Program Development Paper (Digital Paperwork)

TRANSITION TO DIGITAL CLASS AND STUDENT RECORDS 1
Digital Filing of Community College of the Air Force Records
Christian P. Fernandes
June 19, 2013

Digital Filing of Community College of the Air Force Records
Introduction
Class and student record keeping is a vital requirement of all instructors and
administrators assigned to a Community College of the Air Force schoolhouse. Annually, the
Kirtland AFB, New Mexico schoolhouse spends, on average, $8.5K a year on printing and
storage costs. The current record keeping process at the Detachment was developed 10 years ago
and has mostly remained unchanged over that period. This process involves printing out all
student records and filing them in a pocket folder. On the first day of class, the instructor (an
aircraft mechanic by trade) routes this folder from one program manager to another in a linear
order until the initial records are finalized and returned to the instructor. This routing process
can take up to several days as one program manager awaits the paperwork from another. After
the class has graduated, the instructor amends his/her files and again processes the file folder
through several program managers. Once all managers have validated the records, the local
registrar files the records in the historic repository.
The process is cumbersome and at times laborious and costly. By converting over to a
digital filing system, multiple program managers can view and edit student and class records at
the same time thus eliminating the procession of the hardcopy records folder from having to
physically migrate from on manager’s desk to another. The conversion will also bring the
detachment in line with public law. In 1999, the 105th Congress passed the Government
Paperwork Elimination Act which directs government agencies in, “the acquisition and use of
information technology, including alternative information technologies that provide for
electronic submission, maintenance, or disclosure of information as a substitute for paper and for
the use and acceptance of electronic signatures.” (1999)
The startup cost to install the software needed to implement this process is not
inexpensive. The cost to implement the digital process is roughly $5K. In addition, the

detachment will have to develop a formal training program to ensure the new technology is being
used to its full potential. Given the time and cost saving associated with the successful
implementation of this proposed conversion, the Kirtland schoolhouse’s supervision believes this
process is worth the man-power, funds, and mission time required in developing and
implementing a digital filing system.
Needs Analysis
To determine the needs of the conversion, the project development team created two
surveys, one for the instructors and one for the administrators/supervisors. The surveys focused
on analyzing what individuals did and did not like about the current hard copy process. It then
surveyed what hopes and fears each group had switching to a digital process. Lastly, the survey
focused on determining what the current knowledge level of digital file handling existed within
the unit. The survey of 21 detachment members revealed that the vast majority preferred the
current hardcopy method of filing records. Most survey takers replied something to the effect
that the current process already had a detailed training program and that because the process
worked, that it should not be adjusted. There was also a common sentiment that the digital
process would be easier to complicate and could lead to micromanaging from supervision.
Furthermore, the surveys identified that only 4 of the 21 employees had any direct experience
using software to manage digital files. Even though the employees overwhelmingly agree that
digital filing is not advantageous, recent budget cuts have mandated that we explore this process
as a cost savings measure.
With the survey results and financial mandates considered, the project’s macro needs
statement is, “to develop and promote a change in our organization’s culture toward a more
innovative and streamlined way to maintain institutional records.” This simple statement
captures the general need to improve the detachment’s recordkeeping. In addition to the macro
needs statement, there are two micro-needs.

 To educate instructors and faculty administrators on generating and using student and
class records through training on digital software applications.
 To educate instructors and faculty administrators on the process of digitally filing and
routing paperwork for signatures and historical storage.
The development team identified these micro needs when we recognized the faculty’s
discomfort with the digital conversion based on the survey data. This same cultural attitude was
highlighted in the 2011 article “Betting Against Paper” in the magazine Mortgage Banking. The
article highlights an early failure in a Troy, Michigan bank’s conversion from hardcopy to digital
files. After making a large investment on sophisticated technology, one executive vice-president
at the bank noted the employees would, “…hit the ‘print’ button so they could create their paper
file-something they were comfortable with.” (Demuth, 2011) To avoid encountering the same
setbacks caused by the bank employees’ unwillingness to change, the project team wants to not
only implement a digital filing system, but provide training to improve the faculty’s
understanding of the electronic process. By doing this, we hope to encourage employee buy-in
and eventually shift the collective approach to recordkeeping. The team wants to encourage a
change in the culture of document management and avoid the notion that this change will be
forced on the faculty despite their robust objections.
Electronically, the major need for this project is to procure the software required to
generate the digital records. Some software, such as MS Office and MS SharePoint Designer,
are already under license to the Air Force and are currently available for use. However, the most
important program required to implement this project is Adobe Acrobat Professional. Our unit’s
computer administrators would need to procure the program and install it onto all faculty
computers. As important as faculty buy-in is to this project, without the investment in the
Acrobat software, the transition to our new recordkeeping culture will not be possible.

