**FPA Early Adopter Weekly Conference Call Notes**

**August 6, 2008**

Agenda in a Nutshell:

-   Roll call, news & recap

-   PowerPoint overview: Alternatives and Options

-   Demo: Generating reports

-   Questions from Early Adopters

At a glance:

+-----------+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Demo:     | Generating Output Reports -- you really need to read the |
|           | notes to get the full effect                             |
+-----------+----------------------------------------------------------+
| New:      | Early-adopter page is now on FPA's Web site              |
+-----------+----------------------------------------------------------+
| Next      | August 13 1100 MDT                                       |
| Call:     |                                                          |
+-----------+----------------------------------------------------------+
| "H        |                                                          |
| omework": |                                                          |
+-----------+----------------------------------------------------------+
| We say:   | **We appreciate you, early-adopters!!! Thanks for giving |
|           | it a shot.**                                             |
|           |                                                          |
|           | We hope you understand these notes                       |
+-----------+----------------------------------------------------------+

**Detailed Notes:**

+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Ed             | -   Roll call.                                      |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Nikki -- News, | -   New page on FPA web site for early-adopters.    |
| needs and      |     Anything pertinent to early-adopters will be    |
| recap          |     posted on that page.                            |
|                |     <http://www.fpa                                 |
|                | .nifc.gov/Implementation/Early_adopters/index.html> |
|                |                                                     |
|                | Or, go to FPA web site, hover over the              |
|                | Implementation tab on the navigation bar, select    |
|                | the "Early-adopters" from the menu                  |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Status spreadsheet will be emailed out to       |
|                |     early-adopters contacts this week. It is        |
|                |     finally ready to be sent out to you!            |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   emailed PM pre-analysis report                  |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Topics calendar revised and will be posted on   |
|                |     web site.                                       |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Changed this week's topic to how to prepare for |
|                |     validation run instead of doing the validation  |
|                |     run.                                            |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Keep track of your time spent on FPA stuff      |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Nikki- Brief   | -   See PowerPoint                                  |
| overview       |                                                     |
|                | -   These next few slides will set the stage for    |
|                |     today's demo on alternatives and options        |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   One preparedness option and one fuels option    |
|                |     combine to make an alternative. Most of the     |
|                |     Live Meeting calls focused on initial response  |
|                |     org so haven't covered fuels yet                |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   See summary on slides 6 and 7                   |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Alternatives, options and outcomes can be seen  |
|                |     by FPUs                                         |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Draft interagency guidance will be shared for   |
|                |     feedback from you, hope to have it finalized    |
|                |     and out to you in next few weeks                |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Using 2007 allocations but excluding national   |
|                |     resources, earmarks etc - see slide - will get  |
|                |     two separate dollar amts: total amount for      |
|                |     preparedness and total dollar amount for fuels. |
|                |     You will have to break out on your own to use - |
|                |     should not be new info to you - should have     |
|                |     seen before.                                    |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Cal -- Live    | Go thru same process as before to log in.           |
| Demo:          |                                                     |
|                | -   Go to run models area                           |
| running an     |                                                     |
| analysis       | -   Not all fire event scenarios (FES) were loaded  |
|                |     to the production server yet. Only a couple of  |
|                |     FPUs data were loaded, it will probably be      |
|                |     another week for the rest of you.               |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   You cannot run an analysis until the FES' are   |
|                |     loaded.                                         |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   We will use N WI as an example -- they do have  |
|                |     the ability to run an analysis.                 |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   There is a *Run* button where arrow is. It is   |
|                |     inactive until you fill in some details.        |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   When you run a full analysis, you will be       |
|                |     modeling 200 years.                             |
|                |                                                     |
|                | > To do the validation runs, only need to run 1     |
|                | > year.                                             |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   You can generate Initial Response Option        |
|                |     details report - can run a number of years to   |
|                |     persist the data, but for now we will just pick |
|                |     one year.                                       |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Now it shows the *Run* button is active         |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   You can click on check box to generate details  |
|                |     reports. Some are extremely detailed, for most  |
|                |     part won't need them but we will show you those |
|                |     today.                                          |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Management     | -   Preparedness options on left column. Fuels      |
| Alternatives   |     options are on row header. You control the      |
|                |     names of these options.                         |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   With multiple preparedness options which have   |
|                |     an increase % and decrease %, it would have 3   |
|                |     different lines showing current, increased and  |
|                |     decreased levels.                               |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   We don't have Fuel Options but if you had Fuels |
|                |     Options, it would show the names of these       |
|                |     options horizontally across the table           |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Fuel Options with their name and dollar amt     |
|                |     would show up on right side. There would be 3   |
|                |     columns                                         |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   For the validation run, we pick the IR box      |
|                |     under the fuel option. (If you were doing       |
|                |     multiple alternatives, you would select         |
|                |     individual combinations by checking a check box |
|                |     for each option in a matrix. You can select     |
|                |     individual combinations. Or the system can      |
|                |     check everything and run the full analysis.)    |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   We selected the IR box, will model for 1 year,  |
|                |     have a IR details report now will click run     |
|                |     button                                          |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Click Run button. You will see the status       |
|                |     showing up below in the Analysis Status box. It |
|                |     tells you that it has been queued, and when it  |
|                |     is complete.                                    |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Big runs with a lot of data will take a while   |
|                |     to process                                      |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Need to check boxes, everything else is fully   |
|                |     automatic                                       |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+

