Managing and Planning Data Center Implementation

1. Managing and Planning Data Center Implementation Vickie Cunderla, Janet Wilson, Chris Jacobson Management Track M-28-2 May 8, 2007

2. Introduction • Data Center Coordination for R6 – Vickie • GIS Library Migration – Janet • Local unit lessons learned – Chris * Questions at the end *

3. R6DRM Leadership Team

4. 5 Customer Service Areas

5. Who is involved? • IRM – Information Resources Management • ISO – Information Solutions Organization • Region 6 DRM – Region 6 Data Resources Management

6. Who is involved • Region is a partner with IRM and ISO • Primary ISO contact is Jerry Black • Primary IRM contact is Martin Prather • Additional contacts related to each components • Regional Executive Lead • Single point of contact with IRM/ISO • Manages regional resources, priorities, and decisions. • Regional Technical Contact • Deals with day-to-day technical details

7. Seven Major Task Areas • Communications • Facilities Preparation • Application Migration • Data Migration • Web Migration • User Preparation • GIS Library Migration

8. Communications • Communicate with: • Regional and local leadership • User community • Other key groups in the Data Center Migration • What to communicate • When the migration will happen • How to prepare for the migration • User training

9. Facilities Preparation • Primarily focused on Site Local Servers • Requirements • Rack space, UPS, Electrical upgrades, potential HVAC upgrade, facilities • Requires coordination between: • Regional facilities engineers • Regional contracting • ISO facilities team • Local facilities engineers

10. Application Migration • National Application Migration Project • Implemented by IRM in 2005 • Inventory of all local, regional, and national applications • Oracle forms, MS Access, Other • Identify application sponsors • Can be started now • Decide • If each application is still needed • Convert as-is or re-engineer

11. Data Migration • How do we conduct business • New File Structure • Enterprise file structure appears as one system • Allows read access to most files by everyone • Exceptions for Human Capital Management, Fiscal, Law Enforcement • File re-engineering • Coordinate with ‘site contacts’ • Document what goes where and who gets access

12. Web Migration • Migration of all fsweb sites to new web server • Minor work needs to be done to web site • Mostly drag-and-drop, test first • Coordinate with ISO • Done separately from file re-engineering • Can be done independently of other tasks

13. User Preparation • Timing of user communication is crucial • Active Directory is the starting point • Inventory of who belongs to which organization/program area • Schedule training just before data migration • 2-3 weeks max • Performed virtually by ISO using web meeting

14. Summary of Region 6 DRM Resources • Regional Executive Lead • Regional Technical Lead • Communications Lead • Application Lead • 2 application developers • GIS Library Lead • 5 GIS Analysts • File Structure Lead • 4 Data Services Analysts

15. GIS Library Migration • Goal: Develop a consistent, and standard process to migrate GIS library data for 18 forests to the Portland Data Center • Charted team October 2005 • Representation from each CSA (6 members)

16. GIS Library Migration Goal: Develop a consistent, and standard process to migrate GIS library data for 18 forests to the Portland Data Center. Focus areas: • Implement the National File Structure • Migrate Forest extent data • fsfiles/ref/library/gis • Excluded other extents • Migrate coverage based data • Excluded remote sensing imagery processed data • Implement Region-wide permissions • Implement common projection • Recommend Site Local Services replications

17. Extents: (admin, non-admin, provincial extents) Number of Records in database: Number of ‘other extent’ records not addressed: Number of ‘forest extent’ records we focused on: Number of Legacy data set names: Number of Data Center standard names: Number of final reports posted on web: Number of working reports used for peer review: Number of themes to help categorize: 24 9000 4700 4300 2650 1006 72 25 20 GIS Library Inventory Statistics

18. National File Structure

19. GIS Library Permission’s • T:/library/gis/r06/ vs. • T:/library/gis/r06/<forest_extent>/ vs. • T:/library/gis/r06/<forest_extent>/<district>

20. GIS Library Migration Milestones: • Inventoried all coverage-based data sets • Established naming convention rules • Established standard naming conventions • Generated inventory (cross-walk) reports • Developed Data Maintenance procedures • Established group permission’s • Coordinated with the National File Structure team

21. GIS Library Web Site: Documentation found at: http://fsweb.wo.fs.fed.us/irm/data-centers/pdx/

23. GIS Library Migration Take home message - start now • Things to think about: • Forest-wide or Region-wide migration effort? • Is your Metadata ready to support the effort? • Will you migrate file-based data? • Will you develop a database for your inventory? • Are you familiar with the eGIS Nat’l File structure? • Will you develop DC Naming Convention rules? • Will you develop a DC Data Maintenance plan? • How will you implement permission’s?

24. GIS Library Migration Lessons Learned • Metadata is a requirement • Naming convention rules is a requirement • Peer review is a requirement • Inventory Database was a requirement • Knowledge of the eGIS file structure • More integration with SDE team • Chartered team scope was too narrow

25. Local Unit – Who Were They? • Deschutes NF • Fremont-Winema NFs • Ochoco NF • Western Wildland Environment Threat Assessment Center – PNW Station • Redmond Air Center • R6 Detached Employees • WO Detached Employees (approximately 1000 users)

26. Local Unit - Advantages of Migration • “Anywhere, Anytime” access to Forest Service data and information • Replaces failing hardware • Reduces maintenance costs • Allows work to be shared between units • Creates one look and feel for users • Leverages skills and tool development

27. Local Unit - Preparations Before Migration • Provided centralized GIS Library Migration • Assisted with hardware deployment logistics • Retrieved and learned tools to assist transition • Provided group training opportunities • Emphasized important messages for users

28. Local Unit – Migration Assistance • DRM team at most locations across CSA for on-site help for 2 days • On-site help team connected by Sametime instant messaging for 2 days • Helped users describe problem to Help Desk • Assisted users to find documentation

29. Local Unit – Migration Day Difficulties • T: S: & P: drives not mapped - Domain Name Services down due to power outage • “Where did my data go?” • Confusion between T: and S: drives • Users didn’t completely migrate to Active Directory • Users didn’t do training before the move • Confusion about Library folder showing in several locations of directory • Needed to know process for getting access to directories

30. Local Unit - After the Big Day • Citrix was not ready for prime time but the incredible speed will knock your socks off.. • SLS performance less than expected at some sites, team working to find resolution • Found SDE was too slow over WAN for desktop users so exported to pGDB • More coordination required when Library managed by extents

31. Local Unit - Lessons Learned • Consider the economy of scale when assigning work • Minimize the amount of changes at migration i.e. standard projection, naming conventions, etc. • Implement solutions before migration if possible i.e. layer files, GI, relative pathways, etc.

32. Questions?