Daycos News

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

Note: This is the second in a series of posts looking at the concern over the DPS system performance during peak season.…
Another reason for the increased concern about DPS performance is the lack of a fall-back system this summer. For the first time since DPS rolled out, TOPS is not available as a backup system. The decision was made to either sink or swim with DPS, and this summer we will find out the results of that decision.
During

Last week, during the  NDTA Annual Forum in Washington, DC, there were a few sessions related to household goods. Col. Mike Miller from JPMO-HHGS and Lt. Col. Derek Oliver from SDDC each gave an update during one session, and here are some notes from those presentations:

• As expected, there was lots of discussion around the peak season issues:
  • SDDC reported that during July and August, roughly 7% of shipments delivered past the RDD.
  • Lt. Col. Oliver stated that many of

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While many TSPs may be in the middle of peak season, or maybe even seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, we are just entering our …peak season. July, August, and September are traditionally the busiest months for invoicing, and we are expecting those months to be very busy this year. So we thought it would be a good time to take a look at some DPS invoicing payment times to see how they are looking heading into

Each week, JPMO-HHGS provides a Weekly Activity Report (aka WAR report) to the Services and DPS TSP user group. One of the prominant statistics tracked in this WAR report is the percentage of shipments that are booked in DPS vs. TOPS. We have gone back and reviewed  the WAR reports since PPM was implemented in DPS, and have compiled this chart showing the percentages of shipments booked in DPS each week (note: No percentage was given for the week ending…

The household goods industry is currently experiencing a very difficult summer peak season. There will be lots of time to assign blame… determine the causes of the numerous peak season problems, but in general it is safe to say we are seeing the perfect storm of circumstances that has led us to the current situation. Some of the causes frequently mentioned include : decreased TSP capacity, increased demand in commercial sector, new program fully implemented immediately prior to peak season,

In the most recent DP3/DPS WAR report covering May1st-7th, there were many items indicating the increased volume of shipments in DPS:

• Another big week for DP3/DPS…now 65% in the system, and USCG hit 81% on almost 1,000 moves!  We know this increase in volume has come at a cost as we continue to improve the system and our people get trained and familiar with DPS.  Thanks for all the good work. (from  Executive Summary by Col. Miller)
• Stakeholders Communications:  We’re

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For the first time since the initial DPS shipment was booked… in August, 2008; there were more shipments booked in DPS than in TOPS during last week. According the the latest WAR report from JPMO-HHGS, 52% of all shipments booked last week were booked in DPS. As expected, the inclusion of PPM into DPS has given the numbers a big boost, and it is likely the DPS percentage will continue to increase.
Now it will be interesting to see if

“After extensive testing and evaluation, the Service Headquarters have determined the PPM module meets the minimum requirements for execution. Effective 15 April 2010, all PPM applications will be processed in DPS.”

Those are the first two lines from the PPM Execution Order, a joint message from the Military Services which was shared with the DPS user group late yesterday. This order is the trigger that will drastically increase the number of shipments being booked in DPS. The functionality was added …

Most of the focus on the recent April 1 DPS software update… has been on the inclusion of PPM shipments, and the resulting increase in shipments that could be booked in DPS. However, the software update installed last Thursday contained another change that may also have a significant impact on the long term success of the DPS program. That change is the inclusion of the “encrypted link” to the Customer Satisfaction Survey (CSS), which allows a service member to take