+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| **Reports**    | -   Go to Reports on navigation tree.               |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   [Input reports]{.underline} are not fully       |
|                |     functional.                                     |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Reports →      | -   [FPU Summary Output Reports]{.underline}        |
| Output reports |                                                     |
|                | -   If you look at the column labeled Output        |
|                |     Available -- this will show you if (and how     |
|                |     many) reports are available.                    |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Performance metrics not available yet so Output |
|                |     Report displays 0                               |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Right now only spreadsheet side works.          |
|                |     Eventually will have maps available             |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Also shows precondition for output availability |
|                |     -- what you need to do before running that      |
|                |     report                                          |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Output Reports | -   Will get report as excel spreadsheet. (Will get |
| **→ Ignition   |     a typical Windows-type box asking if you want   |
| Outcomes**     |     to *Open* or *Save* )                           |
|                |                                                     |
|                |     -   Keep in mind these reports will be          |
|                |         available on the system as long as the      |
|                |         analysis is on the system. If you delete an |
|                |         analysis, the reports that go with it go    |
|                |         away too.                                   |
|                |                                                     |
|                | > If you want the analysis and the reports, save    |
|                | > them                                              |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   We will just 'Open' for now.                    |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Our example has only 1 entry for current budget |
|                |     level so we get only one outcome summary report |
|                |     with information on current analysis. Would     |
|                |     have 3 reports if there were 3 options --       |
|                |     current, decreased % and increased %.           |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Name of file includes year, month, day, and the |
|                |     time this analysis was generated. The time is   |
|                |     the time on the server, which is in the Central |
|                |     Time Zone.                                      |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Double click on the file and it opens in Excel  |
|                |     with several tabs of info.                      |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| **Ignition     | -   Has the FMU names, FWA identifier (the name you |
| Outcomes** →   |     submitted with shapefile) then some column info |
| First Tab:     |     : contained shows the number of fires in each   |
| ***Fire        |     FWA contained                                   |
| Status***      |                                                     |
|                | -   [ESL time]{.underline} -- these are the fires   |
|                |     that exceeded simulation limit by a time that   |
|                |     you specify                                     |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   [ESL size]{.underline} -- these are the fires   |
|                |     that exceeds the size set for simulation limit  |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   [Outrun]{.underline} -- bugs in it: For example |
|                |     if you have a single tree fire on a wet day and |
|                |     your BI is 0, the rate of spread goes to 0 and  |
|                |     no resources are sent. Working to correct this  |
|                |     so it at least it gets a BI of .01 and they     |
|                |     will receive fire resources, and it won't show  |
|                |     as outrun.                                      |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   [No resources sent]{.underline} -- the reason   |
|                |     for this is that those FWAs are not associated  |
|                |     with any dispatch location, not on fed land. If |
|                |     an FWA doesn't have an association with         |
|                |     dispatch location, no resources will be sent.   |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   [Prevented]{.underline} -- if the prevention    |
|                |     module was fully operational, any successful    |
|                |     prevention activities would show up in this     |
|                |     column as the number of fire prevented.         |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   [WFU]{.underline} would be shown in the WFU     |
|                |     column                                          |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   [Not Modeled]{.underline} - Any fires not       |
|                |     modeled in last column. Don't know what fires   |
|                |     would be included here. Think its a hold over   |
|                |     from design beginning                           |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| **Ignition     | -   [Contained by FIL]{.underline} shows the fires  |
| Outcomes** →   |     by FWA which fires were contained and what      |
| Second Tab:    |     their size was by fire intensity level. Binned  |
| ***Contained   |     by flame length 0-2 ft, 2-4 ft. 4-6 ft. etc     |
| by FIL***      |                                                     |
|                | -   This report shows by FWA the number of fires    |
|                |     contained and average size by FIL               |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| **Ignition     | -   [Contained by fire class]{.underline} --        |
| Outcomes** →   |                                                     |
| Third Tab:     | -   Contained fire information binned by fire size  |
| ***Contained   |     class shows number of fires and average acre    |
| by fire        |     size for the fire size. Shows how many fires    |
| class***       |     were modeled together                           |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| **Ignition     | > [Ignition totals per year]{.underline} - Can use  |
| Outcomes** →   | > Excel to sum up the \# of fires that ESL and the  |
| Fourth Tab:    | > number contained, etc. Can also total up model    |
