Phase II: Designing the Solution Process (April 2008 - April 2009)

Phase I of the JFSP Software Tools and Systems (STS) study ended in March 2008. The contractors for Phase I, members of the Software Engineering Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, completed a report which represented a strategic analysis of the problem: fire and fuels managers are faced with an assortment of unconnected software systems in various stages of development with little guidance on how and when to use them and no framework for integration and fusion of data and outputs. The JFSP came to understand through its interactions with SEI that a platform that supports distributed collaboration includes certain key components:

-	A software framework architecture that facilitates use and integration of data and scientific models, including a common user interface and shared data structures
-	The flexibility for users to select and compose their own data and chain of models to help solve their own specific problems
-	A clearly articulated set of standards so that software developers can develop models and modules that will function within the software framework architecture
-	A lifecycle management system with processes to set priorities for software system development, training, and retirement

Mike Rauscher, the project manager of the STS study for JFSP, was engaged in April 2008 to manage Phase II. The primary objective of Phase II was to design a collaborative system software architecture that could be used to Pilot Test the effectiveness of the strategic elements identified above. The Fuels Management Committee identified the fuels treatment analysis and planning problem as the management concern of highest priority for the STS Pilot Test. A new contractor, Sonoma Technology Inc. (STI) based in Petaluma, CA, was engaged to perform the architectural design and began work in July 2008. Tami Funk was assigned project manager for the STI part of the study. A 12 member advisory board, consisting of representatives from research and management across DOI agencies and the USDA Forest Service, was convened to help guide Phase II.

Progress in Phase II has been rapid as can be seen by viewing the Timeline of Major Accomplishments (see below) and the Goals of the IFTDSS Project. Work in Phase II has been organized into three elements:

Evaluate and analyze the most important and useful existing systems in the fuels treatment planning focus area. This element consists of identifying and characterizing the key fuels treatment planning processes that field practitioners use and the key software systems they use to implement those processes. The major work under this element falls into the following categories:
-	Review and analysis of currently existing fuels treatment planning systems and approaches. [Link to the "Findings of the Current Practices and Needs Assessment for the Interagency Fuels Treatment Decision Support System (IFTDSS) Project" document]
-	Survey field fuels treatment specialists to identify which of the current software systems or processes are in fact being used most frequently. [Link to the "Summary of Fire and Fuels Specialists Software Tools Survey" document]
-	Review and analyze the data availability and quality issues that surround and in many ways determine the type of fuels treatment planning process that fuels specialists actually use. [Link to the "Summary of Data Related Issues as they Affect the JFSP IFTDSS Development and Deployment" document]
Design and Test a Collaborative System Architecture (CSA) to demonstrate that Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) platforms provide the technical solution for the STS Study and that they are feasible both from a computer science perspective and from a cost perspective. The major work under this element falls into the following categories:
-	Conceptual Design of the IFTDSS. [Link to the "Interagency Fuels Treatment Decision Support System Conceptual Design" document]
-	Review and Evaluation of existing potential Collaborative System Architectures. [Link to the "Application of Service Oriented Architectures in the Fuels Treatment Community" document]
-	Technical Architecture Design of the IFTDSS. [Link to the "Interagency Fuels Treatment Decision Support System (IFTDSS) Software Architecture" document]
Design and test a Software Life Cycle Process that all communities (Fire Directors and Staff; scientists, system developers, and science administrators; and system users and fire/fuels managers) can support. Ideas on how to move forward in this element are still evolving as of February 2009. Current thinking is that the IFTDSS Phase III prototype project will be used as the concrete test case for the NWCG IT Investment Management Process.

A briefing concluding Phase II of the STS Study was given to the Joint Fire Science Board on March 31, 2009 in Boise, ID. The annotated powerpoint presentation used for that briefing is provided. [Link to "The Development of an Interagency Fuels Treatment Decision Support System" powerpoint]

Phase II Timeline of Major Accomplishments

A timeline for the major accomplishments for Phase II is as follows:

-	May 2008: Phase II project meeting with Advisory Board in Boise, ID held to plan how to complete objectives. Michele Tae was engaged as a contractor to help put together the Conceptual Design Document for the IFTDSS.
-	July 2008: Sonoma Technology Inc. (STI) came on contract.
-	August 2008: publication of the Interagency Fuels Treatment Decision Support System (IFTDSS) Conceptual Design document. Reviewed by fire and fuels managers and scientists, August - November 2008. Review comments consolidated and returned to reviewers as a response to their ideas, January 2009. Final revised document completed, January 2009.
-	July - November 2008: conducted an email based survey of fuels treatment field specialists to assemble a list of currently used software support tools for fuels treatment analysis and planning. Survey completed and results published with 49 respondents covering all agencies and all geographic sections of the United States. Results will be communicated back to this group in January 2009 and they will be asked to participate in Phase III of this study and function as the representatives of the target audience to test and guide the development of the IFTDSS.
-	October 2008: completed an analysis of the data issues which surround the development and use of the IFTDSS. A data issues summary for public consumption and consideration is available.
-	October 2008: STI completed a review of the existing software systems and summarized their findings in a document entitled "Findings of the Current Practices and Needs Assessment for the IFTDSS Project."
-	November 2008: STI completed a review of existing collaborative platform frameworks in order to understand what has been done and how it has been done. STI summarized their findings in a document entitled "The Application of Service Oriented Architectures in the Fuels Treatment Community."
-	December 2008: Second and last Phase II project meeting in Boise, ID. STI presented their findings and the implications of those findings for the design process of the IFTDSS. The Advisory Board approved of the plans for finishing Phase II on time in March 2009.
-	January - February 2009: the IFTDSS architectural design will be crafted.
-	March 2009: the IFTDSS design document will be completed and the Phase II project will be reported at a Joint meeting of the JFSP Board and the NWCG in Boise ID the last week of March. This accomplishment will mark the end of Phase II activities.