Edited By Bob Monn

Ecology's EPIC Solution for Meeting Employee Data Needs

April 1999 Board Meeting

Earl W. Heister, the Newest Information Services Board Member

Ecology's EPIC Solution for Meeting Employee Data Needs

By Marjorie Frith, Department of Ecology's Employee Services and EPIC Business Team Lead

In February 1999 Ecology's new Employee Plus Information Computer (EPIC) System was released. It provides commonly needed employee information to Ecology staff through the agency's Intranet. A limited set of information also is available to the public through Ecology's Internet site.

Ecology had no integrated employee database available for agency-wide or program-specific systems. This resulted in the same information being tracked in many different places, problems with data integrity and management reporting, and an overall lack of efficiency in processing employee information across the agency.

A project team (comprised of the project manager, business lead, and technical lead) was created to work with a business team and a technical team to identify business needs for employee data and evaluate alternatives for implementing an employee database. This effort was initiated to serve administrative needs (such as notifying Facilities and Information Services staff of service needs of employees); create a central employee database to be accessed by internal Ecology information systems; serve as the foundation for a future comprehensive human resource management system; and address the need for an accurate up-to-date phone directory for employees. The project had an executive sponsor and the project team's work was guided by an executive steering committee.

To gather information on business and computer system needs, input was sought from employees, managers, and agency application developers. The project team also met with selected state agencies to review their systems for managing employee data. The team also analyzed the role that the Department of Personnel's new (then developing) Data Warehouse could play in providing data to the system.

The EPIC Requirements Study was completed in March 1997 and received management approval and funding to build the system. Due to other priority projects and staff availability, the project did not actually begin until August 1998. Since the information needed to be available to all employees, a web-based solution was pursued for ease of deployment and to further develop Ecology's expanding use of web-based applications. The Puget Sound Systems Group was selected as a consultant to lead the development effort.

Due to the nature of the project, the Business Team consisted of approximately 20 people representing all of the programs, regions, and administrative functions within Ecology. In order to quickly refine the system design requirements, a Design Team of six people was created. They met to develop the project goals and requirements; business processes and rules; and design screens, reports and operational procedures. The Design Team's work was taken to the full Business Team and Executive Steering Committee for approval.

The software used in the development included Netscape Enterprise Server 3.6, server-side and client-side JavaScript, HTML/DHTML, Crystal Info 6.0, UNIX scripts to FTP and BCP files, IE 4 SP1 browser (intranet only). The Internet version is supported by Netscape 3.0, Internet Explorer 3.0, and later browsers. To accommodate users of other browsers we have published some information in HTML tables. To handle performance issues, some reports are created nightly in batch mode while others are dynamically created.

The Puget Sound Systems Group contractors did the majority of the JavaScript programming, report development and SQL development for the intranet application. Ecology staff developed the Internet version. Knowledge transfer from PSSG was included as a critical part of the project in order for Ecology staff to effectively administer and maintain the system.

Data was migrated from eight sources to populate the system initially. Data coordinators within each of Ecology's programs and regions were responsible for data cleanup and will provide on-going maintenance of the data. In addition, selected information is downloaded weekly from the Department of Personnel's Data Warehouse.

In order to minimize potential problems, EPIC was released in phases over a two-week period. E-mail messages were sent out with the web link and directions. The release went smoothly and there were no major problems.

All employees have access to phone numbers, fax numbers, E-mail addresses, supervisor, location, workstation, and subject area contacts. People with security access can view position numbers, job class, appointment type, and historical information. Agency application developers have access to the data for use in other information systems via direct connections to the database.

The Internet address is http://www.ecy.wa.gov/org.html (Link updated 05/01/04). Select Ecology Expertise Directory: frames/database version, or Ecology Telephone/E-Mail Directory: Frames/database version. Selecting "Organization" on Ecology's home page (http://www.ecy.wa.gov/)  (Link updated 05/01/04)also will get you to the application. This is a small subset of the data that is available through Ecology's Intranet.

Planned Enhancements:

Efforts are underway to incorporate EPIC data into existing and new agency applications as well as to populate phone and organization information in the Exchange system. An electronic form will be added. Forms under consideration are administrative service requests, leave slips, and training and development registration requests. Potential future enhancements include telephone line tracking and facilities management.

For more information on EPIC, contact Lynn Singleton, Ecology's Information Integration Project Manager, at (360) 407-6610 or lsin461@ecy.wa.gov (Link removed 05/01/04).

