Developing an Enterprise GIS
BI has done a great job with data efficiency, delivering the right data to all the players in the enterprise. The next opportunity lies in decision effectiveness through advanced analytics. As a result, use of advanced analytics is not widespread and managers do not give it the credibility it deserves. The greatest opportunity for BI today is to place easy to use and powerful analytical tools in the hands of business managers.
BI category has not provided business leaders with geographically enabled tools that easily support the management style. The dynamic, fast-paced environment of business extends from the individual needs through the market and regional level, to the executive suite. Every day, managers from central and local public administration are confronted with high-impact decisions that require immediate resolution. These decisions must be based on the best information and analysis available formatted to support the intuitive decision style native to many
business leaders. The key opportunity for BI is to provide a platform that allows managers to:
- Visualize their business networks in a dynamic and highly communicative
interface, and
- Reveal key relationship in a way that fosters intuitive and fact-based decision making, without needing analysis,
expertise or data "geeks" [5].
"For geospatial technologies, to take their place in the business mainstream, the destination must be usability. Business analytics, though powerful, are meaningless unless decision makers can easily interact with the information they need to do a better job"1 and "spatial information brings a rich view of fast-breaking trends that impact a business" says Henry Morris, group VP for applications and information access at analyst firm IDC.
According to [6], the success of an enterprise GIS can be measured according to performance and service. Specific performance metrics include the availability of data and other resources and the reliability of the system and system usage; service metrics include funding stability, productivity, and degree of data sharing and collaboration [11].
The frame of work
An analysis of major stakeholders in GIS area reveals several fundamental problems for implementing an integrated GIS to support efforts institution-wide. First, the stakeholders are working with different deadlines and different goals. Environmental monitoring and infrastructure reference databases (e.g., utilities, structures, roads) emphasize longer-term institutional and regulatory concerns, such as change control, updates, consistency of data format, and documentation of data sources. Research projects often place a higher priority on short-term goals of rapid analysis and publication, with much of the knowledge held in the minds of individuals. Data documentation, consistency of data format, and long-term archiving may not be a high priority. Once, a given research project is completed and summarized, data are stored in an ad hoc fashion and often are eventually lost. However, these disparate approaches have many common needs, such as data quality standards and a geoinformation management plan.
With proper design, enterprise GIS can promote data sharing while protecting data security and while promoting increased integration of operations and research efforts for the benefit of the institution. Enterprise GIS can enable all stakeholders to work more for the good of the institution, by helping project and operations workers to provide complete and accessible data.
In [6] the perspective on evolution of enterprise GIS is characterized as follows: "The use of enterprise GIS is a natural result of the evolution in geospatial data sharing within institutions, but this change can be painful. A natural part of evolution is resistance to change, and is manifested in unique ways at each institution.
This resistance is affected by different stakeholder roles and stereotypes (e.g., operations vs. research). In addition, the typically excellent working relations among GIS professionals at the grass-roots level can be limited by organizational divides". An enterprise GIS design for an organization must meet the needs and missions of a broad spectrum of stakeholders. In the final analysis, "the challenge lies in striking a balance in the degree of centralized storage, administration, and procedural control while serving the needs of the GIS community for streamlined data documentation, access, and compatibility. Beyond the sharing of geospatial data, the enterprise facilitates sharing of information and GIS resources as well".
Human resources
The key to the success of any enterprise GIS is the people involved and, an
adequate training and support for it. With a good training and support
programme, the number of knowledgeable GIS users within an organization
will expand. Without such a programme, the good intention ends up with a
handful of GIS experts and a failed
effort at extending GIS throughout the organization.
A training programme can help potential users learn how to work within the enterprise GIS structure, develop new skills and keep up to date on technological changes. Individual users typically do things a little differently from their colleagues, and these differences are amplified as new users add their own idiosyncrasies when it comes to using GIS.
Formalized training will help ensure
consistency in training across the enterprise GIS.
After people have been trained, they will need sufficient support to enable them to do their jobs effectively. The key to user support is providing a timely response so that problems can be resolved and users can get back to work.
Partnership
Partnerships are often established as a result of or in support of an Enterprise GIS, because the enterprise GIS presents many opportunities for partnership and corporate re-engineering. Information access enables groups to do things in new ways, provide new services and information products and lessen reliance on "traditional" approaches.
Partnerships are an effective way of achieving consensus. Instead of each organization acting independently, partnerships create a sense of shared responsability for the product and its use. Partnerships broaden the basis of support for projects and help to ensure that they survive to meet the needs of society.
Partnerships can encourage a clear division of responsibility even when the data needs are shared. Another aspects of partnerships refer to the data. Data are valuable because of their use. If data are more accessible, standard, better maintained, etc. They are more widely used and, therefore, more valuable. A partnership approach creates more valuable data.
According to FGDC, the key elements of a partnerships refer to four aspects: sharing of responsibilities, sharing costs, sharing benefits and sharing of control.
In general, the partnership objectives are: improving the use of data, improving the development of data and maintenance, improving awareness and education. In order to develop a partnership are commonly required three pieces: