OPRs/EPRs on time, better quality

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Bryan Frank
  • 14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  Team BLAZE members pooled from every stopping point along the Columbus Air Force Base evaluation report process spent May 2 and 3 reviewing the process with the aim of improving the evaluation report methods here.

"OPRs and EPRs are the number one way we as an Air Force formally document the performance of our military members from an Airman to general," said Col. Barre Seguin, 14th Flying Wing Training commander. "We owe it to our Airmen of every rank to ensure that we have an evaluation reporting process in place that ensures accountability, accuracy and timelessly of their performance reports."

The team's first recommendation was to give the raters more lead time to write the initial draft of member's officer performance report or enlisted performance report. To accomplish this, the shells for the reports will be built 60 days from the closeout of the OPR/EPR.

The team recommended breaking down the OPR/EPR statuses by wing and group level when briefing at the commander's staff meeting. In turn, the groups would also break down OPR/EPR statuses by group and squadron levels to ensure leadership at all levels are aware of the statuses of the reports for which they are accountable.

"More than 1,800 OPRs/EPRs are processed through Columbus AFB each year," said Capt. Tom Klusek, 14th FTW Process Improvement Office chief. "Some of those have to also be sent to other bases before they can be signed off, so keeping track of those as well as the ones processed here is imperative."

To help keep track of OPRs/EPRs being processed, the team received a brief about the new Evaluation Management System that will be implemented here and throughout Air Education and Training Command to do just that.

The AETC EMS objective is to reduce the workload associated with preparing officer and enlisted performance reports while ensuring the evaluation process remains fair and provides for accurate portrayal of performance, according to Master Sgt. Daniel McCleskey, 14th Communications Squadron superintendent. The goal is also to improve timeliness and meet Air Force standards.

The final recommendation is to educate everyone who will be a rater on the new EMS and to provide a new Columbus writing guide to standardize the way reports are written here.

"Providing the raters with better products and giving them the proper education will improve the quality of the initial report from the very start." Capt. Klusek said. "It will reduce errors and speed up the entire process by reducing the amount of rework typically done to performance reports as they progress through the reviewing process."