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TESTIMONY OF
BRIGADIER GENERAL JOHN R. THOMAS
DIRECTOR, COMMAND, CONTROL,
COMMUNICATIONS AND COMPUTERS
HEADQUARTERS, UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
AND
DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY
DEPUTY CIO FOR THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

BEFORE THE
HOUSE ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM, UNCONVENTIONAL THREATS AND CAPABILITIES
UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

REGARDING DOD BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION EFFORTS

 March 31, 2004 
 

I.  INTRODUCTION

Chairman Saxton, Congressman Meehan, and distinguished Members of the Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee, thank you for this opportunity to appear before the committee to discuss the Marine Corps Business IT Transformation and our involvement in the Department of Defense Business Management Modernization Program (BMMP).  Our business systems are critical to the efficient management of the Marine Corps and for the well-being and welfare of our Marines.  We believe the tenets of BMMP directly align with our Warfighter mission. As we transform our legacy business systems into integrated enterprise solutions we are creating efficiencies, which frees resources that in turn improve our Warfighting capability.

II. BMMP, DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY AND MARINE CORPS ALIGNMENT

BMMP presents an evolving functional process and system consolidation effort that includes differing degrees of maturity within each of the BMMP domains.  The primary manner we have engaged BMMP is by responding to BMMP guidance and requirements in a decentralized manner using our domain representatives to directly interact with their BMMP Domain counterparts. We have primarily focused our limited headquarters CIO resources on interacting and coordinating with BMMP's Business Modernization and Systems Integration (BMSI) office.

As CIO I am committed to value oriented business transformation. From a Marine Corps perspective BMMP provides us the ability to better understand and improve our business processes, and the applications and databases that support those processes, within the context of the entire DoD business transformation.  The Marine Corps strategy to achieve business transformation leverages those system and data consolidation efforts started before BMMP existed, with newer business initiatives designed to align within emerging DoD and DoN guidance.  While we believe we are in the best position properly articulate the required capabilities for our Service, BMMP will provide us the ability to leverage business systems and capabilities developed outside the Marine Corps that meet our needs.

Among the Marine Corps business transformation goals, are alignment with and active participation in DoD and DoN efforts while improving service to the Marine Corps.  The Marine Corps has been involved for many years in the careful development, oversight, and governance of our business automated information systems. In certain cases the Marine Corps initiated efforts served as a prelude to BMMP and therefore allowed us to be more responsive to BMMP guidance. 

Fortunately our work associated with transitioning to the Navy Marine Corps Internet (NMCI) requires the Department of the Navy to develop a cross-functional application portfolio management process and a repository to support portfolio management and application rationalization.  In concert with the Navy we have established a group of 24 Functional Area Managers (FAMs) and Functional data Managers (FDMs) and assigned every application and database within the Marine Corps to one of these managers.   The FAMs are populating the Department of Navy Application and Database Management System with only authoritative applications and databases.  This forms the foundation of our IT investment and portfolio management process and provides an accurate inventory of financial and financial feeder systems as well as the functions/processes these systems support. 

III.  MARINE CORPS BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION EFFORTS

As CIO, I provide the Enterprise IT Architecture framework, the technical infrastructure guidance, and support to the functional representatives that lead our IT process transformation efforts. Let me provide some examples.

Accounting and Finance: The Marine Corps Standard Accounting, Budgeting and Reporting System (SABRS) is 75% compliant with the BMMP proposed DOD Standard Accounting Classification Structure (SACS) and we are working to achieve the remainder.  SABRS is meeting all of the BMMP core mandates of standard general ledgers, Federal Financial Management Improvement Act requirements, and undergoing Joint Financial Management Improvement Program certification testing.

Acquisition:  The Marine Corps is actively engaged in Business Process Modeling workshops, via participation in the Joint Acquisition and eBusiness Oversight Body, the centerpiece of the Acquisition Domain led by OSD-ATL, Defense Procurement and Acquisition Policy.  In addition, the USMC supports DoD efforts to identify and rationalize Acquisition systems aligned with the BMMP Strategic Vision and Architecture. 

Human Resource Management:  Our Human Resources (HR) systems include manpower, training, recruiting, and force structure systems that are controlled through service level governance processes. We carefully scrutinize and rationalize our HR applications while simultaneously consolidating personnel administration functions at increasingly higher levels.  The Marine Corps is currently evaluating Defense Integrated Military Human Resource System (DIMHRS) functionality against capabilities provided by our current personnel and pay system; the Marine Corps Total Force System (MCTFS). MCTFS is the only fully integrated personnel and pay system supporting active and reserve forces within DoD. It is aligned to our business practices, devoid of administrative redundancies, requiring minimal human interaction to sustain personnel and pay readiness.

