• Access to a central database for current information
• Improved data integrity with business rule checks
• Region wide assessment of timber trends and bond status
• Tracking the land as it changes from a proposed treatment through the proposal and prospectus stage to final harvest and post-harvest treatment.
• Improved automation and standardization of the embedded business processes, thereby making the business practice more efficient.
• Automation of repetitive and tedious processes
• Faster and more accurate record keeping
• Documentation for FMFM's Forest Certification program.

The Need for VMS
The current TSale system is running on standalone PCs in approximately 44 DNR Offices in the Upper and Northern Lower Peninsulas. There are two versions of the software, a partial version called Proposal Only which can be run on any PC and a complete or 'upload' version that is on 19 specific PC's. Certain types of work can be done on the Proposal Only versions and this data is then transferred to one of the designated 'upload' PC's. The data from the 'upload' PC's is then transferred to Lansing on a weekly basis. These databases are then combined into a single Microsoft Access database. The Access database is then loaded to the SQL Server replacing the previous week's statewide database.

The original Timber Sale System (TSale) was created in 1991-1992 and rolled out in 1993. Sale of timber from state-managed land generates upward of $25 Million in revenue annually. Sales must be awarded fairly, timber harvesting must be bound by consistent administrative and methods constraints, revenue must be accounted for and allocated back to state funding sources, and sales, as actually cut, must feed back data into the overall timber resource inventory system IFMAP (Integrated Forest Monitoring Assessment & Prescription). Currently running on a standalone PCs, TSale is outdated and does not provide the capabilities required to satisfy current and future business requirements.

With the implementation of VMS, all updates from field offices will be maintained and recorded online to a centralized database in Lansing. End users will be able to generate up to date reports for data analysis. VMS will interact with third-party tools and software within the system as well as externally. It will provide a user-friendly interface across the system to enable the end-user to accomplish tasks easily.

This project involves the construction and rollout implementation of the VMS project through a series of 20 modules, over a span of 5 years that will collectively implement the re-engineered Timber Sale line-of-business system. One of the later modules will include an internet component. VMS is planned to be integrated with multiple systems in DNR (LOTS, RPS, IFMAP). On the technology end, VMS is written in ASP.NET that interfaces with a SQL Server 2000 database. This project uses the best practices from the Rational Unified Process for software development methodology and the Rational Suite of products for implementation. Other tools like Infragistics, Niku & MS Project are also being used to enhance the creation of this project.

Phase 1 of the VMS project was rolled out on 3/1/2004 and already DNR end users have found that data entry for the system is easy, user friendly and record keeping for the bid opening business process is faster. Here's what FMFM is saying:

is the vendor working with DIT and DNR to create VMS. Visit this site in the future to find out how VMS benefits business processes in Wildlife and Parks and Recreation.

Target Timeline: