MIP FAQs: Amendment / Revision / Study

What is workflow?
What is MIP workflow?
How can I obtain a MIP User Id?
What is an Activity?
What is a Process?
What are the correct terms and terminologies used in MIP?
What is a case number? How does MIP generate a case number?
I forgot the case number, where can I go to obtain the case number?
The project I have been working on is no longer on my Workbench, where is it?
Once I’ve completed the current activity, what’s the next activity in the workflow?

1. What is workflow?

The automation of business process where information or activities are passed from one actor to another for action, based on a set of business rules.

2. What is MIP workflow?

The MIP workflow and associated tools manage funds allocation, data collection, and map production activities. The workflow also provides project management information to mapping partners, regions, and FEMA HQ.

3. How can I obtain a MIP User Id?

For Workflow (Amendment/Revision/Study) users, the SME (Subject Matter Expert) or RMC (Regional Management Center) contact will have to submit a request to MIPHELP to create a new user id.

For eLOMA users, the eLOMA registration form must be completed and submitted to MIPHELP.

For more information, please go to https://hazards.fema.gov and select the ‘Need an Account?’ link from the top left-hand corner of the page.

4. What is an Activity?

A task in the workflow that is assigned to potential users; these users have the skills and roles to complete that activity.

To work with an activity, user must claim the activity and then perform the actions needed to complete it. Users may claim an activity if they are identified as a potential owner of that activity. Once an activity is claimed by a user, he or she is identified as the owner of that work item and are responsible for its completion.

5. What is a Process?

An instance in the workflow that manages a set of related activities.

6. What are the correct terms and terminologies used in MIP?

Project Status Terms

Active – Open project that is currently being processed and is not waiting for data/fee.
Inactive – Open project that is awaiting data/fee (not being actively processed).
Completed – A project that has made it all the way through the workflow.

For Amendment – resulted in a determination, other response, or potential violation letter

For Revision – resulted in determination or Final BFE

For Study – resulted in submission of Map Products to MSC, Adoption of the Ordinance, Distribution of Revalidation Letter, and Final Rule for Federal Register

Withdrawn – A project that was closed at the request of the applicant. This is done using Process Admin.

Suspended – A project that was closed because the required fees/data were not submitted within the allotted 90 day period. This is done in the workflow activity Suspend Due to Data/Fee.

Closed – A project that is terminated for any other reason using Process Admin.

Removed – A junk project that should not have been created and should not be used in reporting.

Other Terms

Delete/Terminate a Project – This refers to giving a project the Removed status defined above. A user might ask for this when a project has been set up incorrectly or if there was a system error when the project was being created. The goal is that the project not shows up in the Workflow or on any reports. This can only be done by changing the status in the database.

Suspend/Drop a Project – This refers to giving a project the Suspended status defined above. Suspending a project can only be done in the Amendments workflow in the Suspend Due to Data/Fee or Suspend Due to Violation activities. A user might mistakenly ask MIPHelp to Suspend or Drop a project. More than likely they are referring to having the project Deleted or Terminated.

Reassign a Project – This refers to changing the assigned project resource for a project. A user might ask for this if the project was assigned incorrectly or if the user originally assigned the project can no longer process it. This should not be confused with Transferring an Activity.

Transferring an Activity – This refers to moving a claimed activity from one user to another. This can be done with Process Admin tool that all Amendment groups have access to.

7. What is a case number? How does MIP generate a case number?

Case number or project number is an alphanumeric MIP generated identifier for a project.

The format is as follows YY_RR_XXXXX.

Example: 06-03-0002A

The first two digits(YY_RR_XXXXX) represent the year.

The next two digits (YY_RR_XXXXX) represent the region. The next four digits (YY_RR_XXXXX) are randomly generated by MIP. The suffix at the end (YY_XX_XXXXX) represents the project type.

The following represents the suffix that corresponds with the project type:

Amendment {A, C, X)
Revision {P, R, X}
Study {S}
Pre-Scoping {T}

The case number or project number is generated once the project administrator has completed the create project activity.

Note:

Legacy projects that were migrated into MIP may have a slightly different naming convention. Such as: MICS_20030 or 03-04-B09A

8. I forgot the case number, where can I go to obtain the case number?

There are several ways to obtain the case number.

Check the work item list on your Workbench
Contact the Resource Manager who assigned you the project.
Certain report like ‘Cases in Progress’ may provide the case number.

9. The project I have been working on is no longer on my Workbench, where is it?

In order to see a project on your workbench you have to be the assigned potential user for that activity. If you were working on it and it is no longer on your Workbench, the case probably have move to the next activity that you no longer are the potential user.

To determine the current activity available for a project, you can view the ‘Project Workflow Information’ under the Letter of map Change (LOMC) Case Tracking report.

10. Once I’ve completed the current activity, what’s the next activity in the workflow?

In order to find out the next possible activity, go to the history tab under your workbench. The history tab will list the possible activities that can start once the current activity has been completed.