TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – Out with the old and in with the new — the words Airman 1st Class Thaila Delgado, 60th Communications Squadron knowledge management craftsman, applied to create a new a process designed to effectively educate and financially prepare Airmen to move out of the Travis Air Force Base dorms.
In going through the process herself, Delgado noticed that the process could be improved and decided to do something about it.
“When I got approved to move off base, I didn’t feel prepared,” Delgado said. “After finally getting through the slow and confusing process of moving out, I still didn’t even have a budget lined up. That’s what got me to start thinking; if this is difficult for me, I bet others have struggled with this as well.”
Delgado created a document that combines different payment calculations, making it easier for Airmen to determine what they can or can’t afford. She explained that the process is designed to help Airmen know exactly what they will be paying so they don’t experience financial hardship, later.
“The purpose of this program is to help financially prepare Airmen who want to move out of base dorms,” Delgado said. “This document is basically a budget calculator that gathers all the payments and bills you list and puts it all together so you can figure out if you can or can’t afford the places you’re looking to live.”
Delgado said after her idea came to fruition, she was fully backed by her leadership, and with the assistance of the financial budgeting class, she was immediately able to share her modernized budget form with Airmen.
“I started out with making a rough draft of the document with my supervisor and pushed the idea up to my leadership in the 60th CS,” Delgado said. “After getting approval from my leadership, I collaborated with dorm management, and from there they put it up on the splash page so all the Airmen living in the dorms could access it.”
By creating a new way of budgeting for Airmen, Delgado has eliminated the need for a previously required class, explained Tech. Sgt. Jeremiah Mohr, 60th Civil Engineering Squadron Airmen dorm leader.
“Because this process helps Airmen outline their financial budget, Airmen are no longer are required to take a financial budgeting class,” said Tech. Sgt. Jeremiah Mohr, 60th Civil Engineering Squadron airman dorm leader. “The class was designed to educate Airmen on budgeting, but this new form is more streamlined and meets the criteria (covered in the class).”
Mohr further elaborated that instead of receiving multiple notifications through multiple channels, all information is now located in one place and easy to access for both Airmen and those in the approval chain of command.
“This is a far smoother process than what we were dealing with before,” Mohr said. “With this new process, all parties involved are constantly updated through automatic emails. This really gives back some control to the Airmen to know what they need to do to move through all the steps to officially out process.”
Delgado said having her leadership’s support made her ideas feel valued.
“I believe it’s extremely important for Airmen to think innovatively — they are the Air Force’s front line, and the people who see issues before anyone else,” said Staff Sgt. Rimsha Wasim, 60th CS knowledge management noncommissioned officer in charge and Delgado’s supervisor. “To see an issue and have the initiative to try and solve it is an important trait, and that is why I and the rest of Delgado’s leadership supported her from the beginning of the project.”
There are about 800 Airmen living in the dorms on-base, and approximately 200 of them have already used Delgado’s out-processing document.