Navy medical personnel worldwide use software to collaborate

The employees of the Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) are using collaboration software to help improve the health care they provide to 2.6 million active duty service members, retirees and dependents worldwide.

Vice Adm. Michael Cowan, surgeon general of the Navy and the chief of BUMED, wanted the bureau's senior leaders, who travel frequently, to be able to make decisions no matter where they are, said Navy Lt. Mike Whitecar, head of e-business services for BUMED.

So, the agency decided to use software that would allow bureau leaders to collaborate online. The agency bought eRoom 6.0 software from eRoom Technology Inc., a Cambridge, Mass.-based software developer. The company counts the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Energy Department, the Federal Aviation Administration and the State Department among its customers. Now, BUMED operates 15 different collaboration Web sites and more than 500 employees use the software.

One of the largest sites is CIO Today, which debuted in January and is used by 80 BUMED chief information officers worldwide. In the past, the CIOs met just one time a year at a conference and collaborated on common issues and problems in an informal manner, Whitecar said. Now, the CIOs gather online daily and work through budget strategies and other issues. And, senior and junior officers can meet online for mentoring purposes.

Knowledge that used to be locked in officers' heads is now held within the Web site, and officers anywhere can search the knowledge base for solutions to their problems. "This is a first," Whitecar said. "It's a real big step for us."

The CIOs also use the site's online polling feature to make decisions. "This is a major time saver," Whitecar said. All CIOs access a central Web site, which resides behind a firewall. Transmissions are secured by secure sockets layer technology, which encrypts data as it flows back and forth from the server and user.

BUMED also uses the technology to route service members' medical claims through a lengthy approval process. According to Whitecar, this alone is saving BUMED thousands of dollars a week.

Jake Sorofman, senior product marketing manager at eRoom, said the software is designed for project managers and organizations with personnel located in numerous time zones. "The software provides the ability for teams to come together on an ad hoc basis," he said. It also provides a central site for communities of interest and practice, key fixtures for organizations that have embraced knowledge management.