OUSD(C) Strategic Human Capital Planning

Challenge

The Department of Defense (DoD) financial management (FM) workforce consists of a geographically diverse population of more than 35,000 combined military and civilian members tasked with operating in an increasingly tight fiscal environment. The Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) (USD(C)) is responsible for the oversight of and guidance over this population’s professional development and training. Before 2011, the DoD did not have the methods to provide consistent enterprise-wide training to the members of the FM workforce. This gap illuminated the need to develop a plan to ensure the FM workforce is supported on a long-term basis, according to the DoD’s Strategic Workforce plan, which addresses the shaping and improvement of the FM workforce.

Solution

Guidehouse partnered with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) OUSD(C) FM Workforce Development (FWMD) Office to design and implement the Department’s Strategic Human Capital Plan and the DoD FM Certification Program (DFMCP). The DFMCP provides a three-level proficiency framework that establishes competency levels based upon education, experience, and skills, identifies levels to FM positions, and sets goals and objectives for professional development for civilian and military FM workforce to meet the current and future DoD missions. The DFMCP is a competency-based program that is built on the 23 Defense-level FM competencies and their associated proficiency levels. This framework provides the certification requirement for each “Level” of FM Certification.

Guidehouse provided critical assistance to the client by identifying and verifying FM workforce competencies, capacity, and tools needed to acquire, develop, and sustain the talent required to meet DoD’s current and future missions. As a result of the analysis, Guidehouse developed the first-ever enterprise-wide career roadmaps for 13 FM occupational series, educating the workforce on expectations for career success. The roadmaps provide professional development guidance to civilians and military and include recommendations for professional experience in both the technical and leadership areas of emphasis, other developmental opportunities, formal education, technical-based training courses, and recommended test-based professional certifications.

Guidehouse partnered with FWMD to meet certification standards that support 23 DoD FM competencies by designing and implementing courses that support professional development and career progression for DoD’s FM workforce. The training, which is freely available online 24/7, saves time for the FM Workforce, while ensuring standardized training DoD-wide and money savings for the 30-plus DoD components.

Impact

The workforce development support Guidehouse delivered to OUSD(C) is a critical component of the Secretary of Defense’s Agency Strategic Plan goal to “support workforce initiatives to ensure employees are trained…” and is directly linked to the Quadrennial Defense Review, which underscores the Secretary’s commitment to “improving its financial management […] to achieve auditable financial statements” and USD(C)’s goal of “Championing a Strong and Capable FM Workforce.” Guidehouse’s FM and human capital subject matter expertise contributed to the design, development, implementation, and maintenance of the DoD Human Capital Strategic Plan and the DFMCP resulted in:

• Providing access to enterprise-wide job-specific trainings and professional development that were once in organizational silos
• Empowering, educating, and improving the productivity of the DoD FM workforce
• Ensuring the FM workforce has the knowledge necessary to achieve auditability for the DoD
• Moving the FM workforce toward a more analytic orientation
• Providing a benchmark for senior leaders to assess FM competencies in the DoD