FMNET Message 12 JAN 2018

FMNet Members:

Sadly, Christmas break has ended and our minds shift to the preparation and training a quote from Mark Twain comes to mind, “The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.”  (Twain, 2017)  With that thought in mind, everyone at the Financial Management Schoolhouse (FMS) encourage all to strive for professional and personal growth.

Training Opportunities:

1. FMNet highlights the UTES Community of Interest (COI).  For all users who are not familiar with UTES or how to leverage this tool to conduct home station training, there is a blog that provides an overview (https://www.milsuite.mil/book/community/spaces/afms/utes/blog/2017/11/27/utes-overview).  We encourage our users to leverage this magnificent tool; where financial managers (military and civilian) can train on identical systems used in real-time to provide Operational Contract Support (OCS)/Procure-to-Pay Business Process at home station.  Users can train together in the same room or across the globe.

2. Recently the 413th Contracting Support Brigade made history by incorporating the fiscal triad through the utilization of UTES during their Disaster Training Exercise (DTX) in Hawaii.  Read more about this exciting training exercise in our Brigade S8 COI.
(https://www.milsuite.mil/book/community/spaces/afms/utes/blog/2018/01/08/413thcsb-leverages-utes-during-dtx)

General News and Information:

1. Homage to the Council of Colonels (COC) with the posting of, ‘Optimize Financial Management Enterprise Capabilities’ the focus for 2nd Quarter Fiscal Year 2018.  Review the presentation on COC COI.
(https://www.milsuite.mil/book/docs/DOC-434314?ru=152797&sr=stream)

2. Have you recently graduated from the General Fund Enterprise Business Systems (GFEBS) Financials Course or had a colleague who attended?  Follow ‘GFEBS Financials’ and look at the value-added benefits former students have received.
(https://www.milsuite.mil/book/community/spaces/afms/functional-courses/gfebs-financials)

3. Welcome to the Financial Management Operational Budget Course (FMOBC), which started this week.
(https://www.milsuite.mil/book/community/spaces/afms/functional-courses/dormc)

4. Welcome to the first Basic Officer leadership Course (BOLC) where, during a hybrid Systems Overview and Capability Brief one leader asked, “Are tasks being developed for the A&A role of a Financial Manager?”  Read more about the inquisitive leaders and the answers to their questions on FMNet.
(https://www.milsuite.mil/book/community/spaces/afms/blog/2018/01/09/advise-assist-tasks-for-financial-managers)

5. Many of our current subscribers may be unsure of start or end dates for their prescribed functional course.  If this statement pertains to you, please review the course schedule under the Functional Courses COI.
(https://www.milsuite.mil/book/community/spaces/afms/functional-courses)

6. The GFEBS Cost Management course eagerly awaits the upcoming course in ten days.  For all attendees, please review GFEBS Cost COI for course material.    
(https://www.milsuite.mil/book/community/spaces/afms/functional-courses/gfebs-cost)

7. The Principles of Cost Analysis & Management (PCAM) is ramping up in preparation for the upcoming course in ten days.  For all attendees, please review PPBE COI for course material.    
(https://www.milsuite.mil/book/community/spaces/afms/functional-courses/pcam)

8. The Army Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) course will be kicking off the first class of the year in ten days.  For all attendees, please review PPBE COI for course material.    
(https://www.milsuite.mil/book/community/spaces/afms/functional-courses/ppbe) 

9. The Intermediate Cost Analysis & Management (ICAM) course is ramping up for their February 2018 class and has listed pertinent information for interested financial managers.  Please take a minute to follow ICAM and review the course material.
(https://www.milsuite.mil/book/community/spaces/afms/functional-courses/icam) 

10. A quick reminder to all of our subscribers that the UTES site will be down for schedule Maintenance on March 30, 2017.  To review all upcoming scheduled maintenance days visit UTES COI.
(https://www.milsuite.mil/book/docs/DOC-327660)

