From the GIS-project to everyday life
Torunn I. Carlsson
Oslo Water and Sewage Authority
Postbox 4704, Sofienberg, N-0506 Oslo, Norway
Introduction
Today the Oslo water and sewage authority (OWSA) has a enterprise-wide information system, VIS.
With this system we are now able to provide accurate, detailed information about the city.s water and
sewage systems. The thought of VIS started in 1991, and the first modules were up and running in 1993.
This paper will tell a little about the setting of the project, i.e. the organization around it, and also about
the project itself, and what has happened after the project ended, as the operation and maintenance part of
the system life began. Finally there is a little about the future; what will come next for VIS?
Oslo Water and Sewage Authority (OWSA)
OWSA has the following vision for its business: "OWSA will supply clean water for all purposes"
This will be achieve through aiming at these business goals: "Customers and users should all be
satisfied with OWSA.s products and services, including their accessibility, quality and price."
OWSA is an agency for the city of Oslo city council. It is fully self financed. Our main income is water
and wastewater fees. We supply approx. 520 000 inhabitants and all the businesses in the city with
water and wastewater removal.
Digital history of OWSA
OWSA started getting prepared for the digital age in 1972. At this point the organization started to
register coordinates for all manholes from aerial photographs, and the .Water and sewer register.
(VAR) started in 1973. In the period from 1982.83 the first interactive graphic map system was
introduced (Mivareg). This was used to register all pipes and manholes from VAR. By 1991 100 % of
the utility maps were digital, this also included some basic attribute data. In 1991 the division's, and the
different specialist fields in the technical divisions had some specialized systems. There was little or no
sharing of data, and the organization did not yet have one PC or workstation pr. employee.
The VIS project setting
The VIS project was initiated at a time when there had been a major reorganization in the agency. The
agency was trying to change from being a supplier of water and wastewater removal, into becoming a
customer oriented service partner for the city, in all aspects concerning our business. The executive
committee was very keen on utilizing new technology to achieve both better services and also higher
efficiency. There was general agreement that a good strategy was to connect all the dataentities using
geography as the common denominator.
The organization in 1991
OWSA was organized in four operational divisions and one support division.
Figure 1 OWSA organization in 1990/1991
We had a total of approx. 530 employees. The Customer service (CS) division was where the VIS
project was located. This was done to include the customer needs as well as our internal needs. The
mapping section is part of the CS division. The mapping section and the staff of the CS division were
the .core. workers into the VIS project.
