ROSS Project Briefing
National Logistics Workshop
April 26, 2006
FAM-ISPO
 Established in 2001
 Perform Large Scale Interagency Fire and
Aviation Management Information Systems
Development




Projects generally exceed $1,000,000
development cost
Require OMB approval and oversight
Meet the President’s Agenda
Follow corporate project management
practices
FAM-ISPO Project Managers
 Dan Keller, PMP – Senior Project Manager
 Jon Skeels, PMP – Senior Project Manager
 Bruce Jeske, PMP – Project Manager
 Dorothy Albright, PMP – Project Manager
 John Noneman, PMP – Project Manager
 Nancy DeLong – Deputy Project Manager
 Andy Gray – Deputy Project Manager
 Donna Tate – Deputy Project Manager
FAM-ISPO Projects
 Fire Program Analysis - $48M LCC
 Incident Based Automation - $35M LCC
 Interagency Cache Business System - $8M LCC
 Landfire - $40M LCC
 ROSS - $45M LCC
 Wildland Fire Decision Support System - $1M LCC
FAM-ISPO Staffing
 Offices
 Lakewood, CO.
 Boise, ID.
 Missoula, MT.
 Virtual
 Mixture of internal (interagency) and outsourced
personnel



10-15% - Internal
85-90% - Outsourced
Total personnel for all projects ranges from 260-300
We are not in Kansas anymore!
 Where is systems development headed?
 Why are things changing so fast?
 Can we afford the cost of the change?
General ROSS Use Facts
 60+ Using Agencies
 401 Dispatch Offices Nationwide
 500,000+ Resources
 10,000+ Users
2005 Statistics – 183,271 Requests
(as of 12/31/2005)
Southern Geographic Area
Southwest Geographic Area
Northwest Geographic Area
Eastern Great Basin Geographic Area
Northern Rockies Geographic Area
Western Great Basin Geographic Area
Rocky Mountain Geographic Area
Alaska Geographic Area
Eastern Geographic Area
Southern California Geographic Area
Northern California Geographic Area
National Interagency Coordination Center
45,480
35,959
25,237
23,311
16,185
12,108
10,227
7,488
3,341
2,370
1,346
219
Evolving ROSS Partnerships
 Colorado Department of Public Safety
 Federal Emergency Management Agency
 Forest Fire Protection Compacts
 USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service
 USDA Office of Rural Development
Who’s talking about ROSS
 Post Hurricane Congressional Hearings
 FEMA NIMS Integration Center
 USDA Office of Rural Development
 Multi-Agency Reviews in the Southern Area
 Interstate Offices for EMS
 etc etc etc
Who is using ROSS?
 Dispatchers
 Managers
 Incident Management Teams
 Budget and Finance
 Congress
 Planners
 Intelligence
 And more!!
Current Project Status
 ROSS Phase 1 – Close-out June 2006
 Initial development
 System hosting
 Training
 Implementation
 ROSS Operations and Maintenance
 Funded each year beginning 2006 with 10 year planning
horizon
 ROSS Phase 2
 Charter is out for review
 Initial work has begun
ROSS Phase 1
Status
 All Geographic Areas fully implemented
except Northern and Southern California.

California Full Implementation – 4/15/2006
 Support for implementation training continues
until 5/2006.
 Phase 1 Close-out 6/2006
ROSS Operations & Maintenance
 7x24 System Support
 7x24 Helpdesk Support
 System Maintenance
 Application Maintenance
 System Hardware Replacement / Upgrade
 Training Materials Maintenance
National Expectations
 ROSS used to inventory and status all
resources
 ROSS used for all incidents (all risks, all
types)
 Geographic areas provide leadership,
expertise, and training
 National training support for newly released
functionality
 Manage and maintain data integrity
Data Clean Up 2006
 Resource Naming Standards
 Contracts



Vendor owned resource items not attached to
a contract
Expired Contracts
Incorrect contract types
 Duplicate Resource Item Records
 User Accounts
ROSS Phase 2
 Initiated in FY-2005
 Major Drivers
 QFFR
 OIG EERA Contracting Audit
 Agency Financial Management Improvement
Projects
 2003 / 2004 Reviews
 Change Control Board Requests
 System Redundancy Requirement
 System Sharing Requirement
ROSS Phase 2
Project Scope
 Tactical Aviation Module – 1

Tactical aircraft
 Tactical Aviation Module – 2

Aerial deployed fire fighters
ROSS Phase 2
Project Scope
 Contracts and Agreements





