FORT JACKSON, S.C. (Jan. 15, 2015) -- If you work on Fort Jackson, your computer desktops are about to get a lot more attractive.
Fort Jackson is in the early stage of upgrading Microsoft Office for more than 5,000 users on post. Although the official kickoff date for the software migration is Monday, the post's Network Enterprise Center has already targeted a handful of offices on post for trial runs.
The process involves updating Microsoft Office to the 2013 edition, which includes more recent versions of programs such as Microsoft Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Excel and OneNote. The version currently in use on the installation is the 2007 edition.
"We've already started (moving data) for the classrooms," said Lashanda Howard, NEC Customer Management Branch chief. "We did a pilot program in December, but the actual rollout begins Jan. 19 and runs until April 15. The Army is expecting us to be fully (compliant) by July 15."
The software migration is a joint effort between the Army, Air Force and Defense Information Systems Agency, which provides communications support to federal agencies. The Joint Enterprise Licensing Agreement lasts for three years and provides the three participating organizations with access to the latest Microsoft technology.
It's an easy task, but one made challenging by the number of users involved and the sheer bulk of data that has to be transferred, Howard said. She said computer users can help make the transition smoother.
"Reducing your mailbox is the most important part of the process prior to conducting the installation," Howard said. "We have data on the server for Outlook, and it's maintained in Montgomery, Alabama. That amount of data could be eight gigabytes of information, and it takes time to download."
Ordinarily, archived information is cached daily as data accumulates, but the software update requires all of this information to be moved at once. Users are required to reduce their mailbox storage to 50MB or less, or to fewer than 2,000 items prior to the upgrade.
Depending on how much is backed up to the storage cloud, it could take between six and eight hours per user to retrieve this information if it is not trimmed in advance.
Howard said you don't necessarily have to delete older information from Outlook to expedite the process.
"We're asking users to make sure their mailboxes are down prior to the timeline in which they're going to migrate," Howard said. "If you're supposed to migrate on Jan. 19, by then you need to go into your mailbox and move or delete everything in your inbox so that, once the migration is over, you're not waiting for that information to download.
"Just move it to a personal folder," she said. "You can keep it, just move it to a personal folder that's maintained on your C drive."
The NEC has already begun deploying this software to users, she said, so people can get experience in advance with its newer elements. Although many of the changes are superficial -- Outlook 2013 has an icon-based interface -- there are also new features available on the software, she said. Regular features might no longer be located where users are accustomed to finding them.
"The information management officers are going to be engaging with each customer at the unit level, or the users will have an option to go in and run the advertised program on their PC," Howard said. "Some users have the ability to go in and install the program, so that we have instructions, checklists, in order to get all of Fort Jackson on that system."
There are also a variety of PDF documents on the installation's shared drive that illustrate how the software is used. Each brigade has a point of contact assigned for their unit to answer questions about the migration.
"I've had it on my machine since November, and I like it," Howard said. "It takes a little while to figure things out, as with any new technology, but it's a great program."
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