By Vicky Falcón
NAVAIR Public Affairs

“Access denied.” These are two powerful little words that have the potential to very soon wreak havoc on your time cards, workflow and remote access to NAVAIR Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) functions.

If you use the Web to access Sigma (for ERPGUI or CITRIX); if you use Employee Self Service (ESS) to perform timecard functions; or if you use E-Power for workflow and documentation management, you may soon see those dreaded words on your screen – unless you have a current DOD Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) certificate properly loaded on your computer.

According to Darryl Allen, deputy Chief Information Officer and division head for information assurance at NAVAIR, the deadline for obtaining and loading your PKI certificate is looming.

“All legacy and NMCI users located outside the NMCI network who do not have their DOD PKI certificates registered and installed on their browsers will have their access to Sigma terminated on April 14,” he said.

A PKI certificate is an electronic “document” that officially links a user’s identity with their Public Key. An identity certificate is used to digitally sign documents or electronic forms and to authenticate the user to applications. The user has to provide credentials for the certification and sign a “Subscriber Certificate Acceptance and Acknowledgement of Responsibilities” form before being issued instructions for downloading/installing their PKI identity certificate. As of April 14, all NAVAIR ERP sites will become exclusively PKI-enabled.

“If you access Sigma or E-power from an NMCI computer at work, you shouldn’t see any changes,” said Allen. However, individuals who access those sites from home, while on travel or from a non-NMCI seat will no longer have access without a valid PKI certificate installed in the appropriate browser.

Those certificates may be requested from the NAVAIR and NMCI national help desks. NMCI portable (laptop) users should call the NMCI help desk at 1-866-843-6624 for assistance. Military and DOD civilian non-NMCI users, and contractors or others not working from NMCI computers (but who do work inside the DOD network) should contact the NAVAIR help desk at 1-888-292-5919.

“We’ve issued more than 7000 PKI certificates so far,” said Allen, “but only 1100 have gone through the whole process (of installing them).” According to Allen, the access code for PKI certificates is only good for 30 days. Expired certificates must be reported to the help desk for resolution.

“Individuals who lose the diskette that contains their backup copy of the PKI certificate, or forget their password, must have that certificate revoked and a new one requested,” said Allen.

So, how do you know if you have a valid PKI certificate?

A simple test has been developed to assist users in this process. Using your laptop, legacy, home or NMCI computer on which you have registered or installed your PKI certificate, go to any ERP Web site you normally use and find the PKI test box located in the upper right corner of the site home page. Click on the red test link and follow the appropriate instructions.

Fail messages will occur if your PKI certificate is not installed properly or not installed on the appropriate browser.

Instructions and guidance for correcting problems are available on all fail messages. And the help desks are ready to assist.

“The bottom line is – if you need access to ERP sites, you better have a valid PKI,” said Allen. “And you better make sure you have it before April 14 or you will have your access denied.”