Streamlining Project
Final Version • August 2005
Graham Hawkins, Information Access Team Lead, Marg Shamlock, Business Process Alignment Team Lead
Information Access Team Proposals
Creating a streamlined forest information management model…
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Presentation Overview
Why change is needed
The Streamlining Project
Mandate Process Vision and working principles
Business Proposals (6)
Streamlining benefits
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The Challenge: Why Change?
Information needed by licensees and government for operational planning is often difficult to access
Access is split between corporate and district silos with different access procedures
It is difficult for staff to locate specific data layers Long-standing information quality issues need to be fixed
with clear, practical standards, data clean-up, and robust business procedures
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The Streamlining ProjectMandate
Improve the forest information cycle, from up-front information access for operational plan and appraisal submissions through to free-growing declarations
Realize improvements through
Integrated business processes Improved access to information Consistent, streamlined information requirements that are
well understood
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The Streamlining ProjectPhases
Phase I: Issues identified, resulting in high level recommendations FRPA notification and reporting streamlined
Phase II: Cross-corporate teams developed proposals to improve
business Proposals were reviewed by government and industry, and
revised as needed based on feedback. Phase III:
Communicate business proposals to responsibility centres Responsibility centres develop training, policies, guidelines,
and systems to support changes Cross-corporate Business Integration Group co-ordinates and
supports implementation efforts
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Phase II Team Process
An Information Access (IA) team was formed with representation from:
Operations (district and regional staff) 2 systems branches from MoF and MSRM Corporate input from both ministries
A series of regular IA meetings and reviews were held to address Phase I recommendations
Two surveys formed the basis of a number of the IA team recommendations:
A survey sent to districts asking what types of applications and information district staff and industry need to fulfill their business requirements
A survey sent to C&E staff inquiring about their mapping needs
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Phase II Team Process Cont’d
The Information Access Team proposals are outlined in the slides that follow
These proposals are backed by a more detailed report available from the Streamlining website
The proposals were subject to a province-wide review by government and licensee operational staff
Proposals have been communicated to responsibility centres, and implementation is now underway
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Vision
Operationally-oriented, consolidated user access to the quality-assured information needed to carry out routine forest management tasks
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Working Principles
Information will be shared within government where possible
The focus is on the business - not the systems
Solutions will meet operational needs of districts and all licensees (large and small)
Clarity and integration of the business will enable future systems improvements (transition to full e-business)
Major business processes will be provincially consistent
The comparison of planned, permitted, and actual activity will be possible (C&E, Revenue, Monitoring)
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Information Access Proposal #1 The “Forest Information Mall”
District and licensee staff need:
One-stop access to the information and systems they need to do their jobs
Transparent, scaleable, task-defined access
Access to communities of practice and user forums where knowledge and learning can be shared
One place to find the experts and contacts for questions and feedback
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Information Access Proposal #1 The “Forest Information Mall”
Build a one-stop shopping internet-based access point (the “Forest Information Mall”) for licensee and government staff access to:
Information needed for planning and reporting FRPA Objectives, Resource features, Inventory, etc. Local district information
All relevant MoF and MSRM systems (including viewing tools)
Data and systems access application process Business Information Centre website
Business processes maps; MoF data, systems, and organization info
Policies, legislation, guidelines, standards
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Information Access Proposal #1 The Forest Information Mall Cont’d
One-stop access to (cont’d):
Manuals, checklists, forms, etc. Forestry user forums Government staff expertise directory (“expert locator”) Improved search engine Help and training services Functional user feedback for all aspects of the business
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Information Access Proposal #1 The Forest Information Mall Cont’d
The Forest Information Mall will begin as a single, user-friendly access point to existing websites (e.g. LRDW, BIC website, MoF/MSRM departmental internet sites)
The Mall will link to local data sources where appropriate
Providing access to the information required to support Operational Plan (FSP) development is a priority starting point
The Mall will be organized by task (planning, notification, or reporting)
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Information Access Proposal #1 The Forest Information Mall Cont’d
Example of task-sensitive viewing for key aspects of the business:
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Information Access Proposal #2Consolidated Spatial Information Access
District and licensee staff need consolidated access to spatial information
