user orientation and training: ross-icbs interface 04/11/2011

User orientation and training: ROSS-ICBS Interface 04/11/2011

Features of the interface

Beginning on December 7, 2010, ICBS and ROSS began exchanging incident, request and fulfillment information• The system of record for all incidents will be ROSS

• When incident issues are created by an ICBS user, ICBS will query ROSS for the appropriate incident information

• Requests can be initiated in either ICBS or in ROSS

• When ICBS users take action on requests, this information will be sent to ROSS

ICBS users will be notified of incidents and requests through the ‘Alert’ function that displays on the user’s home page

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Incident Creation

Incident can be created basically two ways:• ICBS initiated Incident

ICBS user enters incident number and year in the Issue Entry screen

If the incident does not already exist in ICBS then a query is sent to ROSS for the incident information and displays the incident details

•ROSS initiated IncidentROSS user creates incident and request for NFES itemsROSS sends incident information to ICBS along with

request details

ICBS Initiated IncidentIncident is created in ICBS through Issue Entry screen

Enter Incident Number, Incident Year and tab out

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ICBS Initiated Incident (cont.) If incident does not exist in ICBS the following prompt will display

Click on OK

If the incident does not exist in ROSS this error will display

ICBS Initiated Incident (cont.)


If an incident exists in ROSS, the Incident Details screen will be populated. The ‘ROSS Financial Codes’ section shows the code(s) that exists in ROSS. This is just a reference for the ICBS user

The ICBS user will need to fill in the appropriate agency ‘Account Code’ field(s) in the ‘Incident Properties’ section

ROSS provides a “read only” account code here

ICBS user enters BLM, FS and/or Other account code(s) as needed here

ICBS Initiated Incident (cont.)


The ICBS user next checks the ‘Active Flag’ box

Then clicks on Save

Register/Deregister Incident Interest

When an incident is created in ICBS the default is ‘register interest in ROSS’ and the box is checked

‘Registering’ an incident is how ICBS ‘tells’ ROSS it wants to be kept updated on any of its incidents

Whenever incident information is changed in ROSS for registered incidents, ROSS sends this info to ICBS

Examples of updates include: • Incident name

• Account code(s)

• Address(es)

• Incident merges

Register/Deregister Incident Interest (cont.)

Although there’s an option to “Deregister Incident Interest” on the menu, there’s currently no reason for an ICBS user to do thatAn ICBS user registers or deregisters interest by clicking the ‘Register or Deregister Incident Interest’ button on the ‘Incident Details’ screen

ICBS ‘tells’ ROSS through a webservice call

that ICBS is interested or not interested in this incident

Active/Inactive Incident

The Active or Inactive flag is set from the ‘Incident Details’ screen.

User checks/unchecks ‘Active’ check box and clicks on Save button. ICBS sends the current status of the incident in a message to ROSS via a webservice call (backend)

Unlock Incident

An incident will be locked for different reasons:• Temporarily when ICBS sends a message to ROSS to

activate/inactivate an incident or to register/deregister interest in it

• When ROSS will not accept messages for an incident: The incident does not exist in ROSS The ('source') incident has been merged in ROSS with another

('surviving') incident

The user can unlock an incident from the Incident Details screen


Update Incident Notification Message

Notification is received via the NWCG Incident Success or Failure Queue

ICBS updates incident information based on changes in ROSS

It receives a notification from ROSS when the following information changes:• Incident Billing Organization

• Shipping Address Updates

• Financial Code

• Contact

• Type

• Name

Update Incident Notification (cont.)

ICBS raises an alert for ‘Update Incident Notification’ if incident does not have:• Valid Customer ID

• ROSS primary financial codes

• Request number blocks

The failure alert will occur in ICBS

The ICBS user should then contact a ROSS user to correct the information and resend to ICBS

Update Incident Key Notification


This notification is used to update the ‘Incident Key’ of an incident• An Incident key is made up of the incident number and year

• Example: ID-BOF-23456 2011

ICBS creates a new incident with the new incident key, copies over the old incident information and updates the ‘last incident 1’ field

Transfer Incident Notification


This notification is used to update the ‘Dispatch Unit ID’ on an incident in ICBS

ROSS ‘transfers’ an incident from its original dispatch organization to a different dispatch organization

