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GIS Strategic Planning

Welcome!

Best Practices and Lessons Learned

Presented by: Ronald R. ButcherAsset Management Practice LeadTimmons Group

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Enterprise GIS Components

Enterprise GIS

Data

Policy

Standards

SoftwareHardware

Training

People

To provide access to reliable data, maps, and tools……when, where, and how you need it.

It’s important to understand the focus areas for your

strategic planning

It’s very tough to tackle all components at once

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Growth is tough…..• It takes planning• It takes prioritization• It takes dedication• It takes corporate support• It takes champions• It takes sustained funding• It means Change!

GAP Issues…..• Should be addressed in your

planning efforts

Enterprise GIS Maturity Model

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GIS Maturity ModelImplementation Process

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Phase 1 – Current State Assessment (Health Check) Information Collection Knowledge Transfer

Best practices, education Needs Analysis

Identification and Prioritization Recommendation

Phase 2 – Implementation Plan (Road Map) Future state description Easy to understand projects to get there….

Planning Process

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Detailed Organizational Chart User Interviews Relevant Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) GIS System Architecture Diagram GIS Data Documentation (Metadata) GIS Applications Relevant Plans and Reports Major Business Systems

Health Check – Discovery Process

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Are our systems highly functioning? Do we understand our current capacity for growth and

limits? When will it break and what are our thresholds for users? Can we monitor our systems and do we know when

services / systems go down before our users? Do we have good disaster recovery for our systems and

data? Do we have a caching and cloud strategy?

Health Check – Big Questions

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Total pages 12200 Average pages/s 6.5Total hits 16997 Average hits/s 9.0Total users launched 200 Average Request response time 12sTotal throughput 27.0 MB Average Page response time 13.6sTotal hit errors 3236 Average throughput 0.12 Mb/sTotal action errors 0

Test Results – 100 Concurrent Users

Needs - Evaluation ToolsStress Testing Systems

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Do we understand our governance model? Do we understand our internal roles and responsibilities? Do we have a sense of priority for services and data? Do we have a data quality plan? Do we have a sustainable funding model?

Are we meeting the needs of the business (other

departments)? Are we ready for more users and deeper integration with

other systems?

Health Check – Big Questions

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Even Keel Strategies, Inc.

Health Check…..• Describe the current

environment• Grade ourselves on how we

are doing in key priority areas• Lay the foundation for

defining the Target State

Enterprise GIS Maturity Model

These should be relative to your peers in the industry considered

to be Best Practices

YOU ARE HERE

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Health Check Report CardComponent Grade Key Grading Factors

Processes and Procedures B

ESRI ArcGIS SDE and RDBMS tools for data management, storage and RDBMS transaction management

Knowledge of data models and some adoption Heavy use of caching services and cloud use to maximize storage access speeds Template MXD/MSD for divisions and regional use Use of ArcGIS technologies and RDBMS exist for core GIS data sets Many tools exist for the maintenance and scheduling of recurring jobs / tasks Update cycles for layers exists Many documents related to maintenance tasks such as loading data into SDW Software platform decisions made with PeopleSoft EPM and warehousing tools exist

Weak adoption outside GIS for ArcGIS/RDBMS storage and management Limited use of data models outside of Environmental (limited) and GIS group Weak adoption of ArcGIS data management best practices for version management No usage of ESRI production mapping suite and associated tools (e.g., workflow

manager extension (WMX), Task Assistant Manager (TAM) or Data Reviewer (DR)) for job, process and quality control and overall data management

Weak sense of priority for data maintenance priorities and layer criteria to be solved through the pending prioritization XLS driven by customer input

• Other grading areas may include:

• Policies• Data accessibility• Security• Hardware / Systems• Metadata management• Spatial data management• Many other options…..

Results – Health Check

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GIS Maturity Model G

IS M

atur

ityM

odel

Cur

rent

Sta

tus

(1) Enthusiast (2) Departmental (3) Central (4) Integration (5) Enterprise

Alignment

Data Management

Accessibility

Integration

Sustainability

Limited use of GIS and only

within two specific departments

No formal data management and little trust

and use of GIS data

Limited ability to access GIS and

limited data available.

No maintenance workflows or

integration with systems

Limited budget and no role within District Planning

process

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Even Keel Strategies, Inc.

