Business Challenge
Throughout the hunting application
process, staff of the Inland Fish and
Wildlife Division (Wildlife) handle an
exorbitant number of telephone and
over-the-counter inquiries. In order to
manage the high volume of paper
applications the Department is
financially burdened with the need to
hire data entry specialists for a 6-week
period to process the resident
moose/caribou applications. Additional
costs are also incurred due to the
overtime hours required to complete
data verification. Wildlife's challenge
was to find a solution that would
streamline the license process and
reduce the cost to manage manual paper
applications.
Clearly there was a need to reduce the
impact of the big game process on
front-line staff. Meeting this need would
allow funds required for hiring
additional staff during peak times to be
directed to other departmental needs
and provide an opportunity to focus on
the timely analysis of data for
management of the Province's wildlife
population.
Economic Impact
There are in excess of 155,000 persons
maintained in the Wildlife Information
Management System (WIMS) as hunters,
guides and/or trappers. Approximately
107,000 resident hunters are provided
with an application annually, of which
80,000 apply for entry in the Big Game
Draw and updating of priority status.
These include both individual and party
applications, making the number of
people actually applying in the Big
Game Draw in excess of 100,000. Over
30,000 successful applications are
awarded a license for moose or caribou
in a specific management area within
the Province. In addition, there are
approximately 3000 bear and 2000
trapper licenses issued each year. The
economic impact of these licenses is
approximately $1.4M in annual
Government revenues.
The outfitters within this Province also
indirectly depend on WIMS for their
financial success. All non-resident
wildlife activity for thousands of
hunters who visit the Province each
year to hunt moose, caribou and bear is
maintained by WIMS. Given that these
hunters can obtain multiple licenses per
year, they account for a significant
portion of the tourism dollars spent in
the Province annually.
WIMS issues approximately 4600
moose/caribou and 1000 bear licenses
to non-residents each year. The sale of
licenses to outfitters generates
approximately $2.5M annually for the
Government.
Project Profile
Wildlife Information
Management System
Every year the Inland Fish and Wildlife Division of the Government of
Newfoundland and Labrador's Department of Environment and Conservation
distributes over 100,000 moose/caribou application packages to the hunting
public, receives approximately 80,000 completed applications and issues
32,000 big game licenses. All data related to the hunting, trapping and
guiding activities for both residents and non-residents of Newfoundland and
Labrador is managed by the Wildlife Information Management System.
Each license sold generates a minimum
of $4500 for the outfitter, while the
larger industry benefits in excess of
$25M. These figures do not include
other businesses that benefit from nonresident
hunters visiting the Province.
Our Solution
xwave has a long standing relationship
with the Inland Fish and Wildlife
Division and has worked closely on the
development and maintenance of the
WIMS application. In 2001, the
Department and xwave partnered
to develop a web-based system that
provides convenient access for the
hunting public and at the same time
reduce the demands on the Division's
staff.
A secure, self-service big game web
application was designed to provide
resident hunters with the ability to file,
view, or update big game applications
until the start of the moose/caribou
draw. It also reduced demands on the
Wildlife staff by providing applicants
with the ability to inquire on their
application status via the Internet as
opposed to telephone or over-the-
counter.
Once the draw has completed,
applicants have the ability to view the
results on the Web site and determine if
they successfully obtained a big game
license for the upcoming season.
Resident hunters are also able to update
their personal/demographic
information. Departmental staff can
access the site via a separate route to
search and inquire on big game hunters.
This online application undergoes
continuous enhancements to better
serve the public. As of today, bear and
trapper applications can also be filed
online, along with appropriate
payments. With the incorporation of
ePayment into WIMS, successful
resident Big Game hunters can also file
their payments online.
Business Benefits
Providing application status
information via the Internet enables
key data to be available anytime to
applicants and reduces the burden on
Wildlife staff responsible for
responding to inquiries. It allows the
hunter to enter and view their
application for the current season. The
online application streamlines the
process for hunting licenses and is
more efficient than the traditional
paper-based method.
Benefits for Government
xReduces telephone and over-the-
counter inquiries
xProvides common service level
regardless of physical location
xAllows for online hunter inquiries
xReduces operating expenses and
peak work loads
xAllows more time to focus on
wildlife data analysis
xReduces demand on Central Cash for
keying payments
Benefits for Hunters
xProvides real-time data entry via
secure web environment
xEnables hunters to change personal
data or complete applications at their
convenience
xAllows quicker response time for
application results
xProvides faster turnaround allowing
hunters more time to plan hunting
activities
xReduces cost of manual paper
applications
xProvides easier method of paying for
wildlife related licenses
Technology
xWindows 2000 server running
Microsoft IIS
xOracle database
xHTML, ASP, COM+, JavaScript
xWindows 2000 Transactional Server
Wildlife Information Management System
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