The homepage for Direct Access (DA), the military system for pay, leave, assignments, and evaluations, is getting a face lift March 28.
The change, designed to make the applications more efficient and intuitive, features an icon-based user interface (UI).
The user interface format that Direct Access currently uses is being retired in April, and the Coast Guard has decided to take the opportunity to modernize the software platform so that it continues to work with Oracle Software.
Aside from the user interface, little will change for the average user. This is the first of many phases of the modernization effort that will provide an ever-increasing level of functionality and user-experience enhancements.
The effort to modernize DA is significant and should be thought of similarly to a major application upgrade. The development team created, reviewed and tested every page and then Coast Guard stakeholders and users tested the pages. User guides and similar materials will require updates since the display of some pages will materially change. While the intent of modernizing the platform is to continue with current functionality and update existing pages, the required changes could impact business processes or functionality. There is currently no plan for the Coast Guard to support using Direct Access via mobile devices.