Overview of the importance of info systems

1. Overview of the importance of info systems Ralph Winter October 8, 2004

2. Objectives • Review the business case for silviculture information • Basic Business flow in the new world • Upcoming legislative changes affecting information systems • Summary

3. Business needs requiring data • Clarity as to what end results standards apply to a cutblock, who owns the obligations and their status • Silviculture compliance monitoring and reporting • Effectiveness monitoring and evaluation of code (WT review) • Annual denudation info for area based cut control New Code of 87

4. Information is used to project harvests in TSR and develop silviculture regimes and standards in silviculture strategies

5. TSA Cutblock Size Statistics Size Distribution of Logged Openings on TSA areas Starting FPC 1995-06-15 to 2001-12-31 for All Silvicultural Systems

6. Provincial average of total cutblock area containing mature timber after harvesting ISIS Query 2003-01-23 for Tom Niemann

7. Business needs requiring data

8. Business needs requiring data KOI =<5%

9. Business needs requiring data • Species conversion reports • Report on C & I for SFM • BC’s State of the Forest • international marketing (e.g. Cw planting) • Forest stewardship (e.g. SFI) • CCFM federal forestry reporting obligations (national forestry database)

10. Business needs requiring data • Performance measures/annual reporting - KOI • reviews of existing practices to support the development of new legislation, policy, standards, & confirmation of innovative forestry practices • Forest Practice Board evaluations of forest practice (e.g. recent FG audit)

11. Business needs requiring data • Tracking silviculture obligations/liabilities on non-replaceable forest licences (NRFL) and licensees who become insolvent • MOF workload analysis (FTE, C&E risk assessment and priority setting, etc.) • Countervail and others

12. Current RESULTS Scope Total number of Openings: 180,000 Representing Coverage: 8 million ha Total Timber Harvesting Landbase (THLB): 23 million ha Proportion of Total THLB:35% Annual number of new openings: 7,400 approx. Annual area of new openings: 212,000 ha Number of blocks with silv liabilities 83,000 blocks $1.3 Billion

13. RESULTS receives significant amounts of Forest Cover/land status updates (FC) annually • 200,000 ha of FC info on new harvest areas • 200,000 ha of FC info at regen delay • 200,000 ha of FC info at free growing • 600,000 ha of Forest Cover updates annually

14. Current State • Expect a minimum of 21,000 records updated per year • Since May • about 20% of updates through ESF • about 1500 standards amendments/month • up to 2000 RESULTS reports run per month • 20 large companies with own systems provide 80% of data • expect 60-80% of updates to come through ESF next year • expect about 100 smaller companies will use service providers next year

15. RESULTS has linkages to other systems and business areas including • forest tenure administration system (FTA) • compliance information management system (CIMS) • PWC reporting system (FIRS) • Seed Planning and Registry System (SPAR) • Vegetation inventory updates (VRI) • TRIM and road atlas updates • MAPVIEW updates • Timber Supply Review

16. The ESF and RESULTS will transfer information to MSRM • Digital maps of the opening and internal polygon line-work will be transmitted to MSRM from RESULTS • MSRM will merge digital opening map information with the inventory and TRIM maps • RESULTS will be the main source of forest cover information on harvested polygons for ~0-20 years (600,000 ha per year) • after 20 years, the regular inventory update process will provide updated information for the area

17. Key changes to FRPA and FPPR that impact systems • $13 million per year in transactional costs savings with the removal of silviculture and stand management prescriptions • retain reporting requirements of key standards, accomplishments and outcomes for cutblocks

18. FPPR Section 197 (4) (5)New standards applied to existing obligations and on-going operations • A licensee who prepares a forest stewardship plan may now specify that new results and strategies in the FSP can apply to old timber harvesting begun under a previous plan. • A licensee who prepares a forest stewardship plan may also apply the new stocking standards in it to old cutblocks on which harvesting commenced before the FSP was approved. • There are 83,000 cutblocks with existing obligations….Potential for changes to many using new FSP standards

19. FPPR Section 14.1 Implied term • An FSP which identifies FPC blocks and areas as incorporated into the FSP will result in those blocks being • under the requirements of FPPR • exempt from the Code • Licensees and Districts need to be able to clearly identify and determine consistently over time whether a block is to be administered under the FPC or under FRPA. This is a record keeping and tracking issue over time.

