An enthusiastic team from the Department of the Navy Chief Information Officer (DON CIO) led a variety of learning tracks and sessions regarding information technology issues affecting the Department at the DON Information Management and Information Technology (IM and IT) Conference in Hampton, Va.
Due to its proximity to the Norfolk fleet concentration area, the DON CIO hosted this conference at the same time and location as Transformation TechNet, sponsored by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA).
The DON CIO-led sessions, which began May 8 and concluded May 10, drew attendees primarily from the DON, but also across the Defense, government and contractor communities. Session topics included: the DON IM/IT Workforce, Enterprise Software, Software Asset Management, System Integration Services, Enterprise Architecture, Data Management, Information Assurance, IT Performance Measurement, Knowledge Management, Wireless, Identity Management and the DON IT Umbrella Program of contracts.
The sessions provided an opportunity to share information about the latest DON IM and IT initiatives, policy, and guidance and form partnerships to further the work of the Department. The DON CIO team was joined by subject matter experts from the Naval Network Warfare Command, Naval Postgraduate School, Naval Supply Systems Command, Marine Corps Development Command, U.S. Joint Forces Command, Naval Air Systems Command, Office of Civilian Human Resources and Defense Information Systems Agency.
The series of Data Management tracks was particularly intense. The DON CIO team leader for data management, Bob Green, and Tom Brown, functional namespace coordinator for test and evaluation, facilitated a series of sessions centered on the DON's net-centric data strategy that ensures data are visible, available, understandable, trusted, interoperable and responsive to users' needs.
The DON Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) Transformation Group presented the DON direction for a net-centric, interoperable environment, based on a SOA that ensures Web services are visible, trusted, accessible and usable to accelerate the decision-cycle process throughout the DON warfighter community via Web-centric technology.
The DON CIO enterprise licensing team leader and co-chair and DON representative for the Department of Defense Enterprise Software Initiative (ESI), Floyd Groce, led a series of tracks that discussed Defense Department acquisition models for savings on commercial software and the implementation of a software enterprise management process within the DoD. The ESI leverages the buying power of the DoD to negotiate enterprise agreements for best price products and services.
Linda Greenwade, program manager of the DON IT Umbrella Program, provided an overview of the acquisition strategy guiding the Umbrella program. Greenwade was joined by a panel of acquisition experts including Robert Smith from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense Networks and Information Integration, Michael Hargrove from the General Services Administration SmartBUY program, and Sylvia Johnson from the Naval Inventory Control Point.
The DON CIO knowledge management team leader, Jim Knox, explained the DON strategy to achieve knowledge dominance by creating a knowledge culture and processes to operationalize the sharing of essential information. Other tenets of KM include implementation of a comprehensive standards-based content management strategy and single authoritative data sources across the Department, and effective records management with continuation of the Department-wide implementation of electronic records management.
Knox reminded DON employees that DON membership in the American Productivity and Quality Center allows Department personnel to access the APQC's Web site (http://www.apqc.org) for KM information. The APQC is a research organization specializing in KM metrics, measurement, process improvement, best practices and benchmarking; it also offers access to the Knowledge Sharing Network.
Members of the DON IM/IT workforce had an opportunity to meet with their community manager, Sandra Smith, in a series of sessions. Under discussion were DON IM and IT workforce items and implementation of the National Security Personnel System within the DON.
Three short days just wasn't enough time to present the wealth of information that the DON CIO team had to offer. When you bring together people who are passionate about their work with people eager to learn, it's difficult to contain the flow of enthusiasm and discussion. But why would you want to?
The conference presentations are available on the DON CIO Web site at http://www.doncio.navy.mil/.
The next IM and IT Conference is scheduled for Jan. 30 to Feb. 2, 2007, in San Diego. Check the DON CIO Web site in the upcoming months for more information.