• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

USS George H.W. Bush Personnel Division Prepares for FSR Phase-Out

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS100207-05
Release Date: 2/7/2010 4:24:00 PM

By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Michael Tackitt, USS George H.W. Bush Public Affairs

ABOARD USS GEORGE H.W. BUSH, At Sea (NNS) -- In response to a recent Naval Administrative Message (NAVADMIN 04/10) detailing the Navywide phase-out of Enlisted Field Service Records (FSRs) by the end of September, the Sailors of USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) Administration Department's Personnel Division have been preparing for the change.

Aside from making sure each Bush Sailor's page two and Servicemember's Group Life Insurance information is up to date, personnel specialists (PS) have been reaching out to departmental yeomen and personnel liaison representatives (PLR), ensuring their Sailors are ready and properly trained for the ship's transition to Electronic Service Records (ESRs).

"Our Admin team will administer training on creating ESR accounts to departmental yeomen, who will in turn give instruction to their departments and enable USS George H.W. Bush to reach 100 percent enrollment in ESR Afloat," said Ensign Aquichia W. Brown, the ship's personnel officer.

NAVADMIN 040/10 outlines the closeout of the Enlisted FSRs, a process that began in 2006. Instead of Personnel Support Detachments or ship's Personnel offices maintaining copies of each Sailor's personnel file, the files will now be stored electronically and updated directly through Naval Personnel Command (NPC). Service record maintenance will now be generated through a secure Intranet connection to the Navy Standard Integrated Personnel System (NSIPS).

The new system gives Sailors greater access to view their personnel files to ensure they are as up to date and accurate as possible. Sailors will be able to log on to the NSIPS Web site,https://www.nsips.nmci.navy.mil, and tell if documents are missing.

A shipboard version of NSIPS, NSIPS Afloat, is available for fleet Personnel offices. NSIPS Afloat, which works through a ship's Intranet instead of the Internet, provides a more stable point of access for Sailors who routinely have to contend with limited bandwidth.

A unique advantage that Bush will have with ESR Afloat is that it works much faster than the Web-based ESR at shore commands.

"The record will be updated a lot faster," Brown said. "Normal turnaround is approximately 72 hours for shore commands. However, it is taking only eight to 10 hours for carriers."

The ESR presents a big improvement on how often NPC receives updates for each individual Sailor. Under the old paper-bound system, NPC would not receive updates unless the Sailor renewed his enlistment.

"But now, since we're creating service records updates via NSIPS, it will be almost real-time," said Senior Chief Personnel Specialist (SW/AW) Alfredo P. Grafil.

Brown explained that the new automated system helps her division. Previously, personnel specialists had to manually type updates and physically file them into a member's record. Now, the updates are transmitted directly to NPC, reducing the number of man-hours required to maintain individual service records.

When Sailors transfer from Bush and their FSR has been closed out, the personnel specialists will attach a memorandum to the Sailor's Permanent Change of Station (PCS) orders stating that the FSR has been closed out. Documents previously maintained in the paper FSR will be provided to Sailors. Grafil recommends each Sailor keeps copies of everything they receive, including evaluations, qualifications and awards.

Sailors are ultimately responsible for ensuring their records are accurate and should review their electronic records at least semi-annually.