Integration of work management some issues
Selection of WMIS/GIS software
Many times people who are planning to purchase a work management system and/or a
GIS will start with a blank piece of paper and attempt to define in great detail all the
functionality that they need. This detailed specification will be included in the RFP.
This often includes long checklists that they ask each bidder to answer. The bidders of
course will give the most favorable answer they can. Some times these check lists are so
detailed that they may assure certain minute details but make it difficult, if not impossible
to get the overall solution that is needed.
If a checklist is developed it may be good to include future functionality that the vendor
expects to have or functionality that you may want in the future. The future functionality
should be a small part of the decision, but it may be important. Another thing that is
important is how well the prospective vendors support their software after the
implementation.
One suggestion when installing an integrated system is to look at it as installing a
WMIS/GIS solution. These systems are large and effect a large part of and organization.
As we point out later in this paper there are a number of organizational impacts that must
be taken in to account if the Owner Company is to achieve the greatest benefit from the
implementation.
Another consideration in selecting the systems is how well do they fit together and work
to compliment each other. Have they been integrated before? Such things as being able
to enter data one place and have it useable by all the other systems. The selection also
needs to be based on whether they will fit in with the processes that are in place and how
willing the company is to change processes. The best solution is often a combination of
changing the processes and finding an integrated system that fits close to the current or
proposed processes. It is good to have an open mind about changing processes.
It must be kept in mind that no system will do everything. It will be necessary to make
trade-offs to find the solution that does the best job overall. One of the difficulties that
seem to be a part of these implementations is that there are people in any organization
that want to automate what they do and not to have an automated solution that meets the
objectives of the project. (This last sentence should be re-worded to make it clear.)
One concept in the selection process may be best of breed selection. This means that it is
important to find the software platforms that come the nearest to meeting your needs and
have a strong company behind them that is dedicated to maintaining and improving their
software. 'Best of breed' will not be the same for every utility's solution.
The selection process should also evaluate the performance of the systems where they are
already installed. While the performance of the system is an important consideration, the
performance of the implementing companies is also important. This is true whether they
are the individual companies that supply the software or an integrator. Another thing to
keep in mind is that when you check references, the list will be the people that the vendor
thinks will give them a good reference. Another observation about references is that
when a user company gives a reference, it is a testimonial about how well they did as
well as the vendor who helped them install their system. It takes a good Owner
Company team as well as a good vendor team working together to make a successful
implementation. If the vendor is good and the Owner Company does a poor job the
project may fail. If the vendor is poor and the Owner Company is good the project may
fail.
Interfaces With Other Systems
Some of the biggest benefits come when the WMIS and the GIS system are interfaced
with the other company systems. This helps share the data and it improves the integrity
of the data since it allows for inputting it once and if an error is made it can be corrected
in one place. Various vendors do interfaces in different ways such as tables, API's,
templates and custom built. While each of these methods work, it may be one of the
factors to consider when deciding on a vendor. The Owner Company needs to keep an
open mind about these approaches until they evaluate each in their own environment.
The Owner Company also needs to realize that it will have a considerable amount of
work to do when it comes to interfaces with the existing systems. The interfaces will
have to be mapped and data will need to be formatted to work with the new interface.
Corporate Impacts
This section discusses the organizational impacts that a large project may have on the
company. Several of the impacts are not directly related to the software. They are,
however, very important considerations when installing one or more of these systems.
This does not mean that the software chosen is not important, but it does mean that there
are more things to consider than just the software. Some of the things that must be
considered and made a part of the project plan are people, standards, work tracking,
training, advisory teams and risk management. The goal is to make the Owner Company
aware of these and suggest some things to do that will help lead to a project that is
completed on time and within the budget. The project must also attain the goals for
improvement in quality and productivity that were expected when the project was
approved.
The following diagram shows some of the topics that must be considered when planning
a large information system project of this kind. The vendor can supply the software and
help in designing and implementing the system. The Owner Company however must
manage the total project, which includes the software along with infrastructure,
organization, culture changes, and data input. The vendors usually can assist in those
parts of the project that are the responsibility of the owner but they cannot make the
decisions required to make the changes happen. All the items included in the diagram are
necessary to make up a complete project.
