Within my agency we use the Defense Travel System (DTS) which is the ETS for Department of Defense. On March 28, 2008, the former Under Secretary for Reserve Affairs David Chu made it mandatory that DTS was to be use the Secretary of Defense mandated the use of DTS. This was as a result of the John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 1997. My agency started using the system in 2007. It was a hard transition not only for me, but the travelers. I was always use to processing travel the manual way. Therefore, my knowledge of this system was zero. We hired a contractor for six month to help sat up our organization. A few months thereafter, I attended Defense Travel Administrator Training. As I worked with the program, I became familiar with providing guidance with the usage and operations of DTS. This system really streamlines the entire process of travel. As a travel reviewer, I am less stressed out trying to figure out what action the traveler took. The traveler or the traveler prepare is responsible for entering their travel information in system. The information is then routed through a reviewer and approving official before the travel authorization/voucher is obligated. DTS interacts with over 30 electronic financial systems in order to book the travelers flight information. It pays travelers more than four times faster than the statutory time for reimbursement. When I use to process manual vouchers it took our payment office between 7-14 business days to pay the traveler; whereas DTS only takes 2-3 days to be disbursed to the traveler utilizing DTS.
By: Stacey Clark