Distributed GIS Data
This would provide remote access to GIS and save time.
Prior to the viewer rollout, a lead person may make as many as 6 trips back to the main
office per week to get a copy of a map, which was needed, in the field. An example: If
you assumed 6 trips a week at 2 hours per trip for 12 leads at $30 per hour, that’s over
$200,000 per year. The business case for distributed data is more than compelling.
A total of four 2-hour training sessions for the Milwaukee Underground people were
developed. This ended up to be a template for future training. The 2-hour sessions
worked out well from an academic perspective. This gave the trainer and the user time
to regroup before the next session and time for the users to do some practicing on their
own between sessions, which they did. Some of these people were not computer
literate and needed to start off at a very basic level just to turn the computers on, log in
and navigate to the application. This was the extent of the first session. Next,
application training began and went smoothly due to the simplicity of the application
and the fact that the data the application provided was similar to the map data they
were used to using. During the second 2-hour session, it was apparent that these
people were engaged and excited about the application. When it came time to take a
break, after 1 hour, some people, in lieu of a break, stayed in the room and continued
to explore the application. By the time the third 2-hour session came around, people
were there early to the session with the laptops open and almost all were engaged in
looking at the data and discussing the application before class started. These were
construction people who were not exactly sold on the prospect of a computer in their
trucks. After the training was complete the users were supported by a business support
person along with IT support. There were few problems, if any, with the
implementation of this pilot. After a few months a “town meeting” session was held
with these users and upper management. The praises of the project were heard and
upper management got a first hand look at what had been accomplished. This provided
the direction to move forward with a much broader implementation.
Phase II
An extension of the application was made to our corporate network. Most users were
already computer literate people who were using the Excel front end GUI to view maps.
All of these people were given immediate access to the WEPCO viewer application.
The network user community had grown to approx. 1400. A training plan was
developed which included a “Support / Training Manual” and a “Training Schedule”. The
approach taken with these people was to conduct a 2-hour training session for the
“Basic Users” and two 4-hour training sessions for “Power Users” and “Trainers”.
“Power Users” were solicited in our Service Centers to help support and promote the
application. The names of the “Power Users” were published in the “Support / Training
Manual”. That way, if anyone needed a question answered they could contact the local
area “Power User” for the first line of support. WEPCO also utilizes a common “IT Help
Desk Support Group”.
Some of the business groups decided to train their own people. The business unit
personnel were trained and they in turn trained their users. This fostered ownership of
the application.
Phase III
In 2001 an extension of the application went to the “Trouble Personnel” and other field
personnel. To date, there are 65 laptops deployed to the field with an additional 100
laptops to be deployed to the field by the second quarter of 2002. Also included in this
deployment are 9 PC’s in “Project Trailers” throughout our territory. This extension
utilized the same training and deployment strategy as the “Milwaukee Underground”
deployment.
Application & Data Maintenance
Based on user feedback, the application functionality is scheduled to be updated each
month. This will continue for the next few months as viewer functionality is fine-tuned.
The data that is extracted out of GIS and CSS is done currently on a weekly basis. A
daily update of GIS data and a weekly update of CSS data are planned for the network
users. A monthly update via CD distribution is planned for the laptop users. This is
scheduled for January 2002.
Continuous Improvemment
Looking to satisfy the business need for GIS data viewing, monitoring new technology
and it’s potential should be a continuous process. Knowing when to move to a different
technology is to know your business requirements, data and vendors technology (in
that order).
