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Applications-Tools of the Trade
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GIS, WMS, and ERP Integration – The Right Touch Points
Once the work request is initiated in the WMS, the work requests are distributed to the appropriate designer often by a design supervisor.
Interface 2 – WMS to GIS at Work Assignment
An interface between WMS and GIS could provide the design supervisor with the ability to see geographically where the work requests are relative to one another, and to the geographic areas covered by various internal employees or outside contract personnel. Additionally, the design supervisor could look at the details of the physical infrastructure in the particular area which may have some bearing on which designer would be best suited for the job. Under this scenario, the design supervisor could be interacting with the WMS interface, and GIS windows could open inside the WMS application to provide the geographic perspective. Additionally, it is possible for the GIS to have saved the geographic location of the work request, and to have placed a boundary at the location.
Another interface interaction would also be appropriate at this point if the WMS and GIS both have the concept of job stage or state. The action of assigning the job to a designer should promote the work request from the initiated stage, to the design stage. The interaction would occur in the WMS interface, but both the WMS and GIS should be kept in synch with the single promote action.
The job has now been assigned to a designer. At this point, the designer may read from a list of
jobs in the WMS, and due to Interface 2, by simply selecting a specific work request, a GIS
window could open to the work request location in the WMS interface. The designer could then
determine if a field visit were necessary based on the infrastructure at the particular location. If a
field request were necessary, the designer could either screen print a sheet for field notes, or send
an image to a field computing device.
When the designer is ready to create the graphic design, the activity would be performed in the
GIS. Most GIS vendors have graphic design packages or capabilities built into the GIS so that
the design is held in a preliminary state until the new infrastructure is installed. After the work
request has been completed, the preliminary information can then moved or promoted to the
production data of map and infrastructure information.
Interface 3 – ERP, WMS, and GIS at Work Design
During the design process an interface between GIS, WMS, and the Materials Management System in ERP can provide valuable information about the availability of materials. The WMS work request has a desired date that the customer expects service. As the designer develops the graphic design, the required materials for the design standards chosen are known. If any of the materials are not available, and cannot be available by the customer’s desired date, the MMS sends warning messages to the designer working on the design. The designer may then select alternate materials or design standards with materials that will be available. The potential exists for the Materials Management System inventory levels to be managed much more closely with this kind of interface and interaction between the systems and process.
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