Yes, there is life on MARS! ... A journey towards an enterprise-wide geospatial information& technology solution
Systems of the Enterprise
The systems of enterprise normally consist of major groupings to support the external customer (bill / taxpayer), the company / agency (internal requirements for operating the business) and requirements for the shareholder (financially accounting). Major systems support each of these requirements. The major systems can be modular, requiring system integration, or can be part of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) approach where a major vendor handles all the major system needs of a company or governmental agency. For purposes of definition major components/ systems include the following:
- The Customer Information System (CIS) is the main repository of information about the customer. Energy usage, water usage, phone calls made, appraised value of a property are some examples. It also contains the billing master, which is used to produce monthly or quarterly bills or semi-annual tax statements. A more contemporary term is Customer Care System (CCS).
- The Work Management System (WMS) is the main repository of information and plans about the work to be done and the work that has been completed (over a reasonable timeframe such as a year for budgeting and performance purposes). This advanced project management tool allows the management of an enterprise’s labor availability and expense, material expense and equipment needs as it relates to projects and other routine work. A company or agency must decide what level of work will be entered into the WMS, i.e. every Operation and Maintenance item and projects, just projects or a mix and match. From an ERP point of view, WMS is a major component of Asset Management and Preventative Maintenance.
- The Human Resources (HR) System typically includes payroll, time reporting, personnel and benefits information requirements of the enterprise. Closely linked to this can be the various financial processing and reporting needs of the organization, e.g. Accounts Payable / Receivable, Property Accounting, Tax, etc.
Noted in Diagram 1, is an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) model that is being used by a few major vendors. Of note is the fact that geospatially enabled systems have not been engulfed into the ERP. This does not mean that geospatial information is not required by ERP systems. It is somewhat challenging, however, to educate others on the merits of looking at the world differently than through traditional eyes.
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