20. FPPR Section 45 Multiblock stocking standards • Ft St John Pilot project and TFL 49 (Riverside) will be implementing a new method of setting and monitoring standards applied to a group of blocks harvested in a year • All blocks will be managed and declared later as a group • multiblock free growing standards and procedures can be approved by the CF

21. FRPA 108 and FPPR Section 46.2 Requirements where free growing stand cannot be established • New requirements which outlines the procedures that a must be taken if an FG obligation area is affected by extraordinary event (wildflire). • Requirements for notification to the minister and submission of a proposal for re-establishing a free growing stand • Tracking of blocks where govt will provide funding for basic silviculture will be important

22. FPPR Section 86, 87 and 88 Annual Reports and Site Specific Standards • Summary reporting reporting for silviculture accomplishments • new reporting requirements for seedlots • The BC timber sales manager must now do the annual, milestone and stocking standards reporting on timber sale licence and forestry licence to cuts they have entered into • The DM has reporting requirements on NRFLs and on FLC for annual, milestone and stocking standard • Records must be kept for the entire length of the free growing obligation

23. FPPR Section 94 Transfer of obligations • If an obligation is transferred from one licensee to another or to the ministry or to a 3rd party there will need to be tracking of the block. • A person to whom an obligation is transferred is now required to comply with specific FPPR practices requirements including use of seed, use of livestock, establishment of a free growing stand, reporting and record keeping • Ministry and Industry systems will need to have consistent documentation on transferred blocks

24. FPPR Section 111Amalgamating obligations to establish a free growing stand • A person may propose to the minister to consolidate site plans that cover the same or similar area • Potential for significant work for districts and licensees to manage the amalgamation of blocks. • Either the work is done now or later…work doesn’t change

25. Conclusion RESULTS will • provides capabilities for approving standards, amendments and key milestone declarations • identify what & where the reforestation obligations are • identify who owns the obligations and their status • record key harvesting and silviculture accomplishments • will provide inventory update capabilities to MSRM and TSR • provide ongoing performance records, compliance monitoring, and code effectiveness evaluation

26. An electronic framework – for a changing sector Integration of systems for savings of time and resources because of streamlined: Information entry/capture Proposal & approval processing Identification and declaring completion of obligations Business Efficiencies e-Forest Management - Meeting needs more swiftly in future

27. The Business Case • Time/Resource Savings • Gone are: • 5 different formats (down to 1) • Covering letters • Waiting for mail • Duplicate entry of data • 74,000 pages/year of officially required prescriptions. Information Entry/Capture • One submission standard • Single interface to submit to both MoF and MSRM databases • Single framework for Industry & MoF • One digital submission format for Silviculture reporting = Reduced number of requests for info from clients = Reduced volume of paper submissions = Reduced time it used to take for manual processing & duplicate entry

28. The Business Case • Time/Resource Savings • Gone are: • Covering letters • Waiting for mail • Making extra copies Proposal Processing • One proposal standard • Online approval and rejection of submissions = Quicker delivery of proposals = Shorten the overall time to get to approval stage = Reduced time it used to take for manual processing & duplicate entry

29. The Business Case • Time/Resource Savings • Gone are: • Making extra copies • Sifting through various kinds of data • Lack of access to spatial data • Example of streamlining:Vetting a declaration requires viewing it on one screen only. Vetting Declared Obligations • View both attribute and spatial/mapping info in one location! • One place for documentation and support for silviculture • Clarity about who owes obligation, what it is, and if it has been met. = Reducing time taken to assemble data for analysis e.g. timber supply = Managing information for improved analysis = Supplying a secure website = Benefiting from pooled info across Industry and MoF

30. Growing Forward • Moving on from traditional approaches • Seeking opportunities in this new framework: • Finding the benefits in new roles • Building on the electronic infrastructure for additional benefits including client relations management, and international marketing (SFI/CW).

31. Summary Current demands require solutions that balance: Saving time/resources with being able to meet responsibilities of stewardship and ensure effective business delivery. e-Forest Management - Meeting needs more swiftly in future

32. THANK YOU! • to Tony Dellaviola and the team at Pangaea • to Dave Ash and the team at Vivid Solutions • to John Gallimore/Brian Howden and the team at IMG • to Tim Salkeld and staff at MSRM • for your time and interest