Washington State Department of Ecology : Information Management Washington State Department of Ecology : Information Management
By
Washington State Department of Ecology
March 4, 1997
EPA One-Stop Grant
Scope of Work
EPA's One Stop Reporting Program is founded on partnering with states and others to facilitate information sharing, public access, geo-spatially linked data, standards, reducing reporting burdens, and streamlining regulatory and tracking processes. This relatively broad focus allows One Stop participants several opportunities to enhance or leverage their current activities to further the EPA goals. Participants in the program are expected to have significant resources invested in the ongoing efforts. Partners are therefore invested in the things One Stop is promoting.
The Washington State Department of Ecology has a significant long-standing investment in a holistic approach to the business of environmental management, and as a result, information management. We all depend on information and we understand that its accuracy and availability is key to our success. As such, we have made significant progress in many of the One Stop focus areas. We still have much to do, and we will be using the One Stop Reporting funds to leverage many activities. These funds will allow us to enhance or accelerate planned activities, and in the case of burden reduction, initiate some actions which were desirable but not yet planned.
The scope should demonstrate three things. The first is that we have a comprehensive high level seven-year plan. The second is that we have a detailed view of our actions over the next 24 months, and finally that there are a number of the actions planned in the 24-month window which are directly funded or assisted by the EPA One Stop Reporting Grant.
The Washington State Department of Ecology began to seriously evaluate the way we conducted our environmental management business in the late 1980s. With offices in multiple locations, the need for better staff coordination, communication and information exchange became very obvious. Plans to consolidate 25 locations into one building began in earnest. These gave rise to the development of the communication network necessary to make information sharing a reality.
In 1992, Ecology completed and adopted our Information Resources Management Strategic Plan. It provided the architectural direction for the agency's data, applications, software, hardware and data communications. It also addressed information services, policies, organization, staffing and funding. The building consolidation/move was completed in 1993. The agency then updated and refined the technology direction provided in the 1992 plan in the 1994 Information Technology Plan.
Parallel to the activities discussed above, the nature of environmental decision making and management was changing. We were having to make many more placed based, multi-media (therefore multi-program) decisions and were finding that access to the required information was problematical. Additionally, the need to track environmental results was apparent and again Ecology was not able to routinely track performance measures. Requests for and expectations about our information were also increasing. Collectively, these drivers urged us to take a serious look at the information links to our business needs and direction in late 1994. This review, which resulted in the Information Strategy Plan (1995) provided a high-level evaluation of our business areas, their inter-dependencies, and the required information-related support.
The Information Strategy Plan is the road map that merges the business needs and drivers with the infrastructure that Ecology had spent years developing. With dedicated agency funding, now in excess of $1,300,000 per year (not including program staff resources), executive management support, a full-time manager, and an implementation plan, Ecology's Information Integration began in earnest.
Ecology's vision for information access is best depicted in Figure 1. The vision relies on having all of Ecology's information readily available to agency staff at their desktops. It has five critical components/requirements:
To answer the questions outlined in the figure requires information that is integrated across media and across functional/program areas and that contains a geographic locator capability. Understandably, building information systems that accomplish these tasks is difficult and complex and is being conducted using a 'divide and conquer' approach. An overview of the plan with tasks, time frames, and major components designed to enable Ecology to realize its information management vision follows.
The Information Strategy Plan (Attachment 1) was developed by identifying the key business areas in the agency, and consolidating information needs for each functional area at a relatively high level. Individual programs were asked for their information needs. These were then compiled into the collective needs for each functional area. The result puts the individual's needs in the context of the agency as a whole. This was beneficial for a number of reasons. It allowed the programmatically focused staff to see that others had legitimate needs for "their" information, and it allowed us to address commonalities across the agency. There were 24 key business areas identified during the analysis.
The business areas were then prioritized in order of agency need (Figure 2), dependencies (Figure 3), and logical progression. Eight of the ten priority business areas have been scheduled or are in the process of being completed.
The remaining 14 business areas may be found in the ISP. The order of their completion will be assessed when the work on the first 8 has been finished (proposed date of July 1999). The ISP details a schedule which spans 5 years; however, when the current level of funding is considered, completion is closer to 7 years.
