B-15. GCSS-Army will provide a modern, state-of-the-art; web-based Enterprise Resource Planning solution that will use DOD approved web services to facilitate the Department of Defense Instruction for Sharing Data, Information, and Information Technology services.
B-16. GCSS-Army will interface with joint logistics information technology systems to allow for mobilization, deployment, sustainment and redeployment of joint forces. Logisticians from tactical to national level will have complete situational awareness of Warfighter materiel requirements and in-transit visibility of supplies and services. GCSS-Army’s updated business processes, software, integrated data environment and near real time data are key information enablers for the Total Army. It will provide functional Sustainment information and field services management from the Army’s tactical and operational levels. It will support the requirements of the Secretary of Defense, combatant commanders, departments, and staffs.
B-17. Enterprise resource planning is a cross-functional enterprise system driven by an integrated suite of software modules that supports the basic internal logistics processes. GCSS-Army is an enterprise resource planning system and provides a single maneuver sustainment picture through integration of sustainment information. Employment of GCSS-Army is inclusive of all tactical echelons. GCSS-Army will subsume the multiple standalone and overlapping sustainment information systems – for supply, property accountability, and maintenance – operating at the tactical and TDA Installation level of Army logistics and as identified in the capability production document. The capability described is the integration and modernization of the current tactical sustainment information systems into one overall multi-echelon, web- based logistics enterprise resource planning system with improved interfaces to mission command systems and to the wholesale level of Army and national supply. The impetus for the capability production
engineering in support of a comprehensive (including all Sustainment functional areas), highly responsive and modernized tactical information system that would enable the Army to retire the current tactical (retail) sustainment information system baselines.
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YSTEMD
ESCRIPTIONB-18. GCSS-Army is replacing a variety of current logistics information systems, and automated capabilities such as the standard Army retail supply system, the standard Army maintenance system, and the property book unit supply enhanced. It also replaces the fleet management system used by the U.S. Army reserve component to support equipment storage and maintenance for reserve units. (As seen in figure B-4). The army enterprise system integration program will link GCSS-Army—the Army’s field-level logistics information system—with the logistics modernization program—the Army’s national-level logistics system. GCSS-Army, Army enterprise system integration program and logistics modernization program will provide a single access point to the single Army logistics enterprise for external customers, such as the U.S. transportation command, the defense logistics agency, and original equipment manufacturers. The end state of single Army logistics enterprise will be characterized by:
A single enterprise built around already defined and universally accepted processes that instill confidence through accuracy, reliability, and connectivity.
Logistics processes that fully interact with operational and financial processes.
Systems that can significantly improve capabilities to build combat power and manage readiness.
Performance-based partnerships with industry.
Figure B-4. Systems replaced
B-19. GCSS-Army also interfaces with other information technology initiatives, including military and commercial communications infrastructure, to meet warfighter requirements:
To have the right materiel, at the right place and at the right time.
Operational Army/Generating Force/Sustaining Base Logisticians Requirements.
The capability to anticipate warfighter requirements and to provide asset visibility and control along with timely and accurate management information.
B-20. GCSS-Army will be capable of supporting Army force generation processes, rapid force projection, and informing system life-cycle management decisions. GCSS-Army will also meet tactical financial requirements by providing an audit trail from financial transaction to originating logistics event and substantive evidence of general ledger account balances for financial audit purposes.
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HARACTERISTICSB-21. Operationally, GCSS-Army is best characterized as a logistic information system that is employed with equal effectiveness in garrison and on the modern battlefield. The emphasis on the Soldier role – denotes the word combat in the title of the system distinguishes GCSS-Army from the current line of tactical/retail logistics information systems supporting supply, maintenance and property book. In garrison GCSS-Army will allow commanders/staff/logisticians:
To enable effective decision making and mission planning in combat operations through enterprise resource management.
To effectively and efficiently manage equipment, monitor equipment readiness and take proactive measures to maximize on resources and ensure mission capable equipment.
To originate more accurate and timely Sustainment business transactions to obtain materiel and services, to organize and display Sustainment data collected from these transactions and then collate and array it for more effective management of materiel and services resources by commanders and the logistics staff.
To maintain situational awareness, in near real time, of supplies and services through tactical to national level In-Transit Visibility.
B-22. On the battlefield, the system will be employed as a Soldier function support tool that “builds combat power” through use of modern information system and communications technology. Nested in the enterprise architecture for battlefield information systems, GCSS-Army is closely linked to the automated mission command system through its network centric relationship with Sustainment Support Mission Command. The speed, complexity, and extended range of combat operations dictate the timeliness and quality of the response by the sustainment support system. GCSS-Army is the comprehensive tool for logisticians to orchestrate sustainment for these types of operations. GCSS-Army will meet the performance levels of the modular and future forces.
B-23. GCSS-Army is a functional logistical information management system with full financial capability that increases the productivity of the individual soldier and effectiveness of the unit. It will provide the logistics infrastructure required for military operations. The technical goal is to establish a seamless and interoperable enterprise network. The network involves the integration of communication software used by systems. GCSS-Army will interface with multiple current logistics information systems until it is fully fielded. The primary systems are Unit Level Logistics System - Aviation Enhanced, Property Book Unit Supply Enhanced, and Standard Army Maintenance System Enhanced.
B-24. GCSS-Army is the tactical level building block of our transformation to a single Army logistics enterprise, which provides information superiority through real-time visibility of personnel, equipment, and supplies anywhere in the distribution pipeline and within the operational environment. This transformation requires a seamless, integrated, end-to-end network. The result of implementing the single Army logistics enterprise is a merger of warfighter and business systems into a single, harmonious environment from the manufacturer to the foxhole, which is aligned with joint requirements. GCSS-Army will allow the Army to integrate the supply chain, obtain accurate equipment readiness, support split base operations, and get up- to-date status on maintenance actions and supplies in support of the warfighter. Because of the characteristics of the system, it will require managers to interact with the process in GCSS-Army to review and approve transactions generated by unit materiel requirements. Typically, these same processes were managed manually with a physical audit trail. GCSS-Army provides an automated audit trail that also provides visibility and interaction with all levels of execution and management.