FTA - Forest Tenure Administration - Announcement

FTA Schema Versions 7 & 8 Decommission March 31, 2008

Please be advised that Ministry of Forests and Range will no longer support FTA Schema Version 7 & 8 as of March 31, 2008. FTA Schema Version 9 shall be the only supported forest tenure submission release for permits. Version 7 & 8 will be archived.

All eziLink^TM users currently running eziLink^TM 1.4.x and earlier should note that this version does not support the FTA Schema 9.

eziLink^TM 1.5.1. fully supports FTA Schema 9. Please contact eziLink^TM sales for information on upgrading to eziLink^TM 1.5.1.

Release - November 17, 2004

The following news release is from Doug Konkin, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Forests substantiating that after April 1, 2005 only electronic submissions will be accepted by the Ministry of Forests. For the official news release, please contact the Ministry of Forests.

New Electronic Format as of April 1, 2005

This letter is to inform you that, in support of the British Columbia Government's new era commitment, the Ministry of Forests will only be accepting cutting permit, road permit, "as built" roads, range tenure and silviculture reports in electronic format commencing April 1, 2005.

There are significant advantages to this new way of doing business, for both industry and government. It is anticipated that, as a result of electronic submission, there will be further efficiencies in processing time because the transcribing of data from paper forms to our computer systems is eliminated. Also, much of the review of applications now done manually will be done by computer. The map data you submit will be incorporated into the government's Land and Resource Data Warehouse, which your staff may access online for planning and operational needs. In addition, ministry and client staff will also be able to use the Internet to make submissions, access and edit information and check the processing status of applications at any time.

Work on this initiative has been under way for some time, with many presentations and meetings with stakeholders including licensees, consultants and service providers. In preparation for this business change, ministry staff are working with the vendors of Integrated Forest Management Systems to enable their various systems to prepare electronic submissions. Ministry staff are also working with private sector companies to assist them in providing electronic submission services. The activity of transforming this data into an electronic submission is eligible for Forest Investment Account funding. The ministry will continue to work closely with these groups and your staff throughout the transition period.

As you may be aware, harvest billing, appraisal and seedling request data is also being submitted electronically. Currently, the ministry has 100 percent electronic submissions of seedling requests, 86 percent of harvest billing and 26 percent of appraisals. For tenure and silviculture submissions, we currently have 68 percent of the data coming in electronically by percent of volume harvested. In the next few months, the infrastructure will also be in place to submit "as built" roads. With the addition of tenure, silviculture and road transactions, most of your business transactions with the ministry will be conducted electronically, resulting in significant efficiency improvements for all parties.

Further details on the ministry's electronic services are available at our Forest Management website.

Doug Konkin

Deputy Minister

Release - November 1, 2004

eziLink^TM eases e-submissions to the BC Ministry of Forests

eziLink^TM is the software program that captures key data and reformats it quickly and accurately to provide a complete solution for e-submissions. The deadlines for electronic submissions (ESF) mandated by the Ministry of Forests for forest licensees are fast approaching. All licensees are required by to electronically submit tenure requests and silviculture obligation submissions effective April 1, 2005. As Built Road submissions must be in the standardized format effective June 1, 2005.

In response to ESF, Forsite Consultants Ltd. and Vivid Solutions Inc. designed eziLink^TM to prepare, submit and resolve issues with the entire submission process. eziLink^TM is the only software tool available today that integrates both the spatial and the attribute data and writes it out in the standardized GML/XML file submission format, thus streamlining the creation and submission of permit, silviculture and as built road information to the Ministry of Forests ESF standard. eziLink^TM submissions are guaranteed and greatly reduce the time required for cutting permit approvals, in some cases to as little as four days. Licensees, consultants and government agencies that require the ability to generate the spatial and attribute components of a submission quickly and easily, are using the eziLink application.

eziLink^TM is a component of the INCOSADA replacement for MOF/MSRM and will be used across the province by forest districts for submitting their own information for tenure, silviculture obligations and as built roads. Licensees use eziLink^TM to successfully submit on a regular basis, while consultants are using eziLink^TM to provide e-submission services for government and industry. eziLink^TM can be used as a stand-alone application or can be integrated with any pre-installed Forest Management System through plug-ins, thus leveraging existing technology while meeting the government requirements. eziLink^TM is built on open standards and supports the latest submission standards including FTA, RESULTS and As Built Roads. Training and technical support are available. In most cases the installation and use of the software can be managed entirely by the licensee.

The software is the result of the combined experience and expertise of two companies well known in their respective industries for providing quality products and services. Key to the success of eziLink^TM is the expertise in e-submissions technologies and business requirements that both companies bring along with their knowledge and experience in the industry. Vivid Solutions Inc. is located in Victoria, British Columbia and has forged a reputation as a company with a total commitment to excellence. Vivid Solutions Inc. is a Microsoft© Certified Partner, an ESRI© Partner and a member of the Oracle© Partner Program. Forsite Consultants Ltd. has offices in Salmon Arm and Campbell River as well as Grande Prairie, AB. Its staff of 80 includes Registered Professional Foresters, Engineers and Software Developers. Forsite often works with multiple licensees within a management unit to decrease the financial implications of the move to electronic submissions.

For more information please call Jason Hart at the Salmon Arm Office 250-832-3366 or directly at 250-804-0764 extension 240 or visit www.ezilink.com

Copyright © 2006 - 2016 Forsite Consultants Ltd.  All rights reserved.