September 23, 2014, WASHINGTON (AFNS) – A new system has revolutionized the recruiting process for more than 5,000 recruiters and interface partners within the Air Force active-duty, Guard, and Reserve components.
Recruiters have long used computer-based software to track the paperwork and essential data of enlistees, from the first visit to a recruiter’s office, to the day of enlistment. The system often communicates with outside agencies, including the military entrance processing station.
Although this was a functional system, the Air Force Recruiting Information Support System has been upgraded to be total-force capable in the interest of innovation and modernization.
“In 2007, the Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne directed use of a single recruiting system to be utilized as the primary tool for all active-duty Air Force, Air Force Reserve, and Air National Guard recruiters worldwide,” said Chief Master Sgt. Jeanette Masters, the AFRISS-TF program manager and Air Force Reserve Command recruiting service liaison to AFRS. “The impetus for this direction was to modernize the system and to merge and enhance existing capabilities and data of the two legacy recruiting systems into one.”
Air Force active-duty, Guard and Reserve recruiters have been cohesive with regards to enlistee data since June of this year. Allowing an enlistee to change career direction and switch to another recruiter, for example, from Guard to Reserve, without foregoing their enlistment progress.
The system also talks to Outlook, importing all calendar appointments into AFRISS-TF, so flight chiefs and recruiters can monitor scheduling more closely.
“AFRISS Legacy worked, but it was a bit of a dinosaur,” said Tech. Sgt. Nina Butler, a 313th Recruiting Squadron active-duty recruiter. “The old system regularly experienced connectivity issues and recruiters just had to learn to adapt to it, like inputting data at night when servers were moving a little faster. AFRISS-TF has streamlined our processes and created a more modernized approach towards our daily activities.”
According to Masters, the Air Force Recruiting Service will continue to refine AFRISS-TF to meet the needs of recruiting.
“The drive, determination, professionalism and level of collaboration it took from all associated in fielding AFRISS-TF made it one of the most challenging yet rewarding experiences that I feel extremely humbled and privileged to have been a part of,” Masters said. “It is immensely gratifying to have succeeded in fielding the system, and we are very excited to have brought it this far, but the work is not yet done.”