Navy consolidates human resources systems with PeopleSoft

The Navy has selected software from PeopleSoft Inc. to manage human resources information for more than 800,000 retired, active and reserve sailors.

Under the $7.4 million contract, PeopleSoft's human resources software will be deployed throughout the Navy at more than 800 locations, including shore commands and more than 200 ships. The goal is to streamline the collection and analysis of personnel information, Navy and Peoplesoft officials said. The software also will replace legacy systems that are not Year 2000-compliant.

Sailors will now have all HR information in one existing system at a single point of entry, said Lt. Jeff Bender, public affairs officer at the Naval Reserve Information Systems Office in New Orleans.

In the past, Bender said, no single system gave retired, active and reserve sailors all the information they needed regarding personnel management systems. These systems were incomplete because some parts were available on the ships and others were not, he said.

The software will replace legacy systems and multiple systems that store and track human resources data for retired, active and reserve sailors, said Jonathan Klem, vice president of PeopleSoft's Federal Division. "The deployment also will solve a legacy Y2K problem from old naval applications that are not Y2K-compliant, and [it] will take advantage of commercial off-the-shelf products," Klem said.

Three of the four legacy systems slated to be replaced are not able to recognize the four-digit millennium date change, Bender said.

Those systems are the Pay and Personnel Source Data System (SDS), the Diary Message Reporting System (DMRS) and the Reserve Standard Training Administration and Readiness Support for Manpower and Personnel (RSTARS-MP), Bender said.

SDS is an automated information system that provides payroll, personnel and administrative support to Personnel Administrative Support System offices and shipboard personnel offices. DMRS provides an automated means for naval activities to report all personnel accounting transactions.

RSTARS-MP is a field system that provides support for personnel record maintenance, mobilization readiness reporting and inactive drill reporting as well as detailing of naval reserve personnel.

The target for the first phase of the rollout is January, and an Oracle Corp. database will be used to support the PeopleSoft product, Bender added.