Department of Vessel Examination

Background:
The Department of Vessel Examination (V-Dept.) is part of the Coast Guard Auxiliary’s Recreational Boating Safety (RBS) Directorate. This Directorate coordinates and oversees the Auxiliary mission in support of the Coast Guard Office of Boating Safety with the development and implementation of various RBS programs.
The V-Dept. has responsibility for two key mission programs plus liaison responsibilities with certain non-profit, commercial and governmental organizations, which deal with boating safety issues.

V-Department
The department is sub-divided into four divisions each lead by a Division Chief. They are;

1. Vessel Examinations
2. RBS Visitation Program
3. Communications
4. Technical Support

The latter two divisions provide internal support for the remaining two divisions.

The Vessel Examinations and RBS Visitation Program divisions oversee their respective RBS missions. They are also responsible for the qualification and motivation of Vessel Examiners (VE) and Program Visitors (PV), respectively. Although they deal with a different audience, both qualifications are responsible to deliver the RBS message to the greater recreational boating community. The message includes;

1. The value and maintenance of recreational boat safety equipment (VSC)
2. Safe boating techniques; the right behaviors (VSC)
3. Promotion of additional boating safety education; that knowledge is the key to a safer boating experience
4. Marine Domain Awareness; Water Way Watch program
5. Use of Personal Flotation Device; Boat Smart
6. Dangers of CO poisoning
7. Cold water safety issues; cold water immersion
8. On the water environmental issues
9. Alcohol and its impact on the recreational boater

Future State
The primary thrust for the V-Dept will be to develop an image that our VEs and PVs are in fact EDUCATORS. They are educating the public and those with close ties to the public with the RBS message. With this “new” image comes a primary focus to educate more and more individuals. Although we must continue to support repeat business, we must place a higher value on reaching new customers. This is especially true in terms of our VSC program. The VE must educate and expose as many new customers as possible each year to the RBS message. The PVs must also develop “partnerships” with commercial organizations that can actively support our RBS programs and messages. Passive supporters play an important role but it is the cooperation and involvement of the active supporter that should be encouraged. Our operative phrase relative to the RBS message is;

The V-DEPT. ----------WE DELIVER!

In order to accomplish our objective we must first establish measurable goals. We must also be proactive in forming and operating in teams. Towards that end we will be exposing the department and its Auxiliary supporters to some key skills;

1. Goal setting skills
2. Performance measures; Performance teams
3. Team building
4. Communications

The glue, which will bind this future state, is the department’s operative acronym;

                                          ACT
       ACCOUNTABILITY
                                   COMMITMENT
                                                          TEAMWORK

My approach is to have the DSO-VE and DSO-PV assist in goal setting and to have them aid in the development of performance measures. The plan is to drive the right behaviors down to the Flotilla level.

Respectfully submitted,
Peter Urgola, DC-V

About The Interactive National V Department Web Site

This site is very unique in its construction and I know that we may have questions on how it was put together so we will attempt to describe what makes it work here.

The pages for this site reside on a Microsoft Windows NT server to utilize the power of Microsoft's Active Server Pages in order to get the automation I wanted to provide the V Department. The pages are located on a Windows NT server running IIS (Internet Information Service) with ASP (Active Server Pages) and using a Microsoft Access database file on the server for storage of information. The ASP pages allow us to create the page content on the fly that you view on the web.  All of the images on this site are hand crafted and optimized for best size and quality for fast downloading and display on the web.

Some of the neat things are:

• I Want a VSC. The automated on-line "I Want a VSC" system where visitors can enter their ZIP Code and find a volunteer examiner to give them a VSC. We urge all of our qualified examiners to sign up as a volunteer examiner using this link to join.
   
• Mailing List. Join our mailing list and automatically receive the V Department Newsletter and other announcements. Click here to join.

• The DC-V Says... page. This is an ASP page utilizing the tools on the NT server where a password protected page has an on-line form where the DC-V can log onto with his browser and enter articles that will be posted to the database. These articles are then immediately available for display by the DC-V Says page. This way Peter Urgola can post information and have it available for immediate viewing without having to go through a webmaster to create static pages and post them to the web.

• Idea Exchange page. Here is where you can share your great ideas with other VE and PV members. If you have something that you've proved to work, let the rest of us know. This will be stored in an on-line database for members to search and learn from.

• The Newsletters page. Search for articles in old newsletters with an easy to use keyword search system. Or download and print the current and past newsletters.

• The Staff page. This information is also in a database and has a password protected page for data entry, edit and deletion. This allows the top level staff to make instant changes to the information without having to wait on a webmaster. And the main objective again, is to give you the most current information possible.

• DSO's Map page. This page has a map of the United States with hyperlinks that call up an ASP page that draws the information from the database creating the page that you view on the fly. It also has password protected maintenance pages.

• Q & A page. As a visitor, you can fill out a form with your question. When you submit the form, it is auto-emailed to the top level staff to be reviewed. If it is germane to the subjects of the V Department, the staff will post live on-line in a password protected area, your question with a response. Again giving a quick and easy way to immediately display the information. The Q & A page also has a powerful search facility so visitors can quickly look up past questions to get their answers.

• Surveys page. This page holds a feedback survey that visitors can take. When you submit the survey, the information is stored in the on-line database and then an ASP page gathers the stored information computes it and creates a page for viewing instant results of the survey.

Paul Mayer, DVC-VC [Webmaster]