Problems with the computerized Point-of-Sale licensing system led to a temporary waiver of most hunting and fishing licensing requirements January 3 - 23, 2002.

ODFW Information Systems staff and computer engineers from an Information Technology (IT) consulting firm found problems in recovering transactions and releasing memory when errors occurred. The system's performance and reliability improved once changes were made to the related computer-programming codes.

ODFW coordinated about 63 people statewide for a test of these changes. Up to 84 documents per minute moved through the system with no stoppages. ODFW tested again about 47 participants statewide and reached rates of 60 documents per minute, which gave the same result.

"The general consensus was the system performs well, but we didn't have enough personnel mobilized to accurately simulate the sales rate expected when licenses are required," said Brian Alula, ODFW Information Systems Administrator. "We won't know the effectiveness of these changes until after January 23."