Phase I of the ATAP Market: Set the Conditions

Maj. Patrick R. Sernett, Chief, Generating Forces Section, Officer Readiness Division, Officer Personnel Management Directorate (OPMD)

           Each year the Army conducts two Army Talent Alignment Process (ATAP) market cycles for active component (AC) officers. Each cycle captures officer moves and unit officer priorities for fill within a six-month period (Cycle 1: October-March and Cycle 2: April-September).

    Each distribution cycle is executed in three separate phases: Phase I: Set the Conditions, Phase II: Market Execution, and Phase III: Clear the Market. Each of these phases contains one-or-more of the eight dynamic and sequential steps of the assignment process, as displayed in Figure 1 below. This paper focuses on Phase I of the ATAP market. 

Phase I is the most important phase of the ATAP, and it requires thorough analysis from commanders and units, in coordination with U.S. Army Human Resources Command account managers and career managers. Phase I ensures that the correct officers are placed into the market based on their individual timelines, and that the correct requisitions (i.e. jobs) are placed in the market to ensure units have the personnel needed to execute their current and projected missions.

Phases II and III simply cannot enable readiness or talent alignment without a precise and correct Phase I. If the wrong officers and/or jobs are in the market, the ATAP will not meet officer or unit needs. There are five steps, which occur during Phase I.

          1. Conduct Initial Analysis. During this step, the Officer Personnel Management Directorate (OPMD) at HRC conducts an analysis to provide a framework for the market cycle. This includes examining any changes to force structure, the Active Component Manning Guidance (ACMG), and emerging priorities. The output of this analysis is an HRC-level directive, which ensures all OPMD personnel are driving towards a common goal and enables clear messaging to units across the Army. This step produces the Mission Essential Requirements (MER) Letter which is sent to units with instructions for completing Step 4, Review the MER. This letter provides guidelines and requirements to request and validate officer assignments for the cycle.

 2. Identify Moving Officers. With a framework established, career managers begin the process of reviewing their managed populations to ensure that officers are coded correctly in the systems of record, which is primarily Total Officer Personnel Management Information System or TOPMIS. Career managers focus on updating officers’ Year/Month Available to Move (YMAV). This step ensures that unit strength projections are correct, and that the right officers are identified to participate in the upcoming marketplace. Unit commanders play a critical role in this step, as they counsel officers on career progression and opportunities, and ensure that the right officers are departing their units at the right time. With this information at hand, units must identify their officers selected for intra-post transfers (IPTs), consecutive overseas tours (COTs), extensions, etc. and inform career managers to update YMAVs accordingly.

      3. Generate List of Projected Vacancies. Once unit strength projections have been updated by the career managers, HRC generates the Distribution Requirements List (DRL). This involves generating requisitions for staffing, which will generally bring units strength up to their authorizations at each skill and grade in accordance with ACMG.

           4. Review of Mission Essential Requirements. The DRL is provided to units who review the list and provide input on which of those requisitions represent valid vacancies at the unit. Units provide feedback to HRC via the Assignment Interactive Module 2 (AIM2). During this process, units also use AIM2’s Request Position Addition feature to build new requisitions and request specific career branches fill their branch-immaterial requisitions.

This process of refining and prioritizing requisitions on the DRL is referred to as the Mission Essential Requirements (MER) Process. Units should follow the instructions in the MER Letter during this process. Again, commander involvement in the prioritization of unit requisitions is critical to a successful Phase I.  

Additionally, live training sessions on how to complete a unit MER are available on Microsoft Teams. Training resources and recorded training sessions can also be found online at MilSuite. Once units are complete with this process, OPMD account managers and career managers review units’ input on the DRL and provide additional details and input to be used during the Active Component Distribution Conference.

           5. Determine Positions for Fill. The final step of Phase I is determining which requisitions to fill. This mainly consists of the Active Component Distribution Conference. This week-long event brings career managers and account managers together to determine which requisitions should be validated based on the available inventory of officers. The main factors which impact requisition validation are unit strength projections, ACMG, and moving-officer constraints, like unqualified resignations (UQRs) or retirements. For validated branch-immaterial requisitions, unit requests from Step 4 determine which branch will fill each immaterial requisition.

           The main outputs of Phase I are the officers who will participate in the marketplace and the requisitions which will participate in the marketplace. Additionally, officers identified to move, career managers, and units all play a role in ensuring that marketplace data is as accurate as possible before the AIM2 marketplace opens. This includes updating resumes, market labels, duty titles and descriptions, professed and desired Knowledge, Skills, and Behaviors (KSBs), etc. Learn more about maximizing the power of KSBs on MilSuite.

           Each of the steps outlined are dynamic and regularly evaluated throughout the market cycle. For example, during a typical cycle the Army will make changes to structure and projected missions, and the availability of thousands of officers will change for a variety of personal and professional reasons. However, commander involvement throughout Phase I will help minimize this turbulence during Phases II and III.

           Units should anticipate and plan for friction points throughout Phase I. A key friction point is that units may not receive backfills for every loss. Every unit in the Army is competing for the same inventory of officers. This is why it is vital to identify which officers will be movers, involved in an IPT/COT/etc., or extended in their current position for operational or broadening opportunities. ACMG shapes which requisitions units are able to fill. Due to limited officer inventory, this may result in a unit being short officers for key positions. Units can minimize the impacts of these shortages with an accurate MER. Inaccuracies in a unit’s MER can lead to friction. If a unit fails to accurately annotate their true shortages or identifies everything as a top priority, it is difficult for OPMD to discern the unit’s true needs. Lastly, the timing of officer moves may lead to a position being vacant for weeks or even months. Units should anticipate this and plan to cover these gaps between officers during a movement cycle.

           Unit level human resources, or S1s, need to own this process. ATAP is a core human resources function. During Phase I, S1s must create transparency by providing accurate assessments of unit strength and talent management of assigned personnel to enable commanders to make informed decisions. S1s are also instrumental in developing a detailed and precise MER for their unit. The MER feeds the DRL, which drives validation of requisitions during Active Component Distribution Conference. S1s must work with their commanders and account managers regularly for effective strength management of their units. It is essential that S1s become subject matter experts on ATAP. They need to educate their units on the process and best practices in regards to unit AIM2 pages, resumes, and strength management.

           Throughout Phase I, commanders must communicate with their S1s. For example, commanders should ask which officers are projected losses and gains for their units. This includes reviews of company and field grade slates to ensure their officers complete key developmental positions on time. Commanders should also ask what their unit strength is relative to the ACMG, Army personnel inventory, and similar units across the Army. It is imperative that commanders and their S1s plan for the future and integrate ATAP into their long-range training calendars.

           Phase I is the most important phase of the ATAP. It sets the conditions to maintain and build unit readiness, but it also develops strategic skills of officers. Close coordination between commanders, their S1 teams, individual officers, and OPMD during Phase I ensures that the Army is able to achieve talent-alignment.

Maj. Patrick Sernett is an Adjutant General Officer who currently serves as the Generating Forces Section Chief, Officer Readiness Division, Officer Personnel Management Directorate, U.S. Army Human Resources Command. He previously served as a Battalion, Squadron, and Task Force S1 for multiple units, an Aide de Camp, as a Company Commander in the 19th Human Resources Company, and Brigade S1 for the 36th Engineer Brigade. He is a graduate of Adjutant General Basic Officer Leaders Course, Adjutant General Captains Career Course, and the Command and General Staff College. He holds a Bachelor’s in Physical Sciences from the University of Central Missouri and a Master’s in Public Administration from Central Michigan University.