Goals and Objectives
With the needs established, the project requires a goal to strive for. The goal for this
project is to develop a process using computer software along with detailed training sessions to
ensure all instructors and administrators are comfortable and competent to electronically file
student and class documents in a digital storage space which eliminates the need for printed
records saving the detachment time and money. Specifically, supervision wants the conversion
to help reduce the weekly documentation error rate to 1% or less and decrease record processing
time to 24 hours or less. As this is an Air Force organization, this change, along with all
processes involving product or process improvement, falls under the program Air Force Smart
Operation for the 21st Century (AFSO21). The vision for AFSO21 taken from the Air Force
playbook is, “to establish a continuous process improvement (CPI) environment whereby all
Airmen are actively eliminating waste and continuously improving processes.” (A-1). The
mandate of this program is to develop initiatives that have tangible cost or time saving results.
Our goal directly reflects all the requirements of the AFSO21 program as it will streamline the
filing process and reduce waste by eliminating the need for paper records.
To meet this goal, the project team has developed specific objectives.
 Using MS Office, Adobe Acrobat, Operating Instructions, and formal training, instructors
and administrators will be able to generate student and class records without supervision
while maintaining a 1% or less error rate.
 Using the Detachment’s SharePoint website, Operating Instructions, and formal training,
instructors and administrators will route and file student and class paperwork without any
errors or assistance in 24 hours or less after the first and last day of training.
Both objectives directly support the goal statement. By training instructors and
administrators on the skillsets required to properly generate and file digital documents, the
faculty will become more familiar and comfortable with the process. Through the needs

assessment surveys, several instructors noted that they felt if this process were to be successful,
the detachment’s leadership would need to develop a strong training and support program
coupled with a detailed operating instruction for day-to-day guidance. The project team
incorporated these opinions into the objectives to ensure we addressed their concerns. With the
foundation of the project developed, the delivery strategy needs to be established.
Delivery Strategy
In order to develop the training program to implement the changeover to a fully digital
process, three main elements are required. The team must procure funding for the software
needed to generate the digital files, develop a local operating instruction outlining protocol and
standards, and lastly develop a training session to introduce the faculty to the new process. All
three will be difficult to accomplish because of push back from several faculty members. The
project team needs to take these uncertain members’ agendas into account as these individuals
are involved in the unit’s finances, the target audience for the training and going to be subject to
the requirements of the operating instruction.
Funding
Currently, the operational training budget for 2013 was reduced from $65,000 to a
meager $3,500, a nearly 95% reduction. The projected cost for printing and filing is $8,458.
Under the current budget, the training detachment will drain all projected funds on printing long
before the end of the fiscal year. In order to avoid printing costs, Instructors can manipulate and
publish files digitally using Adobe® Acrobat® XI Professional software. The development team
used trial versions of the software to develop a streamlined filing and routing process. However,
the cost to outfit all 25 faculty computers would total $5,000. Unfortunately, this amount still
cannot fit within the detachment’s operating budget.
Without funding, the digital conversion process cannot take place. The only available
funds are Command funds. The Installation Commander controls a pool of money set aside for

projects and equipment that does not fit into individual unit’s operating budgets. In order to
receive funding, a unit must make a formal written request coupled with an official Air Force
Funding Request Form (see Appendix A). Once unit personnel file the paperwork, the
Commander and his staff review the requests monthly and distribute money on an “as needed”
basis. All projected processes must meet most or, preferably, all of the five desired effects
associated with Smart Operations based on the AFSO21 playbook. These effects are:
1) Increased productivity
2) Significantly increased critical asset availability
3) Improved response time and decision making agility
4) Sustained safe and reliable operations
5) Improved energy efficiency. (A-2)
This project meets all the required effects. While waiting for funding from the
Commander, the development team can begin writing the operating instruction for the new
digital process.
If the project does get funding from Command funds, the detachment’s local acquisition
manager will procure the software using the government purchase card. The software will then
need to be installed by the base’s Information Technology (IT) personnel. The IT office requires
two weeks to load all the software onto the 25 systems. Once the acquisition manager receives
the software, they are responsible for notifying the IT department
Protocol and Standards
In order to develop the training needed for instructors to start using the digital process,
the development team in conjunction with the detachment’s supervision needs to write rules
governing the process. While it is not a step-by-step directive, the local Operating Instruction
outlines the purpose of the program, the roles and responsibilities required of the faculty, and the

