Employees honored for streamlining travel

by Melissa Bower, Staff Writer
Published: Thursday, February 28, 2008 9:32 AM CST
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Vickie Atkison-Clark, defense travel management officer and Hung Nguyen, financial resource specialist for theProgram, Budget, Analysis and Integration Directorate, are awarded the Achievement Medal for Civilian Service by Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth Commander Lt. Gen. William Caldwell Feb. 21 in the CAC commander's conference room. Atkison-Clark and Nguyen were honored for their work on a Lean Six Sigma project. Lamp photo by Prudence Siebert.

Two Fort Leavenworth employees were honored Feb. 21 for bringing about an 80 percent reduction in the time it takes for travel reimbursement.

Vickie Atkison-Clark, Defense Travel Management officer, and Hung Nguyen, financial resource specialist with the Program, Budget, Analysis and Integration Directorate, were each presented the Achievement Medal for Civilian Service by Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth Commander Lt. Gen. William Caldwell IV for their efforts.

"It's in congratulations of what you've done for the whole community at Fort Leavenworth," Caldwell said.

Nguyen and Atkison-Clark said the plan to decrease travel voucher paperwork was initiated under the Lean Six Sigma program to improve fiscal military efficiency. Nguyen was specially trained in Lean Six Sigma and has earned a Lean Six Sigma black belt certification. Before the Lean Six Sigma change was initiated last October, travelers had to create and sign a voucher and submit it digitally to Travel Support staff for review. Staff would then route the voucher to department or activity managers on post, and then the voucher would go to PBAID offices for payment. The new system eliminates sending vouchers to separate activities and departments on post.

"These people are management," Atkison-Clark said. "They don't have the time to become travel management experts."

Nguyen said it typically took about three days for his office to approve a travel voucher check. Now, it takes about one day. On average, the total amount of time it took for a traveler to receive reimbursement went from five days to one day, a reduction of about 80 percent.

"For those like me who do travel a lot - and there's a lot of folks who track their time - four days sooner means a lot," Caldwell said.

Defense Travel Services processes about 6,000 travel vouchers annually. Atkison-Clark said reducing the processing time would take pressure off staff and travelers. She said in the past some travelers leaving for conferences each week didn't have time to fill out vouchers on weekends. That sometimes led to travelers not getting paid or even getting rejected by the digital system. Now, the system is much more efficient, Atkison-Clark said.

"We're keeping travelers mobile," she said.