Understanding and Designing Enterprise Architectures

Abstraction and Virtualization: Enterprise Data Management in Reclamation

—Tom Heinzer, Bureau of Reclamation

Reclamation has developed a data management framework and software tools that provide users with two-click access to multiple libraries of managed and maintained geospatial data and services most commonly needed to support geospatial analysis and cartography Reclamation personnel. This enterprise approach to geospatial data management makes information more readily accessible and more reliable, while enhancing the comprehension of relationships between Reclamation facilities and operations and their environments. Name, location, and type of data are abstracted to create a virtual data architecture that is simple and sufficiently flexible to meet the disparate geospatial data management needs of different levels of the organization. The familiar concept of the library combined with plain language descriptions makes it easy for users to find and access the data they need. The presentation demonstrates a framework for implementing enterprise data management that actively engages staff in geospatial data management and stewardship across a decentralized organization.