There are several elements which drive Ecology's implementation efforts. These follow and are not in any particular order:
The Information Integration Project began in earnest in 1994. The following timetable provides a high level view of completed activities, progress and planned areas of focus. Please note the bold items with an asterisk are components of the One Stop Reporting Grant tasks.
January 1995
Began Information Strategy Plan (ISP)
March 1995
Selected Business Area Analysis (BAA) Facility/Site ID (F/S ID)
June 1995
Completed ISP and F/S ID BAA (available at http://www.wa.gov/ecology)
State FY 96/97
July 1995
Project Manager Hired
August 1995
Began F/S ID Design, Prototyping, and Construction
December 1995
Chose Legacy System (Cleanup Sites) to Migrate to F/S ID
January 1996
Information Technology (IT) Executive Steering Committee established as the Ecology IT Policy Setting Body
February 1996
F/S ID System Completed
F/S ID System Enhancements Begin
April 1996
Environmental Information Management (EIM) System BAA Begins
June 1996
Enhancements to F/S ID Completed
Options for Legacy System Data Migration/Bridging - NPDES and Air Permit Systems' Data to F/S ID Evaluated
July 1996
Legacy-Cleanup Sites System Redeveloped and Data Migrated - New System Live
September 1996
Partnership with EPA's One Stop Reporting Program Established*
October 1996
EIM BAA and Prototype Completed (available at http://www.wa.gov/ecology)
Ecology Employee Information BAA Begins
November 1996
EIM System Construction Begins
Obtained EPA's STORET X System to Adapt to Ecology's need Versus Build Unique EIM System
December 1996
Air, NPDES, Hazardous Waste System Data Conversion, Cleaning and Selected Data Migration to F/S ID Begins
January 1997
Begin Information Technology (IT) Organizational Structure and Function Evaluation
Organizational Study Project Manager Assigned
Information Via Internet -Strategy and Technical Architecture Review Begins*
NPDES Permitting Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) Evaluation Begins
February 1997
EPA's STORET X Deployment Strategy and Delivery Dates Change - Ecology Must Develop Unique EIM System
May 1997
Review and Refine the Permit BAA Options, Direction, and Schedule for Next Biennium, and Set Course/Priority
June 1997
Selected Components of EIM Complete
Internet Architecture Implemented*
F/S ID Data Available on the Internet*
Air, NPDES, and Hazardous Waste Data Cleaning and Selected Data Migration to F/S ID Completed*
"Burden Reduction" Hazardous Waste Data Submittal by Regulated Community is Facilitated by Developed Software and Internet*
NPDES Permitting BPR Completed
Ecology Employee System Constructed and Integrated with F/S ID
State FY 98/99
July 1997
Expand/Enhance Internet Capability*
Partner with Washington DNR and Others to Obtain a High-Quality 1:24,000 Scale Geo-spatial Hydro-layer Using National Standards*
Evaluate Permit Tracking and Maintenance Systems Implemented by Other States for Applicability in Washington
August 1997
IT Organizational Structure and Function Evaluation Complete
October 1997
Ecology's EIM Complete with Selected Legacy Data Migrated
December 1997
Complete Migration and Cleaning for all F/S ID Related Data for Partially Migrated Initiated Systems, e.g., Cleanup Sites, Hazardous Waste, Air Permits and NPDES*
Make Permit Application Process and the Ability to Search and Access Environmental Impact Statements Easier and Internet Available*
FS/ID and EIM at Desktop of all Ecology Employees
March 1998
Complete Enhancements to EIM
Complete Second Round of EIM Data Migration*
EIM Data Available on the Internet*
June 1998
Complete Permitting BPR Analyses
December 1998
Permit Tracking/Compliance System Built or an Existing System Modified
June 1999
All Remaining Permit-Related Systems Implemented and Data Migration Completed (Does Not include Water Rights Data)
State FY 2000/2001
Prioritize and Select BAAs to Evaluate and Implement from the following:
Interested Party, Time Management/Accounting, Revenue Generation, Purchasing and Inventory, Policy Development and Planning, Incident Response, Budgeting, Contract Administration, Information Management, Laboratory Analysis, External Reporting and Outreach, Funding, Grant Administration, Human Resource, Management, Program Coordination and Development, and Regulatory Planning and Administration.
