**FPA Early Adopter Weekly Conference Call Notes**

**July 16, 2008**

**Agenda** (in a nutshell)

1.) Recap of the previous week. Including any questions, issues,
successes, or challenges (15 minutes)

2.) Review of the next step(s) in the process, including a demonstration
of the User Interface (30 minutes)

3.) Follow-up questions (15 minutes)

At a Glance:

+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| You should have  | -   Your system password                          |
| received via     |                                                   |
| email:           | -   The draft User Guide                          |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   If you haven't received these, please contact |
|                  |     your mentor                                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| In the next      | -   Your FPU status spreadsheet showing the       |
| week, we will be |     information you have submitted for the data   |
| sending you:     |     requests earlier this year                    |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -                                                 |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Sent to FPU      | -   FPA-PM spreadsheet showing your PM inputs     |
| Administrators   |                                                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Location of Cost | <http://www                                       |
| Spreadsheets:    | .fpa.nifc.gov/Implementation/TechInfo/index.html> |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Fuels Models     | -   The Large Fire group in Boise will be         |
|                  |     contacting each FPU if you used a mix of the  |
|                  |     13 and 40 fuel model sets. You will need to   |
|                  |     choose whether to use the 13 or the 40 but    |
|                  |     not both, and convert your previously         |
|                  |     submitted fuels prescriptions into the set of |
|                  |     fuel models that you've chosen.               |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Homework         | -   Log onto the system with your new password.   |
| Summary:         |                                                   |
|                  | -   Copy and save your analysis, giving it a new  |
|                  |     name (this will be your backup copy)          |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   Go to **Input Data**, **Define Resources**.   |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  |     -   Review the resources that were brought    |
|                  |         over from PM. If corrections are needed,  |
|                  |         make appropriate changes.                 |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  |     -   You will need to add gallons for all      |
|                  |         engines.                                  |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  |     -   Mark a "Y" under Current if the resource  |
|                  |         is currently part of your organization.   |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  |     -   Add additional resources that are now     |
|                  |         part of your organization.                |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  |     -   Don't worry about air tankers, they will  |
|                  |         be added at the national level.           |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Next Call:       | Will be Wednesday, July 23 at 11:00 am MT. We'll  |
|                  | discuss the cost spreadsheets and the overall     |
|                  | process flow. Please take a look at the           |
|                  | spreadsheets so that you can ask questions.       |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+

Detailed Notes:

