Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff, the son of a former NFL scout, knows the importance of having a top-notch scouting department.

He cut his teeth in the league as a scout and knows that successful franchises are built through the draft, in addition to free agency and waivers.

New England, Dimitroff's old team, saw something in quarterback Tom Brady that no other team saw.

Green Bay's Ted Thompson has made a name for himself by trading down in the draft to amass picks and then picking properly scouted and evaluated players.

Bill Polian and Indianapolis have maintained a Super Bowl-caliber roster by winning in the scouting department.

Dimitroff and all of the team's personnel executives, plus the national, regional and area scouts, recently went through an exhaustive scouting seminar.

In an interview with AJC staff writer D. Orlando Ledbetter, Dimitroff answered questions about his vision for the department, its structure and his plans to put the Falcons on top in the NFL.

Q. What were some of the goals and objectives of the recent meeting?

A. We had all of our college scouting staff, our pro scouting staff and myself in what we refer to as scouting seminars. This was the first opportunity to have our entire staff together and discuss our new manual, our new philosophy, so to speak, for the new Atlanta Falcons. We not only discussed policy, but we [also] discussed the manual as it pertains to how we evaluate positions, how we compare a position and the grading scale.

Q. What were some of the sessions like during the seminars?

A. We watched video together as a group. We discussed the players as a group, a total roundtable discussion. Then we had an interactive setup where we were all on our laptops. We have what we call a scouting matrix. Each position has 17 to 20 different criteria that we grade on a 1 to 9 scale.

After we watched a certain player, we'd all get on our laptops and type in our numbers and it would project onto the screen. You were able to see the matrix in front of us.

It precipitated discussions. It was a really good interactive exercise, to make sure that everyone was moving in the right direction and getting on the same page.

Q. Are the scouts back on the road now?

A. They are back on the road right now. All of the scouts were in here. Not only were we working on these seminars, but we had all of the area and regional scouts working on their college schedules, booking their flights, hotel rooms and cross-checking the restrictions from certain schools.

Then we came up with a composite schedule so that our directors and national scouts make sure that we have a good cross-check scouting system set up across the country. We got a lot of work done. There was a lot of policy to discuss, but also scheduling to be accomplished as well.

Q. Who are the new key players in the hierarchy?

A. We have Lionel Vital as our assistant director of player personnel. Lionel is not only going to be involved in the pro personnel side in evaluating some of the key free agents in next year's free agency period, but he'll scout in a national capacity throughout the college ranks. He will be doing some special projects with me on comparatives across the country on the college side.

Les Snead is our director of pro personnel. Les to me is a very well respected individual in scouting. We were very fortunate to have the opportunity to retain him. I was fired up to keep Les in the building because he's had opportunities. Les deals with the pro personnel side, but this year he will be transitioning into being a much bigger player on the college side with a heavier national setup.

Then we have David Caldwell as our director of college scouting. He's in a national scouting capacity. He's in charge of directing, administrating and being the liaison between the college department, myself and coach [Mike] Smith.

Q. Where were the biggest changes to the scouting matrix?

A. Part of the biggest change in any management change or any personnel department change is the grading scale. That's something that this staff is going to have to work hard on getting up to speed. With that said, we have a very intricate computer system set up to help aid in that transition. The grading scale is huge. The terminology has changed drastically. The new staff will have to learn the new Atlanta Falcons vernacular, so to speak. That's not something that is always easy.

Q. Does the regular fan know how important the scouting department is?

A. The scouting department to me is so incredibly important. They rarely get a chance to interact with the players on a regular basis. Sometimes the players don't even know that these guys exist, and yet they are the very reason these players are on our team right now, be it through free agency, the pro side or the college acquisitions.

Our guys are the ones recommending them and basically slamming their fists on the table for certain players. They are incredibly important, but not always seen. We would not be able to survive without an in-depth scouting department.