With additional civilian and military personnel cuts looming as defense budgets decline, Air Force officials are promising a single unemployment compensation process by early next year.

Currently, processing for appropriated fund and nonappropriated fund civilian employees along with the military is run in separate offices at the Air Force Personnel Center at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas. That will change, say officials, following a two-day rapid improvement event that resulted in a plan to centralize all three functions.

"It made no sense to have three distinct programs managed by three separate offices under one roof," Dodie Tunches, civilian unemployment compensation and appeals office chief, is quoted in an AFPC news release.

"It was evident from the audit results that we already needed to find a way to improve our processes, but with the consolidation to consider and facing increasingly tight budgets, it was clear that we needed to find a way to do the common work smarter, faster and more effectively," Tunches added.

The AFPC announcement pointed out that unemployment processing is complicated because it is administered differently by each state and is complicated by federal mandates and restrictions.

"We have some great ideas for developing and using a common information technology program and common business process steps," Tunches said, "but first we need to be clear on the legal issues. Once we know our boundaries, we'll knock out the tangible requirements like the IT system, manning and other resources."