NRCS Future Directions 5 Year Invest Strategy Changes in Technology Delivery Changes in Architecture

Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Program Delivery System Across 3,000 offices, NRCS services 1.2 million conservation plans and 500,000 program grant records in a national system (250,000 applications per year) The system contains 8 million geospatial land units and 22 million conservation practice records Between 5,000 and 35,000 electronic customer folders are checked out and serviced each day NRCS disperses $2 billion in financial assistance for conservation on agricultural land

NRCS Has ALWAYS been about Change Helping Customers change their business practices to solve problems (erosion), be more conservation based (sustainability), and be more profitable (the bottom line). Conservation Program changes with each new fiscal year NRCS Workforce is constantly changing NRCS Organization is always changing in response to improved customer service, efficiency, diversity, and cost of operations Conservation Planning is about managing change Conservation Technology is always changing

Business Enabling Technologies Business Driver Enabling Technology Improved Customer Service Common and secure Web access to customer information – Customer Statement Anywhere, Anytime access to National Conservation Planning Database, eFOTG, Conservation Contracts (ProTracts), Electronic Payments Team Coordination Concurrent online access to Case files, technical references Computerized vs Paper-based contracts Email, net conference, and cell phone access 24x7 Efficiency and Cost of Operations Electronic government with fewer forms Reliable, secure, and high performance Internet Streamlined communications and transfer of documents Mobile Workforce Virtual office - mobile computers, network, voice communications, and online access to customer files, agency documents, and technical references Work efficiently at home, in office, on the road, or at customer’s location Access to Information Mobile Computing - Tablets/Notebooks, ToolKit, mobile broadband, blackberry/cell phone/PDA provide ready access to business data Centralized databases for conservation plans, geospatial data, financial data, policies and procedures

4/22/2017 1:11 AM Top 10 CIO Priorities Gartner - Top 10 CIO Business and Technology Priorities in 2006 Top 10 Business Priorities Ranking Top 10 Technology Priorities Business process improvement 1 Business Intelligence applications Controlling enterprise operating costs 2 Security technologies Attracting and growing customer relationships 3 Mobile workforce enablement Improving competitive advantage 4 Collaboration technologies Improving competitiveness 5 Customer sales and service Using intelligence in products and services 6 Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) Security breaches and disruptions 7 Workflow management Revenue growth 8 Networking, voice and data communications Faster innovation 9 Virtualization Faster innovation and cycle times 10 Legacy application modernization Source: Gartner Executive Programs (EXP) (January 2006) Survey of 1,400 CIOs http://www.gartner.com/press_releases/asset_143678_11.html © 2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This presentation is for informational purposes only. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, in this summary. 5

Five-Year Information Technology Investment Strategy – Principles Provision the employee and not the office to the extent possible Maximize the mobility of the employee to the extent possible Optimize partnerships and leverage capabilities Reduce total IT costs as a percentage of agency operations, from 10% to 8% Convert to commercial managed services to the extent possible

Five-Year Information Technology Investment Strategy - Actions Voice Convert office phone systems to managed service, where necessary Managed service for cell phones Data Network Wireless broadband connection for each employee Remove land line data connection to county offices Hosting Move business applications to two commercial hosting locations Remove server capacity at county offices

Five-Year Information Technology Investment Strategy - Actions End User Support Managed service to provision and support computers to employees Managed service contract for print, copy, scan, fax, and plotter services Business Applications and Data E-mail, messaging, collaboration provided as a managed service (called USDA enterprise messaging) Virtual offices Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software Business functionality deployed as plug-ins in the CRM framework, and also outside the USDA network through commercial farm management software.

ITS Status and Trends VOICE ($92 per month per employee) NETWORK ($109 per month per employee) WEB FARMS ($57 per month per employee) OFFICE and USER SUPPORT $75 per month per employee for hardware/software/leases/etc $100 per month per employee for technical support Annual cost per employee = $5,200 Annual cost per office = $28,000

The Future Model… Vehicle with broadband connection for mobile training and service delivery Web Farm Conservation Plans Cost-Share Agreements Technical Guidance District Conservationist coordinates activities of those engaged with providing services in the watershed Partner records GPS coordinates and uploads to NRCS database NRCS Main Office NRCS employees process cost-share agreement payments NRCS field conservationist services producer need using Toolkit, ProTracts, or other tool Producer uploads data to USDA database through conservation plug-in tool Producer gets on-line and applies for EQIP, CSP, or other program TSP provides service to producer; uses conservation plug-in tool

Water and Climate Information System (WCIS) NRCS Application Systems CPD NRIIA Customer Service Toolkits Program Contracts Smartech E-FOTG Smartech Engineering Smartech Resource Analysis Integrated Accountability Program Operations Management Applications Natural Resource Data Collection and Management Natural Resource Data Warehouses and Marts Natural Resource Data Information and Delivery National Resource Inventory Water and Climate Information System (WCIS)

Operational or Transaction Databases FRAMEWORK for ORGANIZING and MANAGING DATA COLLECTION AND INTEGRATION STORAGE & MANAGEMENT ACCESS Data Marts Operational or Transaction Databases Web Services Data Warehouse Order Soil Metadata Catalog data entry and processing reformatting reprocessing integration standardization documentation certification View Updates Plant Extract, Transform, Load Tabular Data Water Climate Analyze Spatial Data Imagery Data Ecological Site Report Wildlife

Data Management Architecture

USDA Customer Relationship Management 4/22/2017 1:11 AM USDA Customer Relationship Management Conservation Contract Management Embedded Virtual Earth Maps and Imagery CRM Conservation Plans Land Units and Conservation Practices Customer Files stored in SharePoint Cross-agency coordination Analysis by State, County, Watershed, Service Center, etc… 14 ©2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This presentation is for informational purposes only. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, in this summary.

CRM Integrates Right Into Outlook

Conservation Planning Case File

CRM - Virtual Earth

Grants Management in USDA Thirteen USDA agencies disperse a combined $50 billion in grants each year More than 150 programs Low volume, high amount (e.g. food assistance, research) High volume, low amount (e.g. farms to improve water quality) Six agencies at least partially automate their grants management

Federated Approach to Streamlining Grants Management in USDA USDA Enterprise Messaging (Outlook/Sharepoint) Customer Relationship Management (CRM) USDA Grants System Agency Business System Agency Business System Agency Business System Agency Business System Agency Components (e.g. ProTracts) Agency Business System Agency Business Systems (e.g. Toolkit) Grants Management and Administration (USFS) USDA Loan System (RD) USDA Invoice System (USFS) USDA Financial System (FMMI)

Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Service Oriented Architecture Business Application Database Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) Web Services Web Services Web Services Database Database Database

(outside USDA network) Conservation Plug-In Architecture Interagency Plug-In Commercial Partner NRCS CRM S/W Plug-In Plug-In NRCS Internal Transaction Broker NRCS Web Services Commercial Transaction Broker NRCS Customer Folders Conservation Plans Financial Assistance Notes Files Commercial Partner Commercial Partner Plug-In Plug-In Field Office (inside USDA network) TSP Office (outside USDA network) USDA Web Farm