The Navy leaves service record management up to sailors, but sailors must now log into a slew of websites to do that effectively — and they're demanding Navy leadership fix the problem.
Sailors want a single website and login to access their personnel and training records. Officials say they're working on creating a "sailor portal" that could go online by October 2015.
"We're trying to do this as quick as we can, but there are technical challenges," said Cmdr. Raquel Gladieux, assistant program manager for what officials are calling "My Navy Portal." "There are over 60 human resources portals and Web applications, and we're trying to integrate and centrally govern those HR-focused portals into a one-stop shop for sailors.
"My Navy Portal is a single, sailor-facing Web portal with a user-friendly and intuitive interface that's going to be organized in a way that makes sense for them to use from the time they enter the Navy until they retire," Gladieux said in a July 18 phone interview.
The portal, in development since 2012, will come online in late 2015, Gladieux said, but she warned sailors that what's available will be limited at first and then expand.
The portal will connect to Navy Knowledge Online and BUPERS Online, where sailors access much of their personnel data.
What's not going to be initially available: the Electronic Service Record that sailors access through the Navy Standard Integrated Personnel System, where sailors can review images of record documents like evals and awards in their official military personnel file.
Adding access to NSIPS will come down the line, she said, although officials can't say exactly when.
"We created small working groups of sailors from across the fleet from different paygrades, enlisted and officer — East Coast and West Coast — to identify the top tasks that sailors perform online, from hire to retire," she said. Service officials will then work with them to organize intuitively the menu structure of the portal.
In about a year, she said, these same working groups will start beta testing the site to work out the final bugs before it goes live to the fleet.
By the time they roll out the initial site, Gladieux said she hopes they will have a better road map as to what will be added next and roughly when sailors will be able to count on it.
One thing that won't change is security — accessing the portal will require a common access card login, as sailors use today at work. If they want to access the system at home, they'll have to purchase and configure their personal computers with a CAC reader.
But they'll only have to log in once, and the portal will take care of the rest — working in the background to navigate security and login functions so sailors don't have to.
Gladieux, who was an enlisted radioman before getting her commission, says easier access to records is also something she has wanted through her career.
"This is a long time coming."