Current access is split among many corporate and district information silos
All forestry spatial information should be “analysis-ready”
Staff need task-sensitive tools to reduce information overload and find the information they need
Technical staff using the LRDW need tools to:
Tag layers for specific business areas or tasks Indicate which attribute tables should be used with which
layers
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Information Access Proposal #2Consolidated Spatial Information Cont’d
Viewing tools designed for operational staff should have the following attributes:
Task-sensitive views/ user-designed templates User layer and feature control User-friendly mapping tools:
Task oriented menus Smart search capability (e.g. for a tenure or cutblock) Easily printed Editing capability
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Information Access Proposal #2Consolidated Spatial Information Cont’d
Need a more efficient process for loading district data updates into the LRDW
Information for which the district has data stewardship responsibilities
Spatial information should include information on the currency, accuracy, and source of data
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Information Access Proposal #3Core Information
There is a set of core spatial information that is the foundation upon which many different business areas overlay business-specific information
Core information includes biophysical base information and common features
Biophysical base information includes:
Contours Water Roads
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Information Access Proposal #3Core Information Cont’d
Common features include:
Land status and ownership Vegetation resource inventory Imagery Higher level planning information Riparian features
Core information should be:
Consolidated Shared openly Updated regularly
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Information Access Proposal #3Core Information Cont’d
Different and duplicative versions of core information exist.
This must be minimized to ensure there is only one “working copy”
Core information must be in a format (or formats) that enable seamless integration with other core information and with task-sensitive information
Users should be able to customize viewing of core information
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Information Access Proposal #3Core Information Cont’d
Viewers and tools should provide task-sensitive and core information as a start, and allow user customization
Reporting-specific
information
Operational planning-specific
information
Revenue-specific
information
Core I nformation
Common features
e.g. land status and ownership,
vegetation resource inventory,
orthophotos
Biophysical base
e.g. water features, roads, contours
Task-sensitive information
Revenue Operational planning
Reporting
Plan Report
Common features
e.g. land status and ownership,
vegetation resource inventory,
orthophotos
Biophysical base
e.g. water features, roads, contours
Common features
e.g. land status and ownership,
vegetation resource inventory,
orthophotos
Biophysical base
e.g. water features, roads, contours
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Information Access Proposal #4 Streamlined User Access
Currently there are multiple websites and protocols for accessing systems and information
Consolidation of user access is needed
New access protocols should recognize that forestry systems/information users are clients well-known to government
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Information Access Proposal #4 Streamlined User Access Cont’d
Consolidate and simplify access protocols for required data and systems
Consider a single application procedure which grants access to all required data and systems
Systems access and BCeID request form
Name: ___________
Company: __________
Phone: ___________ Email: ____________
Do you have a current BCEID?
Yes: ____________
No
Please choose the application(s) for which you are requesting access from the list below
LRDW
ECAS
FTA
ESF
HBS
RESULTS
SPARSubmit
Help
Why do you require access to this system?
Tenure #: ______________________
Other application-specific questions…
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Information Access Proposal #4 Streamlined User Access Cont’d
Adopt scaleable security access: Access is provided only to those who need it Groups of users gain pre-determined levels of access Avoids cumbersome user agreements for each separate
user
Licensees that provide landbase updates to standard should have no-fee access to landbase information
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Information Access Proposal #5 Data quality
Ensure all forestry information has a clearly articulated custodian
Prioritize and resource data clean-up with business and application specialists
Build data quality assurance, including standards, into systems and procedures to ensure “cleaned” information isn’t subsequently corrupted
Ensure there is an integrated MoF/MSRM data custodianship structure for forest management information to support data quality improvements
Communicate with operational staff about data standards and custodianship roles/responsibilities
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Information Access Proposal #6Activity Notification
Clear, provincially-consistent electronic process to support FRPA notification of harvest and road construction activity has been developed
Activity notification is shared across affected business processes and systems
Notification mechanism should be delivered via Forest Information Mall website
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Benefits
Information and systems needed to meet core business needs will be readily available
Single, task-sensitive access point with simplified access procedures
Consolidated spatial information for planning and reporting Current, standardized, and quality-assured data Systems that better support business requirements Baseline information available for C&E monitoring of FSPs