Building the organization: The Soft Side of Enterprise Information Systems
If the internal development group can provide the necessary services to build the
application then the application project team will work with development staff,
using the application design as a guide. If the internal development group cannot
provide the necessary services, then the organization will procure those services
from a contractor experienced in developing the specified application software.
The contractor will also work with the application project team and will use the
application design document.
Milestone #2 - Completed Application: The last milestone in the process is the
completed application. The process will get to this milestone from three different
functions: 1) a procured application from a selected third party vendor; 2) the
application development work by the internal staff; or 3) the application
development by a contractor.
Completed Application
As mentioned earlier, following are two case studies that involves the use of
teambuilding exercises as well as overcoming organizational issues.
CASE STUDY - MCES, ST. PAUL, MN
The Metropolitan Council of Environmental
Services created the new Environmental Planning and Evaluation (EPE) department by
combining an environmental monitoring and analyses group with a watershed
management and modeling group. The EPE was designed to take the MCES into the area
of regional environmental information management.
Problem: Designing a system that will allow several divisions within the Department to
work together in managing the wide variety of environmental information.
Solution: There have been several steps taken in the MCES case study as described
below:
- Using the "soft" technical design tools described above, a conceptual
environmental information management system (EIMS) was designed that
will centralize the disparate volumes of data being collected and managed by
the EPE.
- Technical committees were established to deal with the details of such topics
as computer hardware, LAN / WAN specifications, information management
standards, and GIS technologies.
- Once the conceptual EIMS was designed, application teams were created to
define the needs of each division. These application teams are still in use
today and keep the EIMS moving forward.
- The EIMS construction has been started through the design of a data
warehouse and numerous data source applications, as defined by the
application teams.
Currently, the EPE is continuing with their data warehouse implementation taking full
advantage of the latest technologies including browser based tools for data input and
retrieval. The cooperative technical organization built at the beginning of the project has
been the corner stone supporting the EIMS implementation.
Case Study - Austin, TX
The Watershed Protection Department (WPD) of
the City of Austin was also created by combining the environmental planning groups and
the storm water drainage group. These two primary groups now address environmental
issues, flooding, storm drainage infrastructure management plus other functions.
Obviously, the new Department was faced with integrating a disparate set of data into the
organization's operations.
Problem: Designing a system that will allow several divisions within the new
Department to work together in managing the wide variety of environmental and
engineering information.
Solution: The WPD developed a set of application design teams from the very beginning.
Starting with an initial approach towards a centralized database, the approach changed as
the application teams began their workshops. The steps completed by the WPD, so far,
include:
- A needs assessment conducted through several facilitated workshops defined
the data needs and the "customers" of the new Department. The resultant
documentation defined numerous applications required by the divisions in
their daily operations.
- Using the applications list, a series of smaller projects were begun using both
internal and external development teams. A Department steering committee
was created to prioritize the application development (and associated data
development) given a specific operating budget. Also, a Department data
manager was also hired to facilitate the process.
- Several applications, especially those utilizing GIS technologies, were
completed within the first year, giving Department management the
opportunity to obtain additional operating funds for the subsequent years.
- The Steering Committee and the Department data manager are still in
operation, providing guidance to the various application teams within the
divisions. The needs assessment document is the guidebook for the Steering
Committee.
The WPD has developed several applications for their operations including WEB based
tools for data retrieval; for floodplain management; and for infrastructure management -
the development of the storm drainage data sets required for maintenance applications.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the processes described in this paper have been successfully implemented
in two projects where the diversity of the technical teams required a facilitated approach.
These two organizations are continuing to use these techniques to maintain the enterprise
information system implementation.
