Exchange Network Resources and Communications Tools

1

• Exchange Network Resources and Communications
  Tools
• Exchange Network Users Meeting
• Wednesday, April 30, 345-530
• Nashville, TN
• Doreen Sterling and Chris Simmers, NPRG Co-chairs

2
Overview

• What is the NPRG?
• Help for NewbiesCan We Talk?
• Resources for communicating about the Network
• Survey Says
• What are we hearing from partners through the
  performance measures survey?
• Can We Wiki?
• Ideas for using wikis to enhance Network outreach
  and communication

3
What is the NPRG?

• Network Partnership and Resources Group
• Provides planning, analysis, recommendations, and
  implementation support to the Network Operations
  Board (NOB) and the Exchange Network Leadership
  Council (ENLC)
• 2007-2008 Activities
• Outreach and Communications
• Performance Measures
• Data Standards
• Exchange Network Policies and Procedures

4
NPRG Membership

• Doreen Sterling (Co-chair)U.S. EPA Office of
  Environmental Information
• Ken BlumbergU.S. EPA Region 1
• Mark HamiltonU.S. EPA Office of Water
• Shashank KalraU.S. EPA Office of Solid Waste and
  Emergency Response

• Chris Simmers (Co-chair) New Hampshire Office of
  Information Technology
• Gail GeorgeIowa Department of Natural Resources
• Carmel RubinMaine Department of Environmnetal
  Protection
• Adele VogelgesangOhio Environmental Protection
  Agency

The NPRG is currently seeking a tribal member
5
Help for NewbiesCan We Talk?

• What experiences have you had explaining the
  Exchange Network to others?
• .or understanding it yourself?

6
Help for NewbiesCan We Talk?

• Getting Started Guides on EN Basics
• Business Value Getting Started Guides
• Success Stories

• can help you answer
• What is the Exchange Network?
• Why should I join?
• What is in it for my program?
• How do I get started?

7
Getting Started Guides Exchange Network Basics
How do you?
8
Anatomy of a Getting Started Guide

• How Do I Get Started?
• Basic Steps to Get Going on the Network

• Who Can I Talk To?
• Key Contacts and Resources

Available at exchangenetwork.net and in PDF format
9
Getting Started Guides Business Value of the
Network

• Business Value Guides help federal, state and
  tribal programs see the value of the Network
• Current guides for Air and Waterfuture guides
  for facilities, TRI, and more

WQX has transformed the way we interact with,
share and use monitoring data- Wisconsin DNR
10
Success Stories

• Highlight innovative uses of the Network
• Describe the problem, the network solution, and
  benefits
• Coming soonin hard copy and on
  exchangenetwork.net

11
Success Stories

• Yurok Tribe Sharing Data for a Healthy River

CaliforniaIntegrating the Unified Program for
Hazardous Materials

• Other Success Stories
• PennyslvaniaBusiness Process Integration
• Montana MethNet
• Air Quality Data Exchange
• Heartland Emergency Response Exchange
• Water Quality Exchange

12
Questions

• How can you envision using these resources?
• What other Getting Started Guides would be
  helpful?
• What other Success Stories could we highlight?
• How can we best make these available?

13
Survey Says2007 Annual Exchange Network
Performance Measures
14
Overview

• Objectives and Status
• Results of the 2007 EN Measures
• Summary Survey Comments
• Findings and Recommendations

15
Objectives

• The objectives of the Exchange Network
  Performance Measures are to
• Provide leadership the information needed to
  effectively manage the Exchange Network and
  develop long-term strategy
• Provide trend data and chart progress for key
  performance indicators
• Drive the Network towards its strategic goals

16
Status

• Performance Measures Baseline completed for
  Fiscal Year 2006
• 2007 performance measure survey sent to 310 users
  in February
• 2007 Annual Report covers Calendar Year 2007

17
Performance Metrics

• Satisfaction with the Exchange Network (EN)
• Number of EN Nodes
• Satisfaction with Governance
• of Data Exchanges Using EN
• EN Availability
• Ease of Bringing on New Users
• Work Effort to Flow EN Production Data
• Satisfaction with Customer Support Services
• Satisfaction with Current EN Services
• Environmental Program Decision Making
  Improvements
• Metrics in bold are measured via a survey of EN
  partners

18
Distribution of 2007 Survey Responses by State
38 states and 65 organizations contributed to the
EN Survey
19
Summary of Results

• 79 survey responses (25 response rate)
• Overall scorecard grade of B (overall score .857)
• 2007 scores exceeded all targets
• Users are satisfied with the current services
• Respondents have planned a significant number of
  future exchanges for EN

20
Recurring Themes from Survey Comments (155
Comments Received)

• Positive Comments
• Strong support for data standards being created
• Praise for responsiveness of EN and Help Desk
  staff
• Excited about the next generation of node
  technology
• The Network alerts are great
• Great support network (grant program)

• Main Concerns
• Lack of hands-on training
• Lack of documentation
• EN isnt very user friendly
• EN is improving, but not where it needs to be
• EN should promote more collaboration between
  states
• EPA Programs not supporting the EN to the extent
  they need to

21
Salient Recommendations from Survey

• An online directory of all EN projects with
  description and contact information
• The network governance should make an outreach
  effort to grant recipients to help get nodes and
  data flows implemented
• Better coordination in flows across the media.
  AQS and WQX use different ways to describe
  analytical method data
• Have examples of XML file for each exchange
• Allow more messaging in the testing tools

22
Next Steps for the NPRG

• Synthesize survey comments and recommend
  activities to meet EN partner needs
• Follow up with survey respondents who reported
  that they were Very Dissatisfied and who
  indicated they were open to being contacted
• Develop 2008 performance measures targets
• Manage revision of performance metrics, where
  needed
• Identify and implement information collection
  improvements (e.g., broader survey distribution,
  improved response rate)

23
Questions

• How should the Exchange Network address the
  issues raised by the survey?
• What is the role for communications and outreach?
• Does the interpretation of results sound right?

24

• x

Can We Wiki?
25
Wikis and the Exchange Network

• What is a wiki?
• Why do we need or want one?
• Who does the work?
• Who benefits from the wiki?
• Wiki examples
• Wiki roles
• Wiki security

26
Questions

• How can we use wikis to enhance the Exchange
  Network website?
• How can we use wikis to promote collaboration and
  share information?