|
|
|
Municipal Perspective
|
Crafting an enterprise GIS: An enterprising craft
Building a master plan
Performing the Needs Assessment
The City’s consultant performed eight (8) days of needs assessment interviews in
November/December 2001 aimed at determining opportunities and requirements for developing
GIS capabilities that improve citywide information access and analysis, and that achieve
increased levels of productivity by improving data integration, consolidation, and
interdepartmental access to data. Walkthroughs were conducted with the following
departments/entities to understand the department’s current working environment and work
flows, and to identify department issues and needs related to their use of the City’s maps and
records.
The main concern of participants was to make sure that their needs were fully explored and
understood, and that they understood where GIS could support their work function. To
accomplish the latter, the GIS consultant conducted a GIS orientation that reviewed GIS concepts
and benefits, the goals and objectives of the City’s project, and the types of spatial analyses the
GIS can perform, with examples oriented toward City work functions. Following the orientation,
participants were divided into groups for a team building, interactive discussion designed to
develop a common understanding of GIS opportunities for City participants. The groups, based
on departments, discussed and listed current map and data resources, unmet map and data needs,
and potential users for GIS within their departments. A presentation of the findings by each
group helped to achieve a shared understanding of GIS opportunities while establishing a team
spirit that extends beyond departmental boundaries.
Creating a Phased Implementation Plan
Research and experience reveal that systems fail primarily due to two reasons: 1) a focus on data
when determining the development plan for a system, and 2) a lack of focus on the people side of
developing the system. At the City of Killeen, an application- or workflow-driven approach was
used to define the needs of the organization to ensure that the system implementation strategy
addressed the core requirements of the City, including system integration and data and software
procurements, when appropriate. To achieve enterprise success with GIS, the City realized the
implementation strategy did not simply involve making technology decisions. It is critical that an
organizational, managerial, and staffing structure be created that institutionalizes both the
efficiencies made possible by enterprise GIS as well as ongoing support and coordination needed
to sustain the system. The City and its GIS consultant used the following strategy to produce the
City’s implementation plan:
- Defining GIS Applications – A list of 69 potential GIS applications were identified
during the departmental interviews that support work functions, programs, and service
mandates of the participating departments, and improve City operations.
- Prioritizing GIS Applications – To aid in determining phasing of the GIS program,
applications were prioritized based on qualitative cost/benefit criteria. Criteria included
number of users/frequency of use, ability to improve productivity or revenue capture,
ability to improve access to information, support of community development and service
delivery, support of public safety programs, database requirements, hardware/software
requirements, and implementation complexity.
- Defining Data Requirements – Once the applications were prioritized, data requirements
for each application were added to a conceptual GIS database design. Preparing the
database concept helped define and communicate the strategy for eliminating unnecessary
data redundancies and for achieving improved access, consolidation, and control that will
be necessary for managing the City’s GIS. Associated the data with the application
prioritization enabled the database development strategy to assign a priority for data
conversion (i.e., data for high priority applications would be included in Phase I of the
GIS implementation, data required for low priority applications would be included in later
phases of the GIS implementation.)
- Defining Data Compilation Strategy – A database compilation strategy for constructing or
improving data was prepared for each component of the proposed GIS conceptual
database design. By completing this process, any major data conversion or acquisition
issues were identified in the plan and accounted for in the implementation budget.
- Defining Hardware/Software Requirements – Based on the application prioritization,
hardware and software acquisition was also phased into the implementation. This
phasing allows for the purchase of system components only when needed, thus spreading
the cost out over a period of time.
- Assigning Data Maintenance Responsibilities – Both spatial and attribute data
maintenance responsibilities were assigned to the various departments based on the City’s
existing business functions. During the plan review, a consensus was reached among
departments on the data maintenance responsibilities.
- Determining Staff/Organization Requirements – A strategy was developed to implement
organizational models, management approaches, and an adequate staff training program
that would result in a successful GIS program.
The needs assessment and implementation plan project achieved:
- a city-wide consensus on the scope and capabilities of the City’s enterprise GIS
- a GIS concept and plan that addresses the unique needs of each of the City’s user
departments
- a clear and well documented plan that describes and prepares a strategy for GIS
applications, hardware and software, database development and organization support and
staff responsibilities
- a phased implementation plan and budget for incremental development that will allow the
City to realize concrete, tangible benefits from each stage of system implementation
while being flexible enough to support changes if funds or resources changed.
Achieving council Buyoff
Executive Presentation
Although department managers were sold on the idea that GIS would be very beneficial to the
City, they wanted to make sure the GIS implementation plan was sold to and accepted by the City
Council. To achieve council buyoff, the GIS implementation plan had to address the following
Council concerns:
- What are the costs versus benefits of implementing an enterprise-wide GIS?
- How much money will need to be spent before a tangible output is produced?
- Will the plan be flexible enough to allow an adjustment of a phase rather than pulling the
plug on the project if a phase is not fully funded?
Upon completion of the implementation plan project in May 2001, the GIS consultant delivered
an executive level presentation of the final Strategic GIS Implementation Plan to the City
Manager, the Deputy City Manager, the Assistant City Manager, department managers, and GIS
Steering Committee members. The presentation provided an executive summary review of the
findings of the needs assessment, the proposed conceptual design, expected system development
costs, and the proposed implementation plan. Specific topics included:
- Why is GIS technology important to municipal governments? Covered under this topic
were the primary drivers for information system projects, including the need to integrate
“islands of information”, improving efficiencies and customer service, and the need for
better information management across the enterprise.
- How can GIS be used in municipal governments? A series of screen shots were presented
of GIS analysis applications addressing such topics as public safety, economic
development, and land or building utilization.
- How does GIS benefit the municipal government? A list of benefits and their outcomes
were presented, such as:
More Current Information -----> Better Decisions
Speed Information Access ------> Better Customer Service
- What were the findings of the needs assessment? Primarily, the assessment identified
that integrating the City’s spatial information with its existing databases and paper
records would provide strong benefits to the City’s decision makers and end users.
- How will the system be implemented? The phased approach for database and application
development and hardware/software acquisition was presented. In addition, staff and
departmental responsibilities were reviewed.
- What will be the cost of implementing the enterprise-wide GIS? Presenting the cost for
each task in each phase while discussing what would be accomplished in each phase of
the implementation helped to set expectations of cost versus deliverable.
|
|
|
|
