Total Force Structure Management Systems (TFSMS) Initial Operational Capability (IOC)

1. PURPOSE.  THIS IS THE SECOND IN A SERIES OF
MESSAGES THAT
PROVIDE INFORMATION ON THE FIELDING OF TFSMS; REF A WAS THE
FIRST MESSAGE.  THE PURPOSE OF THIS MESSAGE IS TO ANNOUNCE INITIAL
OPERATIONAL CAPABILITY (IOC) OF THE TOTAL FORCE STRUCTURE MANAGEMENT
SYSTEM (TFSMS).  TFSMS IS THE LONG AWAITED REPLACEMENT FOR TWO
LEGACY FORCE STRUCTURE DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS: THE TABLE OF
MANPOWER REQUIREMENTS (TMR) AND LOGISTICS MANAGEMENT INFORMATION
SYSTEM (LMIS).  THIS MESSAGE OUTLINES THE SIGNIFICANT CHANGES THAT
WILL RESULT FROM TFSMS AND PROVIDES GUIDANCE ON: OBTAINING CURRENT
T/O&E DATA, SUBMITTING T/O&E CHANGES, FUTURE TFSMS
CAPABILITIES, AND FIELD USER TRAINING.        
2.  TFSMS IOC.  IOC WILL PROVIDE INITIAL CAPABILITIES THAT WILL
SERVE TO IMPLEMENT SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN THE WAY TABLES OF
ORGANIZATION & EQUIPMENT (T/O&E) ARE ACCESSED, DEFINED, ORGANIZED
AND MODIFIED.  DUE TO THE SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN THE DATA
ARCHITECTURE AND THE CURRENT OPERATIONAL SITUATION, TFSMS WILL BE
FIELDED IN TWO DISTINCT PHASES.
A. PHASE I.  PHASE I OF IOC WILL ALLOW OPERATING FORCES AND THE
SUPPORTING ESTABLISHMENT ACCESS TO RESPECTIVE T/O&ES VIA THE
NEW TFSMS PORTAL, WHICH OFFERS THE ABILITY TO VIEW VARIOUS 
STANDARD REPORTS AND PERFORM LIMITED AD HOC QUERIES.  IN DOING 
SO, TFSMS WILL PROVIDE VISIBILITY ON THE NEW T/O&E DATA ARCHITECTURE
AND THUS ENABLE THE SUBMISSION OF T/O&E CHANGE REQUESTS (T/O&ECR'S); 
HOWEVER, IAW REF B, T/O&ECR'S WILL STILL BE PROCESSED MANUALLY FOR 
A PERIOD OF TIME (VIA NORMAL ADMINISTRATIVE CHAINS VICE ELECTRONIC 
WORKFLOWS).  OPERATIONAL TESTING OF THE AUTOMATED AND ELECTRONIC 
SUBMISSION OF T/O&ECR'S WILL TAKE PLACE IN THE COMING MONTHS.  
PHASE I WILL COMMENCE ON ORDER, POSSIBLY AS EARLY AS 31 MAY.  
B. PHASE II. PHASE II OF IOC WILL CONSIST OF HANDS-ON TFSMS TRAINING
FOR ALL OPERATING FORCES, SUPPORTING ESTABLISHMENT AND HEADQUARTERS 
ORGANIZATIONS.  ONCE AN ORGANIZATION RECEIVES HANDS-ON TRAINING, THE 
TRANSITION TO FULL AUTOMATION AND ELECTRONIC WORKFLOW OF T/O&ECR'S 
WILL TAKE EFFECT.  IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT TFSMS MOBILE TRAINING
TEAMS 
WILL BEGIN TRAINING SESSIONS NLT SEPTEMBER 2003; DETAILS OF THE 
TRAINING SCHEDULE WILL BE COVERED VIA SEPCOR. 
ADDITIONAL TFSMS SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT AND OPERATIONAL TESTING WILL 
CONTINUE THROUGH 2004 WITH SUBSEQUENT VERSIONS OF TFSMS BEING 
DELIVERED, THEREBY DRAMATICALLY INCREASING SYSTEM CAPABILITIES. 
