Building our photo album for the UEI

UEI

UEI

COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --

The Unit Effectiveness Inspection is a different kind of inspection. The four Major Graded Areas make that fairly clear, but there’s another fundamental difference.

For example, a small IG team may no-notice a wing’s Operational Readiness Exercise, inspecting the wing’s ability to plan, exercise, evaluate and report on their own mission execution. This essentially takes a snapshot of a base’s readiness.

The UEI is more of a photo album than a snapshot. It is designed as an inspection that can’t be “prepped” for. It’s an inspection focused on helping a commander see where the blind spots are in his own inspection program. Inspection readiness is aligned with mission readiness so commanders can focus on the right target.

The Continual Evaluation phase of the next two-year UEI cycle begins after the report from the last UEI is signed. During this phase, Major Command inspector generals, Functional Area Managers, wing commanders and IGs will work together to understand the unit’s performance, using Commander’s Inspection Program results, Management Internal Control Toolset data and IG visits to inspect mission execution.

The UEI Survey, sent by the MAJCOM IG to all members of the inspected unit, is received three to four months prior to the IG’s on-site visit at the end of the two-year cycle. The survey will gather candid, anonymous data from unit Airmen on their beliefs, opinions, perceptions and feelings related to the four MGAs. Our UEI survey window closed on Dec. 2.

The large blue box shows the MAJCOM IG’s on-site visit, the capstone of the UEI and catalyst for a final report. 

The first part of the week will be spent conducting Airmen-to-IG Sessions with groups and individuals. Just as pilots dial up a frequency called ATIS before they takeoff or land to learn about the operating environment, the MAJCOM IG will dial into Airmen through ATIS groups and interviews to better understand the important issues in the unit and identify areas of improvement.

The last part of the MAJCOM IG’s on-site inspection will be spent doing traditional IG activities like audits, observation, and task evaluations which are all part of a sampling strategy to validate and verify the wing’s CCIP and complete the IG’s data capture for a UEI grade and report.

Our MAJCOM IG will be conducting the on-site capstone inspection Jan. 23-30, 2017. However, Air Education and Training Command has been reviewing our “photo album” continuously. While we need to always present our best efforts, there is no need to fret. The preparations will have already been done and mostly focused on merely facilitating their inspection activities.