Altus AFB shuts down base-wide e-mail

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jennifer Seidl
  • 97th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
ALTUS AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  On Oct 1, base-wide e-mail as we know it will become a thing of the past.

Through an Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century process, championed by wing commander Col. Ty Thomas, an innovative alternate way of publishing base-wide information and items of interest is coming on line.

The new system will use the base share point, an intuitive, Microsoft Outlook-based system already in place, to share information to .mil computer users instead of the practice of base-wide e-mails.

"Network-wise, our infrastructure and servers can handle the current email load. Normal users however, will not have their email boxes fill up as quickly and start receiving nasty messages from the servers stating that their mailbox is over its size limit. The new process will make the Altus share point home page the central location for information including office closures, official events, Space-A travel, and information from the medical group, force support squadron, local community Web sites, and links to Altus AFB social media and the base Web site," said Tech. Sgt. Charles Brooks, 97th Communications Squadron and member of the AFSO21 Wing Information Plan team.

"Rather than sending mass emails in the thousands, one message can be created and published to the (share point) site and those who wish to retrieve the information may do so at their convenience," said Sean London, AFSO21 Black-belt and Altus AFB Transformation Manager, describing how the new system using share point and other services instead of base-wide e-mails would be a 'pull' instead of a 'push' system.

Selected personnel on base, representing different groups and functions, will control who has permission to post information on the base share point. Within each group or function, multiple people may have permission to post to that group's section of the share point; it's up to the individual unit.

Other features Altus share point users can expect to see developing are automatically populating calendars and Really Simple Syndication-type feeds that will update users when areas the users select for themselves have new information available. There is also be a feedback link to provide suggestions to the 97th Commander's Action Group.

"The new Wing Information Plan gives personnel more control over their time spent on computers, especially when their primary work environment is outside and sometimes a considerable distance from the computer. It also, unclogs the pipeline of email traffic many employees readily admit they delete without reading due to time," said Stacy Loague, maintenance operations division chief, 97th Maintenance Directorate and part of the AFSO21 Wing Information Plan team.

The base share point site will remain the first thing .mil computer users see when they open the internet; but what about those who do not have access to a .mil computer?

"As always, www.altus.af.mil will be available to the general public, in addition to all social media which can be linked to from the altus.af.mil Web page. If the information is able to be released outside of official channels and is pertinent to the general public outside of the .mil email account holders, expect it to be released via the public Web site," said Major John Wahrmund, Commander's Action Group chief and AFSO21 Wing Information Plan team leader.

The timeline for the new Wing Information Plan is:

September 7 - The initial set of information modules were available live on share point

September 7 to 21 - Selected personnel from groups and functions on base are identified and being to grant permissions and add information to share point

October 1 - Base-wide e-mail use is authorized by the base commander, vice commander, and/or command chief.

So come Oct. 1, you can count on the base share point, base public Web site, and base social media to host the information you want, when you want it.