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April 1999 Board Meeting Minutes

Members Present: Jim Albert, Al Bloomberg, Phil Grigg, Dennis Laine, Mike McVicker, Bob Monn, Darrel Riffe, and Shelagh Taylor.

Shelagh Taylor, IPMA Vice-Chair, opened the April 8, 1999, meeting of the Board at approximately 7:40 a.m.

Secretary: The minutes of the March Board meeting were approved.

Treasurer: Bob Monn distributed the monthly financial report from Phil Coates, IPMA Treasurer, who was unable to attend the meeting. The report was approved by the Board subject to an explanation of the Accounts Payable item.

Business Planning: Shelagh Taylor presented the report on the status of the IPMA investment portfolio. The Board expressed an interest in a future Board discussion of the "mapping" of the value of the IPMA investment portfolio in the monthly financial report to that shown in the monthly report from Merrill-Lynch.

Executive Seminar: Darrel Riffe and Phil Grigg reported that next month they will review arrangements with Skamania Lodge for the 1999 Executive Seminar. They also noted that they are seeking ideas for the courtesy gift. Discussion of the proposed contract with Andersen and Associates and related issues was deferred to the next agenda item. There also was a brief discussion of the location and dates for the 2000 Executive Seminar. Decisions will be sought within the next six to eight weeks; a change in dates to avoid the conflict with the Legislative Weekend will be considered.

Fall Forum: Jim Albert presented proposals from the Fall Forum Committee to increase the price for a vendor booth from $750 to $795 (and from $900 to $950 for late registration) and to increase the number of corporate sponsors to 20. The Board approved these proposals with the understanding that the Executive Seminar attendance would be increased in 1999 to 60 agency staff. The Executive Seminar Committee will identify organizations which have not been represented in recent seminars and will solicit their participation in 1999.

Jim Albert also presented the proposed addendum to the Andersen and Associates contract for 1999 services related to the Fall Forum and the Executive Seminar. The proposal was approved by the Board with modification to provide some flexibility for the IPMA committees to make direct arrangements for several speakers.

Jim Albert reported the following additional Fall Forum news:

• Two new committee members - Debbie Stewart (Ecology) and Sue Fleener (DOL) - had been recruited in the past month.
• "E-Government-Services on Demand" has been selected as the theme for Forum 99.
• A survey would be distributed in the next week or so to IT managers soliciting input on specific topics for the six conference tracks to provide guidance on speaker selection.

Professional Development: Dennis Laine reminded the Board of the May 6th event on "Business Intelligence" to be conducted by IBM and DSHS. He also reported tentative plans for a July event to be conducted by HP.

Communications: Bob Monn previewed the content of the May issue of IPMA News and reported on tentative plans for the June issue. He also reported that he had made arrangements with IPMA's web hosting service for a listserv; the listserv is expected to be operational next week. Bob requested guidance from the Board on the disposition of IPMA's old laptop and noted Phil Coates' interest in purchasing it; the Board approved donating the laptop to Phil to support his work as IPMA Treasurer and to recognize his many years of service to the Board.

The meeting adjourned at 9:00 a.m.

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Earl W. Heister, the Newest Information Services Board Member

On February 10, 1999, Governor Gary Locke appointed Earl W. Heister, of Richland, Washington to the Information Services Board, filling a vacant private sector member position.

Mr. Heister is the Chief Information Manager for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). As the CIO, Mr. Heister is responsible for development of the five-year computing and networking strategy, operations and management of the Information Technology Infrastructure, development of PNNL's management information systems, and customer services. In addition to his CIO duties, Mr. Heister manages a significant software systems engineering business, developing first-of-a-kind solutions for governmental and commercial clients.

Since joining Battelle in 1989, Mr. Heister has been the project manager for the Automated Land Management and Records System (ALMRS), the Automated Utilities Technical Information Management System (AUTIM), and the Facilities Integrated Manufacturing Management System (FIMMS). He also participated in development of the Hanford Environmental Information System (HEIS). Additionally, he has participated in the formal review of proposals and concept papers for other systems at Battelle. Mr. Heister has managed the organization's Systems Engineering Group.

Prior to joining Battelle, Mr. Heister served for 23 years in the United States Marine Corps. During this period his experience ranged from programming, systems analysis and design, teaching programming and systems design, managing a data processing installation, to developing information systems in support of tactical operations.

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