+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| **Presenter**    | **Discussion**                                    |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Sue Weber -      | Role call                                         |
| Intro            |                                                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Sue Weber -      | -   Passwords and User IDs were sent out. Some    |
| Updates          |     issues surfaced: the **change password**      |
|                  |     function in the system is not fully up and    |
|                  |     running. For now, stick with the password     |
|                  |     sent to you --we will notify you when the     |
|                  |     change password functionality is working      |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   We have set up an analysis for each FPU in    |
|                  |     the FPA system. When you go into the system   |
|                  |     you should see at least one analysis for your |
|                  |     FPU. The analysis you see will have "**2008   |
|                  |     +/-5%**" in the name. It contains the         |
|                  |     information migrated from PM. In order to     |
|                  |     save this information, please make a copy of  |
|                  |     this (you will have to give the copy a name)  |
|                  |     in case you should loose or detrimentally     |
|                  |     alter the analysis you are working on.        |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   Status spreadsheet (this shows the status of  |
|                  |     the data you submitted based on our data      |
|                  |     requests) -- we will mail this out to the     |
|                  |     FPUs. This is for your use.                   |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   FPA-PM input spreadsheets -- we will send out |
|                  |     these individually to each EA FPU. It         |
|                  |     contains some useful information from the     |
|                  |     previous PM analysis.                         |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Kevin Knauth     | We have updated direction on fuels prescriptions  |
|                  | and fuels treatments:                             |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   Draft tech paper -- needs some review here in |
|                  |     Boise and then we will post it on the web.    |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   The direction for FPUs submitting their "most |
|                  |     common fuels prescriptions" has changed - you |
|                  |     must use either the 13 or the 40 fuel model   |
|                  |     set for all prescriptions but not both.       |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   The chosen fuel model set must be used in     |
|                  |     [both]{.underline} the pre-treatment fuel     |
|                  |     model and the post-treatment fuel model.      |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   Implementation process:                       |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  |     -   FPA will make phone contact with all FPUs |
|                  |         that need to make changes to their fuels  |
|                  |         prescriptions for the Large Fire          |
|                  |         Simulations.                              |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  |     -   The changes may be necessary due to the   |
|                  |         new direction or other issues related to  |
|                  |         using the prescriptions in the Large Fire |
|                  |         Simulations                               |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   Think about how your fuels treatments will be |
|                  |     best represented by either the 13 or the 40.  |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   The majority of the Early Adopters used a     |
|                  |     combination of both sets of fuel models -- so |
|                  |     we will be contacting most Early Adopter      |
|                  |     FPUs.                                         |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Cal Gale         | Demonstration:                                    |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   Note: please refer to your ***FPA User        |
|                  |     Guide***, Defining Resources chapter for more |
|                  |     information.                                  |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | ```{=html}                                        |
|                  | <!-- -->                                          |
|                  | ```                                               |
|                  | -   Cal logged into the system and selected an    |
|                  |     FPU                                           |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   Go to **Input Data**, **Define Resources**    |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   The screen shows you a list of available      |
|                  |     resources -- this is the resources brought    |
|                  |     over by PM                                    |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   Under the column "Current" -- a Y indicates   |
|                  |     that resource was shown as a current resource |
|                  |     in your PM analysis.                          |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   When you highlight a resource, all the        |
|                  |     buttons on the bottom of the panel become     |
|                  |     active.                                       |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   In the **Add Resource** screen: keep in mind  |
|                  |     the resource identifier is a local identifier |
|                  |     -- something you use locally.                 |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   An "exclamation mark" next to the field means |
|                  |     it is a required field.                       |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   In the list of producer types (second table   |
|                  |     on the Define Resources screen, you will see  |
|                  |     the first one is ATT (air tanker). The        |
|                  |     functionality for air tankers is not complete |
|                  |     -- right now you could conceivably build an   |
|                  |     air tanker -- but that ability will not be    |
|                  |     available for you when the system is          |
|                  |     complete. Air tankers will be input in the    |
|                  |     system for you at the national level -- so    |
|                  |     don't worry about building them into the      |
|                  |     system.                                       |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | The entries relating to fire resources:           |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   **Resource identifier**: required, unique     |
|                  |     name supplied by the FPU for that resource    |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   **Version**: This is assigned by the system   |
|                  |     when you want to use the exact same resource  |
|                  |     (like an engine) but you want to reduce the   |
|                  |     staffing, or change its dispatch location or  |
|                  |     its start & stop dates. This is handy when    |
|                  |     you build different alternatives -- you may   |
|                  |     need to decrease staffing to fit within the   |
|                  |     budget for an alternative. The system will    |
|                  |     assign an alpha character by which to track   |
