IGNITE ACC to launch at Moody in coming months

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Thomas J. Doscher
  • Air Combat Command Public Affairs
LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. --  In a continuing effort to meet future challenges, Moody will begin integrating with Air Combat Command's recently announced IGNITE ACC initiative.

Envisioned as a springboard toward a new "collaborative culture," IGNITE ACC is a blend of new organizational tools designed to help Airmen with a top-to-bottom change to ACC's organizational philosophy.

"For some, it will be a philosophical change that's enabled by technology," said Brig. Gen. Steven Spano, director of Headquarters ACC's Communications Directorate. "It's really a blending of processes, technology and people, bringing them together to look at problems and challenges and come to better and faster decisions."

General Spano said the goal was to "accelerate the speed of decisions," by giving Airmen tools to better link people with the knowledge they need to complete a task no matter what or where it is in the command.

"What we're trying to do is create a collaborative environment that exposes knowledge, information and experiences to tap talent regardless of where it is in the organization," he said.

For example, a staff organization may be assigned a task that calls for unique experience not resident in one particular part of the staff, but may be found elsewhere across the staff. Rather than re-create the knowledge to formulate a decision or response, the capabilities provided through IGNITE ACC will allow that organization or team to reach out across the command for assistance. A quick search of profiles that capture individual experiences could turn up people with the knowledge and experience that unit needs to complete the mission.

ACC will provide new tools and technology, based in large part on programs and applications Airmen are already familiar with, to make this collaborative culture possible.

One such application, MyplACCe, will allow Airmen to develop a personal Web site where they can post their biography, work experience and picture. It will provide the ability to not only locate and use the work experience of Airmen's peers within ACC, but also view their availability through their Web browser.

"Having a Web site like this could be a great tool in reconnecting with Airmen you've known throughout your career," said Senior Airman Corey Miller, 23rd Civil Engineer Squadron firefighter. "It would also be interesting to be able to talk to other firefighters and see how their stations are set up, as well as what kind of vehicles and equipment they have."

This networking tool will be a valuable asset for Moody Airmen of all career fields when it is implemented before the end of this year.

The changes in both technology and philosophy will not happen overnight, General Spano cautioned, but some elements are already taking hold and being used.

One element of the initiative that is already available to Airmen is a collaboration service called Office Communications Server, or OCS, a tool similar to AOL Instant Messenger.

This program allows Airmen to collaborate using chat, conduct voice or video calls and share desktops with anyone in ACC, along with several major commands that already have federated the capability with ACC.

The program is different from the Air Force Instant Messenger service now provided on Air Force Portal, said Richard Parris, Headquarters ACC Communications Directorate IGNITE ACC action officer.

"OCS provides chat, voice, video, shared desktop and most importantly presence," he said. "It's focused on empowering Airmen, changing culture and enabling knowledge. With Office Communicator, you can start an instant messaging session with a single contact or multiple contacts. After you start a session, you can invite other contacts."

Although OCS is only available to ACC users, it's federated with U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Air Force Materiel Command and Air Force Reserve Command, so ACC OCS users can connect to users in any of those commands.

For more information or assistance, people can contact the 23rd Communications Squadron and client system administrators at (229) 257-2666.

(Information from two separate articles by Staff Sgt. Thomas Doscher was used in this article. Minor information from the 23rd Wing Public Affairs office was also added.)