Second Army knowledge memo near

The second Army Knowledge Management guidance memorandum — which includes goals for server and application reductions — is in the Office of the Chief of Staff, and top technology officials hope it will be signed within days.

Speaking May 29 at Army IT Day in McLean, Va., Lt. Gen. Peter Cuviello, the Army's chief information officer, said the memo has been in the chief's office for about six weeks, which is about the same amount of time it took to get the first guidance document approved last summer.

Cuviello said the second AKM guidance memo includes details on a "new strategic reporting system and key performance monitoring measurement systems" and outlines other goals, including:

* Making server reductions of 30 percent by the end of fiscal 2003.

* Making application reductions of 50 percent by fiscal 2004.

* Developing a reporting process by July 1 using baseline assessments to track the progress toward those application reductions.

* Mandating participation in the Army's Business Initiatives Council.

"We're bugging the chief's office," Cuviello told Federal Computer Week, adding that he hopes approval will be coming "imminently."

William Dates, deputy principal director for enterprise integration in the Army's CIO office, echoed those sentiments and said the service had already drafted implementation plans that were being shared across the Army in anticipation of the guidance's approval.

The Army's original five knowledge management goals were issued in August 2001, Dates said, and the service has made progress in all of those areas, which are:

* Governance and cultural change.

* Knowledge management through best business practices.

* Enterprise management.

* Establishing the Army Knowledge Online portal.

* Increasing workforce.

Dates said in addition to cultural, financial and other obstacles, the Army also faces technological challenges as part of its evolving AKM strategy and transformation, including securing wireless technologies, managing the enterprise information technology infrastructure; collecting, mining and fusing information; managing bandwidth and storage; and establishing Web-based e-mail across the enterprise.

Army IT Day was sponsored by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association's Northern Virginia chapter and the Signal Corps Regimental Association's Washington, D.C.-Albert J. Myer chapter.