DIMHRS is the proposed solution for the Human Resources Management domain. Functional "deltas" with Marine Corps HR systems and processes will have to be bridged by technical enhancements or by developing new systems and/or potentially increasing the number of Marines assigned to HR positions.[vlb1]    This is particularly true where DIMHRS business process reengineering does not result in business process improvement or sustain current efficiencies delivered by existing systems. This is both costly and inconsistent with BMMP objectives.  Simply stated, DIMHRS must meet Marine Corps capability needs before it can be adopted for use. 

The Total Force Administration System (TFAS) is representative of the Corps' reengineering efforts in the area of administration.  TFAS provides a web-based, virtually paperless self-serve capability for all Marines via the web portal, Marine On Line (MOL).  This year, we will increase our Marine's ability to execute self-service transactions and automate many unit capabilities such as leave, morning reports, and promotions.  In a tremendous advance, Marines at all levels will access Marine On-Line to view information on themselves and the Marines in their charge.  Over the next few years, our strategy is to consolidate the functionality of multiple legacy, stove-piped systems under TFAS.  As a result, we see TFAS/MOL as an advanced portal capability that provides a reduction in legacy support and a consolidation of authoritative data. 

Other efforts include the deployment of the Defense Travel System, a seamless, paperless, temporary duty travel system that meets the needs of travelers, commanders, and process owners.  It will reduce costs, support mission requirements, and provide superior customer service.

We are also engaged in a cooperative partnership with the Joint Requirements and Integration Office and the Joint Program Management Office to ensure uninterrupted personnel and pay support to all Marines and to share with other DoD agencies development and maintenance lessons learned. 

Installations and Environment: We are standardizing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and maintenance management systems thus reducing the number of separate, isolated, simultaneous instances of certain systems.  Consequently we are better positioned to manage and maintain our installations, real property, and the support staffs that keep them functioning. The Marine Corps facilities management community has been very aggressive in reducing legacy applications and standardizing business systems across the Marine Corps.  In facilities maintenance management alone, the Marine Corps is replacing 34 installation specific systems with one web-based enterprise level system, thus reducing sustainment costs while providing a single authoritative information source.  Consolidation of software licensing and centralized administration will save $1.5M annually. [vlb2]  Last month, the Marine Corps eliminated five cost engineering software products by working with the Navy to standardize cost engineering on a Departmental level. 

Logistics:  Many of our financial feeder systems exist in our logistics functional area.  Our logistics FAM has developed an integrated logistics initiative designed to eliminate duplication, institutionalize modern supply and value chain management techniques, and to replace the numerous stovepipe automated information systems with web-based order management systems.  To date, 36 Marine Corps logistics systems have been officially retired, with additional 20 systems identified for retirement. 

Strategic Planning and Budgeting: The Marine Corps has participated in the Strategic Planning and Budget workshops to map the "as is" and develop the "to be" processes that could lead to new DoD business practices.

Our Activity Based Information System (ABIS) leverages financial and functional data in a shared data environment, creating a total cost and performance management system.  This has enabled fact based decision making, effective resource management and provided for justification in the POM process.  Use of ABIS primary data has allowed the USMC to realign significant dollars to support warfighting capabilities.

MCEITS strategy for migration of legacy business systems:  The CIO's role is to align the Enterprise IT Portfolio and architecture to support this modernization effort. Our initiative for Marine Corps transformation is the Marine Corps Enterprise Information Technology Services (MCEITS) framework. MCEITS is our conceptual framework for realigning, collapsing, and consolidating our physical IT environment, enabling a fusion of data and processes.  It will support all FAMs and the applications they need to conduct their business by becoming the streamlined physical implementation of the portfolio being managed by each FAM.  It provides us with a flexible, robust IT environment that integrates applications and data, and provides the common IT infrastructure for FAMS working with the BMMP domain owners as they unfold their initiatives. 

VI.  CONCLUSION

The Marine Corps has been able to comply with the Department's business transformation requirements in a proactive manner by aligning ongoing Marine Corps initiatives with department goals, and when no ongoing effort was in place, initiating one.  In some areas we are ahead of BMMP while maintaining the spirit of BMMP. The Marine Corps strongly believes that it is in the best place to judge what capabilities and systems are required to support our contributions to the National Defense.  The services should retain their Title 10 authority for business systems. It should not be transferred to BMMP domain owners.   

Please know that the Marine Corps views your substantial investment in Business Transformation with gratitude. We are concerned that any decrease in funding would result in delays and inefficiencies that will cause greater business transformation costs in the long term, and delay our ability to serve the Warfighter in a NetCentric environment. Mr. Chairman and members of the Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee, thank you again for your steadfast support, and for this opportunity to appear before the committee to discuss how the Marine Corps is evolving our IT architecture and capabilities in support of business IT transformation for the 21st Century.