Issues/Questions from the MIP Studies Workflow Open Conference Call on August 14, 2008 Issue/Question For multiple studies in our region, our organization is tasked w/ Post Preliminary Processing (PPP). In our region, the RMC sets up all final meetings and processes the final meeting minutes, but since our organization has the PPP task, these subtasks get assigned to us. I’ve noticed that some of the PPP do not get assigned to an individual or show up on anyone’s workbench. The only way I found that some counties were waiting on a task was that “Produce Final Map Products” was not yet available, so we could not upload for quality review 5 (QR5). I searched for the project status & needed to go into Process Admin to assign the task. Is it possible for the person w/ the Manage PPP task to get a tickler to show that this task is out there? Answer This issue may have been a result of how potential users were assigned for that particular county when the project was created. Currently, Process Admin is the best way to transfer those tasks to the correct user, as a signal to the Manage PPP task owner is currently unavailable. We will add this as a Change Request (CR) and take it into consideration for possible inclusion in a future service pack. Issue/Question In the last week, we have had repeated DFIRM database (DB) quality assurance (QA) validations returned within 40 minutes of submission. These have been submittals under the Produce Preliminary Map Products task. This occurs at seemingly any time of day and with both small and large DFIRM DBs. Is there anything we can do to ensure this trend continues? Answer Currently, there is only one pipeline between the MIP and the FAFS quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) Pro tool that completes the DFIRM DB QA reviews. The amount of time it takes to receive a response from FAFS can depend on how many submissions are ahead of you in the queue, how large those submissions are and whether FAFS has to manually intervene to intercept submissions that have been submitted multiple times. I would suggest continuing to submit for review well in advance of important milestone dates, if possible. It is very possible as we continue through the September surge that more and more people will be submitting simultaneously, which could potentially cause a backup in the queue in the DFIRM DB QA review. Issue/Question Is it possible to include file details (i.e. date, type, size) in the submission contents display under the Submit Data section of the Produce Preliminary Map Products producer task? In short, can we get more detail on the files we have listed in the submit data section? Answer At this time, only the contents loaded onto the J drive display on this screen. We will add this as a CR and take into consideration for possible inclusion in a future service pack. Issue/Question When is data uploaded and how does it get to the J and then K drive? Answer Data is uploaded to the J drive when the user clicks the Upload button on the Submit Data Files portlet (this also sends the submission to FAFS). Once the user receives passing reports and completes the task, all of the content in the J drive (whether having been reviewed by FAFS or not) is moved to the K drive. Issue/Question The list errors and the details I receive from a QA/QC review provide enough information as to what the error is, but is there a document to indicate what the errors mean? Answer The 1300 error series are new checks and there is a document on MIP User Care that describes the six new automated checks. This document and other training material for the six automated checks are available at hazards.fema.gov > MIP User Care > Guides & Documentation > User Guidance. As for logic behind other checks, send MIP Help a request for that information we can provide the user an explanation. Issue/Question When do you expect to incorporate flood plain boundary standards to be able to upload in the MIP as a new task? And is there currently guidance on how to upload the Data Capture Standards (DCS) now? And if/when you do add that as a new task, we request that you don’t make it sequential with the other tasks. Answer There is not currently a plan to create a new workflow step for the flood plain boundary standards. The guidelines are outlined in the revised DCS document which was released recently and can be downloaded from FEMA’s web site: http://www.fema.gov/library/viewRecord.do?id=3347. Issue/Question We have certain projects that are receiving errors based on the new six automated checks that we feel aren’t errors. How do we address these? Answer The MIP team recognizes there are issues with some of the tests (1301 and 1302), but we currently need to keep the tests/checks turned on. When a user receives an error that they disagree with, contact MIP Help and the Mapping on Demand (MOD) team will determine a course of action. The team is planning to address these errors in the near future, but an exact schedule is still to be determined. Issue/Question I currently use the QA/QC Pro site to see study submission status. Is there any thought to updating that screen, because it can be confusing. Also, some of the terminology doesn’t match the MIP and it can be confusing to users. Answer The QA/QC Pro tool site is currently managed by FAFS and unfortunately there is not funding available to enhance the site. Eventually, the plan is to move all QA review status information into the MIP, but those updates are not currently in the deployment schedule.