Posted on May 2, 2014
Enterprise Email? Sorry, I don't have my own personal S-6 at home!
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AKO was hard enough, but now Enterprise Email is getting more and more convoluted. I was never trained to understand SSLs and Certificates and whatever other computer wizardry is required to check my email at home. Increasingly we are expecting SMs of all levels to access their official Army email at home but there is no official apparatus to ensure SMs have the ability to do all this technical mumbo-jumbo. I know I am just a dumb LT, and GOD BLESS Michael J. Danberry at militarycac.com. But is this wrong? Are we expecting too much of people? The military has made it SO difficult to do the simplest but most necessary of tasks in the 21st century - check email!
What can the Army do to actually empower this activity rather than make it more and more difficult?
Was this requirement written entirely by generals who have Gov computers, Outlook and their own personal S-6? Were the creators of this mandate truly so out of touch to realize that there are company-size elements out there with only one computer to their name?
What are the solutions? DO they know how hard it is to be a dumb LT who can't figure out how to configure his (or her) own computer to do this at home?
Can you sense my frustration!?
What are your thoughts, please tell me I am not alone in being so angry at this!
What can the Army do to actually empower this activity rather than make it more and more difficult?
Was this requirement written entirely by generals who have Gov computers, Outlook and their own personal S-6? Were the creators of this mandate truly so out of touch to realize that there are company-size elements out there with only one computer to their name?
What are the solutions? DO they know how hard it is to be a dumb LT who can't figure out how to configure his (or her) own computer to do this at home?
Can you sense my frustration!?
What are your thoughts, please tell me I am not alone in being so angry at this!
Posted 12 y ago
Responses: 18
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LT,
Don't feel bad I have been a S6 for over a decade now I have several problems with the OWA. Merging all of the CONUS servers was a great idea but merging it with AKO was horrible. This is what happens when the people making the decisions haven't been on the line in 40 years.
Don't feel bad I have been a S6 for over a decade now I have several problems with the OWA. Merging all of the CONUS servers was a great idea but merging it with AKO was horrible. This is what happens when the people making the decisions haven't been on the line in 40 years.
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COL Vincent Stoneking
And when I logged into OWA this morning, I got a static banner telling me "for best results go to new server link!"
I get that they have to balance load and all that. Common enough. But I have NEVER had a work or other civilian IT system require me to make manual adjustments because of server moves.
WTF.... Have they never heard of a redirect?
bangs head against wall.
Yes, it was a simple, 30 second fix, but it is indicative of people in power just not understanding.
I get that they have to balance load and all that. Common enough. But I have NEVER had a work or other civilian IT system require me to make manual adjustments because of server moves.
WTF.... Have they never heard of a redirect?
bangs head against wall.
Yes, it was a simple, 30 second fix, but it is indicative of people in power just not understanding.
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CPT (Join to see)
Sir, simply put, I don't know many, if any that use an out of the box solution for the number of users that we have. Please remember, the end goal is to have every member of DoD using this system and that it will likely have well over a million accounts/personas. One person can, in theory have 3 separate personas. The inconvenience of having to go to a different server is more because of Microsoft. Microsoft tailors quite a bit of stuff just for the government. The government may be able to modify it in the web coding, but there is no guarantee it will hold when the backend is upgraded.
There are still multiple servers, at different locations. Usually, it will pick the best server at the site on its own, but you still have to know with location to access, which is based on where you are stationed.
Of all of the things that we use, e-mail is about the least frustrating. I do wish we could use stock iPhone and Samsung Knox devices to access our account, as well as use Outlook on our personal computer. Again, I understand the security implications, but you can force the pst to be encrypted. Also, what would stop me from copying the pst from my work computer to a disc and to my personal computer. That is what we actually recommend to people to clean up their EE mailbox.
There are still multiple servers, at different locations. Usually, it will pick the best server at the site on its own, but you still have to know with location to access, which is based on where you are stationed.
Of all of the things that we use, e-mail is about the least frustrating. I do wish we could use stock iPhone and Samsung Knox devices to access our account, as well as use Outlook on our personal computer. Again, I understand the security implications, but you can force the pst to be encrypted. Also, what would stop me from copying the pst from my work computer to a disc and to my personal computer. That is what we actually recommend to people to clean up their EE mailbox.