11. As attested by one of the FMS own, the FM Certification COI on FMNet is without exception a tremendous repository of easily digestible information.  Read all about Mr. Bobby Patterson’s (email: bobby.l.patterson4.civ@mail.mil) testimony at FM Certification COI.
(https://www.milsuite.mil/book/community/spaces/afms/fm-certification/blog/2017/12/29/value-added-content-fm-certification-community-of-interest-on-fmnet)

12. For those individuals that may not know, the Army Financial Management School has created a partnership with the University of South Carolina (USC).  The FMNet is full of useful information for course interest and attendance.  Please follow the page and share this knowledge with other financial managers.
(https://www.milsuite.mil/book/community/spaces/afms/usc)

13. How many of our subscribers would consider themselves Subject Matter Experts (SME) with Eagle Cash?  Well, for all inquiring minds there is a pictorial displaying all the components of Eagle Cash and OTCnet within our Financial Managers (FM) Company Grade Officer COI.
(https://www.milsuite.mil/book/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadBody/391690-102-1-653681/EagleCash%20and%20OTCnet%20components%20-%20Pictorial.pdf)

14. As the economic landscape changes and units struggle with funding looking to the past may hold some answers.  A post in the Finance Corps Museum COI details how limited funding affected the Vietnam War.
(https://www.milsuite.mil/book/community/spaces/afms/finance-corps-museum/blog/2015/08/30/funding-limited-war-the-vietnam-experience)

15. From the S1NET:  An opportunity for 36B SGT-SFC supporting USARC IMAVIRR Pay teams at Ft. Knox.  Apply for a tour of duty position number 166253.
(https://www.milsuite.mil/book/docs/DOC-428991) 

16. From the S1NET:  All Soldiers recertifying their entitlement to BAH must supply all dependent documents by the suspense date of 1 March 2018.
(https://www.milsuite.mil/book/docs/DOC-433459)

MILPER, ALARACT, Army Directives, DFAS, & FORSCOM Financial Management Messages:

1. MILPER messages available on the HRC MILPER web page at
(https://www.hrc.army.mil/Milper)

2. ALARACTs on AKO at
(https://www.us.army.mil/suite/page/550282.)

3. Army Directives are on the Army Publishing Directorate at
(http://www.apd.army.mil/Search/ePubsSearch/ePubsSearchForm.aspx?x=ARMY+DIR)  

4. DFAS MilPay Accounting Analysis Directorate Year End 2017 Processes
(https://dfas4dod.dfas.mil/centers/dfasin/yearend/FY2017/FY17.htm)

5. DFAS For DOD Library
(https://dfas4dod.dfas.mil/library/)

6. FORSCOM RMM 170041 “GCSS-A Wave II PBO Requisitioning Process (job aid)” and 170044 “Recent Changes to Mandatory GFEBS Training in ALMS” along with other messages are available.
(https://www.milsuite.mil/book/docs/DOC-413486?sr=search&searchId=e38d9794-a5c8-41f8-9c75-530fa21c20c1&searchIndex=1.)    

Upcoming Events (all times Eastern Time):

1. The content from cpol.army.mil has transitioned to milBook.
(https://www.milsuite.mil/book/community/spaces/Civ-HR)   

2. American Society of Military Comptrollers (ASMC) 2017 National Professional Development Institute (PDI) is 31 May to 2 June in San Diego.  Additional details are available.
(http://www.asmconline.org/pdi-2017/)

Social Media: Send the links to your peers.
 
Join the FMNet by visiting the Army Financial Management School COI link and sign in to milSuite with your CAC (signing in establishes your milSuite account if you did not have one).  After signing in select milBook and navigate to the Army Financial Management School Community page, look for the “Join” widget on the left and click it.  Approval is automatic.  https://www.milsuite.mil/book/community/spaces/afms   

FMtube: Visit the FMtube for video job aids https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrFUP9pi9QR6d4mDZ4-cW8Q   
 
One Stop: Visit us at the Home of the Army Financial Management School on the One Stop http://www.finance.army.mil/    

This post identifies our total membership count for the FMNet (Army FM School Community of Interest) with 4,512 members as of January 12th compared to 4,286 as of the December update.