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Improvement event benefits Tinker movers

  • Published
  • By Brandice J. O'Brien
  • Staff Writer
TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Moving from Tinker just got a little easier.

The Personal Property Office, formerly known as the Transportation Management Office, recently improved its process to ship household goods. Officials said the change will reduce non-value added waste by 61 percent.

"The previous system's limitation made for a longer wait time for customers ... two-and-a-half-hours stuck in our office just waiting to be seen. In the meantime you need to get out of Tinker right away and needed your household goods moved," said Chris Fellows, 72nd Logistics
Readiness Squadron Transportation assistant at the PPO. "Under the new process you can get your orders and on that same day, you can start working on the process at home and come in here and get seen - quickly and efficiently."

Under the new system, initiated by a February rapid-improvement event, Airmen can register an account and apply for a password at www.move.mil. Upon receiving a password, which can take up to 48 hours, Airmen can begin filling out the PPO forms. Unlike the previous system, they follow a step-by-step guide available at the Tinker Air Force Base Personal Property Office's Facebook Page or by clicking "How to Move" next to the moving truck on the Tinker homepage. The system can be accessed from many platforms, excluding Apple or Mac. Or, Airmen can use one of the four work stations in Bldg. 5803's Cyber Hall, a new addition to the PPO.

"There are good instructions for putting in your personal and orders information. No one can put in your personal information such as an address better than you can. Nobody can decipher your email address better than you can," Mr. Fellows said. "If the customer is able and willing to do their part of putting in their information into the computer, it will save time here. We can focus on their entitlements and the things that are really important to them when they move."

Through the new system, it takes an Airman between 15 and 45 minutes at the personal property office from the moment he steps inside to when he exits the building.

The change benefits not only Airmen and their families, but also staff personnel. When the Air Force budget took a hit, the PPO office faced losses, both financially and in manpower. As the summer permanent change of station season nears, the office will become busier and needed a more efficient process.

Prior to the new process implementation, Tinker's outgoing Airmen followed an ineffective and sometimes confusing process beginning when orders were received. The previous process had been in place since 2009.

After the orders were received, the member could go online to an Army-designed website and determine if the move will be arranged by the government or the military member. If the government arranges the move, the Airman could request a certain company to pack or haul his goods, but no guarantees were promised. Or, he could ask the counselor to complete the forms. Either way, the Airman would eventually go to the personal property office and speak with a counselor to ensure he understood the process and his entitlements. If he filled out the forms beforehand, the wait could be lesser than if he waited for the counselor to do it. Following the interview, pickup and deliveries were scheduled.

Mr. Fellows said the most challenging aspect for an Airman is if he decided to complete the form at home.

"The instructions to operate the website were pretty much hidden and there was like 10 different PDF files for them to open just to figure out how to use the system. It didn't really go into great detail as to which block pertained to what information," Mr. Fellows said.

From start to finish, the old process took 44 steps, whereas the new system uses 16 steps.

The personal property office is open 7:30 to 11 a.m., Monday through Friday and 12:30 to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursdays; walk-ins only. For more information, call 739-2497.