Retrofitting the Enterprise
Reality.
Internal systems exist. Data managed within these internal systems balances between very valuable and
highly suspect. Data is redundantly input manually based on paper flows and telephone conversations.
Disconnects occur between planning, engineering, provisioning, marketing, and billing. New businesses
and residents in new subdivisions request service, at times before facilities to serve them are in place.
Storms and unexpected demand force expensive construction and repairs, while excess capacity fails to
provide returns on investment. Trucks roll to determine what really exists and installation discovers that
material or facilities needed to complete the order are different from what was indicated by the records
systems.
Reasons.
Over time, most of these existing systems were created or acquired independently based on expediency of
need of a single organization. These systems used the technology available at the time they were defined.
Upgrades to better processors, more in-favor operating systems, data screens, and databases, along with
changes in the needs of the organization may not have considered improvements to, or even protection of
the data. Cases exist where data is input with no clear need for its utilization. Relationships both inside a
single system and between systems may depend on human integrity maintenance rather than referential
constraints.
Customer
Services assets
Geospatial was typically only used for systems where paper map-books or plats needed to be updated
frequently. Data generated from these spatial systems were re-entered to non-spatial systems, losing the
keys that allowed validation and re-integration. Each department was, and is, accountable for its own
budgets and information. Communication across departments and to external organizations is generally
less formal and quite often evolves based on social rather than true business requirements.
Conditions:
Isolated systems with questionable data are the current conditions in many companies. However, the
luxury to start over does not exist. The problem is one of integrating information, while improving data
quality, reducing costs, making information available where needed to improve value to the customer base.
We have also reached a time in IT endeavors where ROI (Return on Investments) must be measured in
months rather than years.
Fortunately, technology and standards have now advanced to the point where geospatial techniques can be
effectively and relatively inexpensively employed to not only validate data, but also to improve data quality
during integration. The work of the OpenGIS Consortium (OGC) over the last decade has resulted in
accepted International Standards (ISO) as well as proving interfaces in test-bed trials.
Moving Forward:
Client implementations, based on these developments are being deployed. Examination of these efforts,
plans, successes, and issues follow.
The first issue to address in today’s environment is ROI. How do you pay for the effort? Can this be done
using capital budget? Can reduction in work effort be achieved to offset the costs? If so, how long will
this take? Creation of the business case is the first step. In spite of the short term ROI requirement, clients
have been able to justify very impressive efforts.
A second issue is leadership of the effort along with staffing, both internal and third party to achieve
success. Improvements in business processes can only occur if talent is made available to dedicate their
time to make it happen. Failures result from lack of attention to the details or automation of a process that
should be eliminated, rather than technical deficiencies.
Of course, major successes are achieved by addressing the right problems. Where do you start? In most
cases, problem areas are not difficult to identify. For one evaluation, you look at paper trails. Historical
AM/FM/GIS systems for telecommunications companies who do design (rather than just after-the-fact
records drafting) produce work prints, bill-of-materials (BOM), and other reports. Distribution may be
digital, in paper, or some of both. Typically more than a dozen copies are provided to support construction,
inventory and purchasing, cost accounting, scheduling, fiber and copper assignment, inspection, and
management. Additional copies or information may be sent to these and other organizations after the
information is built and “final” (constructed, inspected, accounting reconciled, and ready for service).
