Implementation of Customer Service Toolkit in USDA Service Centers: Issues Associated with the National Deployment of a Desktop GIS Application

Author: Phillip D. Teague
Organization: USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

2625 Redwing Road
Fort Collins, CO 80526-2878
USA

Phone: 970-295-5586
Fax: 970-295-5544
pteague@itc.nrcs.usda.gov

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is deploying the Customer Service Toolkit, which features desktop GIS integrated with Microsoft Office, to over 2,500 service centers. It will serve as the primary means for developing and delivering to NRCS customers technical assistance products related to conservation planning and resource assessment.

Implementation involves migrating tabular data from the legacy system, loading DOQ basemaps and other geospatial data, linking the geospatial and tabular data, and storing it in a directory structure that can be easily accessed and managed by the service center staff. Since deployment is staged over several years, flexibility is crucial to foster migrating to improved commercial technology and to add enhanced business functionality.