ATA restructuring transition goes smoothly Published May 18, 2012 By Patrick Ary AEDC/PA Arnold Air Force Base, Tenn. -- When the restructured ATA organization became effective April 23, most people affected knew it was coming. Since the changes had been well-publicized for weeks prior to the formal implementation date, the transition occurred with very little fanfare or disruption. That's what the team in charge of making the transition was hoping for. In early March, work began on implementing a reorganization of ATA's structure. The change was made because staffing levels at AEDC have been reduced more than 20 percent in the last three years. Due to the expectation of continued restrained budgets, the decision was made to restructure to accommodate a smaller workforce. The idea of restructuring the organization had been under consideration for some time, according to Transition Manager David Eldridge. "The previous organizational structure had been in place since the origination of ATA," Eldridge said. "We're in the ninth year of our contract. The original structure was developed to accommodate a higher level of staffing than where we are today, so once those reductions started three or four years ago, consideration began for organizational restructuring." The objectives of the restructuring were to streamline ATA to more appropriately match current and future forecasted staffing levels by reducing the number of departments and branches; to improve effectiveness within the organization by consolidating related functions; and to improve the alignment of the organization with the current AEDC work breakdown structure. No staff reductions occurred as a result of the restructuring, and many employees were unaffected. The majority of those who were affected saw only a change in their department or branch assignment. The changes eliminated two departments and five branches, realigning them with existing departments. AEDC's remote facilities, the Hypervelocity Wind Tunnel 9 in White Oak, Md., and the National Full-Scale Aerodynamics Complex at Moffett Field, Calif., were not affected by the changes. Several departments were renamed or assigned new organization codes, which required modification of a number of administrative support systems. Not the least important was modifying the time reporting and approval system to be ready for the changes. The Restructuring Transition Team, led by ATA Finance/Program Control Manager Joyce King, was formed in order to make sure new organization codes were entered in the various systems, employees were properly assigned to their new organizations and the timecard system was ready for labor hours to be recorded and approved. The team met weekly during the month and a half leading up to the April 23 transition date to prioritize and track tasks and brainstorm for potential issues. The team consisted of representatives who dealt with several different systems used by base employees, such as the PeopleSoft Finance, PeopleSoft Human Resources, Oracle Business Intelligence, CMMS, Matrix, ATA Portal, Sharepoint and Microsoft Outlook. "When we got the data on who was moving to what department, we set up a timeline and started meeting weekly to determine impacts and what we had to do first," King said. "For instance, we had to get all these organization codes into PeopleSoft HR first, because you can't hook people to them if they're not already there." Approver groups for timecards were the biggest hurdle, according to King. The ATA craft supervisors and managers often have employees temporarily transferred to their department, but they must be able to approve their timecards while they are working for them, making approver groups the most complex issue. When everything was moved over April 23, King said they only had a handful of supervisors call with approver issues, and those were promptly corrected. Another major area the team looked at was role-based security. Because some employee roles changed in the reorganization, access had to be changed for them in several AEDC systems. King said everyone on the transition team realized the importance of this effort and was committed to getting the work done and making sure there were no problems the day everything switched over, even though ATA management made sure team members knew April 23 was not a firm date for the transition if it meant things would be rushed. "We weren't too pressured, because we knew if we needed two more weeks they would give it to us," King said. "But it still was a lot of work for this group of people on top of normal responsibilities, and the successful transition was due to their dedication to making it happen." And while there are still some small issues that everyone expects to come up as time goes by, Eldridge said he's happy with the way his team performed. "The bottom line was we had to be prepared to get the payroll processed, properly collect and account for project costs and generally keep the systems going," Eldridge said. "The transition was for the most part transparent and seamless. That's a testimony to the work this transition team did prior to the official changeover." Breakout Information on Department Reorganization · The Resource Provisioning Department was eliminated, and its functions were realigned within other departments. · The Support Services Department was renamed the Mission Support Department and expanded to include the various Civil Engineering functions, Utilities, Warehouse/Distribution, Transportation, Maintenance Operations Control Center and Operations Center functions that were previously under the Resource Provisioning Department, Facilities Operations and Maintenance Department and Project and Design Engineering Department. · The Facilities Operations and Maintenance Department was renamed the Test Assets and Support Department. Civil Engineering and Utilities functions were reassigned to the Mission Support Department. This department assumed responsibility of the Precision Measurement Equipment Laboratory and Test Measurement and Diagnostic Equipment functions that were previously assigned to the Information Technology and Systems Department. It also assumed responsibility of the Maintenance Operations Control Center and Integrated Scheduling functions that were assigned to the Resource Provisioning Department. · The Performance Management Department was expanded to include all administrative and company-wide support functions. Human Resources, Property Administration, Purchasing, Public Affairs, Publications, Finance, Environmental and Safety and Health groups were reassigned to this department. · The Project and Design Engineering Department, Integrated Test and Evaluation Department and Information Technology and Systems Department remained essentially unchanged outside of the previously mentioned reassignments.