Achieving user requirements for GIS implementation projectst
Neil Tansley
Severn Trent Water, Edgbaston Depot
Waterworks Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B16 9DD
United Kingdom,
Kristen Freese
Stoner Associates, 1170 Harrisburg Pike
Carlisle, PA 17013, USA
Overview
Severn Trent Water (STW) began two interrelated projects in 1998. The Records and Drawings
Automation and Regionalisation (RADAR) and Underground Asset Data Management Systems
(UADMS) projects have the objective of delivering a new records management process
supported by a GIS-based asset information system. The project delivers a new Record
Management Centre, operating a standardised, re-engineered business process, and supplies endusers
with standard GIS-created records products.
Severn Trent Water, Stoner Associates, and Severn Trent Systems (STS) have involved STW
Records technicians and operational staff in the process of developing standardised records
management work processes, a corporate asset data model, mapping standards and customised
GIS applications. The initial step of the RADAR/UADMS project team was to involve Records
Office staff in defining a re-engineered work flow for managing records data. This work flow
forms the core component of the project and enables all other workstreams, database design, data
conversion, application design and infrastructure design, to successfully meet user and process
requirements.
Ongoing STW involvement, through design support groups and key deliverable quality reviews,
has achieved early prototyping, testing and refinement of the IT solutions. This paper discusses
approaches used to date to ensure that business requirements are satisfied and to achieve business
acceptance of both organisational and technology change.
Project Management Approach
The RADAR/UADMS project management team consists of a STW Project Manager, STW
Business Change Manager, a STW Contract Manager, and two managers from Stoner and STS.
The objective of this team is to deliver the project benefits to the defined timescale, budget, and
quality level. The management team has adopted three key programs aimed at achieving
benefits delivery.
Quality Review Process
The Quality Review Process was established to ensure project deliverables met pre-defined
quality standards. In addition, the process develops peoples' understanding of specific project
areas and ensures end-user 'buy-in'. The process identifies individuals who have the skills and
experience to contribute to each project deliverable. Selected individuals are then invited to read
and critique deliverables before they are approved. All reviewers are invited to a review meeting
with the author to debate deliverable issues and agree modifications. An authorised management
team member approves the deliverable once it has been updated to reflect the changes agreed at
the meeting.
Configuration Management
Configuration management is the collective term that the management team uses to describe the
management of project risks, issues, problems, and changes to scope. Any employee of STW or
the project team is invited to raise a concern regarding a specific area of the project. Twice a
month, several members of the management team meet to review and classify incoming concerns
and ensure that existing risks, issues, and problems are being given appropriate attention to either
mitigate or resolve them. This process ensures that potential threats to the successful delivery of
benefits are carefully managed.
Stakeholder Management
One of the most common reasons for IT project failure is the lack of support and involvement of
senior management (Whittaker, 1999). The RADAR/UADMS project is actively working to
maintain management interest. The project management team meets formally with the STW
senior operations managers, the RMC customers, on a regular basis. Additionally, the project
management team meets with the sponsoring Director once a quarter to inform him of project
progress and maintain support.
A project communication manager, reporting to the management team, develops and promotes
regular publications and presentations summarising project news. Each STW project team
member has an assigned group of business stakeholders who they meet with regularly to provide
project updates. The heart of this program involves STW business people sharing their project
experiences with colleagues and the project team.
Additionally, as the paper later describes, the team has set up several business support groups
that provide input and timely feedback to the suppliers. The majority of the support members
have full time operational or planning jobs within STW. Their involvement in the
RADAR/UADMS project is on a volunteer basis only. Strong stakeholder management has been
essential to make this support available.
