Project management in the AM/FM/GIS world
Jack C. Gains
Project Manager, Merrick & Co., Aurora, CO.
2450 S. Peoria Street, Aurora, CO. 80014
Paper
In 1997, hundreds of Requests For Proposals for AM/FM/GIS data will be sent out to AM/FM/GIS vendors around the
country. This means that hundreds of people will be asked to do Project Manager or GIS Coordinator duties. What ever
you would like to call these people they have now been asked to carry the responsibility of Project Management for a
Federal Agency, State Government department, County Government, City Service department or Private User. The RFP’s
will vary from small utility projects to major State mapping and conversion projects. There will also be an increased load
on AM/FM/GIS vendors in Project Management. This paper will try to put a clear picture together about what is Project
Management, who will handle our future Project Management, the importance of a strong AM/FM/GIS Committee in
Project Management, how do we select our Project Managers, how Project Managers are trained, Project Management in
selecting an AM/FM/GIS vendor and how to support our Project Managers and GIS Coordinators.
What is Project Management and what are the responsibilities of a Project Manager or GIS Coordinator. In Webster’s
Dictionary the word Project is explained as “ A particular plan or intention or to plan in the mind.” The word Management
is explained as “ The act, practice, or process of managing or those who manage an organization.” If you look up the
explanation for Person in Webster’s you will find the following explanation “ A human being”. So if you put all the
explanations together you would come up with an explanation for Project Management as, “A human being asked to act,
practice or process a particular plan or intention. Sounds simple but it is not. Usually the person asked to manage a project
is not the one who had the intent or input. The demand for Project Management in the AM/FM/GIS world will continue to
grow as the requests for data conversion and information continue, until everything that can be put into AM/FM/GIS
systems is complete. We are not going to be done in my life time.
In 1970 I started working in this industry and I have been involved in all phases of Cartography and AM/FM/GIS. When I
started all work was done on mylar using Leroy inking tools. In 1984 I returned to school to learn about GIS and
computers. I have seen many positive changes in this industry, but Project Management has always struggled behind. I
can probable count on one hand those who I started with that are still in the industry. At times it seems that we have hired
and lost thousands of people because we never made this business a real career. I will cover the short falls and goals that
need to be established to make the AM/FM/GIS a career for those people interested in Project Management and
AM/FM/GIS.
Where will our future Project Managers and AM/FM/GIS Coordinators come from? There is a major shortage of trained
AM/FM/GIS people in the market place today. All AM/FM/GIS vendors are spending more time and money than ever
before training AM/FM/GIS staff in hopes of finding a gifted Project Managers. All City, State, Federal and Private users
of AM/FM/GIS information are looking every day for people. There are some State Agencies that have as many as 20 new
or vacated openings for AM/FM/GIS staff. So we take someone from our Mapping departments, Assessor Offices, MIS
departments, or Engineering Offices and appoint them AM/FM/GIS Manager. Usually this person is new to AM/FM/GIS
but has a lot of excitement for what they have just been asked to do. They don’t always have the engineering, mapping or
data background but they are bright and understand computers better than their supervisors. In many cases the new
AM/FM/GIS person is in their middle twenty ’s. There is more opportunity for new people in the AM/FM/GIS field and
there is more steady growth than at any other time. We are noticing that many of the new people coming into the
AM/FM/GIS field, leave after about four years. Some move on to another public AM/FM/GIS office, some go to work for
vendors. Vendors typically pay more. Other reasons for new people not staying in the field is the stress of the AM/FM/GIS
tasks being put on them and they just pursue another career. We have to work on making career opportunities that have
strong competitive salaries. To keep more of our home grown AM/FM/GIS people, we will need to help them develop at a
faster pace and allow them to get extra training in the AM/FM/GIS environment. Yes, I know what you are thinking. If I
send them to training and work to give them more chances to develop at a faster pace they will leave. If a person is young
and just given one task to do, they will leave faster than if you try to make them active in the process. Department
managers, Project Managers and AM/FM/GIS Coordinators have to work hard to keep good people, but you can keep more
by having employees feel that they can continue to learn in their AM/FM/GIS environment. We need to let young people
know about the opportunities in AM/FM/GIS. Most people new to this field are interested in computer programming. If
they are not bogged down with making maps, encourage them to write AML’s and query programs for departments. This
is a growing world but the expertise is not staying up with demand, both in the user world and vendor world. There are
things that need to be addressed and this paper will try to address where we are now, where we need to be and the issues
that are associated with it. One thing that all employers have to look at in hiring Project Managers is does the person have a
track record with AM/FM/GIS data. It is easier to teach a person computers, than it is to teach AM/FM/GIS.
