy task. Franklin had to help her staff overcome the concerns of learning each other's duties and the fear of added responsibilities.
Since Dam Neck is a major training facility for the Navy, Franklin's team alone processes paperwork for 350 staff officers, plus 50 to 75 student officers and 60 to 70 students who check in and out for training each week.
The numbers quadruple for the teams handling the paperwork for enlisted men and women, ``We have some people who check in on Monday and check out on Friday,'' she said.
To ease her staff's transition to the new system, Franklin developed a ``buddy system'' in which two staff members work side-by-side to train and assist each other.
The team training began in January 1995, and it was completed five months later when the staff moved into a new building.
``We want our customers to know our names so they know who we are,'' Franklin said. ``When a person checks in at Dam Neck, they know they will have the same team their whole tour.
Franklin, who has worked in civil service for 16 years, has traveled to several other PSD offices to introduce them to the new ``Integrated Team Concept.'' She has worked for the Dan Neck PSD for three years.
Franklin and her husband, Marvin, live in Virginia Beach. They have one son who is a lance corporal in the Marine Corps. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MIKE HEFFNER, The Virginian-Pilot
Valerie Franklin, officer records supervisor at Dam Neck's Personnel
Support Detachment, was named Civilian of the Year for her work to
streamline the Navy's staff transfer process.
by CNB