Army Kicks Off Enterprise-Building Initiative

The Army intends to centralize systems management at about two dozen major commands under the service's chief information officer, to designate a single authority to manage information dissemination, and to set up accounts for all Army personnel on the agency's enterprise portal ? all by Oct. 1.


The three initiatives are part of five goals laid out in the first Army Knowledge Management Guidance memorandum signed last week by Army Secretary Thomas White and Gen. Eric Shinseki, the service's chief of staff. The effort is part of an Army plan to "transform to a knowledge-based force," said Miriam Browning, principal director for enterprise integration.


The other two goals outlined in the memo involve integrating knowledge management and best business practices into Army processes and asking service employees for ideas to reshape the work force into a network-centric team, she said.


"This is about managing information technology in the Army at the enterprise level, not each [individual] level," Browning said. "We are moving very fast. We want to get to the Internet age and do it quickly."


Meanwhile, the service has a broader systems consolidation effort under way. In February 2002, the Army will begin consolidating its systems into a single servicewide enterprise.

The service plans to finish this systems realignment by Oct. 1, 2002. Lt. Gen. Peter Cuviello, the Army's CIO, will provide a draft enterprise strategy by Nov. 1.