3. ACCESSING T/O&E DATA. IAW REF B, TOTAL FORCE STRUCTURE DIVISION 
(TFSD) WILL MAKE CURRENT AND FUTURE T/O&E'S AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING ON
THE TFSD WEBSITE (WWW.MCCDC.USMC.MIL/TFS).  AS PART OF IOC, TFSD WILL
UNVEIL A NEW WEBSITE DESIGNED TO FACILITATE THE IMPLEMENTATION OF 
TFSMS AND THE ACCESS OF T/O&E DATA.  USERS WILL BE REQUIRED TO ENTER 
THE TFSMS WEBSITE AND ELECTRONICALLY SUBMIT AN APPLICATION FOR TFSMS 
ACCESS, AND, IF APPROVED, A USER NAME AND PASSWORD WILL BE PROVIDED.
THOSE WHO CURRENTLY HAVE ACCESS TO THE TFSD WEBSITE MUST ALSO SUBMIT 
A REQUEST FOR A NEW USER NAME AND PASSWORD.   FOR MORE INFORMATION ON
ACCESSING FEBRUARY 2003 T/O&E DATA AND APPLYING FOR A TFSMS USER
NAME AND PASSWORD, GO TO: WWW.MCCDC.USMC.MIL/TFS/INDEX.HTM.       
4. REENGINEERING DATA ARCHITECTURE AND RELIABILITY.  THE CURRENT
DATA ARCHITECTURE RESIDENT WITHIN THE T/MR AND LMIS DOES NOT FULLY
SUPPORT THE MULTITUDE OF BUSINESS PROCESSES IN PLACE AND ENVISIONED
FOR THE FUTURE.  AS A RESULT, TWO SEPARATE INTEGRATED PROCESS TEAMS
(IPTS) (STRUCTURE AND EQUIPMENT) WERE FORMED TO ANALYZE AND
DETERMINE FORCE STRUCTURE DATA ARCHITECTURE REQUIREMENTS.  AS A
PRODUCT OF THESE IPTS, NUMEROUS DATA ATTRIBUTES CURRENTLY HELD IN
LEGACY DATA HAVE BEEN DELETED, CONSOLIDATED, ADDED AND/OR MODIFIED
TO SUPPORT THE FUTURE DATA REQUIREMENTS OF THE TOTAL FORCE STRUCTURE 
PROCESS (TFSP).  MUCH WORK HAS GONE INTO ENSURING THE DATA ELEMENTS 
THAT ARE CURRENTLY MAINTAINED ARE ACCURATE AND UP TO DATE; HOWEVER, 
SOME OF THE DATA FIELDS ARE NOT POPULATED. AT A LATER DATE, END
USERS 
WILL BE REQUIRED TO POPULATE SOME OF THE DATA FIELDS ALLOWING EACH 
UNIT COMMANDER THE ABILITY TO FULLY DEFINE A UNIT'S REQUIREMENTS.  
TO SUPPORT A DETAILED UNDERSTANDING OF THE TFSMS DATA ARCHITECTURE,
TFSD HAS DEVELOPED A DATA DICTIONARY THAT IS CURRENTLY VIEWABLE AT
WWW.MCCDC.USMC.MIL/TFS/INDEX.HTM.  ANYONE WHO USES T/O&E
DATA IN THE PERFORMANCE OF THEIR JOB SHOULD REVIEW AND BECOME
FAMILIAR WITH THE TFSMS DATA DICTIONARY.  THIS IS BEST ACCOMPLISHED
BY REVIEWING THE NEW DATA ARCHITECTURE IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE
REVISED T/O&E REPORT.  