| ***Ignition    | > years. This example shows model year -- since     |
| Totals per     | > only did it for 1 year, there's only a 1. If you  |
| year***        | > did 200 years, becomes a pretty sizeable          |
|                | > spreadsheet.                                      |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| **Ignition     | -   [Deployed Fire Resource]{.underline} -- shows   |
| Outcomes** →   |     number of resources deployed by dispatch        |
| Fourth Tab     |     location and producer type                      |
| (Last Tab):    |                                                     |
| ***Deployed    | -   You will see a resource ID which is not your    |
| Fire           |     resource ID but is one the system tracks. Use   |
| Resource***    |     *resource identifier* to find your resources.   |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Can look at resource ID to see how many times a |
|                |     resource was used, where it came from, and if   |
|                |     resources are being deployed the way you think  |
|                |     it should be. Can use resource ID to see fire   |
|                |     resources in association with fire responses.   |
|                |                                                     |
|                |     -   The version identifier tells you what       |
|                |         version of the resource was used -- here it |
|                |         shows all resources were ver. A             |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Shows producer types and the dispatch location  |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   The \# deployed shows the number of times a     |
|                |     resource was deployed.                          |
|                |                                                     |
|                |     -   Useful to find those resources not used     |
|                |         very often and try them in a different      |
|                |         location. Can change location run an        |
|                |         analysis and see if it's used better from   |
|                |         another location                            |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| **Resource     | -   Shows same info as on last tab in previous      |
| Utilization    |     report. Under resource utilization reports      |
| report**       |                                                     |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| **Expected LF  | Expected large fire acres burned - No info in this  |
| Acres Burned   | report yet.                                         |
| report**       |                                                     |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| **PV Prog      | > [Prevention program effectiveness]{.underline} -  |
| Effectiveness  | > Based on the fuel options you generated.          |
| report**       |                                                     |
|                | -   It really is a report for fuel analysis (tab 1) |
|                |     and fuel statistics for FWA (tab 2)             |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   This report is under Prevention Program         |
|                |     Effectiveness -- but is in the wrong location!  |
|                |     It will be changed in next FPA release and put  |
|                |     in the Fuels Option under Treatment Detail.     |
|                |     (Click on the binoculars to get report.)        |
|                |     Hopefully, it will be available at end of Aug.  |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Tab 2 gives FMU and FWA names, the fuel model   |
|                |     name, fuel code, fuel description, fuel type    |
|                |     (13 or 40), and how many acres of the each fuel |
|                |     type you have and percentage of the FWA is      |
|                |     covered by the fuel types (according to system  |
|                |     used to generate fuels info: LANDFIRE, southern |
|                |     risk assessment or FPA).                        |
|                |                                                     |
|                |     -   What's in there now is from landscape files |
|                |         submitted by FPUs and processed by IBM to   |
|                |         put into the system.                        |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| **Detail       | -   Lots of info -- will show you by fire ID the    |
| Reports        |     specific info about that fire such as day,      |
| Ignition       |     discovery time, rate of spread.                 |
| Summary**      |                                                     |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| **IR Option    | -   Tells you the alternative ID (system generated  |
| input report** |     #), the fire ID number is there so every fire   |
|                |     has a number and the number here is in this FMU |
|                |     in this FWA. It is the day of the year from     |
|                |     Jan 1. Shows date, time, will show ERC and BI   |
|                |     calculations at time generated, FIL code,       |
|                |     surface fuel model, % slope, simulation limit   |
|                |     for fire size and time, fire discovery size.    |
|                |     These are all pieces of info you already        |
|                |     inserted in to program.                         |
|                |                                                     |
|                |     -   You don't need to worry about this right    |
|                |         now because it won't make a difference in   |
|                |         your validation run. The summary reports    |
|                |         will give you what you need for the more    |
|                |         immediate time                              |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   WFU Attributes                                  |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Some thoughts: | -   When labeling analysis use a clear label you    |
|                |     understand                                      |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Can check analysis status - in the lower part   |
|                |     of the window you can see what's going on       |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Output reports in spreadsheet form at this time |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Input report available in Sept                  |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Might want to save your early spreadsheets      |
|                |     because only way to save reports                |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Sue -- data    | -   Purpose of validation run is to validate user   |
| needs; setting |     input and the impact of how you do business in  |
