Reports Tracking System To: "E - All WRD Employees" cc: "Lewis V Wade, ACH/Water Information, Reston, VA" , "Jo A Macy, Supervisory Hydrologist, Reston, VA" Subject: Reports Tracking System Mime-Version: 1.0 From: "Lewis V Wade, ACH/Water Information, Reston, VA" Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Date: Thu, 27 Mar 1997 13:00:51 -0500 Sender: "Dorothy M Woods, Secretary (AO), Reston, VA" In Reply Refer To: Mail Stop 440 MEMORANDUM March 27, 1996 To: Water Resources Division Employees From: Lewis V. Wade (signed) Assistant Chief Hydrologist for Water Information Subject: Reports Tracking System The Reports Tracking System (RTS) has been formally implemented Divisionwide for nearly 2 months, although it has been operational and undergoing evaluations for the last year. I realize that the mandatory use of the system adds yet another task to an already busy day for many of you, but what I would like to do in this memorandum is to share with you my thoughts as to why I believe this is a worthwhile effort and expenditure of time. The reports approval process has been evolving within the Water Resources Division (WRD) over the last several years. This evolution has taken us toward a more decentralized system that allows for flexibility in how we approach the reports preparation, review, and approval process. Room is allowed for experimentation, which can lead to an improved performance regarding the timeliness and quality of reports within the WRD. In recent years, we have heard a clear message from our customers-the quality of our products is excellent, but the timeliness of product delivery needs much improvement. This message came clearly through many channels; for example, the July 1994 report of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Customer Service Team. The message was heard by the WRD, and it has provided the impetus to many of the experiments with regard to reports approval that have been undertaken by the WRD in recent years. It is my opinion that when an organization, such as the WRD, undertakes to modify and improve the way we do an important part of our business-in this case, the preparation and approval of reports-it must do so with the ability to monitor and observe closely the results of such modifications. The current reports approval system as described in WRD Memorandum No. 97.14, dated January 27, 1997, calls for watching closely the performance of the WRD with regard to the timeliness of producing reports, the costs associated with producing reports, the quality of reports, the satisfaction of employees with the report process, and the customer's satisfaction with the usability of the report. The Reports Stewardship Team, which is organized around the Regional Report Specialists and other interested people within the WRD, is currently working on the issue of how we will make accurate and reliable measurements of such performance characteristics. The RTS was originally conceived to provide the WRD with accurate information for documenting, measuring, and evaluating the production of reports; the timeliness of reports preparation; and the costs associated with report preparation, printing, and distribution. In its current form, the system is aimed mainly at documenting and measuring the production of reports and the timeliness of reports preparation. It is hoped that the use of the system can be expanded in the future to capture information on the cost of reports preparation, printing, and distribution, but it seems prudent to begin with the all-important issue of timeliness. The design of the RTS was based on the following fundamental considerations: 1. It is important to have a Divisionwide system that provides basic documentation of its reports processing and information on the timeliness of reports preparation, and that allows for analysis of the effectiveness of different methodologies or approaches used in the process of reports preparation and approval. This analysis would allow the WRD's leadership to make a comparative evaluation of the different approaches of accomplishing this most important process. 2. As originally implemented, the data requirement for the RTS, should be no more onerous than the requirements of the manuscript-routing forms that were previously used to document report-processing activities. A modified manuscript-routing form, whose contents parallel those of the reports-processing steps in the RTS, is under development to facilitate entering information into the RTS. 3. The RTS would use the connectivity of WRD's computer networks to facilitate the ease of entering data and (or) extracting information from the system. 4. The RTS would be evaluated frequently with the goal of improving the user-friendly and utility characteristics of the system. Examples of modifications under consideration or underway include the automatic electronic transfer of abstracts and bibliographic information in the RTS to the Selected Water Resources Abstracts data base, the World-Wide Web, and the American Geological Institute bibliographic service, which prepares the monthly publication, "New Publications of the U.S. Geological Survey." Another RTS modification that is underway is the establishment of a link to the Automatic Number System, which is being developed for automatic assignment of report numbers for all USGS report series on a bureauwide basis. I am pleased with the efforts that many individuals have invested in this first formal version of the RTS. I realize, however, that it needs to be made better and more user friendly based on the comments and suggestions from you, the users of the system. Towards that end, we have been open and will continue to be so in receiving your comments and in modifying the system to reflect those comments. Please feel free to contact Celso Puente, Chief, Publications Services, at (703) 648-5601 or at email address with your comments or concerns. Let me attempt to answer several of the more common questions with regard to the RTS. They are as follows: 1. In my District, we already have a good system for tracking reports. Why do we need another system? A. It is very important that the WRD have the ability to integrate information on its performance regarding reports preparation and approval on a Divisionwide basis. Attempts were made to use the better features of preexisting systems, but it is necessary that the WRD operate an enhanced Divisionwide system so that it can maintain basic documentation of its report products and more accurately assess the performance of the WRD as a whole. 2. What's in it for my District? A. The production of high-quality reports that are on time is the responsibility of everyone in the WRD, although increased emphasis is being placed on the office from which a report originates. No single tool, method, or philosophy will ensure that our reports goals are met. A consistent set of information, however, can provide a basis for each office to evaluate its report processes. We recognize the value in the many ways each District has improved the quality and timeliness of its reports. We also believe that an RTS that can provide consistent, nonanecdotal information will be a valuable tool for those Districts that choose to measure their performance. This information can provide a common basis for dialogue among Districts that choose to compare report-processing methods or for an individual District to chart its own progress. We realize that an RTS will not, in and of itself, remedy all the shortcomings in reports processing, but for those who choose to use it, it can provide a positive instrument for improving our performance. 3. Why was this RTS system just thrust upon us without any warning? A. Attempts were made over the last several years to alert you to the coming of the RTS and to encourage your experimentation with the system before it became mandatory. I apologize if you thought that those were not adequate, and we will try harder in the future to alert you to other changes and, we hope, improvements in the RTS, as well as in other aspects of the WRD's reports-processing system. Let me close by thanking all of you who have spent considerable time and effort in these early stages on the use of the RTS. I ask for your continued support and efforts in making this system a success.