5. REVISED T/O&E REPORT.  TO SUPPORT THE NEW MANPOWER AND
EQUIPMENT DATA ARCHITECTURES, TFSD HAS DEVELOPED A NEW T/O&E REPORT 
THAT CONSOLIDATES BOTH MANPOWER AND EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS INTO ONE
DOCUMENT.  AS SUCH, T/O&E'S WILL NOW BE IDENTIFIED BY A SINGLE T/O&E
NUMBER, WHICH IS SIMILAR TO CURRENT T/O NUMBERS BUT WILL INCLUDE A
NUMERICAL SUFFIX IDENTIFYING THE SPECIFIC UNIT.  UNITS AFFECTED BY
MIRROR IMAGING WILL NOW RETAIN A SPECIFIC T/O&E NUMBER THAT 
IDENTIFIES THE UNIT (MANPOWER AND EQUIPMENT) AS A SINGLE ENTITY, 
I.E., NO LONGER SEPARATE T/O AND T/E NUMBERS.  ALSO, THE REVISED 
T/O&E REPORT LISTS EACH BILLET INDIVIDUALLY; THERE ARE NO MULTIPLE 
BILLETS ON THE SAME LINE.  EACH BILLET WILL NOW BE IDENTIFIED BY A 
BILLET IDENTIFICATION CODE (BIC) THAT WILL SERVE TO PROVIDE 
VISIBILITY AND HISTORY OF EACH INDIVIDUAL BILLET OVER TIME.  THE 
BIC, IN CONJUNCTION WITH A BILLET SEQUENCE NUMBER (BSN), WILL 
PROVIDE THE INDIVIDUAL IDENTITY OF EACH BILLET ON TFSMS T/O&E'S 
AND WILL REPLACE THE T/O LINE NUMBER WHICH FOR SO LONG HAS PROVIDED 
THE SPECIFIC IDENTITY OF A BILLET.  NUMEROUS OTHER ITEMS HAVE 
CHANGED IN APPEARANCE TO INCLUDE HOW RESERVE AND CIVILIAN BILLETS
ARE REPRESENTED.  TO VIEW A SAMPLE T/O&E, GO TO:
WWW.MCCDC.USMC.MIL/TFS/INDEX.HTM.                   
6. STANDARD REPORTS.  NUMEROUS STANDARD REPORTS HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED
TO SUPPORT THE DISPLAY OF SPECIFIC FORCE STRUCTURE INFORMATION. 
THESE REPORTS ALLOW THE USER TO PICK SPECIFIC DATA ATTRIBUTES WITHIN
THE CONFINES OF A STANDARD REPORT AND BUILD A TAILORED REPORT THAT
PROVIDES ONLY THE REQUIRED DATA.  THESE REPORTS WILL SUPPORT
NUMEROUS STRUCTURE AND EQUIPMENT DATA REQUIREMENTS AND WILL BE
AVAILABLE TO ALL USERS.    
7.  T/O&ECR PROCESS. AN INTERIM T/O&ECR PROCESS AND SUBMISSION
FORMAT HAS BEEN DEVELOPED TO SUPPORT TFSMS IOC. FUNDAMENTALLY, THE
TFSMS T/O&ECR SUBMISSION PROCESS REMAINS THE SAME AS IN THE PAST IN
THAT THE USER MUST ACCESS CURRENT T/O&E DATA VIA THE TFSMS WEBSITE,
DOCUMENT THE CHANGE REQUEST IN A SPECIFIC FORMAT, AND SUBMIT THE
REQUEST TO TFSD THROUGH THE PROPER CHAIN OF COMMAND.  THE
SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN THE PROCESS IS IN THE FORMAT BY WHICH THE
T/O&ECR ITSELF IS SUBMITTED. AFTER IOC, THE FORCE STRUCTURE CHANGE 
REQUEST FORM CURRENTLY SPECIFIED IN REF C, APPENDIX B TO ENCLOSURE 
(2), WILL NO LONGER BE VALID AND SHALL NOT BE UTILIZED.  FURTHER 
EXPLANATION OF THE TFSMS T/O&ECR SUBMISSION PROCESS, TO INCLUDE A 
SAMPLE T/O&ECR AND DOWNLOADABLE FORM, MAY BE ACCESSED AT:
WWW.MCCDC.USMC.MIL/TFS/INDEX.HTM             
THIS FORM IS IN MICROSOFT EXCEL FORMAT AND HAS BEEN DESIGNED TO
DOCUMENT BOTH EQUIPMENT AND STRUCTURE CHANGE REQUESTS.  ONCE THE
T/O&ECR HAS BEEN ADJUDICATED, THE SUBMITTING UNIT AND ALL ENDORSING
COMMANDS WILL BE NOTIFIED VIA STANDARD NAVAL LETTER OF ALL ACTIONS 
TAKEN.                 
