NWS OEP Products/Services Supporting Statement A

SUPPLEMENTAL QUESTIONS PART A

U.S. Department of Commerce

National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration

NWS Survey for Official, Experimental, and Proposed Products/Services

OMB Control No. 0648-0342

1. Explain who will be conducting this survey. What program office will be conducting the survey? What services does this program provide? Who are the customers? How are these services provided to the customer?

Surveys will be made available by the Digital and Graphical Information Support Branch, Analysis and Mission Support Division of the Analyze, Forecast, and Support Office (AFSO). The Digital and Graphical Information Support Branch provides national oversight of services-based requirements for NWS´s web presence, oversees product and information dissemination policy, and provides programmatic execution of the national service change process. Activities within these categories include coordination with NWS´s NCEP Central Operations Software Development Branch to ensure critical web-based requirements are developed and deployed; national coordination of new grids for inclusion in the NDFD and National Digital Guidance Database (NDGD); coordination with NWS´s Science and Technology Integration (STI) Portfolio to develop new products and services; oversight of associated grid collaboration thresholds to assure national consistency of grids; leadership of policy development with respect to dissemination of NWS warnings and forecasts via emerging communication modalities (including social media and personal electronic assistants); and advancement of GIS capabilities and requirements to promote the delivery of geospatial information to the public and NWS partners. The Branch also assures coordination with NWS Regions and NCEP to ensure Service Change Notices and Public Information Statements across all NWS service areas are centrally coordinated and disseminated.

Surveys most often will be made available in support of one of the 11 National Service Programs within the Forecast Services Division of AFSO at NWS Headquarters. However, a full list of NWS Branches and Divisions who may issue Service Change Notices (SCNs) (which may have embedded surveys) can be found in Appendix A of NWSI 10-1805, National Public Information Statements and Service Change Notices.

This survey was designed to collect feedback from NWS customers on new products that are still in the experimental stage or proposed products not yet developed. Each NWS office developing and making a product accessible to the public will be conducting the survey. The programs/offices providing the survey provide data, products, and services to provide environmental information/forecasts for the protection of life and property in the following areas: Public weather, severe weather, winter weather, marine and tropical, fire weather, water resources, aviation, climate, tsunami, volcanic ash, and space weather.

The customer base will vary depending upon the type of product provided. Typical customer groups include emergency managers, aviators and air traffic controllers, mariners, state and local government, private sector meteorological services, and the general public.

The experimental product/services may be provided to the public via internal, official NWS dissemination services, or via direct interaction with key partners such emergency managers.

Standardized procedures are required for notifying National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA’s) National Weather Service (NWS) employees, partners, and other users of new, enhanced, or discontinued products and services through national Public Information Statements (PNSs) and Service Change Notices (SCNs). Note: The SCN is one category of PNS. Prior to issuing an SCN to customers and partners to announce a new, substantial modification, or termination of an NWS information service, a public comment / review period is required, per NWSPD 1-10 and NWS Instruction (NWSI) 10-102 Products and Services Change Management.

Provisions of the following NWS Directives explain additional procedures for implementing new products or changing or discontinuing existing products: NWS Policy Directive (PD) 1-10: Managing the Provision of Environmental Information; and NWS Instruction (NWSI) 10-102.

2. Explain how this survey was developed. With whom did you consult during the development of this survey on content? statistics? What suggestions did you get about improving the survey?

This survey is an update of an existing OMB-approved survey (OMB Control Number 0648-0342). The original survey was developed by looking at the NOAA generic qualitative and quantitative customer surveys and modifying questions or developing new questions, which would be relevant to NWS experimental products. The intent of the survey is for the questions to be generic enough to apply to any NWS product under development.

The survey developers consulted with those in the NWS who had developed similar surveys in the recent past; with the NOAA clearance officer for appropriate survey content; and with representatives from every NWS region who would at some point make use of the survey. As the survey does not employ any statistical methods, no guidance was sought in the area of statistics. Suggestions for improving the survey included adding examples of the types of responses desired, to make it easier for the customer to respond to the survey.

Survey Update Team is composed of individuals from the NWS Analyze, Forecast and Support Office and the Office of Chief Operating Officer.

Outside of the team, consulted with AFS2 Service Programs, field representatives, and external partners

3. Explain how the survey will be conducted. How will the customers be sampled (if fewer than all customers will be surveyed)? What percentage of customers asked to take the survey will respond? What actions are planned to increase the response rate? (Web-based surveys are not an acceptable method of sampling a broad population. Web-based surveys must be limited to services provided by Web.)

A link to the survey will be included in NWS service change notices, which are made available to the general public via NOAA Weather Wire Service (NWWS), the Emergency Managers Weather Information Network (EMWIN) and NOAAPort. In addition, the survey links are provided within written documentation of the NWS product/service being evaluated and adjacent to a product if it is displayed on the NWS webpage. Announcements of the existence of the experimental product and the survey for feedback will be made at trade meetings/conferences, letters to known customer (group) contacts, and through contacts by NWS Warning Coordination Meteorologists (primary outreach staff at NWS field offices) with the general public.

The optional survey provides an avenue for customers to provide feedback (if they desire) on proposed new products and services or significant changes to current products and services.

The percentage of responding customers varies greatly depending upon the product or service and the length of time the survey is active. Depending on the subject matter of the proposed product or service change and the type/extent of change, public comment periods range from a minimum of 30 days to 6 months. Furthermore, comment periods may be extended up to 1 year. It is possible that some products/services (e.g., seasonal, climate) could require more time, but the majority should be completed within a year. A longer comment period may be granted on a case by case basis by the NWS Product and Services Change Manager with concurrence by the designated approving official.

4. Describe how the results of this survey will be analyzed and used. If the customer population is sampled, what statistical techniques will be used to generalize the results to the entire customer population? Is this survey intended to measure a GPRA performance measure? (If so, please include an excerpt from the appropriate document.)

Analysis of survey data will be undertaken through basic descriptive statistics only (e.g., percent, mean scores). The intent of the survey is not to sample a broad population of users to determine statistical results identifying the value/worth of the product. Rather, the intent of the survey is to gather general feedback on suggestions for improving the particular product/service. Specific segments of the customer population will be targeted because of their known expertise with respect to a particular service need. The results of the survey will be used by NWS to improve the content and presentation of the product/service. A decision on whether or not to make a new/experimental product operational will not be based solely on the results of the survey. This survey is not intended to measure GPRA performance.