Aircraft, Crews, and Equipment “Best Value”
Centralize management of Contracts /
Agreements allowing issuing Agency/State to
improve data integrity.
Centralize management of organization data
to improve data integrity.
Enhanced Catalog functionality.
Address OIG Report Recommendations.
Best Value
 Requires Contracting Officer use of EaTIS
 Dispatchers will use ROSS to select closest
forces for I.A. Incident will be declared as a
(Type 3,4,5).
 Dispatchers will use ROSS to select “Best
Value” contract/EERA resources for Types 1
and 2 incidents as calculated by EaTIS and
displayed in ROSS.
ROSS Phase 2
Project Scope
 Generic Data Exchange





Deploy Enterprise Service Bus.
Utilize Services through a Services Oriented
Architecture (SOA).
Provide Data Import Capability for System
Reference Data.
Support Data Exchange for CAD Systems.
Support Data Exchange for the reengineered
version of ICBS.
ROSS Phase 2
Project Scope
 Generic Data Exchange cont….



Support Active Data Exchange for IQCS and
Enhance Data Exchange for IQS and other
disconnected Quals Systems to Improve Data
Integrity.
Support Data Exchange for FIRECODE.
Support Data Exchange for Contracting
Systems
ROSS Phase 2
Project Scope
 Generic Data Exchange cont….
 Support Financial Management Improvement
Project

Use ROSS for validating financial events and
payments







Aviation
Overhead Personnel
Crews (including crew members)
Equipment
Contracted Resources
Services
Supplies
IBDB Logical Architecture Model
IBDB Application
Applications
Incident
webMethods
Platform
Ross
ICBS
Incident Data
Assignments
Financial Code (Pcode)
ISuite Transactions file
webMethods
Platform
ISuite Transactions file (Accruals,
Casual Pay, Contract Payments (EERA)
ISuite
Incident
Data
CAD
Systems
Workflow
Server
IQCS
Doc Handler
ASC
Web122
Incident
Assignments
FireCode
Contracts
IBDB Changes
Accruals
ISuite Transactions
Workflow
Server
FireCode
FireCode
Obligations
WorkEvents
Contract
Data
Payments
Web122
AMIS
Integration
Server
Casual pay,OAS23
Doc Handler
Workflow
Integration
Server
IBDB Changes
Doc Handler
IBDB
Database
Incidents
Contracts
EaTis
Enterprise
Broker
Doc Handler
Assignments
PCode
Enterprise
Broker
FAIRS
Aviation System
OAS23
PCode
DOI
ROSS
Data
FFIS
Data Warehouse
Web 122
Accruals, Obligations, Payments
Air Tanker
Payments
ResQNet
Disconnected
Client
Incidents /
Requests
FireCode
Incident
CCRS
E-Authentication
Pcode
System
Web 122
ROSS Integrations
ROSS Phase 2
Project Scope
 Incident Prioritization and Drawdown


Supports Interagency need to monitor
resource drawdown and availability (current
and future).
Support Interagency need to manage
deployment of resources by Incident Priority.
ROSS Phase 2
Project Scope
 Emergency Management Assistance
Compacts


Supports deployment of Resources through
Forest Fire Compacts Agreements and
Emergency Assistance Compacts (EMAC).
Provides better resource tracking through
FEMA Emergency Support Functions (ESF).
ROSS Phase 2
Project Scope
 System Disaster Recovery Site / Multiple
Instance Capability



Provides a secondary computer host site to
assure system availability.
Provides system engineering for multiple
independent servers and cross
communication.
Permits cross instance resource order
exchange.
ROSS Phase 2
Project Scope
 Stand-Alone / Sync Operation

Permits ROSS to operate as a stand-alone
system which can be synchronized with
system servers to:


Place Resource Requests
Retrieve Resource Requests
Releases
Version 2.4 Highlights
(124 items)
 Released April 18, 2006
 Multi-Place – Users can place multiple
requests / types at one time.
 Request Status (Workload Mgt) – Allows
management of requests spanning multiple
incidents / catalogs
 Tactical Aviation 1A
 Travel – Complete redesign
Version 2.4 Highlights
 Assignment Rosters filled from Pre-position
will pre-populate with resources
 Location – Can search by State and/or Unit
ID.
 New Request – Can add navigation
instructions when adding a new delivery
location.
 View Request – Now displays more travel
information
Version 2.4 Highlights
 Contracts

Added Tax ID, DUNS, and Type of Contractor
fields (preparation for version 2.6)
 New Request

