Army Knowledge Online cont.

Being an arm of the government, Coxe's organization was compelled to open the floor to a wide range of competing portal technologies, products, and vendors. They narrowed the field down before completing an exhaustive evaluation of a half dozen platform vendors, and as many point solution vendors. Not only did the winning vendor have to have the best product (one with open standards, proven scalability, and advanced personalization features); it had to secure the approval of many internal departments. "And," Coxe added, "the finished portal application had to be extremely useful and usable so that our people would use it, and our culture would change for the better."

ATG and alliance partner Appian joined forces to win the contract. At the time, ATG had no commercial off-the-shelf portal solution. But the Army was drawn to ATG Dynamo because of its ability to support high traffic volumes and its adherence to open Java standards, which would enable the Army to develop and deploy additional Internet initiatives in the future. In addition, the personalization capabilities of ATG Dynamo and its e-Business Scenariosª would enable the Army to develop stronger relationships with its users, create a sense of community, and drive many routine interactions with its users online. Appian helped seal the deal with its proven experience developing sophisticated portal applications on the ATG framework.

Forward, march!

Appian assembled a team of about eight designers, developers, and producers to work closely with Coxe's team on phase one of the project, launched in October 2001. The new portal, called AKO (Army Knowledge Online), provides a single entry point into a growing knowledge management system that is enabling greater knowledge sharing among Army communities and enhanced communication between Army personnel and their civilian friends and family. It has already become a virtual home base for personnel stationed around the world.

The portal has been set up to allow three major groups to control or personalize site content. There is a "corporate" view that is used primarily by the Secretary of the Army and his staff to post important news items and communicate Army policy. There are many "functional" areas, such as personnel, training, and logistics, that allow officers in those areas to interact with Army personnel. Finally, individual users can customize their views of available links and information so that the portal content and features they use most are more easily accessible than others.

New portal features and benefits include a single sign-on, a more intuitive search and link process, and three search engines that connect to military domains for requested information. These features offer quicker response time, greater accessibility to desired information, and increased productivity to enhance AKO users' portal experience. The site also helps improve quality of life for members of the military by providing a means of communication to keep in touch with family and friends through secure e-mail and chat applications.

The new Dynamo-driven portal was up and running in a short three and a half months. Upon deployment, users enjoyed a more intuitive interface and the ability to personalize the information they'd become accustomed to retrieving online. The Army is continuing to add value to the portal by integrating a greater number of locally unique data sources and applications. As they integrate data and applications, they anticipate consolidating hardware (a potential source of ROI).

New maneuvers drive greater efficiency

The Army, working with ATG partner Appian, is developing e-business scenarios to increase the level of personalization users receive from the portal and to automate routine processes. One of the first scenarios under development will automate parts of the review process and drive the clean up of personnel data for those enlisted men and women up for review.