Fix to CRIS Log-in Issues

Update your CRIS bookmarks/favorites to the new cloud URLs.

Auto-forwarding will cease at the end of February.

In order to get past the ACCEPT screen, you must change your compatibility settings by going to Tools > Compatibility View Settings > REMOVE af.mil, and UNCHECK “Display intranet sites in Compatibility View”.

See the screenshot below.

You may also need to Clear SSL and then close/restart Internet Explorer.

Source:

AFAOC Legacy Help Desk
Phone:937-257-3117 or DSN: 312-787-3117
saf.fmpaffso.customerservice@us.af.mil

Power Query M Code – GTC Delinquency Report

One of my goals with Budget Dust is to create a community of data junkies. A group that uploads new ideas and improves each other’s code and documentation. GitHub is a code hosting platform that makes version control and collaboration easier. It lets you and others work together on projects from anywhere. Read this short tutorial on what branches are and how to publish commits. Don’t worry if those words don’t mean anything to you, it’s easy to pickup with a little practice.

The M Code below enables FMers to quickly transform, raw unedited data inside Power Query in a consistent, reliable process. Simply copy/paste the code into the Advanced Editor in the Power Query Editor in either Excel or Power BI. Then simply insert your local file path at line #2 where it says “INSERT_YOUR_FILEPATH_HERE” and then run the code. Voilà, it works!

Crucial rules to adhere to when using other people’s M Code:

  • Change the file path to your local machine or share drive
  • In most cases, make sure the file name does not change day-to-day
  • Download the file exactly the same way as the original code author intended

In future posts and YouTube videos, I will demonstrate step-by-step how to both implement the code and edit/improve the code on GitHub. As a community, let’s refine, improve and standardize our processes. In turn, we can create consistent reliable code used across the Air Force.

GitHub Repository:

https://github.com/budgetdust/GTC_DelinquencyReport

Tracking Documents Through the Stages of Accounting in DEAMS

After pulling a Status of Funds – Near Real Time report, use the Selective Transaction History Report to research any transactions.  Using the Discoverer Viewer report titled “R12 01 General Ledger Transactions STH – New_Payment Voucher Num” (STH report) returns all updates to documents in the system.  By pulling the data into a pivot table (snippet of the pivot parameters provided) users can see the dates and document details as it has moved through the system. 

Below are basic research details to follow:

Parameters used for the STH Report

Recommend pulling data by OE, FY and AAI (387700) to limit file size.

Insert the budget-affecting GL Account Codes (GLAC) (found at GLAC Parameter Strings (Cell A4)) to eliminate unnecessary General Ledger entries.

Update on the recent STH duplicates issue

The R12 General Ledger Transactions STH in Discoverer Viewer no longer contains duplicate lines of summary entries. Over the past month, DEAMS advised users to remove duplicate lines identified under the Je Header Id and Je Line Num fields. The STH now includes entries with more complete data. Although you may still see lines with matching Je Header Id and Je Line Num fields, those rows of information now include differences in other columns used to track documents from origination to payment. You no longer need to remove duplicates.

Power BI can handle years of STH data

In a future YouTube video I plan on demonstrating how to build an STH Tool using Power BI. I’ve pulled in every accounting transaction at my wing over the past five years and can finally harness the time intelligence functions available with DAX. You can do impressive day-over-day, week-over-week, month-over-month, or year-over-year analysis amongst other things. Chad Kukorola deserves all the credit for this idea. I had been dreaming of how to do this for years, but Excel always bogged down on me. After reviewing some of Chad’s Power Query code, I was able to make it work in Power BI. Until I get the YouTube video postd, reach out and let me know if you’re interested in seeing what the tool is capable of.

Every Financial Form on E-Pubs

I pulled all finance forms from e-pubs and extracted the table using Power Query. In the future, I’ll put together videos and instruction on how to scrape websites to pull similar information. It’s an incredibly valuable skill and is relatively easy once you discover a few techniques.

If you ever find any out of date information or discover dead links, please leave a comment below with specifics and I’ll get it updated. If after clicking a link you receive a “Please wait…” message, download the file and then open it in your favorite pdf viewer. At that point, it should open normally.

Source: Air Force E-Publishing

Last Updated: 12 February 2020

Product #Product TitlePrescribing PubDate
AF1045Request and Authorization for Student Dependent TravelAFI65-1031/1/1986
AF1631NATO Travel OrderAFI65-1038/1/1986
AF937Request and Authorization for Dependent(s) TravelAFI65-1034/1/1983
AF185Project OrderAFI65-601V12/1/2002
AF401Budget Authority/AllotmentAFI65-601V14/1/1984
AF616Fund Cite Authorization (FCA)AFI65-601V14/1/1989
AF2900Operating Budget Requirements–FY Operating BudgetAFI65-601V211/1/1985
AF2903Inflation Summary – FY Operating BudgetAFI65-601V211/1/1985
AF2929Program Summary – Commercial Communications And Networks – FY Financial PlanAFI65-601V27/1/1985
AF2932Inflation Summary – FY Financial PlanAFI65-601V211/1/1985
AF2934Changes In Program Data – FY Financial PlanAFI65-601V211/1/1985
AF2960Special Program Summary – FY Financial PlanAFI65-601V211/1/1985
AF3821Employee Accounting Data – Defense Civilian Pay System – Base LevelAFI65-601V28/1/2017
AF134Report of Contingency ExpendituresAFI65-60310/1/2003

Every Financial Management AFI and Publication

I pulled all 65 series Air Force Instructions from e-pubs and extracted the table using Power Query. In the future, I’ll put together some videos and instruction on how to scrape websites to pull information like this. It’s an incredibly valuable skill and is relatively easy once you discover a few techniques.