8. TFSMS FULL OPERATIONAL CAPABILITY (FOC). FOC IS SCHEDULED FOR
SEPTEMBER 2004 AND WILL PROVIDE A TAILORED, COMMERCIAL
OFF-THE-SHELF (COTS) SOLUTION CAPABLE OF INTEGRATING MYRIAD 
FUNCTIONALITIES INTO ONE DATABASE SYSTEM, THEREBY PROMOTING 
A SELF SERVICE ENVIRONMENT ACCESSIBLE VIA THE WORLD-WIDE WEB. SOME 
OF THE TFSMS CAPABILITIES THAT WILL BE AVAILABLE AT FOC ARE LISTED 
BELOW. 
A. T/O&E CHANGE REQUEST DATA ENTRY. T/O&E CHANGE REQUEST DATA ENTRY
SHALL BE ACCOMPLISHED AT THE USING UNIT LEVEL USING A SERIES OF
SPECIFICALLY TAILORED SCREENS THAT SERVE AS AN INTERFACE TO THE
ORACLE DATABASE AND APPLICATION. USERS WILL BE ABLE TO QUICKLY AND
EASILY DOCUMENT RECOMMENDED T/O&ECR'S BY INTERFACING WITH REAL-TIME
STRUCTURE AND EQUIPMENT DATA.  BASED ON USER PROFILES, USERS WILL
ACCESS GLOBAL, UNIT, OR INDIVIDUAL LINE DETAIL SCREENS THAT WILL
FACILITATE DATA ENTRY AT THE UNIT LEVEL.       
B. ELECTRONIC WORKFLOW. UTILIZING THE ESTABLISHED CHAIN OF COMMAND
AND PROCESS WORKFLOWS, TFSMS WILL ELECTRONICALLY ROUTE T/O&ECR'S
THROUGH THE APPROVAL PROCESS.  THIS SYSTEM WILL PROVIDE SUBMITTING
ORGANIZATIONS, THE ENDORSEMENT CHAIN, AND TFSD CAPABILITIES ANALYSTS
THE ABILITY TO ELECTRONICALLY TRACK AND MANAGE THE STATUS OF EACH
T/O&ECR AS IT PROCEEDS THROUGH THE APPROVAL AND SUBSEQUENT
IMPLEMENTATION PROCESSES.          
C. AD HOC REPORTING CAPABILITY.  TFSMS FOC WILL INCLUDE REPORTING
CAPABILITY USING ORACLE DISCOVER (A COMPONENT OF THE ORACLE
TOOLSET). APPROVED ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS REQUIRING FORCE
STRUCTURE DATA WILL BE ABLE TO CREATE AND SAVE AD HOC REPORTS THAT
PROVIDE THE SPECIFIC DATA REQUIRED.  THIS POWERFUL TOOL WILL ALLOW
USERS THE ABILITY TO SORT, FILTER, PRESENT AND SAVE ANY FORCE
STRUCTURE DATA ELEMENT INHERENT TO THE TFSMS DATABASE. 
