No Fooling: DPS to Increase Capability on April 1st

For most of the last year, DPS has been a secondary system to TOPS, handling less than a quarter of potential shipments. As we approach peak season, it appears that will change very soon. Recently, short-fuse functionality was added back into the DPS system, which increased the volume in the DPS system. Another release currently scheduled for April 1^st promises to make another significant increase in the number of shipments booked in DPS.

The main feature of the April 1^st release is the ability for DPS to handle Personally Procured Moves (PPM), formally known as DITY moves. Previously, if any portion of a shipment had a PPM component, the entire shipment would have to be booked in TOPS. Since a fair number of shipments have a PPM piece, this limited the volume that could be placed in DPS. Once this capability is added to DPS, many more shipments will be eligible to be booked in DPS. Furthermore, when the DPS release occurs, language  will be placed in the JFTR to enable PPMs to be paid based on “Best Value” rates, as opposed to “Low Cost.” After this language is changed, all PPMs will have to be done in DPS. PPSOs will not have the ability to place some of those shipments in TOPS and some in DPS.

The effect of this change is that the volume of DPS shipments will likely increase substantially after April 1^st. JPMO-HHGS representatives have stated that they will be at 70% capacity for DPS after this update, meaning 70% of personal property shipments could be handled in DPS.  Of course, it does not mean that PPSOs will book every eligible shipment in DPS, but during last week’s SDDC Symposium, many of the service representatives stated that they were going to encourage PPSOs to utilize DPS for most of the eligible shipments. It is also important to note that much of the remaining 30% of shipments not able to be handled by DPS are the NTS and DPM shipments. Therefore, if a TSP does not handle those shipments, they might see a much higher percentage of potential shipments in DPS.

If DPS volume increases significantly, there will be much interest in seeing how DPS handles the increased load. JPMO-HHGS representatives seem fairly confident that the work they have done the last six months beefing up the capacity of the system will enable DPS to handle the upcoming increase. From an invoicing perspective, there are no major systematic problems in DPS invoicing that we believe will cause widespread problems with an increase in volume. It is even possible that the increase will improve payment times in DPS, as PPSOs transition from treating it as a secondary system to the primary system.

Of course, this is not the first time TSPs have been told to prepare for an increase in DPS volume, only to have the implementation date postponed, or see only a temporary increase. It would be ironic if the dramatic, permanent increase in DPS shipment volume finally occurs based on an upgrade put in place on April Fool’s Day.

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