Army planning to be first service to use integrated pay plan

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Army planning to be first service to use integrated pay plan



By Lisa Burgess, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Friday, December 14, 2007



ARLINGTON, Va. — The Army is planning to launch an online pay and personnel system in October that will bring all three components into a single database.
The Army Defense Integrated Military Human Resources System, or DIMHRS, represents the Army’s first efforts to pull the reserves and active Army under one pay system, the program’s director, Army Col. Patrick Devine, told Stripes on Tuesday.
The system, the result of a Defense Department mandate to streamline all the service’s record-keeping capabilities, is also the first time the Army has merged payroll and personnel data, Devine said.
Once DIMHRS (pronounced “dimers”) goes online Oct. 1, 2008, personnel actions will automatically trigger associated pay events, starting the cash flowing to the soldier’s paycheck without delay, Devine said.
For example, when a soldier is mobilized to deploy to a designated combat zone, DIMHRS will automatically update the payroll section of the soldier’s records, so he starts receiving entitlements such as Hazardous Duty Incentive Pay.
Another change will be to eliminate the choice of being on a monthly or biweekly pay cycle.
Instead, all soldiers will now receive two paychecks each month, Devine said.
Under the new system, the Leave and Earning Statement (LES), will be renamed a “Pay Slip.”
It will have the same data as the old LES, but the information will be displayed on different areas of the page, Devine said. (For a sample, go to stripes.com)
The Army is sending training teams to each installation to teach soldiers and supervisors how to use the DIMHRS, Devine said.
Supervisors will use the program to process leave requests, awards and evaluations. Individual soldiers can access their records and make some changes, such as address updates, he said.
The DIMHRS Web site, at www.armydimhrs.army.mil, also will have all the training materials available, he said.
The Air Force, meanwhile, is set to launch DIMHRS in February 2009. The Navy, which also oversees pay and personnel for the Marines, has yet to set a date for launching the system.



Stars and Stripes: Army planning to be first service to use integrated pay plan



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