Offshore Industry Advice SharePoint System

Project Aims

The Offshore Industries Advice team within JNCC require a new streamlined casework management system. This will enable them to replace the current ad-hoc system of spreadsheets and documents.

JNCC have invested in Office365 as a centralised corporate platform for document creation, management and delivery. By utilising the SharePoint platform that comes with Office356, we can provide a resilient assured system that comes with a number of secondary advantages.

3. Project Background

Offshore Industries Advice (OIA)

JNCC has responsibility for the provision of nature conservation advice in the offshore area, defined as beyond 12 nautical miles (nm) from the coastline to the extent of the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS).

The OIA team provides statutory and non-statutory nature conservation advice to Government and industry in relation to a range of offshore industries including, but not limited to, oil and gas, aggregate extraction and renewable energy. Requests for advice can come in the form of applications, via regulators, or direct requests for advice from operators or consultees.

In addition to this, the OIA team provide a 24 hour pollution response service in the event of an offshore incident.

Currently the OIA business workflow uses the following platforms to deliver various outcomes:

• FogBugz: Case assignment, tracking, and updates

When an electronic application is received the email request is forwarded to the FogBugz database where a unique case number is instantly generated and a copy of the email is stored. FogBugz is then populated with information relating to the case (see Section 5 for more details). This process includes assigning casework to a Case Officer who receives an automatic notification. Automatic notifications are also sent if a casework update is received and entered into the system. When casework is complete FogBugz is updated and the case closed out.

• Master Spreadsheet (Excel): Case detail tracking

The Master Spreadsheet is used to store and track comprehensive information relating to each piece of casework and includes a repetition of the information previously entered into FogBugz. The spreadsheet is divided into a series of worksheets to help identify and group the types of applications, of which there around 15.

• EQA Spreadsheet (Excel): Evidence Quality and sign off

Each piece of casework will have an Evidence Quality Assurance (EQA) sheet associated with it. These are separate excel documents which vary depending on the type of application. Information recorded within these sheets are used to track progress and provide an audit trail. This information may have been previously recorded in FogBugz and the Master Spreadsheet.

• Timesheets: Time allocation per case

Case Officers record time spent on a piece of casework in the Master Spreadsheet. In addition, time spend on Quality Assurance is also recorded. This information is pulled from the spreadsheet on a quarterly basi