TRACS Enhancement Update (April 2020)

TRACS Enhancement Update (April 2020)

by Yonah Cohen -
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WSFR provided State Directors with a preview of the TRACS Enhancement at the North American Wildlife and Natural Resources Conference in Omaha, Nebraska. This includes an updated packet of “translation materials” to assist States in structuring new grant proposals so they can be easily entered into the TRACS Enhancement starting in 2020. Visit the TRACS Resources and Job Aids page to download the latest versions of the translation materials (including the matrixes, strategy fact sheets and grant translation templates).

Beta testing, which will be available to a wider group of users, is scheduled to begin in April 2020. The system will be released to users for data entry beginning June 15th, 2020. During the first few weeks after the release, we will be setting up users and accounts with designated user administrators for each group/region/agency. Training sessions will be offered for user administrators to get them started with setting up the user roles, groups and access for their staff. 

TRACS training for all end users will be available starting the week of July 14th, 2020 in a variety of formats including self-paced online courses (released in phases) and virtual webinar training sessions taught by the WSFR-TRACS training team including Phil King, Ryan Oster, Yonah Cohen, and Meg Druyor. Note: All in-person classroom training sessions have been cancelled until further notice, including the Train the Trainer session that was scheduled for July 21st - 23rd, 2020. 

Training will be critical to the success of the TRACS Enhancement. Our training strategy focuses on online tools, such as webinars, eLearning courses and videos, and supporting materials, to ensure that we are able to deliver training to every system user. We will be providing webinar sessions on different days and times that accommodate all time zones on the continental U.S. and custom sessions for the Pacific Island states and territories. The initial training rollout will be held over 8 weeks from July 14th – September 3rd 2020. To learn more, visit the TRACS Training Options page.

In September 2020, State Directors will vote on accepting delivery of the completed TRACS system at the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (AWFA) Annual Meeting. Once approved under the Memorandum of Operation (MOU), WSFR will “hand-off” data-entry responsibility for the system to the States. WSFR is developing criteria that could exempt some jurisdictions, based on a small number of grants or technical challenges, such as a lack of dependable internet service.