general overview of how the program operates. The instruction is a written order given by the
chief of the detachment for all personnel to follow.
The objectives will serve as a standard for the instruction’s rules. Each line of the
instruction must help instructors and administrators to generate student and class records with no
more than a 1% error rate and no supervisory assistance while filing/routing the paperwork
digitally within a 24 hour time frame. Any line that does not support these objectives will need
to be reexamined. The project lead and two other committee members will develop the first draft
of the instruction. The entire six person development team will review and edit the draft before
the detachment chief reviews the instruction. Once the detachment chief signs the instruction, it
will become the guideline for faculty training.
Training
If funding becomes available and the IT department installs the Acrobat software on all
faculty computers, the development team will need to provide formal training. The training will
be broken down into two parts - generating paperwork and routing/filing paperwork. This
corresponds to the two training objectives. Trainers need to pay particular attention to the
students’ computer anxiety to ensure attitudes do not begin to generate a pattern of behavior
which undermines the training (Hismanoğlu, 932). In order to teach the session, the trainer will
require a classroom which will accommodate 6 to 8 students. The trainer will need a computer
station with the Acrobat software installed along with a projector and screen. The students will
each need a computer system with the Acrobat program. The operating instruction developed by
the team and signed by the detachment chief will be available to all students via the local
network shared drive.
During the first phase of training, the trainer will introduce the Operating Instruction and
highlight the areas that pertain to the faculty, their roles, responsibilities and requirements. The
trainer will then demonstrate the functions of all the software each instructor will need to

generate a class and student record. The training will include the basic use of the software, hot
keys, and specific advanced features. Each student will learn the required techniques to
manipulate MS Office and Adobe Acrobat while hands-on exercises will provide them the
opportunity to explore and practice the programs’ functions. A micro objective of this section is
to ensure students are comfortable and confident in using the software before they are required to
generate specific records. After the walk-thru, the trainer will demonstrate exactly how to
generate class and student records using a fictitious class (Appendix B). After the trainer
demonstrates the process, he/she will provide the students with their own fabricated class in
order to allow them time to practice generating records. Once the students have successfully
completed the practice phase, the trainer will provide them with another pretend class. Each
student must generate the required records with no more than a 1% error rate and no assistance
as per the training objective. If a student cannot complete the evaluation without error or
assistance, they will be permitted one re-evaluation. If upon re-evaluation they still are having
difficulty, the trainer will remove the student from the training and provide one-on-one coaching
at a later time until the student can meet the objective’s standard.
The second phase of training will revolve around routing and filing the digital paperwork
properly (Appendix B). The trainer will highlight the routing and filing procedures outlined in
the Operating Instruction. The trainer will then introduce the MS SharePoint filing system the
students will be using and emphasize the basic tasks of creating a file folder, naming files per the
detachment instruction, and editing and manipulating files. Each student will be provided time
to explore the program and familiarize themselves with the menus and commands. Using the
fictitious classes from the previous lesson, the instructor will demonstrate the routing and filing
protocol for each digital document required on the first and last day of class. As with the earlier
lesson, the students will practice using the SharePoint to route and file the required documents.
Once the practice is complete, the trainer will again evaluate each student to see if they can

perform without any errors or assistance. If students cannot complete the evaluation, the trainer
will provide additional one-on-one training until all students can meet the standard set forth in
the objective.
Training Implementation
In February of 2013, the Base Commander reviewed our unit’s funding petition and
approved the request in its entirety. Our local resource advisor procured the Adobe Acrobat
software and established a 3 week timeline for the base IT department to install and test the
software on all 25 computers. During that same time, three members of the development team
finalized the lesson plan, examination tools, and evaluation surveys.
Throughout the month of March 2013, the instruction team taught a total of six formal
training sessions. Fifteen faculty members qualified on all phases of the course and were able to
meet the strict program standards. Three members were not able to attend the formal training
sessions due to temporary deployment and vacation. These students qualified on the training
through one-on-one training session with a trainer. They too were able to meet all training
standards.
During the training, trainers and students together identified several errors in course
material, subject evaluations, and the general digital recordkeeping. Between each class,
development team members corrected the deficiencies and adjusted the lesson. Through post-
course critiques, all the students responded that the training was beneficial and improved their
comfort and confidence in the digital recordkeeping process. Trainers documented all faculty
training records to reflect the completion of the training session. Using training sessions
teaching steps, supervisors will educate future faculty members as part of the initial
indoctrination training within the first month of in-processing. With all initial training complete,
the development team moved into process implementation