|                  |     the fire resource version.                    |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   **Current**: a check box to indicate which    |
|                  |     version of a resource is in your current      |
|                  |     organization.                                 |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   **Producer type**: the system provides a drop |
|                  |     down list of NWCG types for the resources.    |
|                  |     You cannot change this. If you need to have a |
|                  |     different producer type with the same basic   |
|                  |     information, copy the specifics and then      |
|                  |     create a new resource and enter the           |
|                  |     appropriate attributes. Note that before you  |
|                  |     can create a resource using an existing       |
|                  |     resource identifier the existing resource     |
|                  |     must be deleted first.**Unit ID: A dr**op     |
|                  |     down list to identify the owning unit.        |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   **Dispatch Location**: A drop down list to    |
|                  |     identify which **dispat**ch location this     |
|                  |     resource typically is located at.             |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   **Category**: A system provided drop down     |
|                  |     list of NWCG categories for the producer type |
|                  |     -- this field is automatically populated when |
|                  |     the Producer Type is chosen.                  |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   **Description**: A system provided definition |
|                  |     for the resource based on NWCG classification |
|                  |     or FPA- combined NWCG types. This is          |
|                  |     automatically populated based on Producer     |
|                  |     Types.                                        |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   **Gallons**: The user enters the gallon       |
|                  |     capacity of an engine. This is for engines    |
|                  |     only.                                         |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   **Daily staffing**: Specify how many people   |
|                  |     staff your resource on a [daily]{.underline}  |
|                  |     basis.                                        |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   **Total positions**: Refers to how many total |
|                  |     people it takes to staff your fire resource   |
|                  |     during the season -- if you're doing 7 day    |
|                  |     staffing -- it will most likely be a bigger   |
|                  |     number than the daily staffing.               |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   **Total FTEs**: User entered total of "Full   |
|                  |     Time Equivalents (FTE)" needed to staff the   |
|                  |     fire resource. Determine the total number of  |
|                  |     days all of your people are funded for on the |
|                  |     fire resource, and divide by 260. This number |
|                  |     will not always be identical to the number of |
|                  |     people who staff your fire resource.          |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   **Percent available**: What percent of the    |
|                  |     time is your resource available to perform    |
|                  |     initial response on the FPU? The system       |
|                  |     default is 100% but you can change it. If you |
|                  |     have Cooperator resources that are not always |
|                  |     available, you should change this to          |
|                  |     represent what percent of time they are       |
|                  |     available to the FPU. This could also be used |
|                  |     to represent how you use the "militia".       |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   **Hours begin/hours end**: Use the drop down  |
|                  |     menu to set the hour of the day the resource  |
|                  |     staffing begins and ends. For helicopters,    |
|                  |     keep in mind that you should set the maximum  |
|                  |     duty day (ex: 14 hours) instead of the normal |
|                  |     office work shift (8 hours). Don't worry      |
|                  |     about showing the time a resource is          |
|                  |     off-shift for lunch -- that is splitting      |
|                  |     hairs finer than we need to do for strategic  |
|                  |     planning.                                     |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   **Days of week start/stop**: This is not in   |
|                  |     the current version but will be in a later    |
|                  |     update. Use this feature to show the days of  |
|                  |     coverage for a particular fire resource to    |
|                  |     reflect its availability. Remember,           |
|                  |     [you]{.underline} decide if your resource has |
|                  |     7 day coverage or 5 day coverage or even less |
|                  |     than that. This is something you might want   |
|                  |     to change as your budgets increase or         |
|                  |     decrease.                                     |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   **Season begin/end**: Use the system calendar |
|                  |     to set the date that the fire resource's      |
|                  |     staffing begins and ends.                     |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   **Annual cost**: You will enter your cost of  |
|                  |     operating the resource, including staffing    |
|                  |     and vehicle operation costs such as WCF.      |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   **Vehicle Capital cost**: Only complete this  |
|                  |     field if you have to purchase a brand new     |
|                  |     vehicle to bring on this fire resource. This  |
|                  |     cost will track with an option but is not     |
|                  |     included in the total cost of the option.     |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   **Comments**: Put in any documentation you    |
|                  |     might want for your use.                      |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   When you hit **Save**, you need to have       |
|                  |     complete information in all required fields.  |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | -   Adding/deleting resources: There is a single  |
|                  |     background set of data for your resources.    |
|                  |     **If you delete a resource, it goes away and  |
|                  |     is no longer available for the other          |
|                  |     alternatives in the analysis. Be extremely    |
|                  |     careful about deleting resources. If in       |
|                  |     doubt, keep it in there.**                    |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Kevin Knauth     | How to access the cost spreadsheets:              |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | <http://www                                       |
|                  | .fpa.nifc.gov/Implementation/TechInfo/index.html> |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | Go into FPA webpage, and on the left hand side    |
|                  | select "**Implementation**", and then select      |
|                  | "**technical information**". On this page is      |
|                  | Preparedness workbook and fuels workbooks. These  |
|                  | are zip files. Within those are the actual cost   |
|                  | spreadsheets. The spreadsheets allow you to break |