If you ever find any out of date information or discover dead links, please leave a comment below with specifics and I’ll get it updated.

Source: Air Force E-Publishing

Last Updated: 11 February 2020

ProductProduct TitlePublishedCertified CurrentLast Action
AFI65-103Temporary Duty/Special Orders8/14/20198/14/2019Rewrite
AFI65-106Appropriated Fund Support of Morale, Welfare, And Recreation (MWR) And Other Nonappropriated Fund Instrumentalities (NAFIs)1/14/20191/14/2019Correction
AFI65-107Nonappropriated Funds Financial Management Oversight Responsibilities6/12/20186/12/2018Rewrite
AFI65-118Air Force Purchases Using Military Interdepartmental Purchase Requests (MIPRs)10/3/201610/3/2016
AFI65-201Managers’ Internal Control Program Procedures2/8/20162/8/2016Rewrite
AFI65-202Administration of A Base Financial Management Quality Assurance Program1/24/20161/24/2016Rewrite
AFI65-301Internal Audit Services8/30/20188/30/2018Correction
AFI65-302External Audit Services8/22/20188/22/2018
AFI65-501Economic Analysis10/28/201810/28/2018Rewrite
AFI65-503US Air Force Cost And Planning Factors7/12/20187/12/2018Rewrite
AFI65-508Cost Analysis Guidance And Procedures12/5/201812/5/2018Rewrite
AFI65-601V1Budget Guidance And Procedures10/23/201810/23/2018Rewrite
AFI65-601V2Budget Management For Operations7/13/20177/13/2017UpdateContact
AFI65-603Emergency And Extraordinary Expense Authority8/23/20118/23/2011Correction
AFI65-607Foreign Military Sales Dedicated Training Program11/19/20152/14/2017CertifiedCurrent
AFI65-610Guidance For Expenditures At Deployed Locations9/2/20199/2/2019Rewrite
AFMAN65-114Travel– Procedures For Financial Management Flights, Finance Offices-Reserve Components, Air Force Installation And Mission Support Center-Finance Component8/26/20198/26/2019Rewrite
AFMAN65-116V1Defense Joint Military Pay System Active Component (DJMS-AC) Financial Management Flight (FMF Procedures)10/22/201910/22/2019Rewrite
AFMAN65-116V2Defense Joint Military Pay System Active Component (DJMS-AC) Unit Procedures Excluding Financial Management Flights12/22/201912/22/2019Rewrite
AFMAN65-116V3Defense Joint Military Pay System (DJMS) – Reserve Component (DJMS-RC)11/6/201911/6/2019Rewrite
AFMAN65-502Inflation10/29/201810/29/2018Rewrite
AFMAN65-506Economic Analysis9/5/20199/5/2019Rewrite
AFMAN65-604Appropriation Symbols And Budget Codes (Fiscal Year 2020)9/30/20199/30/2019Rewrite
AFMAN65-605V1Budget Guidance And Technical Procedures8/15/20128/15/2012Correction
AFPAM65-110Deployed Agent Operations10/9/200110/9/2001None
AFPD65-1Management of Financial Services6/24/20186/24/2018Rewrite
AFPD65-2Managers’ Internal Control Program5/15/20165/15/2016UpdateContact
AFPD65-3Audit Services8/7/20188/7/2018Correction
AFPD65-5Cost And Economics12/17/201812/17/2018Rewrite
AFPD65-6Budget9/26/20199/26/2019Rewrite
CFETP6F0X1C2CFETP6F0X1C29/4/20189/4/2018Correction
DODI1300.26_AFI65-117Administration of The Air Force Financial Management Certification Program4/14/20194/14/2019Rewrite

AFAFO Aged Travel Orders Deobligation Policy

Below is the latest policy guidance from AFAFO regarding the deobligation of aged travel orders. This memo supersedes the guidance provided April and May 2019.

The memo lays out specific criteria under which base comptroller offices and the Robotic Process Automation (RPA) can deobligate aged vouchers. This memo gives a tremendous amount of authority back to the bases and should help curb an age old problem.

How are you utilizing the memo? What systems have you put in place curb aged orders? Do you have any helpful guides or tutorials you would like to share? Use the comments below to provide feedback and links to any helpful materials.

