ARLINGTON, Va. - After more than a decade of use, the website Guard Knowledge Online is getting a face-lift, one the site administrators hope will create a more collaborative work environment in this third version.
Current active GKO account holders can access the new environment now and one of the first changes they may notice is the new graphical user interface, which is similar to many Microsoft Office products.
The upgraded version of GKO also offers users the ability to update their personal profiles and provides a central location to store documents, content, links and personal contacts. It can be used as an extension of the user's desktop or simply a place to store useful information. The user will have the ability to add colleagues and create personal collaboration groups, said Sgt. 1st Class James Nelson, Army National Guard future operations NCO for web services.
Once the entire transition is completed, the expectation is to enhance other user features including upgrades to the public site infrastructure and the addition of a media server to provide streaming media capability.
"Our overarching goal is to provide a collaborative work environment that grows not only with technology but also with the needs of our customer," Nelson said.
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Mark Swiech, ARNG webmaster, stressed users should understand this is a major transition.
"We felt the best option was to do a clean transition from the old GKO," Swiech said. "We have 10 years of accumulated documents of which many have remained stagnated. It was time to clean house."
While the Army and Air Force each host their own portal, both team members said they believe GKO is the only truly "purple" site.
"We have the ability to provide service to anyone who has a .mil or .gov email address," Sweich said. "This means we can provide real time collaboration between the Air and Army Guard, which is a major benefit for our state partners and National Guard Bureau."
A little more than two years ago, the web services administrators decided to move toward an environment more suited for the National Guard and its mission partners. The shift allows users with a common access card to coordinate with anyone around the world such as when states need to coordinate with deployed units provided that unit has Internet access, Nelson said.
The legacy GKO environments will go read-only April 5 and be decommissioned April 19. Users should work closely with their designated Knowledge Management officers or site administrators to move their content prior to the April 5 deadline.