ITAM moves to Bldg. 469, highlights ITECs Published June 14, 2013 72nd ABW Communications Directorate TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- The 72nd Air Base Wing Communications Directorate's Information Technology Asset Management group has moved into new quarters in the southeastern "dogleg" corner of Bldg. 469. Previously they were in Bldg. 510. Bldg. 469 now houses the IT warehouse and the offices of six ITAM employees: IT Analysts Brenda Williams, Mike Marks and Candy McDonald; the Base Equipment Control Officer, Tanya Whitfield; the alternate BECO/Warehouse Manager, Greg Lewis; and the Chief of Asset Management, Kim Harris. ITAM, formerly known as Automated Data Processing Equipment, keeps track of the tens of thousands of government-owned computers, telephones and other electronic devices used at Tinker Air Force Base. As the number of organizations on base grows, so does the number of ITAM accounts and asset inventory of those accounts. Tinker has 778 primary and alternate Information Technology Equipment Custodians who manage 609 ITAM accounts that encompass 76,708 assets valued at $72.7 million. Those assets include computers and monitors, external hard drives and printers, electronic tablets and Voice over Internet Protocol telephones. ITECs are military and civilian employees and contractors who "work in many career fields," Ms. McDonald said. They perform their ITEC duties in addition to their regular daily responsibilities." For example, many in maintenance are project managers and engineers. ITECs order IT equipment for their particular organizations, and perform annual inventories in accordance with an Air Force Instruction which dictates that all Information Technology hardware assets must be inventoried once a year. If assets are missing and not recovered after a diligent search, the owning organization is responsible for initiating a Report of Survey to investigate what happened to the missing asset(s) and determine liability. ITECs also ensure that an ID label is affixed to each asset assigned to the owning organization. The label contains multiple pieces of information, such as the item's serial number, part number and manufacturer's number. If the label becomes damaged, faded or illegible, the ITEC can get a replacement label from the alternate BECO and attach it to the equipment. An ITEC may have just one ITAM account or might have several. "Sometimes there are as many as 400 to 500 items on one account," Ms. Harris said. The items on the account may be in one central location or in several buildings across the base, requiring ITECs to travel to physically inventory each asset. Anyone designated as an ITAM account equipment custodian must undergo a two-hour basic training course, Ms. Harris related. Afterward, a short on-line refresher course is compulsory each year. As you might suspect, keeping tabs on all that equipment is a never-ending challenge. Periodically, primaries or alternates retire or change duty stations, and forget to have their name removed from the ITAM account. When that occurs, responsibility for the assets assigned to that particular ITEC's account reverts to the organization where those assets are located, Ms. Harris said. To recognize the extra effort Tinker ITECs put in on a daily basis, more often than not in addition to their regular duties, the ITAM Office is recognizing a primary or alternate ITEC every month with an article in the TTO entitled "ITEC of the Month." The ITEC being highlighted will have his or her photo included with the article and receive a certificate from the ITAM office for a job well done.