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CHAPTER 11 PERSONNEL RECORDS AND ACCOUNTING
Effective personnel management requires accurate and timely personnel recording and accounting systems. Throughout the Navy, personnel records are of utmost importance both to the command and to the individual concerned. Effective and rapid personnel accounting can be a tremendous morale factor within the command, whereas haphazard methods, which may result in loss or destruction of vital records, can have a bad effect on individuals and dependents.
In the Medical Department proper records administration reaches even greater importance. We are charged with administering not only routine personnel records, but also clinical records, which may affect the rights and benefits of patients and their dependents years beyond retirement or discharge.
USE AND MAINTENANCE OF REFERENCE MATERIAL
The rules and regulations that ensure uniform methods of personnel administration throughout the Navy are contained in directives and various manuals. To function effectively, you must become familiar with these and have a working knowledge of them. Conversely, outdated, poorly maintained, or obsolete directives and manuals are not only useless, but also detrimental, since erroneous information will do more harm than good. Refer to the chapter entitled “Naval Manuals, Directives, and Reports” for instruc- tions on making changes to directives; follow the directions diligently to ensure that all information is up to date.
The following factors are of major significance in effective personnel management and accoun- ting in the Navy.
DAY-TO-DAY PERSONNEL REPORTING
The personnel picture within a command is in a state of constant flux—personnel are reporting aboard, being detached, or failing to report for duty either due to illness, desertion, or other unpredictable factors. Changes in status, such as promotions, demotions, marriages, or retire- ments, occur constantly, affecting the individual and the command. They must be taken into account and recorded properly.
THE MANPOWER, PERSONNEL, AND TRAINING INFORMATION SYSTEM
The Manpower, Personnel, and Training In- formation System (MAPTIS) provides a personnel accounting system that has been designed to incorporate the most up-to-date methods and procedures that technology has to offer. One of the basic MAPTIS documents is the personnel diary. Diary entries prepared by reporting activities become an integral part of the systematic accounting procedure that supports the ad- ministration of all naval personnel. Contents of various reports generated from data reported on the diary can only be as accurate as the infor- mation reported.
Not only does correct diary reporting affect the individual, it affects the command’s ability to function properly, as well as top level management’s ability to make planning decisions. Information reported on the individual at the activity level provides certain data that involves the member’s career; it also provides management with the necessary information to effectively develop budgets, allocate billets, determine training requirements and school quotas, and, probably most important, makes individual assignments to subsequent duty stations based to a large extent on information reported through the diary.
ENLISTED PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT CENTER
NMPC is supported in its MAPTIS functions by automatic data processing field units. The