Incident Issues

Incident Issues can be created in ICBS in two ways:• ICBS initiated issue

• ROSS initiated NFES request

ICBS Initiated Issue

Issues can be created in ICBS for all NFES items with the exception ROSS tracked resource items (i.e. NIRSC radio kits, RAWS, etc)

As part of the Issue creation, ICBS validates the following with ROSS:• Incident data

ICBS performs an internal validation of these items: • Different Address Types

• Item information

• Request Number block

ICBS Initiated Issue – Communication with ROSSA ‘Create Request’ message ‘tells’ ROSS that a new issue and request lines have been created in ICBS

This is sent to ROSS on successful ‘Schedule and Release’ in ICBS

The message contains the following data for all the request lines:• Incident Data, Item Data

• Request Number, Quantity Requested

• Address, Shipping Contact Name and Shipping Contact Phone

• Line Comments, Shipping Node, Issue Info (Issue number, Issue Create Timestamp, Requested Delivery Date, Addresses)

ICBS Initiated Issue – Communication with ROSS (cont.)

An alert is generated in NWCG_ISSUE_FAILURE queue if ROSS sends a negative response for Create Request message

This, does not prevent the issue from being processed, but ICBS will be unable to send the issue info to ROSS

The ICBS user • Research the error for resolution or contact the ICBS helpdesk if

the description of the error is unclear and the user is unsure of what the remedy should be. Depending on the issue failure there may need to be involvement from the developers to assist to get the two systems back in synch.

• Contact a ROSS user and give them the ICBS error description (e.g. ROSS system is down, etc.) so they can determine why they were unable to create the request in ROSS

ICBS Initiated Issue – Communication with ROSS (cont.)

Once the problem has been resolved, the ICBS user should close the alert.

ROSS Initiated Issue


Notification of a ROSS initiated request will be in 'NWCG Issue Success' or 'NWCG Issue Failure' alert queue in the Alerts section on the user’s home page.

De Depending on if the user is the default for the alerts the information will display differently pending on if they are the default for the alerts the information will display differently

User accesses the Alert Queue from their home page


Click on Click on the NWCG Issue Success or the particular Alert ID. Click on the NWCG Issue Success or the particular Alert ID. the NWCG Issue Success or the particular Alert ID.

ROSS Initiated Issue (cont.)


From the Alert List screen click on the Alert ID hyperlink

ROSS Initiated Issue – Alert Detail


Click on the Incident Detail Link hyperlink


It’s the ICBS user’s responsibility to update the appropriate agency accounting information in the Incident Properties panel based on the ROSS Financial Code that is marked as ‘true’ and SAVE.

Once the incident is saved click on the back button to the Alert Detail screen again.


Click on the Issue Detail Link hyperlink to access the issue details

ROSS Initiated Issue – Issue Details


Status of issue is ‘Draft Order Created by ROSS

Issue is processed as normal from this point

Processing requests

• You will still be able to fill, forward, backorder and UTF requests (or parts of them)

• Substitutions and consolidation process will be implemented:


Example Ordered Filled with

Substitution 000932 hose 001238 hose

Consolidation 000151 trombone001197 bag000495 strap

001149 backpack pump

Processing ‘Item Substitution’


-- Enter cache items and click on SAVE - Issue needs to be in ‘Draft Order Created’ or ‘Created’ status - Check box next to item to be substituted - Click on >> and selection ‘Substitute Item’

Enter the number of lines for substitution and click on Add or tab out

Complete item substitution


-- Request number auto fills with .dot notation - Enter the Item ID and quantity for substitution - Click on SAVE

Item Substitution – Issue Details


Original request number status = ‘Cancelled due to substitution’

Issue is completed with normal steps

Processing Item Consolidation


-- Enter cache items and click on SAVE - Issue needs to be in ‘Draft Order Created’ or ‘Created’ status - Check box next to items to be consolidated - Click on >> and selection ‘Consolidate Items’

Processing Item Consolidation (cont.)


Select the request number to be used for the consolidation by clicking the button next to it

-- Request number auto fills with .dot notation - Enter the Item ID and quantity for consolidation - Click on SAVE

Item Consolidation – Issue Details


Original request numbers status = ‘Cancelled due to consolidation’

Issue is completed with normal steps

Update Request Message

An ‘Update Request’ message informs ROSS when the ICBS user takes action on requests:• Fulfilled request information is sent to ROSS when the user

successfully ‘Confirms Shipment’

• Info on full UTF requests and 'Non-surviving Consolidated' requests is sent to ROSS as part of an agent which runs at regular intervals. Right now that is set to run every 5 minutes.

