Paper # 238 Session Title: Building GIS Applications in the New Millennium 

Author: Peter Godfrey Jr., RLA and AICP, Camp Dresser & McKee

Date: Wednesday, July 11, 2001 

Time: 10:30am - 12:00pm Room: 14-B (SDCC)

Abstract

Submitted Title: Work/Data Modeling From GIS Needs Assessments to IS Functional Requirements

As the nexus between GIS and IS sectors and platforms has increasingly blurred, the importance of efficient integration of GIS technology into business process workflow has become paramount. Through graphic business process modeling, insight into GIS applications, legacy database integration opportunities, and impacts to the workflow that will need to be addressed through business re-engineering can be identified. This presentation will discuss multiple projects and the identification of priority GIS applications and system functional requirements through business modeling. The methodology presented will result in not only appropriate software specs and interface requirements, but also minimize client organization "surprises" during implementation.

Submitted Paper

Involvement in the geographic information system field is steadily being transformed into involvement with an information systems field that contains a geographical component. The ability to query data and display responses on a digital display is still the key aspect of a GIS, but the management and uses of the underlying information are now part of both GIS processes and critical information system applications such as resource management, capital planning, work order management, and customer information.

The ability to clearly define these intertwined GIS and IS-specific applications, and design a system that meets the requirements of both, is now the skill in demand. To do meet this need, the process of gathering, analyzing, documenting, and prioritizing application development has changed in recent years. It's no longer an issue of identifying "needs" within separate organizational entities, but one of identifying "needs" based on business processes that often - if not exclusively - overlap numerous organizational entities.

Department-specific interviews are very helpful in identifying specific GIS/IS needs. Process interviews approach the integration of GIS/IS by identifying business processes that often include cross-functional interaction. By addressing these larger needs, the ability to determine the implication of technological change is enhanced, and potential users can interact as a unit instead of as discreet components of a process.

During these interviews, staff can gain an understanding of the purpose of their individual role in a business process as well as evaluate their individual responsibilities. These interviews also allow staff to collectively interact, as opposed to acting independently in a digital or hardcopy environment. Process interviews are intended to gain an understanding of the "big picture" as it relates to data input and output. This approach allows an organization to visualize their processes, and as a result, visualize the details that are often overlooked when carrying out standard needs assessments/functional requirements. This approach also encourages the identification of related processes that are either initiated or play a role in the primary process completion.

This paper will first suggest a methodology for completing business processes interviews and then provide examples from two water/wastewater utilities and one citywide park department business process interviews.

Suggested Methodology

When conducting process interviews, it is important to identify the following:

Once the above aspects are identified, a high-level process diagram should be generated based upon a general understanding of the process. This does not need to be an exact replication of the process, but should contain enough information for the audience to supplement the general understanding with their insights and suggestions.

A meeting should be scheduled that includes all entities that interact with the process. It is often helpful if these attendees are staff involved with data entry, as well as staff in need of reports from the information in question (generally managers).

The purpose of the meeting should be explained to attendees and one person should lead the meeting and take notes on the initial graphic representation of the process. Another person should be in attendance to take general notes during the meeting. It is often helpful if notes are written on a large piece of paper affixed to a prominent wall within the interview room. This way, all attendees can watch the process, see their notes or comments taken down, and assist in the visualization of the process.

Once this is completed, the graphic process is modified, notes are added to the process representation and meeting minutes are documented. These should be distributed to all attendees for comment and verification. Once this process is completed, a clear understanding of the business process, GIS/IS applications or functional requirements are documented, process/organizational re-engineering areas are identified, and in many cases system requirements (hardware and software) are able to be specified.

Business Process Examples and Results

Three business process examples follow (two for water/wastewater utilities and one for a city-wide park department).

Utility #1

This example is taken from a study for a small water/wastewater utility, as part of a GIS needs assessment and implementation planning effort.

