After the Merger/Acquisition...What Do We Do With All Those GISs?
The Solution
Selecting the optimum solution is not a simple process. However by turning to a fundamental
Information Technology evaluation process, and beginning with the end in mind, the merged
enterprise can determine the most advantageous solution. The recommended steps to identify
viable alternatives, gather key decision support information, and develop a business case for the
identified best alternative are summarized below.
Identify Goals & Objectives
It is imperative that the mission and goals of the merged enterprise (and their impact on the geospatial
systems) be clearly identified. Mission statements and corporate goals frame the highestlevel
requirements and define the boundaries for a business case regarding the continued use,
extension, or replacement of each geo-spatial system. Mission statements and goals must be
validated and interpreted at the geo-spatial and operations systems level to assure relevance and
compatibility with enterprise vision for a future operations environment.
Two actions are required to achieve this step
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Review and update the business drivers.
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Confirm the business mission and goals for each operational system.
Establishing or confirming business driven goals and objectives that support a clear mission
statement becomes the starting point for an objective assessment of the geo-spatial and adjacent
technologies. Technology must be aligned with the business for it to succeed in any
environment.
For example a mission statement may say something like the following.
The enterprise will create a geo-spatial system to fully support the
gathering and organizing facility data into usable information that meets
or exceeds the company operations facility network knowledge needs.
Goals may include statements of what the end-state will accomplish. Examples:
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Consolidate geo-spatial systems into a single robust architecture that will meet near-term
and long-term needs.
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create a flexible geo-spatial architecture to support future planned merger and acquisition
activities.
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Reduce the cost of delivering operations facility data, information, and analysis to
executives, superintendents, operations managers, operations staff, and customer service
representatives.
The mission statement, goals and objectives will be referred to often throughout the evaluation
process to assure that the team remains focused on the business requirements of the geo-spatial
solution.