Multiple place up to place up affiliations is
available
 Grouped Resources Check-In (cascade
status change)
Version 2.4 Highlights
 Incident Resources
 Can release resources while subordinates are
still pending
 External Resources Check Box Removed (all
resources are now displayed on the same
screen)
 Support requests can be created when
releasing a resource from this screen
 Flag added to indicate that another dispatch
office controls a support request.
Version 2.4 Highlights
 Web Status
 Now displays all resource status states
(Available, Not Available, Reserved, Mob-inRoute etc…)
 If committed, displays incident name/number
 Status can’t be changed if committed
 Status can be changed if “Returned from
Assignment”
Version 2.4 Highlights
 Web Status


Displays resources current location
User can update their contact information
 Pending Request – Override search function
bug fixed
 Resource Item

Added VIN, Serial Number fields
Version 2.4 Highlights
 Edit Request / Edit Assignment - cleaned up 20




reported issues
Incident Screen – cleaned up 6 reported issues
Pending Request – cleaned up 5 reported issues
Preposition – cleaned up 2 issues related to how
resources are released
Resource Item – cleaned up 5 reported issues
Version 2.4.1 Highlights
 Release May/June 2006
 Tactical Aviation 1B – Lead Planes and other
types of specialized tactical aircraft are
handled

Call sign are associated with the pilot
 Initial release of the Data Analysis System
(DAS)
Version 2.5 Planning
 Release October / November 2006.
 System Hardware Refresh
 Data Exchange via Services Oriented
Architecture (Enterprise Service BUS).



Qualifications (IQCS, IQS).
Computer Aided Dispatch.
FAA Airports Data Update.
Version 2.5 Planning
 Travel Plan – Complete Redesign
 Support Request Disposition issues corrected
 Change Board Items
Version 2.6 Planning
 Release March / April 2007
 Organizations Module Removed

Managed external to ROSS by NWCG
Organizations Data Stewards / Custodians
 Catalog Enhancements


Agency / Location specific catalogs
Role based catalog use
Version 2.6 Planning
 Contracts




Managed via web interface external to ROSS
Vendors / Contracts / Resources managed per
contract requirements
Best Value
External Contract System interfaces (e.g.
EaTIS) through Enterprise Service BUS.
Version 2.6 Planning
 Cooperative Agreements
 Government to Government (e.g. mutual aid)
 Remains within ROSS
 ICBS Interface
 System Disaster Hot Site
 Advanced Report Integration
 ROSS, ICBS, I-Suite, WIMS, Financial
Systems
 Data Warehouse functionality
 Cognos Implementation
Version 2.7 Planning
 Release October / November 2007
 Tactical Aviation 2 – Aerially delivered human
resources
 Emergency Interstate Compacts (EMAC,
FEMA EFS, Interstate Forest Fire Compacts)
 Multiple System Instance capability
 Change Board Items
Version 2.8 Planning
 Release March / April 2008
$ Resource Draw Down and Incident
Prioritization
$ Hot Sync / Disconnected Mode
$ Fire Code Interface (via BUS)
$ Telephone Status
 Change Board Items
System Interfaces
Incident Cache
Systems
Credentialing and
Accreditation Systems
Incident Based
Systems
Others
Data
Warehouse
Other Systems
Common
Data Base
Ross
webMethods
Platform
ROSS Contract Repository
Vendor
Orgs
ICBS
Vendor
Resources
Contracts
NWCG Organization Repository
CAD Systems
Workflow Server
Government
Organization
Non-Government
Organizations
Dispatch
Organization
Doc Handler
IQCS
FAM / NWCG Systems
Integration Server
ROSS Maps
Isuite / IBA
IQS
FPA
Doc Handler
ROSS Data
Delivery System
Enterprise Broker
FireCode
FAMWeb
Incident Support
Systems
FAM / NWCG
Data Warehouse
EaTis / Other
Agency
Contracting
Systems
Non-Federal
Fianance
Systems
WIMS
Spatial Data
E-Authentication
Reports
Report Delivery Changes
 Standard Reports
 Raw Data
 Queried Data
 Ad-Hoc
 Maps
 Multi-System Integration
Data Analysis System (DAS)
ROSS
Data
Sources
Incident
Resources
Orders
Statuses
Data
Dictionary
Status
Counts
Organizations
Extract
Transform
Load
Financial
Digital Photo
Weather
Incident Plans
...
Reporting Tools
•MS Access DB
•Text Files/Excel
•I/SQL
•Brio
Resource
Assignments
Dispatch
Workload
Data Warehouse
Resource
Destination
???…
Maps
Messages to Take Home
 Be flexible to change
 See the big picture
 Keep proactively challenging us to make
things better
 Fasten your seatbelt and hang on
 Be a part of the success.
Thanks for your Time