Home > News > Article Display

Customer service at MACH speed

By / Published September 07, 2007

PRINT | E-MAIL
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- After a successful test at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., the Air Force Personnel Center here is providing personal assistance to officials in the field through the new Management Advisory Clearing House program.

"The 30-day test, which went from November through December 2006, was a great success," said Col. James Sturch, director of civilian force integration at AFPC.

The MACH is a program with a primary goal of increasing customer service between AFPC and the people at base-level trying to fill personnel positions. The Peterson test validated the "customer first" concept.

MACH teams now speak directly with their customers to help them fill job vacancies and provide personal assistance during the hiring process. It hasn't always been that way.

"Managers became frustrated when they couldn't talk to a person about the status of a vacancy," Colonel Sturch said. "They sent their fill requests to AFPC via e-mail and got them sent back when they were wrong. There was no verbal feedback or discussion about the process."

The MACH program remedies that problem and is now the 'face' of AFPC to the hiring managers in the field, according to Rob Thomas II, AFPC executive director.

MACH also saves time. During the 30-day test period, MACH saved 300 mandays, a tremendous accomplishment. Now that the MACH has gone Air Force-wide, even more substantial savings can be expected.

MACH teams are broken out by major commands, with each base within a MAJCOM having its own dedicated team at AFPC. There are some growing pains, naturally, Colonel Sturch said, but the system is built with the customer in mind. So far, 81 percent of those who responded to a recent survey concerning MACH indicated satisfaction with the system.

The idea for all this came partially thanks to a demonstration called "Life of an RPA," according to Cassandra Howard, Personnel Service Delivery Transformation Team MACH team chief here. "Our staff had prepared five demos that we presented to visitors," she said. "These demos were devised to last an hour or less. The first was on 'Management Advisory.' Colonel Sturch asked to see them, so he came down and we started presenting them to him. More than two hours later, we were still on the first demo! Colonel Sturch realized how valuable our work was, but also how impersonal it was because there were no verbal discussions between AFPC and the managers in the field. His concerns from that demo, his ideas and our brainstorming helped develop the MACH concept.

"When we first instituted the test program," she said, "managers at base level were shocked when they got to speak to a real person. They loved the personal touch and were grateful for the opportunity to discuss recruitments strategies, get updates on their recruitment, explanations on the priority placement program and any other issues involving their recruitment action. The new MACH concept also afforded managers the opportunity to fix any mistakes in the RPA without having to resubmit the whole package. The MACH concept has made the whole process more personal."

"This new process basically tracks an RPA from cradle to grave," said Ed Reeder, 341st Mission Support Squadron civilian personnel officer. "The staff here stands ready to assist anyone needing civilian personnel support, as we always have. The introduction of the MACH just gives supervisors who've requested a fill action another option for information."

MACH teams at AFPC have different phone numbers and support different commands. For more information, call one of the numbers listed here:

-- Air Force Material Command and the Air Force District of Washington, call DSN 665-1065, or commercial (210) 565-1065;

-- Air Education and Training Command, Air Force Recruiting Service, Air Force Academy and Air National Guard, call DSN 665-3035, or commercial (210) 565-3035;

-- Air Force Space Command, Air Force Special Operations Command, Air Mobility Command, and Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency, call DSN 665-1191, or commercial 565-1191; or

-- U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Pacific Air Forces and Air Combat Command, call DSN 665-3036, or commercial (210) 565-3036.
USAF Comments Policy
If you wish to comment, use the text box below. AF reserves the right to modify this policy at any time.

This is a moderated forum. That means all comments will be reviewed before posting. In addition, we expect that participants will treat each other, as well as our agency and our employees, with respect. We will not post comments that contain abusive or vulgar language, spam, hate speech, personal attacks, violate EEO policy, are offensive to other or similar content. We will not post comments that are spam, are clearly "off topic", promote services or products, infringe copyright protected material, or contain any links that don't contribute to the discussion. Comments that make unsupported accusations will also not be posted. The AF and the AF alone will make a determination as to which comments will be posted. Any references to commercial entities, products, services, or other non-governmental organizations or individuals that remain on the site are provided solely for the information of individuals using this page. These references are not intended to reflect the opinion of the AF, DoD, the United States, or its officers or employees concerning the significance, priority, or importance to be given the referenced entity, product, service, or organization. Such references are not an official or personal endorsement of any product, person, or service, and may not be quoted or reproduced for the purpose of stating or implying AF endorsement or approval of any product, person, or service.

Any comments that report criminal activity including: suicidal behaviour or sexual assault will be reported to appropriate authorities including OSI. This forum is not:

  • This forum is not to be used to report criminal activity. If you have information for law enforcement, please contact OSI or your local police agency.
  • Do not submit unsolicited proposals, or other business ideas or inquiries to this forum. This site is not to be used for contracting or commercial business.
  • This forum may not be used for the submission of any claim, demand, informal or formal complaint, or any other form of legal and/or administrative notice or process, or for the exhaustion of any legal and/or administrative remedy.

AF does not guarantee or warrant that any information posted by individuals on this forum is correct, and disclaims any liability for any loss or damage resulting from reliance on any such information. AF may not be able to verify, does not warrant or guarantee, and assumes no liability for anything posted on this website by any other person. AF does not endorse, support or otherwise promote any private or commercial entity or the information, products or services contained on those websites that may be reached through links on our website.

Members of the media are asked to send questions to the public affairs through their normal channels and to refrain from submitting questions here as comments. Reporter questions will not be posted. We recognize that the Web is a 24/7 medium, and your comments are welcome at any time. However, given the need to manage federal resources, moderating and posting of comments will occur during regular business hours Monday through Friday. Comments submitted after hours or on weekends will be read and posted as early as possible; in most cases, this means the next business day.

For the benefit of robust discussion, we ask that comments remain "on-topic." This means that comments will be posted only as it relates to the topic that is being discussed within the blog post. The views expressed on the site by non-federal commentators do not necessarily reflect the official views of the AF or the Federal Government.

To protect your own privacy and the privacy of others, please do not include personally identifiable information, such as name, Social Security number, DoD ID number, OSI Case number, phone numbers or email addresses in the body of your comment. If you do voluntarily include personally identifiable information in your comment, such as your name, that comment may or may not be posted on the page. If your comment is posted, your name will not be redacted or removed. In no circumstances will comments be posted that contain Social Security numbers, DoD ID numbers, OSI case numbers, addresses, email address or phone numbers. The default for the posting of comments is "anonymous", but if you opt not to, any information, including your login name, may be displayed on our site.

Thank you for taking the time to read this comment policy. We encourage your participation in our discussion and look forward to an active exchange of ideas.