|                  | your costs out into more detail than the system   |
|                  | asks for -- to assist you in keeping good cuff    |
|                  | records.                                          |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Sue Weber        | We received feedback from everyone on their       |
|                  | dispatch locations. I has been put into the       |
|                  | system and associated to the appropriate FPUs.    |
|                  | Thank you for the timely responses!!!!!!          |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Sue Weber        | Note: The previous iteration only allowed you to  |
|                  | do one or two analyses -- this time there is no   |
|                  | limit on how many analyses you are keeping in the |
|                  | system -- so you can have many analysis open to   |
|                  | work on, but in the end only one will go forward. |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Sue Weber        | Next call -- we'll discuss the cost spreadsheets  |
|                  | and the overall process flow. Please take a look  |
|                  | at the spreadsheets so that you can ask           |
|                  | questions.                                        |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Questions &      |                                                   |
| Answers:         |                                                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Fuel Models      | Q: For the pretreatment fuel models that we pick, |
|                  | do they have to be present in LANDFIRE Data?      |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | A: It works much better if they are -- if the     |
|                  | fuel model is not represented or                  |
|                  | under-represented it will not work as well. We    |
|                  | now have the ability to tell you how many acres   |
|                  | of a given fuel model that LANDFIRE says you      |
|                  | have, so we can work with you on this.            |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | Q: If your FPU is split into 2 different LANDFIRE |
|                  | map zones -- and one of those zones will be using |
|                  | Southern Wildfire Fire Risk Assessment -- which   |
|                  | only has the 13 fuels models, does that mean I    |
|                  | have to use the 13 fuels models?                  |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | A: Yes                                            |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Costs            | Q: Cost of the resource -- do we need to include  |
|                  | personnel costs for staffing?                     |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | A: Yes. Kevin is going to show later in this call |
|                  | the location on the web of the cost spreadsheets  |
|                  | that are available for you to accumulate these    |
|                  | costs.                                            |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Split Fire       | Q: Split fire season -- Can we show that?         |
| Season           |                                                   |
|                  | A: Yes -- you can do that when the season extends |
|                  | over the winter for example and there is minimal  |
|                  | or no activity in the summer Truly split seasons  |
|                  | with a snow covered landscape between spring and  |
|                  | fall can't be handled. We have not done much      |
|                  | testing on how well the model accommodates this   |
|                  | -- we can use your feedback.                      |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Fire Seasons     | Q: Fire seasons -- are we only talking about fire |
|                  | seasons and not prescribed burning?               |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | A: Yes, for this portion of the FPA system, we're |
|                  | only trying to capture preparedness resources for |
|                  | these inputs in the model. There are separate     |
|                  | spreadsheets for your prescribed fire program. We |
|                  | will discuss these in a future call.              |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Availability     | Q: Can you show availability for resources whose  |
|                  | first priorities are for prescribed fire?         |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | A: Yes, you have a few ways to do this. You can   |
|                  | show a decreased start/stop dates for initial     |
|                  | response, and you can show a decreased            |
|                  | availability.                                     |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Fuels            | Q: Will we build another data set for prescribed  |
|                  | fire resources that are used in initial response? |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | A: No, but we will go into more detail on fuels   |
|                  | options and treatments in a future call.          |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | Q: If I have 4 engines on a unit, and 3 are       |
|                  | available for wildfire, and the 4^th^ is only     |
|                  | used on fuels, should I show that 4^th^ engine?   |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | A: If you use the 4^th^ engine on initial         |
|                  | response, even just occasionally, there are       |
|                  | several ways you can model that engine. You can   |
|                  | alter its availability or show a reduced time     |
|                  | period that it's available.                       |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Staffing         | Q: Daily staffing: are we assuming 7 days a week? |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | A: No, it's up to you to show the availability of |
|                  | the engine -- 7 days/week, 5 days/week, etc.      |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Staffing         | Q: How do you show 5 day staffing?                |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | A: In Release 5, iteration 2, the system will     |
|                  | have a field to enter the days of the week that a |
|                  | fire resource is available. That functionality is |
|                  | not available at this time. When it is available, |
|                  | you would show it as follows: for 5 day staffing, |
|                  | you would show which 5 days of the week the       |
|                  | engine is available. For 7 day staffing, you      |
|                  | would show all the days of the week. There will   |
|                  | also be a call back delay for times when a        |
|                  | resource is called back to work on their days     |
|                  | off.                                              |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| FTE:             | Q: Is the FTE block required?                     |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | A: Yes. Although it is not used in the modeling   |
|                  | of the resource, it is required because it is     |
|                  | needed for national budget reporting.             |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+
| Process          | Q: Is there any sequence or order of importance   |
|                  | for which we should be inputting the data?        |
|                  |                                                   |
|                  | A: We will have to develop a "laundry list" --    |
|                  | with info and the order for inputting information |
|                  | into the initial response module as well as the   |
|                  | overall system.                                   |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------+