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MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca
40 years, that's about how long it took for DoD and DoA to approve the specs, award the contracts, alpha test, beta test, demo and get that lovely system out into SMs hands, so you're right on target and tracking MAJ Telesco. :-)
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CPT (Join to see)
EE (and its OWA) are not merged with AKO in any way. EE is a service the Army is purchasing from DISA.
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I completely agree. I was working at the NEC here at JBLM in the Customer management branch when they had us make the transition, VERY tedious and tiring. Imo, and as you stated, AKO was just fine. If it isn't broke don't fix it... Common sense seems to be lacking in more than one area lately. The only semi positive thing that we were able to do was give users fair warning to back up whatever they didn't want to lose. Which is still kind of redundant as when you retire you have to do the SAME time consuming thing in reverse, as you transition right back over into an AKO Retiree account.
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Someone please explain to me the reason why I cannot write a rule in Outlook to automatically fwd my email to my civilian account? Don't tell me it's for security reasons because I can fwd them individually anytime I want.
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MAJ Bryan Zeski
The reason for the lack of auto-forward is accountability and security. If you autoforward everything, there is the chance to claim ignorance if something that shouldn't be autoforwaded is. If you have to individually forward things, you have to make a conscious choice to send it - and can be held accountable for it. I've seen situations where someone had a classified spillage and I felt the trouble it caused just within the garrison network for weeks. I can only imagine the trouble that would have erupted if any of that had been autoforwarded to a commercial civilian account. *shudder*
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SGT William Brooks
There's sensitive PII and non-sensitive PII. Your name alone is not sensitive PII. It isn't sufficiently specific to the extent that you can be traced. There are tons of John Smiths out there but only one that is connected to a specific SSN.
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SSG Robert Burns
SGT Brooks, I'd agree with you but we'd both be wrong. Your name is sensitive PII. These are examples of nonsensitive PII. Office location;
Business telephone number;
Business email address;
Badge number; and
Other information that is releasable to the public.
Here is the reference for you. PII is defined in DoD 5400.11-R, Department of Defense Privacy Program, May 14, 2007 and here is a website for you. http://www.doncio.navy.mil/ContentView.aspx?id=2428
Business telephone number;
Business email address;
Badge number; and
Other information that is releasable to the public.
Here is the reference for you. PII is defined in DoD 5400.11-R, Department of Defense Privacy Program, May 14, 2007 and here is a website for you. http://www.doncio.navy.mil/ContentView.aspx?id=2428
Department of Navy Chief Information Officer - Resources: What is Personally Identifiable...
The following information is provided to help you better understand what constitutes personally identifiable information (PII). It also attempts to explain what PII elements are considered "sensitive" and "non-sensitive" and the roll these categories play when reporting a loss or compromise of PII (i.e., a breach) or determining when a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) is required for an information technology system.
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Here's hoping you don't have a Mac. It took me about eight hours and a fight with my fiance to get mine set up.
The fight was due to my frustration in setting it up making us miss our dinner plans.
The fight was due to my frustration in setting it up making us miss our dinner plans.
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CW3 Michael Danberry
LTC Stoneking, until the Army Publishing Directorate understands that Soldiers are purchasing Macs and not as many PCs, the problem will exist with signing forms. I've virtually given up on them. They are so stuck in the past, it is hard to believe. They still want everyone to be using Windows XP, They might have finally migrated to Vista. Their forms site link from AKO still says the Army just migrated to Vista.
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LTC (Join to see)
LTC Stoneking- I've run into the same issue with signing forms on a Mac. I have found that the google chrome web browser is the best to use with for accessing EE on mine Sir. Safari would tend to lock up, but chrome works every time, at least with the Thursby software I purchased. Thanks Sir!
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CW2 James Krych
All, here is a background story about being able to sign forms. I am strictly a Linux user and my household, except for a physical server and VM's, is also Linux. While I was on active duty with the 218th MEB of the SCARNG for the CCMRF 10.2 mission, I spoke on the phone with a couple of IBM engineers regarding them getting Lotus Forms Reader to digitally sign using Linux. After all, IBM is a big proponent of Linux. The tools are all there: cackey or coolkey and the various smart card utilities such as pcsc-tools, etc. Sad to say, IBM at the time said not enough people were using Linux and would not get their software to work with Linux and digitally signing.
