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The 86th Airlift Wing’s intranet and content delivery system will have a new look and feel when the base converts from SharePoint 2007 to SharePoint 2010 starting the end of October.
The changes will impact the system used for everything from handling staff summary packages needing wing commander coordination to storing unit data and records.
Maj. Aaron Banks, 86th Communications Squadron deputy commander, said the new upgrade will improve functionality, enhance customization and give a distinct look and feel for a better user experience than the previous version.
“The new SharePoint 2010 will allow site owners to target information to individuals or groups, allow for Web page customization to meet specific unit needs and improve project management,” Banks said. “There will also be community features that allow people to post and view information about their colleagues, to include photos, biographies, job information, as well as detect their presence to communicate … similar to what people do on Facebook.”
The migration begins in full Oct. 25, starting with the migration of the 86th Operations, 86th Maintenance and 86th Civil Engineer groups’ sites.
Banks said the migration will occur after normal duty hours and will cause the sites to be locked down to read-only until the migration is complete.
“Users will be able to read information on the current version of SharePoint, but they will not be able to make any changes to the site,” he said. “Users will continue to have normal access, just not the ability to make alterations to the site or content.”
Maj. Steven Chetelat, U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa directorate of communications knowledge operations branch chief, said the migration is required to consolidate USAFE-AFAFRICA’s
multiple networks onto the Air Force’s central network known as Air Force Network, or AFNet.
“The upgrade is driven by the fact SharePoint 2007 is becoming increasingly difficult to support from a technical and security standpoint,” Chetelat said.
While the final leg of the project for the wing is about to start, the actual planning and development for implementation began much earlier and encompasses the entire command.
“We’ve done a lot of planning to carry out the migration and upgrades. All of the command’s SharePoint is hosted at Ramstein, and the migration is by site not by user,” Chetelat said. “The changes will mean
when the 86th Mission Support Group undergoes the upgrade, all visitors to the new site will experience it in SharePoint 2010.”
The migration for the wing is scheduled to conclude at the end of November. If users encounter problems, they should contact the Enterprise service desk at 480-4357.
Additionally, the 86th CS has Share-Point 2010 training available for Ramstein users. To sign up for training, call 480-0984.
