Migrating Legacy GIS; an Evolutionary Approach
The evolutionary process
Establishing connections between enterprise solutions
Taking meaningful steps toward integrating enterprise solutions requires a determined
approach to selecting and implementing software and process over many years. Taking the
long view is required because if you don’t it will become nearly impossible to get started.
While company mergers are probably today’s strongest catalyst there are other situations that
could also become reason to re-examine process and technology. Basically any major
technology or process change that makes a significant change to the current way of doing
business is a candidate for opening the door to developing incremental improvements toward
enterprise solutions.
In our case the merger of Wisconsin Electric/Wisconsin Gas set the stage for adopting GIS
system strategies that are moving the two companies toward future enterprise solutions.
These strategies focus on building synergies between the two established companies and
leveraging these toward our common goals. An example of this is the development of a
common viewer technology for Gas, Electric and Water. This is being rolled out in 1st Qtr
2003 and was accomplished at a fraction of the cost of adopting a single GIS platform
technology. A basic understanding of who would be impacted and where we could establish
the largest benefit in the quickest timeframe lead us to this solution.
Developing a culture within the organization that supports an enterprise view is also key to
ensuring strong connections among enterprise solutions. There’s possibly nothing more
difficult to overcome than the effects of frustration and inefficiency brought about by
obviously disconnected systems and procedures. To overcome this there needs to be a
concerted effort toward building bridges between systems so that it is apparent that every
system that is deployed is focused on the elimination of these types of problems. In addition
to eliminating inefficiencies, it must also minimize the impact of any new problems of it’s
own. This is best accomplished through deployment of systems that thoroughly support new
work procedures that drive toward solving real work issues as much as improving back office
reporting and immediate feedback.
Determining data and process ownership among system components
Interesting things happen when there are clearly defined owners of the various system
components. Accountability and performance measurement becomes a norm, which in turn
builds pride and teamwork resulting in a job well done. It’s so important that to be
successful there needs to be a clear and direct understanding of each employee’s role in the
process. This may appear to be overstating the obvious but without it any enterprise
implementation is doomed.
At We Energies it was clear that we needed to establish this linkage between process and
data elements. The 3rd Qtr 2003 implementation of Work Management will provide the
mechanism for efficient process controls that are lacking in the current environment. That
mechanism relies on consistent and developed assignment of ownership up and down the
line. The GIS applications that are coming on line during the same period will benefit
tremendously from the Work Management initiative.
We will for the first time be able to see all work coming through a common system and
reporting mechanism. An example of this is that our work package contents including
original sketch and as-built products, will be immediately communicated to the field through
our common viewer application.
Integrating old systems with new ones while keeping the infrastructure afloat
Evolving enterprise systems requires that you develop good working relationships with the
mainstream vendor community and establish strong partnerships with a solid, experienced
consultant team or systems integrator. The vendor and vendor support community is
committed to seeing these projects through and can be relied on to assist throughout the
process. They can help you weigh the risk of the incremental adaptation of new technology
versus the risk of implementing the same technology more quickly but at a much higher cost.
They can also ensure that the technology supports the current business operating culture.
The risk of not quite fitting into your culture may be high and therefore the new technology
is not a good choice, at least at this time or without limited introduction. An alternative, in
many cases is to grow your current applications in the direction you intended with only
implementing selected parts of new technology. The real challenge is to make adjustments in
the existing systems that align themselves with the outcomes that are desired. It is evident
that the key to enterprise solutions rest in the data, process and people that support the
organization. Technology is an enabler to a certain extent but with regard to the process
underway needs to address five primary objectives:
- Define the application, data, and process requirements necessary to successfully achieve
GIS migration and integration objectives
- Analyze, enhance and test migration tools to determine if they satisfy the application and
data requirements.
- Identify the cost elements of the recommended process changes and consider the effort
associated with implementing each element
- Establish plans used to define and communicate the objectives necessary to meet goals,
objectives and schedule
- Determine whether there needs to be process changes and where in the overall process
the changes should be implemented
