| Chapter 3--Efficiency Initiatives |
A progressive business or organization continues to identify 1) new initiativesthat will improve the way products and servicesare delivered, and 2) new products and services that are in demand by its customers. As we did last year, NARSC has selected several new initiatives that will strengthen the organizationand keep its product line current. The following are some of the future initiatives that we intend to focus on in FY 98.
Our customers and staff have indicated that a more complete scoping of projects would significantly improve the delivery of products and services. NARSC has learned through experience with over 800 customers that scoping is the most critical element in successfully producing a product or service. Knowing this, NARSC plans to improve project scoping by having the Workflow Coordinators work closely with the project lead and customers to agree on the deliverables for each task and project.
Another area needing improvement is project management. The successful delivery of products and services often depends on complete project management throughout the process. Project management is something that requires special skills, especially for the larger, more complex projects with which NARSC is often involved. NARSC plans to designate a staff member as project manager for various projects. This staff member will bring project management skills to the team in order to improve the delivery of projects and services, on time and within budget.
NARSC must maintain a skill mix that will efficiently produce the products and services required by our customers. To meet this need, NARSC has developed an alternative staffing program using academic personnel, graduate students, and recent graduates on temporary appointments. This will allow NARSC access to state-of-the-art technology and information for specific projects without committing to a 30-year employment agreement.
During FY 97, NARSC implemented a process whereby all vacancies were scrutinized for need prior to advertising (see Staffing Assignments, Chapter 3). NARSC will continue to query District/Field Offices and Headquarters about skills needs. Based on the responses, NARSC will either recruit for the identified skill or take no action until a need is identified.
During FY 98, NARSC will evaluate both of these staffing strategies to determine their long-term effectiveness in meeting our business objectives.
Director Shea has identified the integration of "best science" into resource management and decisionmaking as one of his top three priorities during his tenure as Director. In keeping with this priority, NARSC will be working with the District/Field Offices, State Offices, and Headquarters to address this emerging initiative. In addition, NARSC will evaluate its current staffing to identify opportunities to support this initiative.
NARSC has developed partnership arrangements with numerous Federal agencies over the past 2 years. During FY 98, NARSC will seek to identify additional viable partnerships to meet the needs of our customers. In addition, NARSC will be working with several universities to develop partnerships through cooperative agreements to augment the technical capability of NARSC and to implement our alternative staffing strategy.
A number of NARSC specialists have received the clearances necessary to work with classified data derived from National Technical Means (NTM). These data include imagery and other remotely-sensed information that is currently not available from commercial sources. NTM imagery data is characterized by high spatial resolution and has proven useful for resource management activities such as wetlands and transportation mapping, vegetation monitoring, land conveyance, oil and gas development risk assessment, and wildland fire suppression activities. In the near future, other resource management applications will be investigated including delineation of geological hazards, identification of archaeological sites, and monitoring of route proliferation. As the data and analytical processes become more institutionalized, NARSC specialists, in cooperation with their counterparts in the field, are expected to significantly expand the current range of applications.
A prototype of this automated product was produced at the end of FY 97. NARSC plans to finalize an automated process to produce this very popular map series during FY 99. An automated process will permit BLM to keep these maps up to date, which will deliver a more useful product to the public and may increase sales in future years.
| Chapter 3--Efficiency Initiatives |