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 preference, strengthened the Employment Readiness Program, and made the transfer of non-appropriated fund employees between installations easier. We continue to work with the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) to promote workforce development scholarships, improve state license reciprocity and professional license compacts, and reduce overseas employment barriers.

Permanent Change of Station (PCS) Moves. Soldiers are now receiving PCS orders an average of 120 days before their report date, an improvement of 30 to 90 days. Families can now claim 100 percent of their costs for reimbursement when conducting a personally procured move. Our development and launch of the “Army PCS Move” app and automation of several business processes, including the Smart Voucher program, are helping families research, book movers, track progress, and file claims, expediting reimbursement. Though COVID-19 heavily impacted last summer’s peak PCS season, we still executed over 70,000 moves with a 95 percent satisfaction rate.

21st Century Talent Management System

The Army continues to refine and implement its 21st Century Talent Management System in order to effectively acquire, develop, employ, and retain talent. We are maximizing the potential of each Soldier. We are evolving our marketing and recruiting with initiatives like Army Hiring Days and the “What’s Your Warrior?” campaign to bring in the best talent from across the country, including cities and communities with populations who may be unfamiliar with the opportunities military service affords. This year the Army launched cutting-edge digital talent initiatives. Our Army Artificial Intelligence Center partners with Carnegie Mellon University to grow data engineers and data technicians, while our Software Factory leverages the extraordinary existing talent in our Army to grow coders to solve Army problems.

At the heart of the Army’s 21st Century Talent Management System are new approaches, systems, and processes that leverage deep data about unit needs and Soldier knowledge, skills, behaviors, and preferences. The Integrated Personnel and Pay System – Army (IPPS-A) is on track to go live across all three components by the end of this calendar year. Release 2 is complete, having brought IPPS-A to the Army National Guard across 54 states and territories. Release 3, currently in testing, will