[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 47 (Monday, March 11, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10910-10912]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-5717]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. AD02-1-000]


Federal Energy Regulatory Records Information System; Notice of 
Intent To Modify the Commission Issuance Posting System, Records 
Information Management System and Docket Sheet System

March 5, 2002.
    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (the Commission), hereby 
gives notice that it intends to modify its Commission Issuance Posting 
System (CIPS), Records Information Management System (RIMS) and its 
Docket Sheet System on the web. The Commission intends to combine these 
three online systems into a single online system called the Federal 
Energy Regulatory Records Information System (FERRIS).
    In response to many suggestions regarding the Commission's online 
systems, the Commission plans to replace its existing systems with 
newer, more robust technology. Ultimately, the new system will provide 
users with a single point of access with better search capability and 
additional functions. The Commission intends the new system to result 
in increased performance and reliability for the Commission's staff and 
public users.
    This notice announces the coming availability of the new system. 
The Commission will make FERRIS available for testing and comment 
before placing the system into full production. We encourage the public 
and the Commission's staff to try the new system and comment on it 
through the Content Master e-mail link, [email protected].
    The Commission is making every effort to incorporate all functions 
currently in the existing systems into FERRIS. Appendix A provides a 
cross reference between the existing functions in CIPS, RIMS and the 
Docket Sheets and the corresponding function in FERRIS. Appendix B 
discusses the few features that will not be programmed into FERRIS. The 
Commission will make some modification to the file formats in which the 
documents will be available. Details appear in Appendix B.
    A test version of FERRIS will be made available to the public 
through the Commission's Web site at www.ferc.gov in Mid March. The 
full production version of FERRIS will be available in early April. 
Please refer to the Commission's website for the announcement of the 
exact dates the system will be available. To familiarize the public 
with the features of the new system, demonstrations will be conducted 
in Room 3M-2A&B at the Commission's headquarters on March 12, 2002, at 
2:00 pm and on March 18, 2002, at 2:00 pm. While it is not mandatory, 
it is preferable to pre-register for the demonstrations. Pre-
registration will facilitate passing through security. To pre-register, 
send an e-mail with your name, company affiliation and the date of the 
demonstration you will attend to [email protected] or fax to (202) 
208-2320 or call the Public Reference Room at (202) 208-1371, then 
press 0.

Magalie R. Salas,
Secretary.

Appendix A

                       Crosswalk of Functionality
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          Function in CIPS                  Function in new system
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Three separate search screens......  One general search screen and one
                                      advanced search screen.
Docket Number Search...............  Same.
Date Range.........................  Issued Date will be referred to as
                                      Document date. Other than that, no
                                      change.
Radio buttons for 1 day, 1 week, 30  Replaced with text boxes for user
 days, 120 days, year search.         supplied number of days, months or
                                      years. The default is 1 day, 1
                                      month or 1 year.
Text Search........................  Text Search is now powered by a
                                      much more robust search engine.
Libraries of Hydro, Oil, Gas,        No change except the miscellaneous
 Electric, Rulemaking and             library is called general.
 Miscellaneous.

[[Page 10911]]

 
Sort Returns by rank or date,        From the search page you may
 specify maximum rows returned and    specify the number of documents
 rows per page returned.              per page.
                                     From the results page, you may sort
                                      or resort your results by rank or
                                      date. You may choose to display
                                      the summary or hide the summary.
                                      You may choose to display 10 hits
                                      or 200 hits.
Company Name (This feature in CIPS   From the General Search, de-select
 searches the description from left   the option ``full text'' so only
 to right depending on the number     the description is selected. Type
 of words typed in the search         the name or portion of the name of
 field, e.g., a search term of        the company you wish to find in
 Tennessee will find Tennessee Gas    the text search field. The entire
 Pipeline but will not find East      description will be searched for
 Tennessee Natural Gas.).             the search term or terms.
                                     From the Advanced Search, type in
                                      the name of the company in the
                                      author/recipient affiliation
                                      field.
Type/Prefix........................  Type the prefix in the docket
                                      number search field. A guide with
                                      the docket prefixes will be
                                      provided.
Download Selected Items in a         The download option is available in
 compressed file.                     the Action drop down list.
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Function in RIMSWeb                 Function in new system
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Docket Search......................  Docket Search on the General Search
                                      page permits full or partial
                                      docket number search; multiple
                                      subdockets may be entered.
Accession Number Search............  Unchanged on the Advanced Search
                                      page.
Author/Recipient...................  Unchanged on the Advanced Search
                                      page.
Class/Type.........................  On the General Search page, permits
                                      up to four class and four type
                                      selections.
FERC Cite #; Fed Court Cite,         Unchanged on the Advanced Search
 Opinion.                             page.
Related Doc ID.....................  Unchanged on the Advanced Search
                                      page.
Order..............................  Unchanged on the Advanced Search
                                      page.
Tariff/Rate........................  Eliminated; See discussion above.
Daily Filings......................  On the general search page select
                                      submittal or issuance, and select
                                      the radio button for the previous
                                      day, then select the library.
Libraries of Gas/Oil, Hydro,         Libraries of Natural Gas, Oil,
 Electric, General.                   Hydro, Electric, Rulemaking,
                                      General.
Document Information Page..........  Retained.
Available File Formats Page........  Retained.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Appendix B

