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Show April 13, 1995 Corners Iwl hen Defense MegaCenter Ogden ab- sorbed the Information Processing Center from De I fense Depot Ogden, it not only brought the functions but also 110 employees. "That Information Processing Center came as a 'legacy site' that we were able to merge with only a few problems," said Val Lof green, MegaCenter deputy director. "Traditionally, the Defense Logistics Agency went in and Imitrom P.I. said 'this office is moving and you people are history,' which could cause unemployment problems. This time we were able to assimilate the DDOU workforce with the workload without loss of positions. To our knowledge, we're the only ones who have done that. "We mapped out a strategy about a year ago to absorb the DDOU people. We hadn't really said anything to them about reductions because we thought we could keep it low key. Fortunately, we were WvfTOt Employees, work increase as center adds 'legacy site' able to keep those people who came from the Information Processing Center. Most of them work at Hill now, though there is a storefront group that supports DDO directly," he said. The Ogden Information Processing Center was one of four in the United States. Others are located at Battle States as well as the Pacific area and Europe in this base operating support system." "The Base Operating Support System is one of our bigger workloads now as the DLA moves to a standard distribution system," said Col. Dick Trainor, MegaCenter director. "That's in addition to the workload we had prior to the Defense Management Review Decisions taking Creek, Mich., Philadelphia, Pa., and Richmond, Va. Base Support has about 500 place. "We were able to take on the DDO workload and continue the workload we were doing, plus take on all the Air Force workload in the West," Trainor said. "Overall, we've had a reduction in personnel because we've had early outs and that sort of things." When the workers were customers and the potential for supporting more than in supply, contract7,000 and ing accounting. "While the Air Force divided workloads geographically, DLA chose to spread out functionally and assign work regardless of the geographic location," Lofgreen said. "Right now, we have customers from the United brought to the Megacenter, they were given additional Hilltop Times C j training. "They did Defense Logistics Agency work on an IBM platform, so we trained them in the UNISYS area and the Air Force system," Trainer said. "There was a lots of technical training and orientation for Hill people because they would be taking on the DLA workload. We learned their system and they learned ours." The result was an integration of the workforce where all employees were working on both DLA and Air Force operations. Existing equipment in the building was upgraded to accommodate the new workload. "The DDO employees at first were afraid they would be brought here, then have no jobs," Trainor said. "We were the only megacenter to bring in a legacy site without a significant reduction in force. Right now, we have no plans for a RIF, and we will keep these employees even if DDO closes. If a RIF should be necessary, it would be generic it wouldn't target DLA people." E6F71BKSH9iWSin Director Col. Richard Trainor - r Deputy Director Val l 3, e nr computing responsibilities transportation, supply, flight first and second visits ration was really about Business Operations Management Division Division hole process. As a result, jns was done on or ahead sn't finished yet. Future Acquisition and Project Mgmt Branch tie Distribution Standard tes in California, Texas, ton. The program will customers and should . Trainor said. Customer Support Branch in-0- 0 1 1 Branch Systems Management Center DDOU Storefront L i I J Computer Operations Lofgreen J i J J SBLCSystems Support Division I Distribution Logistics Suooort Branch I DSS Support Branch Operations Support Branch Systems Support Branch obiems i want it to do that it doesn't t't tell us what they want the e can't make it work better." k. the Help Desk has an 800 vomers can use if they cannot d Network line, ort have a limited number of ck Trainor, MegaCenter direc-heget through." eps track of the number of had to wait for an have hung up without m cus-Lhey'- an-.ome- rs eriods on weekdays, we have vering questions at one time." is, we have two or three avail-aviebetween 8 and 1 1 a.m. "ning on their systems and o busy between 1 and 2:30 he morning." i brought several calls to the eks as employees became ac-o- f st ex-als- doing things, duit to guide workers through said. It's more than just a Help ntrol center that looks at the analyzes deficiencies in the sible to users on and off base. , t 1 : 'it, T i .' f Division Mid-Ti- er Branch J PC Branch J "I J - Technical Support Defense MegaCenter Ogden Organization Diagram Systems Software Branch J Former director recalls beginnings hen Max Petersen retired in 1979, the Defense Mega- Center Ogden had been in the planning stages for 10 years. It wasn't until 10 years later that it became came a reality. Petersen, now chair- man of the board for America First Credit Union, worked with data processing at Hill called at various for 38 years. The office Control Statistical Statistical Services, times was located in Bldg. 103 and Data Services and provided data processing services for the Ogden Air Logistics Center. "I was in the data processing business when I was in the Air Force," Petersen said. "When World War II ended. I had rights to return to I till because it was where I worked before I went into the service. When I got out, I became the manager of data processing." Petersen recalled that the accounting was done on punch cards. Computers worked with the punch cards instead of disks or tapes. "The first computer that came in was an IBM that dealt with punch cards." he said. "Then we got an IBM 650. the first to deal i5 with magnetic tape. We later got much larger computers the IBM 7080 and IBM 360 and a CDC computer. They started using PCs about the time I retired." e He said that one computer achis included tenure quired during tape drives and other paraphernalia and covered 5.000 to 6,000 square feet. "Now a PC does almost as much as the large one did, and it sits on your desk that's real progress," Petersen said. "The work was fascinating because there was never a dull moment every time you thought you'd arrived at the ultimate computer, two months later it was like you were in the dark ages. The advancements have continued on and on ever since." When Petersen retired as chief of Data Services, the division had 720 employees, including a dozen airmen. "We did everything from personnel records and civilian pay to stock record accounting, warehouse locations and cost accounting. In the maintenance area, we did a schedule of shops, figuring out what work was done when and what was needed. We almost had our hands on every part of the installation." Ten years before he retired. Petersen full-scal- worked with others to develop a Standardized Computer Data Processing Center at Hill, un- der the direction of Air Force headquarters. "It took 10 more years after I retired before it finally showed up." Petersen said. "That shows that you've got to hang in and keep pushing or innovations don't happen." The resulting MegaCenter was built on the site Petersen had selected. He was among the honored guests at the opening. "I thought the center was great! There are many features we put in the original plans that are still part of it," he said. "The general layout of the facility ended up bigger than we had envisioned, but we designed it so it would work like an accordion expanding or conas needed." tracting While he doesn't use a computer much these days, Petersen still keeps up with the technology. "The credit union got a new mainframe recently. It can't be any bigger than 3 or 4 feet wide, and it stands about 5 feet tall, but it has twice the capacity or more than the ones that used to take up a good sized room." he said. "I stay in touch because the credit union uses computers, and because it intrigues me. It develops almost daily." |