Source: AFAFO-A

Policy as of: 7 February 2020

AFAFO-Aged-Travel-Orders-Deobligation-Policy

CRIS Migrating to the Cloud Soon

CRIS will be moving to the cloud on or about 10 Feb 2020. While we prepare to make our final move to the cloud, please be aware that any changes made to queries not saved to the local PC after 4 Feb 2020 will not be saved to you CRIS profile.  We need approximately 4 days to migrate the data to the cloud so any changes or new queries created after 4 Feb 2020 will not be available in your cloud profile. Any new or modified queries you need after 4 Feb 2020 should be saved to your local computer for later upload to the cloud.

If all goes well, you will automatically be redirected to the cloud instance of CRIS on 10 February.  You may notice some minor differences in the cloud.  The biggest one will be authentication through the CCE.  After ~15 minutes of inactivity, your ‘token’ will expire and you will need to log back in to CRIS (refresh your IE).  Yes, you will still need to use internet explorer for several more months.

Direct questions to:

AFAOC FM Systems Help Desk

Phone: 937.257.3117 or DSN:  787.3117

Email: saf.fmpaffso.customerservice@us.af.mil

Hours: M-F 0700-1700

Source: CRIS FMO

As of Date: 4 February 2020

Changes to Financial Management Duty Titles (Officer & Enlisted)

In 2017, Ms. Thomas sent out a memo standardizing duty titles for FM Officers and Enlisted Airmen in an effort to provide consistency among the various organizations in which we serve.  Since that memo was signed, there have been some changes in the requirements for our duty titles and in the promotion systems for both Officers and Enlisted.  Because of these changes, Mr. Hartley signed the attached duty title memo.  This memo updates approved duty titles to include officers serving in the acquisition community, where we have lacked standardization up to this point.

Standardized duty titles allow us to quickly describe career paths to promotion and other cross-functional boards that may not have any FM representation on them.  Today, we have 541 O-5s and below in FM, with 327 unique duty titles in use – over half the career field.  The numbers aren’t better on the enlisted side. 

Because of this need, the attached memo requires all members have a compliant duty title by 28 February 2020.  Please work with your local CSS/MPS staff to review your records, and those of your Airmen, to ensure their duty titles match those on the approved duty title memo.  If you have any specific questions, please contact the Officer Assignment Team (Officer Duty Titles) or your MAJCOM Chief Enlisted Managers (Enlisted Duty Title).

  • Source: SAF/FM
  • As of Date: 27 January 2020
200131-Financial-Management-Duty-Titles-SAF_FM-PDAS-Signed

Heroes are near future versions of you

Getting older and Googling your hero’s age let’s you in on a dirty little secret. Most aren’t much older than you. This became tragically evident this week with the passing of Kobe Bryant. I grew up idolizing his work ethic and mamba mentality, yet we were only six years apart.

Why is that? Because if they were any older their message wouldn’t resonate. The distance would be too great.

Our favorite artists conveyed their experience and hard fought lessons learned in ways we could relate to. Our parents and teachers were trying to teach us those same lessons, but the generational divide got in the way.

Why does this matter? Because you are someone’s hero. You just don’t know it. A near-peer or subordinate is looking up to you right now. Your message resonates, because you have been where they are and made it through. You survived and that gives them hope.

Real heroes don’t wear capes. They work in cubicles, wear uniforms and make PBJs before school.

Someone is watching you. What are they seeing?

Senior Leader Webchat with CMSgt Kendall Briscoe

In November 2019, CMSgt Kendall Briscoe conducted a Facebook LIVE session where he gave an overarching update on a multitude of issues facing the FM Enlisted team and our Air Force. This is a must listen for both officers and enlisted.

Fast forward to about the 8 minute mark when the briefing actually begins.

Video Link

CET Credit Link

Highlights

  • 8 min – The FM Our Air Force needs overview
  • 12 min – AFIPPS update – Go live date pushed to Jan 2022
  • 14 min – Manpower study, Oct 2022
  • 17 min – AFIPSS way ahead
  • 19 min – Changes to tech school curriculum
  • 24 min – Resource Training Center (RTC) & Finance Information Collaborative Space (FICS)
  • 27 min – Silver Flag update
  • 34 min – FICS
  • 39 min – Culture of Training
  • 43 min – Resiliency
  • 45 min – Q&A from Airmen – Artificial Intelligence/Bots, Business Intelligence, Power BI

DoD FM Connection Newsletter – Winter 2020

Link to Newsletter (CAC Required)

In This Issue

  • Comptroller Corner
  • My DoD FM STARs Program Experience
  • Improve Your Leadership Skills with a Leadership Development Program
  • Mentorship Benefits Mentees and Mentors
  • Tips for Starting a Rotational Assignment Program
  • DoD FM Workforce Virtual Training Program is the Way to Go
  • Quarterly Spotlight – The Naval Postgraduate School
  • Announcements
  • DoD FM Certification Update
  • Frequently Used Links
  • Workforce Brain Bender
DoD-FM Connection Winter 2020 (No CAC Required)Download

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