1: Participating in EPA's One Stop Reporting Program
1.1: Attend National One Stop Reporting Meetings
Background: State participants are expected to attend the One Stop Reporting Program Meetings as a grant requirement. Meetings are usually held at a national location and therefore attendance requires out-of-state travel.
Purpose: Meetings will be held for coordination, technology transfer, program development and guidance.
Approach: National meetings will be held about three times per year.
Tasks/Schedule:
Task 1.1.1: Attend and participate in national One Stop Reporting Program meetings.
Duration: September 1996 to September 1998.
One Stop Grant Cost: $12,000
2: Burden Reduction--Facilitating/Streamlining Regulatory Reporting and the Permit Process
2.1: Facilitating/Streamlining Regulatory Reporting
Background: Ecology has just completed a pilot for electronically submitting data from hazardous waste generators. Pilot participants and interested companies were pleased with the results and requested that we enhance and expand the use of the pilot software. Requested enhancements included the need to make it available to a much larger audience, and enhance functions to check entered results before the completed annual reports are transmitted to Ecology. Additionally, many companies lack a reporting system and must compile information and generate the annual report at the end of the year. They requested that the system be able to better support companies which lack a system.
Purpose: To develop software which can be distributed to companies which desire to use it, so that they can manage, keep accurate and complete records, and electronically report hazardous waste data to Ecology.
Approach: Ecology will partner with the U.S. Navy Bremerton Shipyard who has developed a system that will be the basis for the system Ecology wants to deploy to the state. The Navy has allowed Ecology to use their developed software as a template. This project will add functionality to the system, thereby making it more robust and desirable to hundreds of Washington companies. The software will be developed using Microsoft Access and Visual Basic for IBM compatible computers running Windows 95/NT. It will be available over the Internet.
Tasks/Schedule:
Task 2.1.1: Amend the Navy's existing electronic file format definitions as necessary, and rework the system for enhanced integrity and efficiency.
Task 2.1.2: Design and add new functionality, on-line help text, document the system's structure to support future maintenance, and fix any bugs found during acceptance testing.
Task 2.1.3: Provide technical installation support to beta testing sites, develop the executable and procedure for user installation.
Task 2.1.4: Fix any bugs identified during the first two months of wide-spread use.
Task 2.1.5: Make software available over the Internet for use in January 1998.
Duration: February 1997 to December 1997
One Stop Grant Costs: $45,000
2.2: Streamlining the Permit Process
Background: Ecology's Permit Assistance Center has developed a checklist that leads a prospective permit applicant through a series of questions and identifies the permits (state and federal) they will likely need for their environmental project. The checklist has been well received by the general public and consultant community. Several have requested that we automate it and make it available in their offices and over the Internet.
Purpose: Develop an interactive query tool for people who are proposing environmental projects which require permits from federal, state, or county agencies. The tool would be available over the Internet, and in participating agency offices.
Approach: A prospective applicant will answer a number of questions which would then direct him/her to the appropriate permit applications, how to obtain them and who to contact if more questions are required to determine the appropriate permits. Some or all of the permits would be available on-line for downloading or viewing. Our goal is to make all federal and state permit applications available in this way, but will depend on participating agency interest.
Tasks/Schedule:
Task 2.2.1: Refine project scope and confirm interested partners at the state, federal, and local level.
Task 2.2.2: Build, test, and deploy the Internet application in a technology which could be deployed and maintained over the Internet. The application would allow users to respond to a series of questions to determine which federal and state environmental permits will be needed for a proposed project. Selected permit forms will be available for printing, as will a list of contacts for the state and federal agencies who will be able to answer detailed project-specific questions. General county contacts, based on the project location, will be provided. Printed information may be requested or emails sent to staff in participating agencies. Use will be tabulated as will the location of the proposed projects. On-line help consisting of keyword definitions and examples will be provided.