Road Map…..• Describe future Architecture• Describe future organizational

and governance model• Describe the list of products and

services

Enterprise GIS Maturity Model

You want to create a program that:• Can scale, • Can adapt, • is nimble • and addresses the priority needs

of the business

Target State

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Road Map – The Future…Road Map: Goals

This is the fun part! During this process you should :

Focus on Health Check priorities Think about what you want to be as you “mature” Map your supporting structure :

Physical environment Insourced versus outsourced labor pools Organizational structure

Develop a “Project Portfolio” with deliverables, schedules and budgets with a sense of priority and sequencing

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Desired GIS Data Set Value to Governm

ent

Value to Con

stitu

ents

Alignm

ent w

ith other Intia

tives

Impo

rtance to

 Health

 and

 Saftety

Data Value

 Score (A

verage)

Acqu

isition

 Cost

Volume or Size of Data

Complexity

 of D

ata

Mainten

ance Cost

Acqu

isition

 and

 Mainten

ance Cost 

Score (Average)

Data Value

‐to‐Co

st Ratio: <1 (Low

) ‐5 (High)

Location of recreational water facilities (public and private) 5 5 5 4 4.8 2 1 1 1 1.3 3.7HIRA (Hazard Identification Risk Assessment) locations/source 5 5 4 5 4.8 2 2 3 2 2.3 2.1Traffic Count Data 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 1.5Air Polution Data (Satellite or Modelled) 3 2 2 5 3 5 4 5 5 4.8 0.6Urban Heat Islands 3 3 3 5 3.5 4 3 3 4 3.5 1Extreme Heat Mapping 3 3 3 5 3.5 4 3 3 4 3.5 1Socioeconomic status 4 3 4 2 3.3 2 4 2 2 2.5 1.3Cases of asthma 2 1 2 4 2.3 4 2 1 4 2.8 0.8Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) 2 1 2 4 2.3 4 2 2 4 3 0.8

Data Value Score: 1 (Low) ‐ 5 (High) Importance

Acquisition and Maintenance Cost Score: 1 (Low) ‐ 5 (High)

Road Map ToolsData Priority Ranking

Value to the organization Pain to the

organization

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High-Quality

Goal: To understand, document and standardize the QA/QC process for structured GIS data within the organization using improved technologies.

Description: This project will implement consistent use and configuration of the Esri Data Reviewer product. It will define and incorporate rule-based editing, feature validation, visual review and error history tracking in a common multi-user editing environment. It includes visual reviews, batch reviews, scheduling of data reviews and metadata reviews.

Streamline

Goal: To understand, document and standardize data creation and maintenance tasks using improved technologies.

Description: This project will implement Esri Production Mapping Tools to streamline the editing process, reduce button clicks, standardize define procedures and capture vetted workflows and domain knowledge. This project also includes the configuration of Esri Task Assistant Manager.

Roadmap PortfolioSample Projects

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GIS Maturity Model

FutureGoalCritical

Tasks

Current Status

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Enterprise GIS ProgramGIS Master Schedule

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Lessons Learned

Establish the Vision and Mission of the project

Define a project champion

Commit necessary time

Stay on schedule

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Lessons Learned

Other “take homes”: Your preconceived notions for outcomes may not

come to fruition – be open to that! Think 2-3 year lifespan for plans

Organize your Strategic planning into projects System Architecture, Data Management Governance and Organizational Structures

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Lessons Learned

Other “take homes”: Seek out help but be prepared when it arrives: Do your homework first…. Leverage consultant experience

It’s very tough to do strategic plans internally Baggage, Management, Time commitments Personalities….

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Project motivation

• Moving from department level to enterprise GIS• Cost savings and sharing (eliminate duplicate tasks,

leverage existing data)

Local Government Example

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Lessons learned• Involve major GIS data sources and users early and often• Plan time for client plan review and input• Focus on financial budgeting and cost sharing models• Include executive-level briefing at key points in the project• Provide specific, measurable recommendations

Local Government Example

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Project motivation

• Update older strategic plan to incorporate new users and applications

• Leverage new technologies• Plan and implement shared GIS resources

State DOT Example

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Lessons learned• Set expectations for plan extents (what is/isn’t included)• Provide multiple opportunities for business user

participation• Include input from all levels of staff (field staff, operations,

management, executive)

State DOT Example

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Project motivation • Understand and document the current state• Rank against best practices• Be well-positioned for the future and integration into other

business systems like E911/CAD and Work Order Systems

• Understand current models for data maintenance, QA/QC, security and visibility / discoverability of corporate assets

Regional Example

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Lessons learned• Be prepared for new outcomes – what you think the

answers and core strategies may be – might not be reality

Regional Example

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Questions?

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GIS Strategic PlanningBest Practices and Lessons Learned

CONTACT US:Ron Butcher

ron.butcher@timmons.com804.200.6971

www.timmonsgis.com

Webinars.timmons.com