Streamlining Project Final Version • August 2005

1. 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…

2. Presentation Overview • Why change is needed • The Streamlining Project • Mandate • Process • Vision and working principles • Business Proposals (6) • Streamlining benefits

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. Vision • Operationally-oriented, consolidated user access to the quality-assured information needed to carry out routine forest management tasks

9. 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)

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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 departmentalinternet 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)

14. Information Access Proposal #1 The Forest Information Mall Cont’d • Example of task-sensitive viewing for key aspects of the business:

15. 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 layersfor specific business areas or tasks • Indicate which attribute tables should be used with which layers

16. 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

17. 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

18. Information Access Proposal #3Core Information • There is a set of core spatial informationthat 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. Information Access Proposal #3Core Information Cont’d • Viewers and tools should provide task-sensitive and core information as a start, and allow user customization

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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