Duration: July, 1997 to December 1997
One Stop Grant Cost: $ 15,000
2.3: Making EIS Documents More Accessible
Background: Ecology currently receives notification of activities which have potential environment impacts. Notification consists of Environmental Impact Statements (EIS), Declarations of Non-Significance, and other similar documents. Ecology recently began to post summary information on our Web Page daily, for review by the public and interested agencies. Listings can be quite numerous and users can not search the list in any way. We have received numerous requests to develop a search tool to allow speedier use.
Purpose: Provide enhanced access to environmental impact-related documents.
Approach: Poll the user community and determine the search capability which would be most useful, build, test, and deploy the tool.
Tasks/Schedule:
Task 2.3.1: Determine the search capability of greatest interest.
Task 2.3.2: Develop and deploy a web application search tool for public and agency use.
Duration: July, 1997 to December 1997
One Stop Grant Cost: $ 5,000
3: Making High Priority Data and Information Available to the Agency and the Public
3.1: Data Cleaning, Acquisition, and Migration of Facility and Site Information
Background: Ecology has developed an agency-wide system to house and manage information related to facilities and sites. Data from the many disparate information systems currently maintained by the agency's programs will be fed into the new Facility/Site Identification System. Data all need to be brought up to a consistent format and level of completeness before migration can occur. Data must also be geo-referenced to allow spatial analyses.
Purpose: Bring Ecology's facility and site information up to a consistent standard of accuracy, completeness and access. Make it available to the entire agency and any interested external parties through the new Facility/Site Identification System.
Approach: Leverage One Stop Reporting Program funds with those resources offered by Ecology's programs to clean, acquire, geo-code, and migrate high-priority information. General candidate categories include: wastewater dischargers, air emission sources, hazardous waste sites and generators, and other facility-related data where we have an interest.
Tasks/Schedule:
Task 3.1.1: Augment agency activities to clean, geo-code, and migrate facility and site data from the Site Information System (SIS), Water Permit Life Cycle System (WPLCS), Air Information Management System (IRM), and the Hazardous Waste Information management System (HWIMSy) to the new agency Facility/Site Identification System (F/S ID).
Duration: March 1997 to December 1997
One Stop Grant Cost: $ 40,000
3.2: Environmental Data Cleaning, Acquisition, and Migration
Background: Ecology is in the process of developing agency-wide Environmental Information Management System (EIM). When completed, this system will hold all of the agency's environmental data. Data in the disparate legacy systems will be fed into the new system, and the old will be abandoned. Migrated data must be of consistent format, completeness, and geo-referenced.
Purpose: Bring Ecology's environmental information up to a consistent standard of accuracy, completeness and access. Make it available to the entire agency and any interested external parties.
Approach: Leverage One Stop Reporting Program funds with those resources offered by Ecology's programs or partners to clean, acquire, geo-code, and migrate high-priority environmental information from all media.
Tasks/Schedule:
Task 3.2.1: Augment agency activities to clean, geo-code and migrate environmental information from the many legacy systems to the new Environmental Information Management System (EIM) when completed.
Duration: November 1997 to March 1998
One Stop Grant Cost: $ 70,000
3.3: Obtain High Priority Geo-Spatial Data
Background: Ecology is in the process of developing an agency-wide data base for environmental information. This system relies on geo-spatial ties to the landscape and the waterways. Washington does not have a consistent, high-quality hydrography layer for the state. Such a layer is important for all types of spatial analyses. Hydrography is too expensive for one agency to acquire or develop, and we must look for partnerships to provide the needed information--whereby all benefit.
Purpose: Bring Ecology's information up to a consistent standard of accuracy, completeness and access. Make it available to the entire agency and any interested external parties.
Approach: Leverage Ecology's One Stop Reporting Program funds with those resources offered by other state and federal partners to clean, acquire, and geo-code, a consistent Washington hydrography layer based on national FDGC standards.
Tasks/Schedule:
Task 3.3.1: Partner with other agencies to co-fund and obtain a consistent, statewide geo-spatial hydrography coverage that meets federal standards (FDGC) and will be available for the use of all agencies.
