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Direct Access (DA) Progress Report - Absence Request
FLAG VOICE 343
A recent DHS OIG report showed the Coast Guard took 30 to 90 days to
document completed military leave transactions. These delays cause
inaccuracies to the Coast Guard’s “Unfunded Leave Liability” statement. An
Unfunded Leave Liability is the amount of accrued leave the military member
may sell which may impact future Coast Guard budgets for which Congress has
not yet appropriated funds – hence the term “Unfunded.” In the past, such
reports have prevented DHS and Coast Guard from being in compliance with
audit requirements. As a result we will be deploying new functionality in DA
“Absence Request” for the timely processing of all types of military leave.
Once deployed, we will begin a monitoring program for the recording of
military leave that provides feedback reports to unit Commanding Officers.
What exactly is “Absence Request” and how does it work? In essence Absence
Request is an electronic means of requesting leave using “Direct Access
Action Request” functionality. The member enters a leave request in the DA
and routes the request for approval; similar to the EER process. Once the
member’s request is approved, the application will hold the request until
the end date (return date) of the leave request and then will automatically
charge the leave via JUMPS and immediately updates the member’s LES. For a
member initiated Absence Request there is no SPO action needed* to charge
the leave. In short, Absence Request simplifies the overall leave
transaction process.
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* |
Note: Absence Request only automates the “official” approval of the member’s leave. Units will still have to employ local methods (electronic / paper based) to capture intermediate approvals that may be required. |
Adding to the above list of benefits, the new capability (once deployed)
will be available via Self Service and if the member does not have access to
a computer, they will have a “proxy” via the SPO yeoman, who will enter the
leave request for them. The proxy is intended as an exception to the rule in
that it provides flexibility for users without a computer, but also supports
timely completion of all non-routine transactions or corrections. In order
to achieve the expected benefits everyone must use the Self Service
capability to the greatest extent possible.
Detailed communications on the new “Absence Request” policy and procedures
will be coming out in the near future. They will be in time to prepare you
for the new application once it is ready for Coast Guard wide use.
I appreciate your continued support as we make these improvements and
transition to the newer version of DA software.
Rear Admiral
Ronald T. Hewitt
RONALD T. HEWITT
Rear Admiral, U. S. Coast Guard
Assistant Commandant for Human Resources
Issue date: 2/1/12
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