LOA Management Tool Development

Abstract : The long-term goal of this project is to enable the SYSCOM community to efficiently and effectively manage incidental take permits under the Marine Mammal Protection Act Letters of Authorization (LOA). The specific objective of the project is the development of a software-based tool that allows SYSCOMs to manage hours and/or counts of impulsive and nonimpulsive sources permitted under the LOAs associated with Phase II environmental planning documents. ONR funding is only part of the overall funding for development of the LOA Management Tool. NAVSEA, NAVAIR, and SPAWAR also have contributed funding for the development of this management tool. Peter Hulton is the Marine Species Modeling Team (MSMT) Team Lead responsible for the development of the LOA Management Tool. The MSMT will develop a web-based solution with an SQL server back end. The web solution enables a centralized management strategy in which all LOA users will submit their usage data. The SQL database server enables transaction integrity. Submittals will have an immediate affect on the LOA reports. A workflow will be built into the application that allows proposed events to be approved by a designated authority. To date, a fundamentally usable tool has been developed. The tool will be available to the SYSCOM/ONR community in early FY14 for testing and critique. The LOA Management tool completion date is scheduled for December 2013. The web application BETA release was successfully completed in FY13. Technically, the use of Microsoft advanced web and database technology (specifically dotnet) enabled the application to be fielded rapidly with short, agile style, development sprints that enabled stakeholders to provide feedback during the development process. The ability to trade allocation remains to be done. Report functionality needed by stakeholders should be developed, based on their usage of the tool.