| Forestry Business Improvement Initiative (FBII) |
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| Improving the way we do business |
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The Oregon Department of Forestry is undergoing an agency-wide effort to examine our business processes and identify ways to improve them. As with many organizations, ODF developed its processes over a number of years; while, in the meantime, operational requirements have evolved and become more complex. Also, new technologies have come online that hold promise to streamline our work.
The Business Modeling Assessment Project is part of that overall effort and a contractor has worked with the department to look at what each division does, why we do it, and how we might do it better.
Phase 1, completed in January 2009, included business process assessment and modeling. Phase 2 included a business strategy formulation and initiation of improvement projects identified as the highest priority.
Business Process Modeling Project Reports and Other Information
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| High-Priority Projects |
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Board of Forestry Decision Support System
The need for a Board of Forestry decision support system to support its work emerged through the business process modeling assessment as a high priority.
Led by the project manager Dale Johnson, the department, working with a private contractor, defined the needed capabilities of the system, installed the Microsoft SharePoint technology that will support it, and designed and deployed the necessary operating tools.
Employing electronic document libraries and shared electronic workspaces, the system automates some of the processes entailed in developing and managing the board work plans, intermediate board issues, and meeting materials.
Board members and ODF staff were trained in the use of the system, which then went "live" in March 2009.
Automated Cost Allocation Tool
With one of hte most complex budgets in Oregon State Government, the department stands to gain considerably from an automated cost allocation tool. In response to budget, accounting, and risk management needs, the department launched this project to automate the functions of spreading expenditure, payroll, and revenue data across multiple cost centers.
The current state government accounting system, the Statewide Financial Management System, allocates costs on a monthly basis - too infrequent for agency current needs. Also, ODF requires an internal system that will enable consistent aplication of allocation methods and generate formal documentation of those methods.
Additionally, the new cost allocation tool will fulfill the department's pledge to the Oregon Legislature to change the accounting methodology for the General Fund portion of the Public Share Fire Fund. The existing system cannot break out payments made with General Fund dollars versus other funds in a transparent way.
The new tool will also help the department more consistently and appropriately distribute State Forest costs between Board of Forestry lands and Common School Forest lands.
The effort is largely being carried out in-house by the Business Analyst assigned to the project, Vickie Lesser, and the department's Information Technology Program.
Timber Revenue Accounting Project
The timber program on State Forest lands funds key infrastructure in Oregon's counties and schools. And, the department's share of the revenue has long been a cornerstone of its budget. Improving the way these dollars are gathered tracked, and reported will yield the two-fold benefit of less time spent to generate more reliable data.
This projects has begun with Business Analyst Terri Johnson holding work sessions with district staff to gather information for streamlining timber accounting. Drawing on these field sessions and earlier discussions with the programs, the department will identify any un-met business and information needs, and target areas in need of improvement. The feedback will become the foundation of the overall project.
The next step will be for ODF to design a new information system that better supports the timber revenue tracking and reporting needs of the department.
Forest Activity Computerized Tracking System
Since the mid-1980s the Private Forests Program has been using the Forest Activity Computerized Tracking System (FACTS) to track timber harvest notifications and Forest Practices Act enforcement data.
The 1980s-era database management application has served the program well. But a more integrated process for capturing and reporting the program's information streams, and one that better meets customer needs, has long been needed.
ODF Business Analyst Joe Touchstone is working on this project - currently in the "discovery" stage, and meeting with program staff and stewardship foresters around state to find out what is already being done and ways that work can be streamlined.
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| Learn more . . . |
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As the Business Process Modeling Project has proceeded, executive sponsor Clark Seely has communicated about the project via periodic newsletters, which are included here for additional information.
FBII Newsletter - June 2009 [PDF; 4 pages; 97 KB]
FBII Newsletter - November 2008 [PDF; 2 pages; 95 KB]
FBII Newsletter - March 2009 [PDF; 3 pages; 1720 KB]
Oregon Department of Forestry project manager Barbara Benda is serving as the overall coordinator of the Forestry Business Improvement Initiative. For more information on the initiative, contact her at 503-945-7334 or bbenda@odf.state.or.us.
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