GeoStrategist™ : Organized business planning for the GIS program manager

GIS program managers are challenged with achieving projected benefits of GIS while ensuring the effectiveness of the corporate GIS program. While such challenges are common to mainstream Information Technology (IT) organizations, mature GIS programs are often additionally subject to a perception that the “GIS project” will reach conclusion and that GIS-related costs will recede. When those costs actually begin to creep upwards in response to corresponding demands from users, corporate executives are more likely to focus attention on what they might consider “overhead” expenses, which are usually fair game for reductions when economic resources are tight. (Umbaugh, 1999) IT organizations in general are experiencing increasing scrutiny from corporate executives. Technology advancements are more directly linking IT benefits to performance of the enterprise as a whole. This trend is expected to continue into the foreseeable future and will result in increased expectations for the return on their IT investments and more demanding metrics proving IT’s contribution to the enterprise. (Gartner Group, 1999)

GIS managers (and CIOs in general) are now expected to more closely control costs, more fairly allocate resources and costs to client departments, better understand business unit applications, support the evolving coexistence of centralized and decentralized modes of operation, and develop/maintain more sophisticated service agreements. At the same time they must continue their efforts to improve return on investment through expanded deployment, technological innovation, create vision of future, and manage implementation of enterprisewide architectures.

Distance between business units and the IT department, inadequate planning, and barriers to integration contribute to unrealized management expectations (Osterle, 1993). GIS is in a unique position to unite disparate business disciplines through its potential for impacting processes and intra-organizational mechanisms. GIS programs must, however, overcome a number of barriers that can limit the perceived acceptance and usefulness of the technology.

In spite of a widely deployed (350+ users) and award winning GIS (ESRI 1999 International Internet Mapping Application, NACo 1999Achievement Award, NACIO 1999 Meritorious Award, Council for Urban Economic Development 1999 Promotional Gold Award, URISA 1998 Exemplary Systems in Government, et.al.), Pierce County, Washington Geographic Information Services (PCGIS) continues to expend significant effort justifying budget requests and departmental charges. They have taken an innovative and effective approach to this challenge by implementing an intranet-based application for the proactive management and communication of their GIS business plan. GeoStrategist™ has been implemented as a repository for business plan details and as a mechanism for communicating the plan to executives and users alike.

Overview of GEOSTRATEGIST™
GeoStrategist™ was originally conceived simply as a method for producing an electronic strategic report, but quickly evolved into a more comprehensive tool for continuous maintenance of a “living” strategic and tactical plan. GeoStrategist™ was designed to provide two-way intranet-based communications between executive management, GIS user departments, and the “centralized” GIS department. Strategic data is maintained within a relational ODBC data source, which is updateable through web forms. GeoStrategist™ is integrated with additional data sources, such as timesheet accounting databases and corporate goals databases.

GeoStrategist™ is organized into six major components as illustrated by the site map shown in Figure 1. Each component can be accessed through the site map or through the primary user interface.