Green Information Technology Strategic Plan - Departmental ...

CO 2 emissions in tons
8.6 FSA Modernization / MIDAS
fig. 17
1,600
1,550
1,500
1,450
1,400
1,350
1,300
1,250
1,200
Carbon Reduction Plan
CO 2 Emission – Paper
1,570
1,523
Implementation of the MIDAS project will reduce the
carbon emissions and provide a more energy efficient
delivery system that will be more environmentally sensitive
and responsible.
—Hardware/Software Carbon Reduction Plan
MIDAS will reduce the carbon emissions related to energy
expended to maintain, and support the IT system for the
delivery of farm program benefits and the carbon footprint
for services by removing the mini computers, approximately
2,400 distributed servers to 50 servers Nationwide.
Additionally the architecture will eliminate the need to
redundantly store information on a mainframe, thus further
reducing energy usage. The reduced number of servers and
the implementation of cost-efficient energy data storage is
projected to reduce the CO2 emissions to 5,878 tons in
2012[2] and to 5,678 tons in 2013 (Fig. 16).
—Paperwork Carbon/Cost Savings Reduction Plan
MIDAS will allow for full electronic submission and
reporting through a secured Internet Website. This will
reduce the Agency’s paper cost, reduce the producers’ travel
time, reduce potential errors and duplication associated with
data entry, and reduce the carbon emissions associated with
the system generation of excess pieces of paper.
Supporting Environmentally Responsible Technology at USDA
1,476
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
1,429
1,382
1,334
FSA estimates with the implementation of MIDAS and
Lean Six Sigma process improvements, reduction in paper
costs and carbon emissions will be achieved beginning in
FY2009. The reductions in FY2009 will be as result of the
Lean Six Sigma business process improvements that will help
to reduce the number of manual processes by eliminating
inefficient or defective business processes or requirements
(Fig. 17).
FSA estimates a 90% reduction in paper cost by FY 2013 for
a paper cost savings of $497,250.00 and a carbon emissions
reduction of 236 tons. FSA projects short-term savings, as
a result of Lean Six Sigma business process improvements,
will be realized in FY 2009. CO 2 emission will be reduced
by 47 tons x .
v Multiplied by an estimated 1 million producers, that the program requires 110 million pieces of paper or 221,000
reams of paper per year.
vi The costs are based on the GSA schedule price for a ream of paper which is $2.50 per ream
vii 4 Trip Average is based on the DCP Customer Satisfaction Survey.
viii Assuming the producer behicle of choice is a SUV
ix Assumption is based on 50% of the AS400 being removed (Transitioning process) as a part of the MIDAS project
x Assumption is based on implementation of 1 of the MIDAS-Lean Six Sigma Quick Hit projects — that will
minimally reduce the use paper.
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