JANUARY 29, 2019, Fort Belvoir, VA – Contrary to popular belief, Army Knowledge Online (AKO) is NOT going away — it is modernizing and upgrading, with new and improved features to accommodate today’s Army.
The new AKO, called AKO 2.0, offers a more mobile-friendly and contemporary look and feel, modern navigation, the first-ever Army Directory linking users to Army organizations and a home page that presents information specific to military personnel, DOD civilians and contractors.
Aside from a new look, AKO 2.0 will have a robust and improved search functionality coupled with a responsive design to match the device a user is on, including mobile devices.
“In the world of Army information technology, we are constantly modernizing and updating our platforms to provide cutting edge web-based services to our Soldiers, the Army workforce and the extended Army Community, anytime from anywhere.” said Tom Neff, the project director for Enterprise Services, the project office that oversees the new AKO implementation.
Additionally, AKO 2.0 will allow soldiers and commands the ability to conduct all their Army business, both personal and organizational, including access to medical records, training records, education records, etc.
“While AKO 2.0 might seem very different at first sight, the Army has always used AKO to support its Soldiers, civilians and contractors with an enterprise portal with capabilities and functionality,” said Sarah Bearden, the product lead for Enterprise Content Collaboration and Messaging (EC2M). “That hasn’t changed. But now we’re adding customized content relevant to individual users, Army training videos, and the ability to securely store and easily share files across the Army.”
EC2M is the product office charged with implementing AKO 2.0.
AKO 2.0 will deliver “the right user experience” based on if the user is military, contractor or civilian providing content that’s relevant to the right user at the right time.
Communities will be an important part of AKO 2.0 and CIO/G-6 intends all Army units and organizations to have a presence on AKO 2.0 to facilitate and encourage collaboration online. To begin building your organization’s presence on AKO 2.0, please assign an AKO community point of contact and email that information to: usarmy.belvoir.peo-eis.mbx.ako-communities@mail.mil. Be on the lookout for future announcements regarding community training sessions; these announcements will be shared on the AKO portal and via social media.
Current users take note! AKO 1.0 known as AKO Classic, will sunset in early 2019 and the full functionality of the Classic portal will no longer be available. Individuals and groups are encouraged to move all of their existing files from AKO Classic to the AKO 2.0 portal as soon as possible. Individual file storage limit has been capped at 500 megabytes; however, no limit has been placed on organizational files at this time.
Interested in learning more? EC2M will host the next Communities Virtual Town Hall Jan. 30 from 2-3 p.m. EST on Defense Collaboration Services (DCS). The theme, “Getting Started with AKO 2.0 Communities” will focus on how to transfer and build a community page in AKO 2.0 and feature a live question and answer session with the technical experts using the DCS chat box.
Should you have any questions about AKO Communities or the event in general, please email usarmy.belvoir.peo-eis.mbx.ako-communities@mail.mil.
For additional training resources, please visit the AKO 2.0 Training Page.
By Devorah Goldburg