There is a project at Forge.mil that is dealing with an open source implementation of XFDL files and digitally signing them. As more and more soldiers are using Mac's and Linux distro's it really is time. In fact, The Air Force Labs has the EXCELLENT live-CD called Lightweight Portable Security that has using the smart card right out of the box! It would be a great basis for the military's own Linux distro!
And don't even get me started with Vista and the myriad issues we had with it.
There is a project at Forge.mil that is dealing with an open source implementation of XFDL files and digitally signing them. As more and more soldiers are using Mac's and Linux distro's it really is time. In fact, The Air Force Labs has the EXCELLENT live-CD called Lightweight Portable Security that has using the smart card right out of the box! It would be a great basis for the military's own Linux distro!
And don't even get me started with Vista and the myriad issues we had with it.
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CH (CPT) (Join to see)
See my point? In essence its a failure of leadership. At the highest levels we are getting two messages: push as much training to the living room couch (or the ed center) as possible and Net Security is a priority in the future, limit all access! There is a major gap between those two initiatives and it is being foisted down on the team leader to be the one to "execute." This was a big problem for me in my last days as a team leader. At least now I am only responsible for myself. But truth be told I just dont have the time or ability to become effective at this as well. If they want this from us, they need to train us on how to succeed.
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MSG (Join to see)
Call your friendly S6 or download the certificates......... Just saying...... I do not come and hook up your internet in your home but at work you expect me to.... I am glad to help at most anytime..... But just because it has power to it doesn't make it safe to call "COMMO"!!!!!!!!! sometimes you have to learn....... have you updated your computer? Microsoft pushes many patches that will update on your computer or you can go to your cmd and type in gpupdate /force. if you need any help.... call me in Afghanistan......
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SSG (Join to see)
I agree with you SFC, I have been in the Army 8 years and when I have an issue there is always a friendly S-6 guy that can hook you up, or at least will give you the directions and show you what you need to do. Besides, you call AKO enterprise and they walk you through the process while on the phone. Do not get me wrong, the Army does not make thing easy, but is the Army, and they are not setting you up for failure. If you do not know, you just need to ask.
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It took me and my S-6 NCOIC about 3 hours to properly set up Enterprise Email and that gosh-darn Lotus Form Viewer on my personal laptop. I think we set it up by accident or something. You are not alone in your frustration.
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Potential solution: http://www.spi.dod.mil/lipose.htm
An organization could customize the distribution to meet their requirements and issue it on CD or USB.
The real solution is to provide the equipment to the soldier, and train him on its operation.
My command issues laptops to almost all members, and Blackberries to most of our AGR force. It works pretty well for us.
An organization could customize the distribution to meet their requirements and issue it on CD or USB.
The real solution is to provide the equipment to the soldier, and train him on its operation.
My command issues laptops to almost all members, and Blackberries to most of our AGR force. It works pretty well for us.
Software Protection Initiative - Lightweight Portable Security
The Threat Investment Areas SPI Successes SPI Brochure Encryption Wizard Lightweight Portable Security RE Training Course RE Workshop Product Datasheets
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CW3 Michael Danberry
1SG Rosario, I've heard of more and more issues lately with these numbered servers. I helped a Soldier in Kansas the other night, we ended up creating a new user profile on his Windows 8 Pro tablet.
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1SG Ariel Rosario
Thanks Chief...still no joy, I'm not able to create another profile on the computer I'm on because it belongs to my employer but I'm down to one out of two computers at home were I can access my Enterprise Email. Good work on Militarycac.com! Very useful!
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CPT (Join to see)
CW3 Michael Danberry thanks for MilitayrCac.com. It pretty much better than any other resource out there for AKO; which speaks volumes about AKO.
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CW3 Michael Danberry
Thanks LT Morris, The only issue I have with AKO is if you can't login to it, how are you going to get to the CAC assistance. :)
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Does anyone have an ancient hieroglyph or an angel feather? I am trying to reset my GOARMYED password and coming up short.
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"Your suspense date between drill weekends to CAC sign this is..." But due to PII and Enterprise, your technology issues at home thwart your best efforts. Right?
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