Volume 2005, Issue 3
October 13, 2005

Headquarters Happenings

IIa Wins $1.2M Open Source Contract

The Armed Forces Medical Intelligence Center has awarded IIa a five-year, $1.2 million contract for open source intelligence work.  In the first contract year, IIa will produce 24 country studies of baseline medical capabilities and infrastructure.  According to Pat Powell, Senior Vice President, “This award underscores our customer's satisfaction with the level of open source intelligence we have been providing in the Defense area."

The first study will focus on Italy, which will host the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, followed by U.S. border countries Canada and Mexico.  According to June Crowe, principal researcher, "The issues of security, emergency/disaster preparedness, and border health concerns will be among those addressed in these studies.” 

This new contract is in addition to IIa’s current project to develop an information retrieval system for AFMIC analysts.  The database-drive system will provide analysts with flexibility in retrieving information across the more than 60 country studies IIa has produced since 1997, including Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, and the Russian Federation.  The new system will also house studies created under IIa’s new contract.

Intranet Survey—What You Told Us

Over the summer, Daniel Redmon, a student at the University of Tennessee School of Information Science, performed his practicum experience at IIa, doing some preliminary work on a corporate intranet. Many of you responded to the survey he conducted in June to gather baseline information.

In August, Daniel presented the survey results to the Executive Committee. Following are some of the highlights.

Who responded? 64% (122) of employees responded to the survey. Of those who responded, 77% (roughly half of the company) have used an intranet.

The existing “intranet”: 82% of you who responded say that you use our www2.iiaweb.com site monthly at best, although 11% of you use it at least weekly. Forms are the primary reason most folks said they use the site. Several noted that navigation was tricky, so some steps have been taken to try and simplify the page.

Most requested item: Of the possible items that we could have on our intranet, the most requested are (1) an Employee Directory that users can search and browse; (2) work-related discussion boards for information sharing; and (3) site-specific and corporate calendars.

IIa newsletter: 90% of those who responded say that they do read the newsletter. A few of you would like to have company news delivered more frequently. We asked you what types of stories you like in the news-letter. Overwhelmingly, you said you want to know about the different projects we have and the staff who are working at them. You also want to know more about the folks who work for IIa and what the company is doing corporately. Watch as we begin to implement your suggestions in coming issues of the newsletter.

We will keep you up-to-date as we continue down our path creating an intranet for IIa. By the way, Daniel graduated from the UT program in August and has now joined IIa’s library team at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as an information scientist.

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At IIa, We Value...

Our corporate values campaign is in full swing. At the end of September, nearly three quarters of our employees had been recognized by their colleagues as exemplifying excellence, community spirit, or both. IIa President Bonnie Carroll was pleased with employee participation in the early months of the campaign, stating “I applaud all of you who participated and who were recognized!  Let's keeping building on our commitment to our corporate values!”

During August, we considered excellence. When Bonnie rolled out the campaign, she asked us to think about which of our peers really makes us think of excellence.  Who is it that we can count on to do what we ask of them to the absolute best of their ability, every time?  By the end of September, 81 employees had been recognized by colleagues for these traits. We anticipate more will be recognized for their excellence in the coming months as we all continue to consider this value.

In September, with all the devastation of the hurricanes in the Gulf, we took up our community value. Corporately, employees joined together to donate $5,000 for hurricane relief. Many made individual contributions of money and time to the Red Cross, Salvation Army, and other faith-based organizations. When Bonnie asked us to recognize our colleagues who are actively involved with, and give back to, their communities, she was talking about a whole lot of IIa folks.  Sixty-three percent of our employees were recognized for community spirit, either from peer recognitions, or by participating in the hurricane relief effort, or both. As the winter holiday season rolls around, our communities will continue to call on us. Be sure to continue to recognize those you work with who answer those calls.

In October, we are considering teamwork and team spirit. We are asked to think about the individuals who demonstrate that they are team players...who really put forth team spirit. Who works to be sure team communication is clear and that everyone understands what is being said? Who is the team nurturer? Who stands ready to pitch in to provide that extra bit of help you need at the last minute? That’s who we’ll be hearing about in October.

In the coming months, we’ll address the remainder of our 12 values (balance, communication, customers, empowerment, innovation, integrity, lifelong learning, right people in the right jobs, and teamwork).

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