Workshop for the Forest Service’s Region 3

The United States Forest Service’s Region 3 (the southwestern region, to be more specific) required a workshop in order to improve efficiency and to close any gaps in IT efficiencies. Also, to trend towards better product definition and alignment. To do so, Xentity provided its data solution design services to transform R3’s GIS services.

Why the Forest Service Needs a Workshop

The big challenge of this workshop was the requirements that had to be fulfilled in order for it to be considered “worthwhile” for the USFS. They had to know regional resources to help their program. Align goals with regional and national priorities. Also, understand new applications and software on the horizon. Xentity also had to be able to answer these kinds of questions during the workshop. How best can they prepare for their users? Also, how can conference calls be more productive? Furthermore, how are GIS services provided with a shrinking workforce? Finally, how do GIS priorities align with national and regional strategic goals?

Xentity’s efforts provided results in four different categories: process, data, people and technology. The workshop helped find process improvements for better data products. It helped design a product and service catalog that better defined the scope of work. The workshop also provided an organizational development plan against any budget and timeline constraints. Finally, the workshop provided an IT tactical plan with continuous improvements.

What the Workshop Accomplishes

Xentity’s efforts in this workshop aided the USFS mainly in achieving the aforementioned goals of said workshop. This is crucial because the workshop’s goal is to transform the USFS’s GIS program in Region 3 into something far more efficient.