TFSC-SA officials tour Houston Emergency Center

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Steve Grever
  • Air Force Personnel, Services and Manpower Public Affairs
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --  Air Force Personnel Center officials toured the Houston Emergency Center Feb. 10 to learn about the center's management strategies and operations processes that can be emulated in the Total Force Service Center-San Antonio here.

TFSC-SA senior leaders met with HEC Director David Cutler to see how the 9-1-1 call center and other public safety operations work together to provide emergency services to the fourth largest city in the U.S. They also discussed how the HEC trains and equips more than 250 call center representatives to answer 9,000 emergency calls per day.

"The HEC integrates multiple emergency management functions into a cohesive, centralized center to serve their customers," said Col. James Davis, TFSC-SA director. "This business strategy is similar to how the TFSC-SA is centralizing personnel processes to expedite transactions for total force Airmen."

During the tour, AF officials took a comprehensive look at the facility's operations center, command center and communications capabilities. Davis said seeing how the HEC leverages modern information technology solutions will help AFPC develop new requirements for improving TFSC-SA call center operations.

"The IT infrastructure used at the HEC showed us some of the best practices that we may be able to procure to improve the level of service Airmen receive when they call the TFSC-SA," Davis said.

Another best practice that was identified during the tour was the HEC's workforce management program that gives employees the authority to create organizational policies through numerous employee-run committees.

"One of the unique aspects about the HEC's culture is how they empower their employees to give them a stake in the future of their organization," said Lt. Col. Jenise Carroll, TFSC-SA operations division chief. "At AFPC, we also value our TFSC representatives and help them understand how critical their roles are in assisting total force Airmen accomplish personnel actions that affect their Air Force careers."

The three-hour tour helped TFSC-SA officials understand many of the HEC's current operations and how they perform quality assurance assessments, upgrade their IT infrastructure and provide comprehensive training for new employees. These practices will be evaluated by AFPC leadership to see if any new procedures or processes can be incorporated to improve the TFSC-SA's customer service and support capabilities.

For general information about personnel services and programs, visit the Air Force Personnel Services, or AFPERS, website at https://gum-crm.csd.disa.mil.