Sos-110-Ol, Living in the Information Age
Dean J. Keveles
SOS-110-OL, Living in the Information Age
Professor John Bradley
02 May 2004
Written Assignment 1 In the last decade, the US Army has incorporated information technology, rapidly, into nearly every facet of daily operations. It is very difficult to limit an essay to approximately 500 words for such a subject of discussion. Information technology has changed the way the Army does business in several areas. Let us discuss just three areas in particular: Personnel, Training, and Operations. On any given day, the Personnel Section of any given unit processes hundreds of transactions using the system known as eMILPO, the acronym for Electronic Military Personnel Operational System. This system handles everything from Soldiers financial transactions to updating their personal data at Department of the Army. The system is on a network controlled by the installation’s Directorate of Information Management (DOIM). Let us say Private Snuffy Smith needs to start an allotment to have money sent directly for a car payment from his paycheck. He only needs to fill out one sheet of paper, submit it to the Personnel Office, and within hours, instead of days or weeks, the transaction goes into effect. No more worries for Private Smith to remember to send in his car payment. It deducts automatically from his paycheck and the finance company receives the payment in the form of a government electronic funds transfer. With the advent of technology, the Noncommissioned Officer Education System (NCOES) and NCO Functional Courses (the First Sergeant Course, Battle Staff NCO Course, Sergeant Major Non-resident Course, etc.) adapted distance-learning methods. These new methods save Army money and allow the training of more NCOs in a shorter period. This keeps more NCOs in the field while training for improved technical and tactical skills. The Army continues to seek better methods in which to train NCOs in comparison to methods used in
SOS-110-OL, Living in the Information Age
Professor John Bradley
02 May 2004
Written Assignment 1 In the last decade, the US Army has incorporated information technology, rapidly, into nearly every facet of daily operations. It is very difficult to limit an essay to approximately 500 words for such a subject of discussion. Information technology has changed the way the Army does business in several areas. Let us discuss just three areas in particular: Personnel, Training, and Operations. On any given day, the Personnel Section of any given unit processes hundreds of transactions using the system known as eMILPO, the acronym for Electronic Military Personnel Operational System. This system handles everything from Soldiers financial transactions to updating their personal data at Department of the Army. The system is on a network controlled by the installation’s Directorate of Information Management (DOIM). Let us say Private Snuffy Smith needs to start an allotment to have money sent directly for a car payment from his paycheck. He only needs to fill out one sheet of paper, submit it to the Personnel Office, and within hours, instead of days or weeks, the transaction goes into effect. No more worries for Private Smith to remember to send in his car payment. It deducts automatically from his paycheck and the finance company receives the payment in the form of a government electronic funds transfer. With the advent of technology, the Noncommissioned Officer Education System (NCOES) and NCO Functional Courses (the First Sergeant Course, Battle Staff NCO Course, Sergeant Major Non-resident Course, etc.) adapted distance-learning methods. These new methods save Army money and allow the training of more NCOs in a shorter period. This keeps more NCOs in the field while training for improved technical and tactical skills. The Army continues to seek better methods in which to train NCOs in comparison to methods used in