USDA NRCS Case Study
MicroPact's entellitrak provides USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service with a Web-based solution for improved easement enrollment and oversight.
The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), within the United States Department of Agriculture, helps landowners conserve and protect national soil, water and related resources. NRCS offers a variety of voluntary technical and financial assistance programs, including incentives for landowners to restore and protect wetlands and prime farmland through conservation easements. The NRCS has preserved more than 3 million acres of environmentally sensitive land with these easements. Through the end of federal fiscal year 2009, NRCS has enrolled more than two million acres into its Wetlands Reserve Program alone.
For years, NRCS has kept tabs on easement information submitted by almost 3,000 local NRCS offices through the use of spreadsheets and Access databases. As the enrollment in easement programs grew, these data collection methods proved inadequate for program management needs and in responding to information requests by Congress.
Putting together a comprehensive picture of easement data, organized by congressional district or state, required long hours of tedious manual work – work the original system was meant to avert. The NRCS lacked a Web-based application with sufficient internal business rules necessary for proper easement enrollment and oversight.
Making the data accessible and clean
Finally, in mid 2009, the agency had enough. NRCS needed some way to have better data more readily accessible, and it needed to be as close to real time as possible. Conservation officials wanted to dedicate their time to conservation, not fiddling with a bad data collection system. And the data in it needed to be consistent, accessible, clean and safeguarded by business rules.
Enter MicroPact and its flagship application, entellitrak®. With its easily configurable, quickly implementable software, MicroPact knew it could promptly replicate NRCS' current technology data environment – minus the flaws – and add even more control features.
Pilot showed the way
Based on a demonstration of the entellitrak application, NRCS requested MicroPact design a "proof of concept" model of a business management tool for the easement programs, utilizing general business requirements provided by the agency. "We asked them to do it in a really, really short time period – less than 45 days – and they did," said Tony Puga, an NRCS natural resources specialist and point of contact for the project.
"It wasn't your typical sales pitch slide show," says Puga. "With the pilot, we saw for ourselves what MicroPact could do." Thanks to its agility and ease of adaptability to specific customer needs, MicroPact was able to demonstrate the value of entellitrak to NRCS' easement tracking needs.
It was this proof of concept demonstration that led NRCS officials to approve an agreement with MicroPact for an easement application in entellitrak.
About entellitrak
entellitrak is an enterprise-level, Web-based data tracking application that enables data management, tracking, retrieval, and reporting. Additionally, entellitrak offers faster processing and reporting capabilities, improved information assurance and enhanced operational efficiency.
entellitrak is a secure, thin-client solution, accessible through a Web browser that allows administrators to take charge of their business processes using a customizable dashboard. Developed with an open architecture, the entellitrak application integrates easily into pre-existing technology environments.
About MicroPact
MicroPact, based in Herndon, Virginia, has gained a national reputation as the developer of a new generation of advanced data-tracking software. Recognized for its applications and pioneering value across many industries, MicroPact has extensive experience in the design, development, implementation, and ongoing maintenance of various business management applications and reporting systems.
With proven solutions and an innovative approach, MicroPact has won the respect of corporate and government clients throughout the U.S., as well as a number of prominent awards. MicroPact continues to shine for outstanding performance and managed growth and has been recognized for outstanding growth achievements. This successful growth record enables MicroPact to both attract a talented staff and continuously produce quality software products.For more information about entellitrak or other products MicroPact offers, contact Sales at (703) 709-6110.