TSPi Enhances the Efficiency of NOAA NMFS’s Consultation Process
Highlights
- The National Marine Fisheries Service’s system for managing consultation data was outdated.
- TSPi modernized it rapidly, using Agile methods and Appian software.
- The application streamlined managing, tracking, and reporting NMFS consultations.
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), a unit of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has jurisdiction over U.S. territorial waters. Its mission is to protect and restore habitats, recover protected species, and maintain resilient coastal ecosystems. To achieve this, NMFS provides expert advice and consultations to help development projects mitigate any harm.
However, the system and technology it used for managing submissions of requests for consulting services and related data was outdated and inefficient. TSPi, a division of Abt Global, stepped in to modernize the legacy system.
TSPi designed, built, and implemented a central replacement case-management application, the Environmental Consultation Organizer (ECO), to handle submissions for consultations. The consultations can include the initial submission of project blueprints, feedback from NMFS, and more back-and-forth until final approval.
TSPi also migrated system components to the Appian Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) cloud-based environment. The selection of Appian enabled NOAA to use the existing federal government Appian FedRAMP authorization for cybersecurity.
TSPi did this in just four months due to an unexpected mandate. This accelerated delivery was achieved by the use of Agile Scrum development methodology, which emphasizes empirical feedback and building properly tested product increments in short iterations called sprints.
The use of a low-code/no-code Appian platform allowed the TSPi team to create a customized solution in a short amount of time.
ECO provides NOAA with improved usability and functionality for managing the workload associated with documenting, tracking, and reporting NMFS consultations.