Military traffic command gets new software to balance its books

The Military Traffic Management Command is shelving its ledgers and putting away its pencils in favor of a brand new accounting system. Work is now under way on a $16 million implementation of Oracle Corp.'s Federal Financials enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. The project is slated for completion by June 2001. ERP systems integrate specific functions such as accounts receivable and payable, materials management, personnel benefits administration, inventory management and budgeting. MTMC oversees the movement of all land-based cargo and commodities for the Defense Department. As part of the U.S. Transportation Command, it is a sister agency to both the Military Sealift Command and the Air Mobility Command. Until now, MTMC has been plagued with bad accounting information, according to Johnnie Fisher, the agency's deputy chief of staff for resource management. "We expect this system to do wonders," Fisher said. "Right now, we've got a lot of inaccurate data." MTMC has been using a 26-year-old, custom-made accounting system that provided general accounting numbers supplemented by a low-tech approach: pencil and paper. This inherently inaccurate system did not enable MTMC to see its finances on a transaction-by-transaction basis. The pencil and paper approach didn't work because the agency's business model is so complex. MTMC not only bills the federal agencies that use its services, but it is also billed by the companies it contracts with to move the Defense Department's freight. Under the new system, MTMC will be able to track and analyze individual transactions. The new system will interface with the Defense Department's Standard Procurement System along with MTMC's labor, payroll, traffic management, booking, billing and contractor pay systems. The system will cull the data at a central Oracle database, said Tim Diaz, vice president of defense operations for Oracle Service Industries. "MTMC is not just getting a newer system. It is getting much higher-quality information," he said. Fisher said MTMC would not make any changes to the Oracle system. "We want a strictly commercial-off-the-shelf package and we will change our business practices to meet it," he said. "We don't want to end up with a system that takes millions upon millions of dollars to replace or update as the technology changes." Technology firms generally agree that implementing ERP systems free of changes is the best way to extend their lives at lower costs. MTMC's purchase follows the July 2000 debut of the Military Sealift Command's successful Oracle implementation. Fisher said MTMC has learned from its sister agency, and that the Military Sealift Command's success has helped pave the way for MTMC's ambitious implementation cycle.