Duration: July 1997 to September 1998
One Stop Grant Cost: $ 133,000
4: Public Access to Information via the Internet
4.1: Refine Agency Direction and Implement Technical Infrastructure
Background: To date, Ecology uses the Internet in many different ways to disseminate information. Its use is growing and we need to adopt an agency approach for this tool. Present administration and standards are inconsistent. The agency must agree on the purpose, how the resource will be used, how it will be maintained for maximum public benefit, and the appropriate technology.
Purpose: To provide the public with consistent, reliable, and high-quality information on Ecology's Web site, and determine the infrastructural needs/requirements.
Approach: Obtain technical advice from internal, external, and consulting experts to determine Ecology's potential uses for the Internet. Once the uses are decided, the technical environment and approach will be determined. Establish the infrastructure and methods to address internal use issues.
Tasks/Schedule:
Task 4.1.1: Determine the goals for agency Internet use, and determine and implement the required technical environment and equipment by July 30, 1997.
Task 4.1.2: Refine agency standards for Internet use by December 31, 1997.
Duration: March 1997 to December 1997
One Stop Grant Costs: $50,000
4.2: Provide Internet Support to the Agency
Background: Ecology does not have any dedicated resources to support the web or the agency staff who have a need to use the Internet to disseminate information. As a result we need greater consistency and support.
Purpose: To provide the public with consistent, reliable, and high-quality information on Ecology's Web site, and determine the infrastructural needs/requirements.
Approach: Fund a "Web Master Position" in Ecology for one year to facilitate agency standards development, consistency, and reliability.
Tasks/Schedule:
Task 4.2.1: Establish, fund and hire an agency "Web Master" position in July 1997. Position will run for 12 months and be responsible to deploy and maintain Ecology's Web Site, selected Internet applications and data sets.
Task 4.2.2: Refine agency standards for Internet use by December 31, 1997.
Duration: July 1997 to June 1998
One Stop Grant Costs: $130,000
One Stop Reporting Grant Cost Summary
1: Participating in EPA's One Stop Reporting Program
1.1: Attend National One Stop Reporting Meetings $ 12,000
2: Burden Reduction--Facilitating/Streamlining Regulatory Reporting and the Permit Process
2.1: Facilitating/Streamlining Regulatory Reporting $ 45,000
2.2: Streamlining the Permit Process $ 15,000
2.3: Making EIS Documents More Accessible $ 5,000
3: Making High Priority Data and Information Available to the Agency and the Public
3.1: Data Cleaning, Acquisition, and Migration to Agency-Wide Systems $ 40,000
3.2: Environmental Data Cleaning, Acquisition, and Migration $ 70,000
3.3: Obtain High Priority Geo-Spatial Data $133,000
4: Public Access to Information via the Internet
4.1: Refine Internet Direction and Implement Technical
Infrastructure $ 50,000
4.2: Provide Internet Support to the Agency $130,000
Total $500,000
Figure 1. Planning An Environmental Management Strategy for a WRIA i.e., Watershed.
The figure depicts an Ecology analyst developing an environmental management strategy for a specific Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA), i.e., a watershed. The information system is first accessed by the geographic boundaries of the WRIA (information needs: geographic locator and definition of a WRIA). The analyst then examines the ambient environmental conditions (information needs: ambient water and air quality data) and identifies any sensitive resources (such as wetlands or endangered species) in the area.
The pollutant Y is of special concern in this WRIA, especially its effect on sensitive resources. Therefore, the analyst may opt to investigate local sources of the pollutant (information need: list of entities generating or storing Y within the WRIA) as well as the release profile for the pollutant at each of those facilities (information need: multi-media release profile of pollutant Y at specific facilities within the WRIA). Having established the major sources of the pollutant, the analyst may then assess opportunities to minimize further releases of pollutant Y by investigating the following records: technical assistance, inspections, or enforcement actions taken at those facilities using or disposing of pollutant Y.
Figure 2. Ecology's Priority Business Areas--One important factor to consider when prioritizing business areas is the interdependencies between them. No business area is totally self contained. They always rely upon the referencing of information which is managed within other business areas.
Figure 3. Major Business Area Dependencies--The ordering of the priority Business Areas support major dependencies and agency priority.