Transforming Air Force logistics Published March 17, 2011 By Daniel Panza 4th Logistic Readiness Squadron SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. -- Base logistic officials will begin implementing the Expeditionary Combat Support System here in an effort to streamline equipment accounting programs used by many entities here in the coming years. The ECSS is the single largest change Air Force logistics has ever seen. The implementation of the ECSS will take 250 legacy systems currently used by Airmen here and transform them into one web based, common access card enabled system, saving countless manpower hours and money. The need for user Ids and passwords for every system will go away. ECSS will utilize Commercial Off-The-Shelf software to apply the best commercial practices, standardized processes across major commands and weapon systems and retire the costly, outdated legacy systems. In some squadrons, the change will not affect many Airmen, however in other cases, the whole squadron may be affected. There will be the least impact on squadrons that have only equipment custodians, resource advisors, government purchase card holders and vehicle control officers. The squadrons that will see the largest impact are 4th Logistics Readiness Squadron, all squadrons under the 4th Maintenance Group, 916th LRS and 916th MXG. Since this is such a large transformation, the Air Force Chief of Staff has mandated a pre-transformation campaign to spread information about the transformation. Implementing ECSS in this manner will give personnel the opportunity to gain knowledge of the system before its implementation and slowly ease in the changes to avoid problems and fix the bugs as they occur. This transformation begins here between July and October 2012. This may sound like a long time from now, but there are a lot of things that must be done including identifying the change agent coordinators and change agents in every squadron, getting the word out, identifying the end users and what tasks they will need in ECSS and completing training for all users. The transformation will begin here between July and October 2012 with Release one which will transform base materiel and equipment management systems as well as GPC and some financial processes. The databases immediately affected will be the Air Force Equipment Management System, the Standard Base Supply System, the Tool Accountability System, On-line Vehicle Interactive Management System, the Mobility Inventory Control and Accountability System, the Standard Materiel Accounting System, and a few others. Once Release 1 is implemented these systems will cease to exist for Seymour Johnson. Release two will affect the Air Force Global Logistics Support System at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, Langley AFB, Va., and Scott AFB, Ill. Release three incorporates depot maintenance and repair and overhaul, and release four will take place sometime in 2016 to incorporate flightline maintenance and ammunition management. By 2016, the Air Force Logistics community will be working through ECSS and all the stand alone legacy systems that relied on system interfaces to update other legacy databases will be gone. For more information about the system, contact the ECSS change agent coordinator at 722-5451.