PCS vouchers soon to be filed online

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Austin M. May
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  A new automated system will change the way U.S. Airmen and civilian employees moving to RAF Mildenhall file travel vouchers beginning April 20.

According to Senior Airman Zachary Sickler, 100th Comptroller Squadron Financial Management Flight financial services technician, the Permanent Change of Station In-processing System, or PIPS, allows for the paperless submission of PCS in-processing-related financial documents and will be more efficient for the traveler and finance office personnel.

Not only will the process be quicker, it can also be done from any common-access-card-enabled computer, he stated in an e-mail

"Gone are the days of sitting through a two- to three-hour-long briefing, listening to a spiel on entitlements and how to fill out the forms required to in-process finance," he added.

The submission process is accomplished using an interactive interview session that will explain PCS entitlements based on information provided by the person in-processing.

"After you get through all of the questions you will digitally sign the documents and they will be routed to the Financial Services Office on base for quality control," Airman Sickler explained. "Once it is checked by the FSO it will then be forwarded to the Air Force Financial Services Center at Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., for processing."

Once the voucher is received by the Air Force FSC, it will still take the standard five to 10 days to be paid. However, the system eliminates the gap between arriving on station and being able to be briefed by finance.

"With this system, a person can file their voucher the day they are able to log onto a computer as opposed to having to wait two or three weeks for a briefing," Airman Sickler said.

PIPS has been tested at Altus Air Force Base, Okla., and Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., with good results, Airman Sickler said. The April 20 launch date is Air Force-wide.

"PIPS is being brought online due to the overall transformation of the finance career field," Airman Sickler explained. "We are focusing more on self service rather than having to walk into finance and fill out a form."


Airman Sickler said more responsibility will be placed on the member to take care of his or her financial issues, and PIPS will allow that to take place.


"Finance as a whole is transforming with the world," the Airman said. "Nearly everybody nowadays banks online. This is the way finance is heading; nearly everything finance-related will be able to be accomplished online."

Editor's note: Active-duty Air Force personnel can view a demo of PIPS by visiting the Money-Finance Central page of Air Force Portal and clicking PIPS Demo under the Spotlight header.