| up for the     |     the real world on the FPA's Initial Response    |
| validation run |     Simulator                                       |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Focus on input data we've covered in last few   |
|                |     calls                                           |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Focus on those resources you used in 2006 or    |
|                |     2007 to do initial response on your unit.       |
|                |     Looking at know org, to determine if model is   |
|                |     responding the way it needs to be responding.   |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Need all the attributes set up for FWAs.        |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Make fire resources 100% available.             |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Recommend you associate all dispatch locations  |
|                |     to all FWAs to start.                           |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Have dispatch logic set up - needed so model    |
|                |     knows how to send resources to a fire.          |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Need daily staffing (for determining production |
|                |     rate) for this run but don't need staffing      |
|                |     costs just put a 0                              |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   No costs are needed for this run. If the system |
|                |     requires a cost input, just put in a zero.      |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Don't over think this run -- Use your basic     |
|                |     info and your best call on what numbers should  |
|                |     be                                              |
|                |                                                     |
|                | -   Hope to send out info on validation run and how |
|                |     to prepare for it.                              |
|                |                                                     |
|                |     -   Don't feel you have to get it right the     |
|                |         first time - Will have as many              |
|                |         opportunities as you need to complete a run |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| **Questions:** |                                                     |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Contracting    | Q: What is status of contracted work and how is it  |
|                | handled?                                            |
|                |                                                     |
|                | A: Guidance paper almost finished                   |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Running the    | Q: Did I understand correctly that a large fire run |
| IRS model      | needs to be completed before we can do a run?       |
|                |                                                     |
|                | A: No, but does need fire ignitions in system       |
|                | before can do run.                                  |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| User Guide     | Q: What is the status of the user guide? Where can  |
|                | I get another copy?                                 |
|                |                                                     |
|                | A: We do have 2 more chapters to share with you --  |
|                | and if you need another zip file let us know and    |
|                | we'll email it to you - we don't want to post it on |
|                | the internet at this time because it is still       |
|                | draft.                                              |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Baseline       | Q: Baseline amount -- are two separate totals --    |
|                | can we mix them?                                    |
|                |                                                     |
|                | A: No -- they will be kept separate.                |
|                |                                                     |
|                | Q: You mentioned a laundry list of what needs to be |
|                | done in what order to be input -- will that be sent |
|                | out?                                                |
|                |                                                     |
|                | A: No, didn't get it put together yet because we're |
|                | discussing what needs to go in and what detail.     |
|                | Will send out when done.                            |
|                |                                                     |
|                | We'll be setting up a tracking system to know where |
|                | FPUs are in the process so trying to find right     |
|                | level of detail.                                    |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Status         | Q: Status spreadsheets summarizing data for various |
| Spreadsheets   | FPUs. Can GA leads get copies of spreadsheets going |
|                | to early adopters so I know what has been sent in?  |
|                |                                                     |
|                | A: Yes FPA will send out.                           |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Validation Run | Q: When do you want us to have a validation run     |
|                | done?                                               |
|                |                                                     |
|                | A: Haven't set a date - waiting on IBM to get the   |
|                | ignition scenarios generated and uploaded. IBM says |
|                | it takes 2-3 hours to process each FPUs ignition    |
|                | data.                                               |
|                |                                                     |
|                | Early-adopters are on the priority list but so far  |
|                | haven't been done yet. Don't know if it's next week |
|                | or beyond that. Depends on when ignition is put     |
|                | together and uploaded. Can't determine a date until |
|                | that is done.                                       |
|                |                                                     |
|                | A: Donna added that we've generated ignitions 3     |
|                | times already but some agencies don't have all      |
|                | their data in. Will have to do a 4^th^ generation   |
|                | when all the data is in.                            |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
|                |                                                     |
+----------------+-----------------------------------------------------+