Status Request Message

A ‘Status Request’ can be initiated by a ROSS user, which sends a message to ICBS to get the current status of a request line(s)

This is a system call and there are no visual changes on the ICBS console

Incident Merge Message

A ‘Merge Notification’ message from ROSS tells ICBS that a registered incident has been merged with another incident

The registered incident is called the ‘source incident’ and it’s merged with a ‘destination’ incident

Upon processing of a Merge Notification in ICBS:• The source incident is locked and closed in ICBS

• The destination incident becomes active

An alert is generated in NWCG_INCIDENT_SUCCESS or NWCG_INCIDENT_FAILURE queue

Other Issues

‘Other Issues’ are created only in ICBS• No information comes from ROSS for this type of issue

• ICBS doesn’t communicate Other Issue information to ROSS

ICBS Alerts

Alerts are how ROSS notifies ICBS users of changes in incident information, new requests and other things needing the attention of an ICBS user

Alert queues:• Many users at a cache can be assigned to queues to see alerts

• Anyone can take actions needed

Alerts:• Are broadcast to specific queues (e.g. incident, request,

inventory, etc.)

• Assigned by default to one person per cache

ICBS Alerts (cont.)


Queues users are subscribed to

Alerts that are received for incidents and issues display here.

ICBS Alerts – Favorite’s Search


User’s can create their own ‘favorite’ searches to access the alert list.

ICBS Alerts (cont.)

Managing and using alerts will take some getting used to

To prevent incident orders for NFES items from being overlooked, we’d suggest that cache personnel ask dispatchers to phone the cache to let them know when incident order requests are created in ROSS – at least until everyone gets used to alerts


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Will I be able to create incidents?• No. They’ll be created in ROSS.

• When you create an incident Issue, ICBS will query ROSS to get the incident details if the incident isn’t already present in ICBS

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FAQ (cont.)

Will I be able to find the incidents I need?• If the incident doesn’t exist in ROSS, you’ll need to call your

dispatch office and have them create it


Will all incident order requests have to be created in ROSS?

FAQ (cont.)

Will all requests need to be created in ROSS?• Requests can be created in ROSS or ICBS.

• For cache input of requests, incidents will be given a block of request numbers (S-100000 to S-199999) to use. This keeps ICBS and ROSS from trying to use the same request numbers


FAQ (cont.)

Do dispatchers and incident teams know about the block of request numbers that caches will use?

• A memo was distributed on this topic by the ROSS Team over a year ago

• On February 25, 2011 a memo addressing this, and other ROSS-ICBS interface issues, was issued by the Equipment Technology Committee (ETC) to Incident Commanders and Logistics Section Chiefs (as well as Coordinators, Dispatchers and National Cache Managers).

• It was also discussed with incident logistics personnel at the National Logistics Workshop on March 1, 2011.


FAQ (cont.)

Can Incident Management Team (IMT) Pre-Orders be created in ROSS and placed through the interface to a cache?

• Yes. The only limitation a ROSS user needs to be aware of is that supplies and non-supplies can’t be on the same Pre-Order in ROSS. This is because caches require additional shipping information for supply orders that is not required for orders not placed with a cache.


FAQ (cont.)

How are request numbers created for Pre-Orders placed with a cache?

• If the Pre-Order is created in ROSS, the ROSS user will assign the S-numbers in ROSS, and the “ROSS-initiated issue” will show up in ICBS with the S-numbers assigned to each request line.

• If the Pre-Order is faxed or hand-delivered to the cache to be entered in ICBS, the dispatcher or IMT should provide the request numbers from the “incident-to-cache” block of numbers assigned by ROSS for incident-to-cache


FAQ (cont.)

Does ROSS display Standard Pack information to help the user request NFES items so they can be issued in standard packs?

• Yes. On the ROSS New Request screen, the user searches for an NFES catalog item (e.g.“BATTERY, size AA, 1.5 volt, penlight 000030”). When the user highlights the desired item, the "Standard Pack" field under the Catalog Item will display the appropriate standard pack value (i.e. 24/PG)


user orientation and training: ross-icbs interface 04/11/2011

Documents

incident incident

incident icbs user

incident creation incident

incident slide

incident ross user

incident details ross

incident number

incident year