Marine Service Delivery Context Analysis

Assignment - Marine Services Delivery Context Analysis 

Your last assignment for this course is to draft a Marine Service Delivery Context Analysis for two or more marine service areas. A Context Analysis is an examination of the current situation of an organization, team, strategy, program or project. In this course, you have been examining the current state of some aspects of your organization’s delivery of marine services. You have gathered a portfolio of documents that serve as reference for your analysis:

1. Organizational Chart and Focal Points (Lesson 1)
2. Assessment of Service Delivery Progress Model (Lesson 1)
3. Assessment of Current Implementation of Marine Services (Lesson 2)
4. Dissemination Options (Lesson 3)
5. Defining your Customers: Specific Users (Lesson 4)
6. Defining your Customers: Customer Needs Survey (Lesson 4)
7. Marine Forecast Products Inventory (Lesson 4)
8. Interviews with Customers and Results of Customer Needs Survey (Lesson 4)
9. METAREA Information (Lesson 5)

Your task now is to analyse this information in the context of delivering specific marine services as described in WMO-No. 471: Guide to Marine Meteorological Services and WMO-No. 558: Manual on Marine Meteorological Services. In consultation with your manager, as appropriate, develop a Marine Service Delivery Context Analysis for at least two or more of the following service areas. Those working in groups should expand this analysis such that each team member or pair of members is responsible for at least two service areas:

1. Services for the High Seas (WMO-No. 471, Sec. 3; WMO-No. 558, Part I, WMO. No-9 Vol D)
2. Services for Coastal, Offshore, and Local Areas, Part IIa - Ports/harbours (WMO-No. 471, Sec. 4; WMO-No. 558, Part IIa, WMO-No. 702 and 1076)
3. Services for Coastal, Offshore, and Local Areas, Part IIb - Residential areas (WMO-No. 471, Sec. 4; WMO-No. 558, Part IIa, WMO. No 702, and 1076)
4. Marine Meteorological Support for Maritime Search and Rescue (WMO-No. 471, Sec. 5; WMO-No. 558, Part III)
5. Services in Support of the World Wide Navigational Warning System (WMO-No. 471, Sec. 6; WMO-No. 558, Part IV, WMO. No-9 Vol D)
6. Services in Support of Marine Environmental Emergency Response (WMO-No. 471, Sec. 7; WMO-No. 558, Part V)
7. Training in the Field of Marine Meteorology (WMO-No. 471, Sec. 8; WMO-No. 558, Part VI)
8. Services for Marine Climatology (WMO-No. 471, Sec. 9; WMO-No. 558, Part VII)

First, review these service area descriptions in both WMO documents. Then, in consultation with management, choose the areas for analysis. For each service area, use the information in the documents created during the course to write a report that compares the current state of your marine services with the needs of your customers and the standard and recommended practices as detailed for that specific service area in WMO-No. 471 and 558. (Note that in WMO-No. 558, standard practices are in bold and described using the term "shall" whereas recommended practices are described using the term "should".)

Use the provided template, linked below, for your analysis.

Your report needs to include:

1. Service Area of Interest: The service area of interest with a short description of those services as they apply to your organization (i.e., Services for the High Seas, Marine Meteorological Support for Maritime Search and Rescue).
2.  Primary Customers: List of primary customer(s)
3. Customer Needs and Requirements: List of products, issuing times, dissemination/communication tools. 
4. Current Forecast Products and Services: List of currently provided products/services for this service area with description of current status of forecast products, issuing times, dissemination/communication tools, and verification processes.
5. Staffing and Roles: List of responsible staff for delivery of these products with a description of their current role and responsibilities.
6. METAREA Coordination: Current level of coordination
7. MHEWS: Include comments on how your organization currently implements or plans to implement multi-hazard, impact-based forecasting for this service area
8. CAP: Include comments on how your organization currently implements or plans to implement CAP for this service area.
9. Discrepancies: Identification of any discrepancies in service offerings to those required by customers and as described in WMO-No. 471 and 558. Be specific, and describe incidents that point to these discrepancies if possible.
10. Suggested Upgrades and Improvements: Identification of potential upgrades to tools, products, processes, and training. Include comments on how your services are, or can become, more customer-oriented. Also reflect on how your suggested changes may impact the implementation of the Service Delivery Progress Model (SDPM), which you assessed in Lesson 1.

When each of your analyses are complete, submit them for review. 

While it may be outside the scope of this course, your service will likely want to complete an analysis for the entire list of relevant service areas for your organization.

Your Context Analyses can be used to guide the development of new services or to improve current services. Working with your management, it can serve as the basis for a Service Delivery Action Plan as prescribed in WMO-No. 1129: WMO Strategy for Service Delivery and Its Implementation Plan, Appendix 7: Action Plan Outline.