Using change management to achieve success in second generation mobile GIS implementation
The first phase of the project had team members interviewing work groups
company-wide in order to document all mobile software (existing and proposed).
They interviewed thirty-five work groups and documented twenty four types of
software that is used in the mobile environment, along with the pc hardware
requirements of the mobile software.
During Phase 2, the team turned its attention toward ruggedize pc hardware and
the GIS Viewer. After reviewing three available GIS Viewing software packages,
the GIS Viewer selection was awarded to the original vendor of WPSC’s existing
GIS Viewer. We would implement the most recent version of their software.
During hardware selection the team worked with over eight vendors and the
various rugged, mobile pc hardware options they presented. For our secondgeneration
of rugged computers we selected a ruggedized laptop with touch
screen.
Phase 3 consisted of prepping and implementation of the pc hardware and GIS
Viewer software. Three hundred and fifty rugged pc’s were deployed to twenty
districts from November 2002 to March 2003, one-third of the time that the
original implementation took. Training for the mobile work groups, along with any
network users of the GIS Viewer were held. Two training sessions included PC
Basics/Windows 2000 held one week in advance of the GIS Viewer/Ruggedized
pc training.
Cha-Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes
At the start of the project, most of the team members only knew change
management as the latest in managerial buzzwords. Our champion supplied us
with the resource workbook “People & Change: Planning for Action (1997, Oriel
Incorporated). This workbook became our guide for the entire project. The team
learned that successful change management is based on three elements:
communication, participation and education. Each of these elements would be
applied to all three of the project phases, becoming critical to project success.
Applying change management to your project is like going to McDonald’s and
ordering a Big Mac. They always ask you “do you want fries with that?” and you
say “yes”. The Big Mac is your project; change management is your fries. You
can eat a Big Mac by itself, but it’s better with fries. No one ever orders just fries.
You can complete a project without using change management, but we’ve
learned that change management can ensure project successes. Who doesn’t
want that?
The project team’s first lesson in change management was for us to clarify our
vision of the change. Each team member generated their own list of what we
thought was going to change – the focus of the exercise was the effect of change
on people, not the pc’s, the GIS Viewer, or the project dollars. Through this
exercise we were able to determine a vision of the change that included three
common points:
- Work groups using the mobile pc’s and GIS Viewer would have to gain
new technology skills required to make them successful in using new
mobile pc’s and GIS Viewer.
- Maintenance and support for the ruggedized, mobile pc’s would shift from
the GIS Services Department to the IT Department. GIS Viewer software
support and training would stay with the GIS Services Department.
- The selected ruggedized mobile pc’s would be able to run multiple
software applications, and not just the GIS Viewer software. This would
make the pc hardware usable by more work groups at WPSC, not only
those using GIS.
The next step was to identify the “target populations” or work groups being
affected by the mobile GIS Change. Even though we had determined there was
a wealth of mobile software and mobile workers, the work groups that would be
impacted by this project included:
District Customer Service Managers and their employees:
- Line Electricians
- Gas Mechanics
- Locators
- Designers
The Information Technology Department:
- IT Help Desk
- IT Hardware Group
- IT Network Support Group
Communication, Participation and Education
As the project kicked of in January of 2002, the team determined there were
three work areas where clear, pertinent, continuous communication would be
needed. The first area was with the Customer Service Managers of District
offices (twenty in number). Their understanding, acceptance and support would
be needed if the project were going to be successful with our second work area,
mobile field employees. These work groups were comprised of Line Electricians,
Gas Mechanics, Locators and Designers (about 400 employees). And finally, we
needed to open a line of communication with three areas within IT. The thirty
employees within the Help Desk, Hardware Group and Network Support Group
would ultimately become responsible for the selected ruggedized, mobile pc’s.
District Customer Service Managers
In today’s world we have every means of communications available to allow us to
reach work groups with quick and timely communications about a project, and
during the project we did use email, newsletters and voice mail to reach our
“target populations”. Even though these communication tools are quick, efficient
and can easily reach a large audience, nothing beats face-to face discussions.
During this project the team relied heavily face-to-face meetings as a means of
our primary communication. Our first meetings were with the District managers
during their bi-monthly meetings at the corporate office. Here, we were able to
present the project phases and time line. We also used this opportunity to list
our expectations of the District managers. These expectations included:
- Support mobile computing at WPSC.
- Support the project team by letting them meeting with the mobile work
groups during the project.
- Support of your employees during this transition by keeping them
informed of the project, making sure they attend training, and contact
the project team if they become aware of any conflicts.
After selection of the new mobile pc’s in Phase 2, we met with the managers
once again. This time it would be a one-on-one meeting with Project Leader and
District Manager at the district office. During this meeting a demo was presented
of the new ruggedized laptop pc and new version of the GIS Viewer. The
network docking was also described, with the manager and Project Leader
identifying location for the dock. Determination of any wiring (network or
electrical) need that would need to be completed prior to implementation was
documented. The final part of the discussion described the implementation
schedule and training that would be required for the mobile work groups. By
putting focus on the managers and gaining their support from the start, we felt we
had taken a successful step in our project.
Participation with Mobile Work Groups
The next group to tackle was the mobile work groups. Again, we knew it would
be more important to meet with all of them on a face-to-face basis. In March and
April 2002, we traveled to every district office and presented our project plan and
time line to the Line Electricians, Gas Mechanics, Locators and Designers. This
presentation was similar to the one we had for managers, but since the project
was going to impact the mobile work groups the greatest, we needed their
participation. During each meeting we asked four questions of the mobile
workers and documented them on flip charts during the meetings. After all
meetings had taken place, we used a pareto chart to determine the most
common answers, which are also listed below:
