NOAA MARS Implementation Deployment Support Thursday October 4, :30 pm EDT

Agenda Background on the MARS application Desktop and application requirements Role of local IT support MARS Support Pre-Deployment activities Contact information

Background The Management Analysis and Reporting system (MARS) is an enterprise budget execution and financial reporting application for line, staff offices, and FMCs Functionality allows users to track commitments, forecast labor, plan execution-year budgets, and conduct financial reporting and analysis Primary MARS data source is the Commerce Business System (CBS), NOAA’s financial accounting system MARS DEPLOYS OCTOBER 15

Background MARS integrates 2 existing applications: the Financial Reporting System (FRS) used in NMFS and Business Objects used in NWS. –FRS is a custom, Oracle-based application –Business Objects is a COTS business intelligence tool FRS is the data entry module of MARS Business Objects is the reporting and analysis module MARS requires 2 separate log-ins until single sign-on is implemented in FY08 or FY09

Background With the implementation of MARS these Line Office applications will be retired: –FRS in NMFS –COAST in NOS –TAPS in NMAO –Business Objects / OLAP in NWS, and –FDMS in OAR (users will have read-only access to historical date beginning )

Background The NOAA Chief Financial Officer, Maureen Wylie, is the MARS system owner The NOAA Information Technology Center (ITC) in Largo, MD is hosting the application Development team comprised of personnel in the NMFS OCIO office, the NWS OCFO office, and OAR PMEL office

MARS Solution End-State

Desktop Requirements

Application Requirements Java –Sun 1.4.2_xx –Sun 1.5.0_xx –Apple 1.4.2_xx J-initiator - version Adobe Reader - version 5.0 or higher The user may download the applications by going to and clicking on the Downloads drop-down menu at the top of the pagehttps://mars.rdc.noaa.gov

MARS User Accounts and Passwords MARS Support will provide user IDs and passwords to users prior to deployment Recommend users change their passwords at initial log-in MARS Support will handle all MARS account administration

Role of Local IT Support Staff Assisting MARS users in downloading and installing the correct version of Java, J-initiator, and validating other desktop requirements Establishing VPN accounts for MARS users who telework or work outside a NOAA network Helping MARS development team and ITC troubleshoot connectivity issues Contacting MARS Support for users who are unable to resolve connectivity issues

Pre-Deployment Activities for Local IT Support Assist MARS users in your office by: –Verifying connection to –Establishing VPN accounts for users who require access to MARS while teleworking, or when outside a NOAA network –Confirming desktop requirements; installing j-initiator, Java, and Adobe Reader –Troubleshooting connectivity issues with local network team, MARS Support, the NOAA Network Operations Center (NOC), and / or the NOAA ITC NOAA ITC Support line is

MARS Support MARS Support, operated by the NMFS help desk, will provide support to MARS users Mon - Fri 7:30 am - 5:30 pm EDT Users may contact the help desk via or phone: – MARS development team members will provide tier 2 level support to MARS users NOAA ITC and NOC will provide tier 3 level support

Contact Information For MARS technical issues or questions, contact the MARS support All other MARS-related questions may be directed to Marie Lovern, MARS project manager, at or