Army to preview new talent acquisition solution

FORT BELVOIR, Va. – The U.S. Army has begun previewing its 21st century talent acquisition solution, the Accessions Information Environment (AIE), to select users from the active-duty Army, Army National Guard and Army Reserve. The Army’s cloud-based, commercial off-the-shelf AIE solution is designed to replace 11 outdated legacy systems and to modernize the Army’s recruitment and accessions business processes to ensure the service’s manning needs are met. 

During the first two weeks of October, select recruiters from Army installations nationwide are receiving training on and test-driving specific features of the system — specifically its ability to manage leads, prospecting and interviews. These initial users will provide feedback that will inform future versions of the software. The AIE preview will scale over the next year, culminating in the initial release of Enlisted Soldier recruiting functionality in Fall 2024. Ultimately, the system will significantly streamline the recruiting process and enable recruits to receive and sign offers on the spot. 

The U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) and U.S. Army Program Executive Office Enterprise Information Systems’ (PEO EIS) Army Human Resource Systems (AHRS) product office oversee the AIE program. The AIE team is collaborating with 31 interface partners, a solution provider and other support agencies, including the Army Test and Evaluation Center and the Joint Interoperability Test Command, to develop and deliver capability. 

“We are very excited to preview AIE to a small group of recruiters,” said Rick Ayer, functional lead for AIE at TRADOC. “They are now able to log in from their existing computers to move through the first three steps in recruiting an enlisted Soldier. We’re getting valuable feedback from those recruiters who are helping to shape their future system.” 

As part of the Army acquisition community’s digital transformation, PEO EIS recently restructured the AIE program from a “waterfall” software development process to an Agile development methodology. 

“Our pivot to Agile has given us momentum and enabled great progress in the last six months,” said John Crone, product director for AHRS at PEO EIS. “Moving forward, we will incorporate user feedback and build on solution fielding in an iterative process, delivering capability to users on a quarterly basis.” 

The AIE solution will replace the 25-year-old Army Recruiting Information Support System and other aging systems supporting accessions. AIE will deliver the Accessions Enterprise the Army needs to field an all-volunteer force given evolving threats and environments.