Portal opens new lines of collaboration

By STEVE REEVES, Fort Jackson LeaderOctober 1, 2009

FORT JACKSON, S.C. -- Fort Jackson has a new tool that allows the easy sharing of knowledge and information.

That tool, Sharepoint, is just a mouse click away.

"This is not just another shared drive," said Jennifer Phifer, chief knowledge management officer at Fort Jackson. "We have lots of information on post. This makes it as easy as possible for the average user to find what he or she needs easily and in as little time as possible."

Sharepoint can be described as a centrally located information portal. Each agency on post has its own site, for example from Moncrief Army Community Hospital down to individual units in a battalion.

Any post employee with a Common Access Card can request access to Fort Jackson's Sharepoint and access the individual information portals.

Fort Jackson's Sharepoint has its origins in the post's old Intranet site.

"This is something that was already in existence, but on a smaller scale," Phifer said.

That old Intranet site was recently revamped and merged with Training and Doctrine Command's Knowledge Empowerment Portal.

"TRADOC is pushing information from the top down and we're pushing information from the bottom up," Phifer said. "We're doing our best to promote knowledge sharing."

One of the best features of Sharepoint is its ability to let users individually customize how they see and use the information.

"It's very customizable right down to the user level," Phifer said.

Sharepoint will constantly evolve, as it is tweaked and more features, such as blogs for the commanding general and chief of staff are added.

Forums are also planned, as well as "wikis," which are information pages that allow people to share their knowledge about various subjects.

"There are going to be a lot of changes and updates in the future," Phifer said. "It's going to be a very dynamic process."