Enterprise GIS Challenges - Implementer's ViewShyam Devireddy Program Manager Avineon India Pvt. Ltd. sdevireddy@avineonindia.com
Abstract
With enterprise systems becoming a standard for conducting business processes and GIS getting in to main stream IT, enterprise GIS systems are gaining in popularity. While traditional GIS implementations were often confined to an individual business function or business unit within an organization, implementing enterprise GIS that is cross functional across business units comes with various challenges. Enterprise GIS implementations are Human, Capital, Data, Technology and Process intensive. These are common factors across all enterprise implementations. A combination of techno-functional tasks along with a multi-year runtime makes Enterprise GIS implementation quite challenging. This paper presents author's view of key technical and functional challenges that were experienced live while implementing enterprise GIS. Introduction Thanks to browser applications like Google Earth and web based solutions like Map Quest, GIS has become so affordable (almost free) & visible that people tend to underestimate what it takes to implement it. Enterprise GIS primary usage is to support business functions with varying degree of complexity apart from browsing Geographic data. Although it may appear simple, developing enterprise GIS is a complex project involving extensive planning, organizational issues, skilled & experienced resource availability, data development and appropriate technology and management challenges. Add to this multi-year runtime with key technical & managerial resources moving out during the course of the project, the challenges are significant - any one of which can be an impediment to success.  GIS by nature is generic and finds usage in diverse fields. There is a rapid advancement in GIS technology in the recent years and is standing side by side with mainstream IT applications. There is increasing awareness of spatial data systems and businesses are seeing these systems as strategic differentiators for improving operational efficiency. Successful system implementation requires good understanding of every component that makes the system. Enterprise IT environments involve integration of a variety of vendor technologies. Enterprise GIS environments too include a broad spectrum of technology integration. Data Data is one of the most important components of GIS. Accuracy, Currency, Standards and Dissemination are absolutely essential. Geographic data is derived from diverse sources. Implementation of the Enterprise Data model requires a “collaborative” approach. This approach utilizes appropriate technology to manage appropriate data but the technology and data architectures should always be designed to facilitate the integration of data across any information model. This provides maximum return on investment in acquiring the data through “enterprise-wide” utilization of the data in many areas of the company. Application Complexity The complexity and risk associated with an enterprise system deployment is directly related to the variety of vendor components required to support the final integrated solution. Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) applications are made to be generic for addressing varying customer needs so it is often packaged with much more than what a focused user needs. Users often think why there is so much and have difficulty in navigating to the appropriate functions required. This makes users perceive the application as complex. Scaling down the application is often not considered by the implementation team so the activity and effort are seldom factored in. It is only in the latter stages of the implementation when users try to conduct day to day activities, such and issue surfaces. In reality making the application user focused with an agenda of “what is required” helps in gaining user confidence at an early stage. Rolling out the system to a greater community becomes easy. Integrated Solution Most environments today include a variety of vendor technologies including Database Servers, Terminal Servers, Web servers, Map Servers, Desktop clients, Business specific application layers, 3rd party applications all connected by a broad range of local area / wide area networks and internet communications. Having an integrated solution is a priority to address data and application layers redundancy. Individual components that make up the solution are well documented and supported however integrating them all to make it work as a single seamless solution is quite a task requiring multi-disciplinary skills. Once the solution is put in place by the system integrators maintenance and support gets in to the hands of organization owning the final solution. It is often not realized that the components making the solution are not provided by a single vendor. Each vendor might provide excellent support on the piece he owns but he will have difficulty in supporting the integrated solution. Building a support team within the organization having appropriate skills is vital. Better even – the support plan be integrated in to the implementation plan. Workflow (process) based solutions Solutions that are workflow (Process) and/or Rules centric are gaining in importance. Enterprise Software vendors are increasingly adding this item in to their agenda. Business Rules Management (BRM), Business Process Management (BPM) are emerging fields in Information Technology and Management addressing this concept. It is a known fact that workflow wizards are user friendly and helps getting the job done easily. Personally, I have experienced a tough situation getting converted in to appreciation when rule based workflow wizards have been created. This helped users getting their job done with minimal training. It was a win-win situation for the users and implementation team. Also multiple rounds of training for enhancing users skill set were no longer required contributing to the bottom-line. Such a solution helps in gaining user confidence, users’ willingness to adapt new systems and reduction in time & budget for training.  Enterprise GIS initiative is either for improvisation or consolidation. Such an implementation makes minor to major changes to systems, data, process and people. Change acceptance is always sensitive with both businesses and humans. Governance While GIS systems are getting integrated to mainstream IT systems, governance of GIS systems too is moving from departmental to organizational. Key stake holders in a large scale enterprise implementation are business heads and CIO's. While implementing a GIS at enterprise level is not too different to any enterprise IT implementation the key foundation of GIS i.e. Geography is dynamic and spatial representation of information makes it unique. Adding to this is the industry (GIS) in transition. GIS software products, best practices and support are in a maturing phase. Governance requires a network of leaders, champions and managers in stakeholder and user areas with an environment, culture of collaboration and shared vision. This helps in active participation by stakeholder and user community enhancing the chances to gain acceptance of the final solution. Also it reduces the risk arising from individual’s departure. Expectations Management It is generally over sold to the business on what an enterprise GIS initiative would achieve. Most often the complexity and time frame required is underestimated. This leads to unrealistic expectations. Tough enterprise GIS tries to solve business problems it is not a solution to a specific problem rather it streamlines and consolidates existing business functions. In doing so new issues and problems arise as is the case with any major change. Vision statement should clearly accommodate the expectations of the initiative. Managing the expectations of the users and stakeholders is an important aspect in making an implementation deem successful. Visiting sites where similar implementation was done and understanding the issues and lessons learned would help. Such a visit provides a chance to find solutions to the issues upfront. Users Final say on acceptance lies with end user community yet the user community is seldom part of the inception & planning phases. It is crucial for user community representation in the overall management. This helps both in managing the expectations, organizational issues and increases the chances of acceptance. It is a good practice to have several levels of users and integrating them in to the project implementation team. Doing so will help the users have a say in the solution being deployed and finding any rough patches upfront that can be ironed out before the deployment release. Typically users may be categorized in to 4 levels: Power Users – Users who have excellent control on the application configuration. The functions these users do are configuring business rules, configuring the end user application layer ‘just right’ and ensuring the solution meets business requirements. Champion Users – Users who have very good understanding of the application usage. They are the “gurus” and the ones to go to when the end user has difficulty in getting a job done. End Users – Users concentrating on getting the job done. They use the application as a tool to do their day to day activities. Administrators – Users concentrating on deployment and administration. Often performance tuning activity is side stepped, importance of which is realized quite late in to the implementation. It is critical to have performance tuning experts in this team right from the beginning. Training Training plays a crucial role in spreading the knowledge of the change and has a wider role in preparing the user community understand and accept the solution. Training for any group should include an understanding of the strengths and limitations of the application, data and how to intelligently apply it to the organization's work. Too few resources and budget are allocated to training. Often Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) trainings offered by the solution providers are depended on. Such trainings offer either inadequate or too much information. Training courses have to be tailored to address specific user needs. Conclusion There is no single strategy that can be a baseline for all organizations. Success is a derivative of getting all the parts working together – the vision and goals, management and planning, addressing organizational challenges, data and technology. Documenting best practices and publishing case studies will provide information about challenges and mitigation strategies upfront. Solution (Software) providers have been investing in the documentation but there is more to be done. Also the solutions offered need to be ‘just right’ and work flow based. References
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