D. APPROVED ACQUISITION OBJECTIVE (AAO) PROCESS.  TFSMS WILL
INSTITUTIONALIZE THE AAO PROCESS BY PROVIDING A WEB-BASED PLATFORM
FOR FUNCTIONAL PROPONENTS TO CREATE, MODIFY, AND SUBMIT RECOMMENDED 
ACQUISITION OBJECTIVES.  THE AAO PROCESS INCLUDES DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
SIX COMPONENTS THAT CONSTITUE AN ACQUISITION OBJECTIVE
(ACTIVE/RESERVE
FORCES, SUPPORTING ESTABLISHMENTS, MARITIME PREPOSITIONING FORCES
(MPS), NORWAY AIR-LAND MARINE EXPEDITIONARY BRIGADE (NALMEB), DEPOT
MAINTENANCE FLOAT ALLOWANCE (DMFA), AND WAR RESERVE MATERIEL
REQUIREMENT (WRMR)).  THE TFSMS AAO PROCESS WILL PROVIDE A
REPOSITORY OF HISTORICAL INFORMATION ON EVERY TAILORED END ITEM AND
WILL FACILITATE A LEVEL OF OVERSIGHT AND DECISION MAKING BY THE AAO
IPT AND MARINE REQUIREMENTS OVERSIGHT COUNCIL (MROC), RESPECTIVELY,
WHICH IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE IN ANY MARINE CORPS AUTOMATED
INFORMATION SYSTEM.         
9. TRAINING.  TFSMS HAS BEEN DESIGNED TO BE USER FRIENDLY AND
INCLUDES MOUSE OVER CAPABILITY, HELP SCREENS, ONLINE USER MANUALS,
AND HELP DESK SUPPORT. ADDITIONALLY, TO SUPPORT TFSMS INTRODUCTION,
TFSD WILL PROVIDE FACE-TO-FACE TRAINING TO SUPPORT THE USER.  TFSD 
HAS PREPARED THE FOLLOWING TRAINING CONCEPT TO SUPPORT THIS 
REQUIREMENT.
A. TRAIN-THE-TRAINER. THE TRAIN-THE-TRAINER APPROACH WILL BE APPLIED
AT THE OPERATING FORCES AND SUPPORTING ESTABLISHMENT LEVEL, WITH
TFSD TRAINING TEAMS PROVIDING FORMAL CLASSES OF INSTRUCTION TO THE
MARFORS/MEFS, MAJOR SUBORDINATE COMMANDS, GROUPS, REGIMENTS AND
BATTALIONS.  SUBORDINATE UNITS WILL THEN IN TURN RECEIVE
FORMAL/INFORMAL INSTRUCTION AS REQUIRED FROM THEIR RESPECTIVE
TRAINER WITHIN THEIR CHAIN OF COMMAND.  DUE TO THE CIVILIAN
PERSONNEL CONTINUITY WITHIN THE BASES AND STATIONS THROUGHOUT THE
CORPS, IT IS ENVISIONED THAT BASES AND STATIONS WILL PROVIDE TENANT
COMMANDS WITH FUTURE TFSMS SUPPORT FOR TRAINING. 
B. TOP-DOWN APPROACH. A TOP-DOWN APPROACH WILL BE USED TO SCHEDULE
AND CONDUCT TRAINING.  BY THIS METHOD, TFSD CAPABILITIES ANALYSTS
WILL RECEIVE TRAINING FIRST, FOLLOWED BY MULTIPLE HQMC USER GROUPS,
AND SUBSEQUENTLY THE OPERATING FORCES AND SUPPORTING ESTABLISHMENT.  
C. TRAINING SCHEDULE.  IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT HQMC USER GROUP
TRAINING WILL BE CONDUCTED ABOARD MCB QUANTICO DURING MID- 2003, AND
OPERATING FORCES AND SUPPORTING ESTABLISHMENT TRAINING WILL BE
CONDUCTED BY TFSD MOBILE TRAINING TEAMS DURING LATE 2003. 
10. TO FACILITATE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF TFSMS, ITS
IMPLEMENTATION, AND THE CHANGES BEING INCORPORATED INTO THE TFSP AND
AAO PROCESSES, ADDITIONAL MARADMINS WILL BE RELEASED TO FULLY
EXPLAIN THE FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES AT HAND.  THESE MARADMINS WILL INCLUDE
USER PROFILES MANAGEMENT AND ELECTRONIC WORKFLOW, TFSMS/AAO PROCESS 
RELATIONSHIPS, AND TFSMS TRAINING AND IMPLEMENTATION.