About the Application

The I-Suite application consists of a Resource, Cost, Time, Incident Action Plan, and Supply Units.

These units are integrated, which means they have a similar user interface, and share a common database. Data only needs to be entered once to be available to all of the different areas.

About the Project

In April of 2001, the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) Incident Business Practices Working Team (IBPWT) chartered a task group to review and evaluate existing applications being used at incidents, and recommend a short-term incident base automation solution. Based on this study, the IBPWT and Information Resource Management Working Team (IRMWT) recommended to NWCG that I-Suite be supported as the interim incident base automation tool until such time as a formal incident base automation project is executed resulting in a replacement for I-Suite. The project, the Interagency I-Suite Stabilization and Support Project, is the first phase of multiple projects that are intended to put in place an Incident Base Automation System and develop standards for incident processes on an interagency basis.

The project team is working to update the application to support the current business need, to stabilize the components of the application for seamless interaction between them and to provide user support in the form of a fully staffed helpdesk, user guides, and training materials.

Other Project Goals

Data Management has been a perennial problem for Incident Management Teams. The IISS project team will be recommending standardizing processes for data management during team transitions and providing an electronic data repository for storage of data that can be made available for future analysis or review.
Incident computer infrastructure standards, including hardware and security requirements for the use of I-Suite will also be addressed.

What's Next?

Concurrent with Phase 1 of the Incident Base Automation - the Interagency I-Suite Stabilization and Support Project - is Phase 2 - the Incident Base Automation Strategic Planning Project. With a goal of beginning analysis in the summer of 2004, the strategic planning process will:

• Identify Key Business Areas
• Conduct Business Area Analysis
• Conduct Strategic Planning
• Prioritize and recommend Phase 3 Projects

Phase 2 will identify high level needs for changes to or elimination of current incident business practices that may or may not be currently automated, as well as the interconnectivity requirements between the various incident management functions. Efficiency, consistency and ease of the use are the goals for recommendations from this analysis.

Phase 3 of Incident Base Automation could consist of a variety of multiple component projects. Management will be able to prioritize funding and staffing of the recommended projects based on the input gained from the Phase 2 evaluation. Phase 3 may contain both infrastructure and business area components.