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DPS Release Causes SIT Errors

The last DPS update was installed with very few problems…. So when the next major upgrade, version 1.4.08, was installed over the weekend, lots of people were wondering if it would be another “quiet” installation. Unfortunately, it appears that the recent update has caused some significant problems related to the SIT process in the DPS computer system.
The biggest problem caused by the update is that DPS is no longer automatically issuing SIT control numbers for shipments without a

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New Smart Book Highlights Upcoming DPS Changes

JPMO-HHGs has released Version 26 of the DPS Smart Book, which details the upcoming changes in the next release of DPS. Although the effective date of the Smart Book is listed as December 9th, the same day as the 1.4.08 DPS release, it is available for download now at Move.mil….
Once again, JPMO-HHGs has gone to great lengths to detail the changes in the upcoming DPS release. The Smart Book highlights the upcoming DPS release by Software Change Requests

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DPS Update Installed with Few Problems

At the risk of declaring success too soon, it appears that the DPS release  installed over the weekend caused very few technical problems, and certainly none of the major issues that were feared…. Despite the size of the update to DPS version 1.4.07, and the number of changes and fixes contained in the release, there have been no significant issues with system stability or availability, or with functionality not working as designed. The entire JPMO-HHGs team deserves congratulations and

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The Calm Before the Storm

Here’s hoping that everyone is enjoying a quiet, subdued Friday afternoon. While you might be tempted to sneak out early on a Friday, it might be a good idea to catch up on any DPS related work  you have waiting.
Starting at 9 PM Central tonight,DPS is being taken down to install release 1.4.07 into the production system. This patch includes lots of fixes and changes…, so there is a good chance there will be some bumps in the

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New Smart Book Offers Sneak Peak of Tomorrow’s DPS Update

JPMO-HHGS has just posted version 25 of the DPS Smart Book on their Move.mil website. (You can download the pdf by clicking here…). The main change to this Smart Book is the comprehensive review of changes contained in DPS version 1.4.07, which is scheduled to be released into DPS production tomorrow.
In addition to listing all of the contained changes and fixes, the Smart Book also includes extensive screen shots of the changes, allowing TSPs to preview what the

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DPS Lock-Down Coming to a Temporary Halt

During early summer, when DPS was struggling to stay online, the decision was made to “lock-down” the DPS system for the rest of the summer peak season. This meant that the only changes, or updates to the DPS system would be to fix critical errors. All improvements, new features, and non-critical fixes were put on hold until peak season ended.
The system lock-down certainly helped with the stability of DPS, but we have reached the end of peak season, and

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JPMO-HHGs Report Introduces New DPS Program Director

The July Monthly Activity Report… from JPMO-HHGs begins with an introduction by Col. Mark Hiryak, the new Program Director for the DPS project. Col. Miller retired prior to peak season, and there had been a temporary PMO in place until recently, when Col. Hiryak took over.
According to the report, system availabilty for DPS in July was 94.5%, which is well below their stated goal of 98%. However, it appears that most of the downtime was due to a problem

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Why Is It So Hard to Build DPS?

Recently, a colleague sent me a link to an article titled US Army spent $2.7 billion on a battlefield computer that doesn’t work…, with a note that said “it’s not just DPS, and at least we are in good company.” The article detailed the struggles of a battlefield Army intelligence system, and contained the comment that “military spending nearly always turns into case of throwing good money after bad.”
Of course compared to multi-billion dollar battlefield computer system that

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TOPS Budget Slated for Elimination(Again)

In addition to the DPS computer system, the Federal IT Dashboard contains spending information on many government computer systems. One that is well know in this industry is the TOPS computer system. TOPS is of course the legacy system that is currently being replaced by the DPS system.
The first time… we looked at the Federal IT Dashboard infomation back in 2009, TOPS was scheduled to be shut down by now. At that time, the budgeted amount for TOPS in

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DOD Continues to Increase Investment in DPS

For the past two years, we have tracked the amount of money the Department of Defense is spending on the Defense Personal Property System (DPS). After some delay due to the budget impasse in Congress, the new budget numbers for DPS have been released on the Federal IT Dashboard…. It shows that the DOD is continuing to increase its annual investment in the DPS computer system.
The budgeted amount for DPS spending in FY 2012 is listed as

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