We are the National Park Service

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Portrait of NRPC Information Systems, ca. 2006
NPSpecies
Naturebib
NPS Data Store
NPStoret
Unit Codes
RPRS
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• Integration of Resource Management Applications
• (IRMA)

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November, 2005 Charge from IMAC and NRPC
Director

• Evaluate the current systems from a users
  perspective
• Identify redundancies
• Determine changes needed to streamline data
  entry and retrieval
• NatureBib
• NPSpecies Biodiversity Datastore
• NR-GIS Data Store
• Metadata Tools Editor

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From IMAC to IRMA
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IMAC
IRMA
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October, 2006 Natural Resource Program Center IT
Policy

• NRPC will
• integrate all applications (start with NatureBib,
  NPSpecies, NPS Data Store, but will eventually
  include PEPC, RPRS, and other systems)
• eliminate redundant data storage
• streamline standard functions across
  applications

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New Natural Resource Program Center IT Policy
NRPC will begin transition to service-oriented
architecture (SOA), starting with NPSpecies,
NatureBib, and the NPS Data Store.
SOA an alternative to complex, inflexible
systems (silos) that dont share data well and
arent meeting users needs. Full SOA transition
is a long-term process however, we will show
near-term results.

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New Natural Resource Program Center IT Policy
NRPC will create a central web portal, a single
sign-on system, and a common user interface for
all natural resource applications.
Starting point is NPSpecies, NatureBib, and the
NPS Data Store. To accomplish this task we
brought in..
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I R M A !
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What is IRMA ?

• Integration of Resource Management Applications
• Umbrella project that will plan and implement the
  new IT policy

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What is IRMA ?

• Initial Focus serving NPS users
• Serving the general public comes later

Policy will eventually encompass other NRPC
applications such as Research Permit and
Reporting (RPRS), Planning, Environment, and
Public Comment (PEPC), and others.
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What is SOA?
Traditional
SOA
Simplified
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Project has strong interest and support from DOI
and NPS OCIO SOA is considered DOI best
practice and is becoming the industry
standard. NRPC is in the forefrontno similar
NPS precedents of SOA transition that we can look
to.
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Prototype Natural Resource Data Portal Released
at 2007 DM Conference
?
Can we build central access to three applications?
Can we simplify user logins and passwords?
?
Can we start working outside of our silos?
What are the major obstacles?
?
Are we on the right track with what our users
want?
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Single access point to NPSpecies, NPS Data Store,
NatureBib
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changes for managers, for developers, for
users
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What we thought you wanted
How we designed it
How the programmers wrote it
How we described it to you
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How it was documented
What was installed
How it was supported
What you really needed
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The point is User-driven design. Making the
applications fit the user, instead of the user
fitting the applications.
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User-Driven Design

• The foundation is User Requirements
• Functional Analysis
• What do you want to do?
• Workflow Analysis
• How do you do it?

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Reorganization - Roles

• Project Management
• Functional Analysis
• Architecture
• SOA
• Application
• Database
• User Interface Design
• Development
• Quality Assurance
• Configuration Management Support

Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC)
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SOA Implementation for Natural Resources at NPS
1-year timeline
April September, 2007
October, 2007 March, 2008
Task 1 SOA Roadmap - 5 Year Plan
Task 2 Institute Organizational Changes
Improve Software Development Life Cycle
Task 3 Pilot Implementation
Task 4 Integration with DOI SOA efforts, Case
Study
Task 5 SOA Roadmap Implementation
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Where are we now?

• Randy Leonard guiding the transition
• Reorganizing IT team structures
• Using new tools (SharePoint)
• Upcoming weeks gathering user requirements
• We need interested, creative end-users to set
  the direction of our NR IT systems.

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margaret_beer_at_nps.gov
http//www1.nrintra.nps.gov/nrpc_soa
http//10.147.158.151/portal/
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Overview of NRPC applications in a larger IRMA
context
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Objectives

• Summary of current workflow
• Initial vision of a search portal
• More detailed process flows
• Scenarios/Possibilities
• Q A

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First a slight detour

• A laypersons vision of interacting with an
  integrated NRPC application

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Interaction with integrated applications

• Step 1

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• Step 2

the
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• Step 3 (optional)

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• Step 4

without
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Current situation

• Number of good single-purpose applications
• Inability to easily leverage useful information
  or functionality, e.g., geospatial search/query
• Written in lingua du jour

• Data Entry
• Query
• Edit
• Report

• Data Entry
• Query
• Edit
• Report

• Data Entry
• Query
• Edit
• Report

• Data Entry
• Query
• Edit
• Report

Data Store
NPSpecies
NatureBib
PEPC
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Initial approach search portal
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More refined way of looking at bigger
picture(add data)
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• Simplified view of Get_Data process

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Potential scenario

• How would I obtain all relevant information on
  black-footed ferrets, and their prey, in all
  parks within 500 miles of Scottsbluff National
  Monument?

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Solution

• Log onto portal
• Specify search criteria, based on geography and
  species
• Retrieve list of all products RPRS numbers,
  proposed reintroduction plans, bibliographic
  references, status of species, maps of
  distribution
• Determine/select relevant hits
• Visualize documents in their native form, e.g.,
  as a map, as a citation, etc.

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Questions?

• Which may be better answered by others in
  attendance (hint)