Features Not in FERRIS and File Format Changes in FERRIS

    As the Commission begins to phase in the full system, we will be 
eliminating the ASCII text version of issuances. Instead, we will 
provide the files in the file format of the software in which they 
are created and portable document format (PDF) \1\. Our decision is 
based on primarily two reasons. First, as the Commission's issuances 
have become more complex, including tables of contents, embedded 
spreadsheets, tables, photographs, etc., the conversion to ASCII has 
become inaccurate. The PDF version of the files, while still 
searchable, will preserve formatting, fonts, etc.
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    \1\ PDF is a text format created by Adobe Systems Incorporated 
and designed to be portable across computer platforms.
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    The second reason for our determination relates to the 
Commission's practice of scanning issuances and creating an image 
(in Tagged Image Format (TIF)). Since the inception of its 
electronic filing program in the fall of 2001, the Commission has 
converted all files submitted electronically into PDF. This practice 
worked well. In consequence, the Commission no longer believes it is 
necessary to convert the files containing issuances into TIF files. 
Similarly, the Commission has historically scanned a paper version 
of the Form 1 into RIMS in tagged image format, TIF. The Commission 
currently receives the Form 1 in electronic format. To make it 
easier to access the Form 1 from FERRIS, Form 1 data will be 
converted to a PDF file.
    Currently, each day the Commission compresses the files posted 
that day to CIPS for easy downloading. One compressed file contains 
all files posted during the day. Other compressed files contain all 
files posted to each library that day. On some occasions, the 
Commission posted issuances to CIPS the morning following the date 
of issuance due to the late hour of issuance. The compressed files 
had already been created for the day necessitating posting some 
files the following morning. Henceforth, the Commission will focus 
its time and energies to adding issuances to FERRIS the day of 
issuance to the greatest extent possible. To further this goal, the 
Commission will no longer create the compressed files. FERRIS will 
allow users to download the day's issuances in a self-extracting 
compressed file that the user creates himself. See Appendix C for 
details on compressing and downloading files in FERRIS.
    On CIPS today, users can save certain search parameters for 
reuse during a later session. CIPS uses a permanent ``cookie'' file 
to provide this feature. ``Cookies'' are text files placed on the 
customer's computer hard drive by the website computer. When the 
customer is on our website, the agency can access the ``cookie'' 
file. There are two kinds of ``cookies.'' A session ``cookie'' is 
one that continues in operation only for the duration of the browser 
session--when the user shuts down the browser, the ``cookie'' is 
released and goes away. A persistent ``cookie,'' however, continues 
in operation after the close of the individual session. Shutting 
down the browser will cause the ``cookie'' to be written into a 
special ``cookie'' file on the user's computer, so that the next 
time the user visits the website that generated the ``cookie,'' the 
``cookie'' will be sent to the website's server again.
    On June 22, 2000, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
issued a memorandum regarding privacy policies and data collection 
by agencies on the internet, clarifying the policy on use of 
``cookies'' by government agencies.\2\ OMB's June 22 Memorandum 
states that:
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    \2\ OMB Memorandum 00-13, ``Privacy Policies and Data Collection 
on Federal Web Sites'' (June 22 Memorandum). The complete text of 
the June 22 Memorandum can be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/memoranda/m00-13.html.
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    [t]he presumption should be that ``cookies'' will not be used at 
Federal websites. Under this new Federal policy, ``cookies'' should 
not be used at Federal websites, or by contractors when operating 
websites on behalf of agencies, unless, in addition to clear and 
conspicuous notice, the following conditions are met: a compelling 
need to gather the data on the site; appropriate and publicly 
disclosed privacy safeguards for handling of information derived 
from ``cookies''; and personal approval by the head of the agency.

[[Page 10912]]

    Subsequently, OMB interpreted its memorandum to apply only to 
persistent ``cookies,'' and not to session ``cookies.'' \3\ While 
the Commission will continue to use session ``cookies,'' to bring 
the Commission's systems into full compliance with OMB's memorandum, 
the systems will not use persistent ``cookies.'' As a consequence, 
the ability of the user to retain search parameters in CIPS will not 
be replicated in FERRIS.
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    \3\ Letter from John T. Spotila, Administrator, Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, to Roger Baker, Chief 
Information Officer, U.S. Department of Commerce (September 5, 
2000).
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    Currently, RIMS contains a search entitled Tariff/Rate which is 
intended to provide a search of electric tariffs and rate schedules. 
The Commission never fully implemented this feature in RIMS. 
Further, on April 20, 2001, the Commission issued a Notice of 
Inquiry in Docket No. RM01-5-000 \4\ inviting comments on selected 
issues related to the filing of electronic tariffs in order to 
develop a notice of proposed rulemaking, and thereafter a final 
rule, with respect to the filing of electronic tariffs. In light of 
the Commission's intention to pursue the filing of electronic 
tariffs and the fact that the electric tariff portion of RIMS was 
not fully formed, FERRIS will not contain the Tariff/Rate feature.
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    \4\ Electronic Tariff Filings, 66 FR 15673 (March 20, 2001), 94 
FERC para. 61,270 (March 14, 2001), III FERc Stats. & Regs. Notices 
para. 35,538 (March 14, 2001).
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Appendix C

Downloading Files to a Self-Extracting Compressed File

    To download all files posted on a specific day, select the 
previous day by clicking on the appropriate radio button or type in 
a specific date. Select only issuances if you wish to limit your 
results to issuances. Be sure to select 200 Results per Page. You 
may limit your results to a specific library or libraries by 
clicking on the appropriate box or boxes. From the results page 
select ``select all'' from the Search Options drop down menu. From 
the Action drop down menu select download, then press Go. Using this 
technique, all files from any results list may be downloaded in a 
self-extracting compressed file including the day's postings in any 
one of the libraries. In addition, the system includes a feature 
called the Request List. Select items from your results list, use 
the Action drop down menu to add the selected files to your Request 
List. You may do as many searches as you wish, adding to your 
Request List as you go. When you are finished, you may download the 
files in your Request List in a single self-extracting compressed 
file.
[FR Doc. 02-5717 Filed 3-8-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P