Process Implementation
As DeMuth noted in his article, the best way to ensure that a paper to digital conversion
takes hold in an organization is to unplug the printers (50). As printing of non-class records is
still required, the training detachment did the next best thing. Starting April 2013 Supervision
refused to process any student or class records not processed in the digital format. The
development team marketed this transition several weeks earlier as our “light switch”
conversion, paper records were turned off and digital records were turned on. The initial
conversion did not go smoothly; some faculty members were still trying to process paper records
which required them to re-accomplish the process electronically. The two metrics by which
supervision monitors the record keeping program is the percentage of errors identified in class
and student records and time required to process those records. Both of these metrics ballooned
throughout the first month of implementation, though each week they trended down in a positive
direction. The error rate climbed to 7% (the rate averaged 6% over the previous 6 months) and
the processing time climbed to 38 hours (the processing time was averaging 32 hours over the
previous 6 months). This initial negative trend led non-supporters of the conversion to demand
reimplementation of the paper-copy process. However, supervision evaluated the metrics and
determined the conversion would require several more months of implementation to determine if
the failure was in the process or due to the faculty’s resistance to the process.
To promote the conversion further, the development team members presented informal
“Did you Know?” and “Lessons Learned” discussions during the weekly staff meetings. Faculty
members would discuss difficulties they encountered with the process and presenters would
provide feedback, information, and tips learned over the previous week. These 5 to 10 minute
sessions help to alleviate frustration and answered many of the faculty’s frequently ask
questions. In addition, the development team created a Wiki page where faculty members could
leave best practices they discovered and team members posted real time answers to problems and

questions. As the implementation continued, the development team began collecting data to
evaluate the success of the program.
Evaluation
As the faculty converted to the new system, the development team began collecting and
trending data. The team created a linear graph (Table 1) plotting the documentation error rate
and processing time over a 14 month period.
Table 1
Error Rate and Processing Time Progression Over 14 Months
After the initial increase in error rates and processing time, the faculty members began to
adapt to the new way of doing business and a dramatic improvement in both areas is observable
over the last 6 weeks. During this period, the average error rate dropped to an all time low of 2%
and the processing time averaged only 28 hours. Both are still above the goal standard (1% or
less for the error rate and 24 hours of less for the processing time), but are vast improvements
over the previous 12 months averages.

In addition, there were two additional unexpected benefits to the conversion. Instructors
teaching at deployed locations could process their records just as if they were working at home
station. Previously, instructors and administrators physically mailed the records back and forth
between locations. Also, historical statistics (student populations, class sizes, training durations,
etc.) were easier to research as administrators can use file searching software to retrieve the
digital records in a matter of seconds and with greater accuracy.
Based on user feedback, the development team is creating as step-by-step guide to assist
users. This guide will also include all of the information distributed during the informal
discussion sessions. Supervisors will use the guide to train newly assigned faculty members who
did not attend the formal training sessions. The Wiki page will also remain active and
supervision will review it monthly along with metric data.
Conclusion
The conversion from printed to digital documents is still being evaluated, however the
early results indicate that the conversion has and will continue to improve the recordkeeping
process. The development team overcame institutional barriers such as lack of funding, faculty
resistance, and initial negative metric data. As a unit, we have not reached of goal of nearly
flawless records processed under 24 hours. These goals might not be possible to attain, but the
digital recordkeeping has made it possible to even attempt to achieve them. One goal we have
reached in its entirety is eliminating the need for printing which will save $8.5K annually. In
addition, after further vetting, supervision at the higher headquarters is considering
benchmarking our program as the standard to apply to all other training units.

Appendix A (Funding Request) 1 of 2

Appendix A (Funding Request) 2 of 2

Appendix B (Example Documents/Filing System)
Class Routing Checklist (with digital signatures)
Class & Student Record (with Digital Signature)
SharePoint Filing System
Individual Class’ Digital Files

References
DEMUTH, J. (2011). Betting Against Paper. Mortgage Banking, 72(2), 50.
Government Paperwork Elimination Act, Public Law 277-44, 105th Congress (1999)
Hismanoğlu, M. (2011). The Elicitation of Prospective EFL Teachers' Computer Anxiety and
Attitudes. International Online Journal Of Educational Sciences, 3(3), 930-956.
United States (2008). Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century (AFSO21) Playbook,
Washington, DC: Headquarters, Dept. of the Air Force.

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