Initially, the specific business processes to be defined were identified by a project steering committee. The following nine (9) processes were determined to be important to this effort. These processes consist of two types - those typical to a utility and those potentially in need of refinement based upon benchmark measurements as indicated in the FY 2000 Budget (e.g. line leaks). The following business processes were modeled:

Capital Planning: This interview focused on the capital planning process for physical improvements. Of particular importance was the initiation, prioritization, engineering, bidding, construction, close-out, and tracking of all stages of this process. The process did not include the identification or variety of funding sources.

Subdivision Review: This process detailed the initiation, review criteria, tracking of construction and the addition of facilities to the inventory through proposed development. Special attention focused on the receipt and integration of final facility as-builts into information sources.

Customer Service: This process detailed the initiation, internal routing, response and eventual disposition of customer service requests. Of particular importance was the identification of call type categories as well as the final closing. Request closing can often consist of many individual calls that need to be associated with one action.

Emergency Response: This process detailed the identification and classifications of emergencies, the intake method, the identification of the appropriate response, the tracking of required work, and the eventual disposition.

Line Leaks: This process detailed the line leak process from initial determination, identification of leak location, isolation and remedy process, and historic tracking of leak locations.

Water Quality: This process detailed the criteria and sources of water quality mandates that must be followed, identification of water quality problems, isolation and identification of cause, remedy methods, and historic tracking of water quality problems.

Work Order Management: This process detailed the initiation and type of work orders, the tracking of crew, materials and cost, and the final disposition or closing of a work order.

One Call Mark-Outs: This process detailed the initiation of one call requests, the location of relevant facility information, the field verification of asset location, and the final disposition of the request.

Customer Use/Billing: This process tracked customers and type, billing methodology, special assistance programs, non-payment processes, and use of customer information. Of particular importance were the customer database maintenance procedures.

The interviews resulted in both a graphic display of the process as well as a detailed table containing relevant information per each process (examples follow).

Capital Process Work/Data Flow Example

Process Interview Sample Form

The results of the business process interviews for the above utility were specifically focused on enterprise GIS application identification and prioritization, GIS conceptual design, and the development of a cost/benefit study to validate the efficiency gains that could be achieved through GIS implementation.

Utility #2

This example is taken from an information system functional requirements study for a large water/wastewater utility. The focus of this effort was to identify the existing functionality and process workflow for the current information system used to track capital projects. This study initially mapped the entire capital planning process and was then broken down into discrete user groups due to the existing system configuration. Each process group was interviewed based on its chronological order of their interaction with the business process and greater system. This was a true multi-entity user group and required the analysis of each group's process in the context of the entire process in order to fully capture the system functional requirements. The following section details the organization of the findings based upon the business process interviews and information that was provided.

First a vision statement was generated for use by staff for validation of project intent, scope, and expectations as well as programmers to use as reference while designing, programming, and prototyping the new system.

In the course of aggregating capital project IS functional requirements, the following components were defined:

Not documented as part of the process interviews, but important to successful system design and implementation were:

Through end-user group interviews (11 sessions) focusing on business process work and data flows, as well as documentation of existing system screen-specific interaction documentation, the project vision and functional requirements were compiled.

The delivered document described the following:

Project Vision: Definition of the project "vision" for use as a documented agreement regarding project purpose and expectation. As mentioned earlier, this is a high level statement relating to the overall business requirement of the new system.

Users and Needs: This contained the following sub-sections:

Capital program system users were documented in the following manner:

System Functional Requirements: This section of the document presented the following:

The document that resulted from the capital planning business process workflows was used to obtain organization approval on the system functional requirements. Once the approval was received, a prototype for the new system was developed based upon these findings.

City-wide Park System

This example is taken from a study to determine the requirements for a GIS/IS system to manage information related to street trees within the city. This system was required to have a GIS interface as well as functionality that would encompass customer calls, service requests, work orders and inventory management. After completing the business process workflow exercises for the management and maintenance of street trees, the following "needs" were identified, many of which involve process re-engineering.

Centralized Customer Service Representatives:  There should be one central office and phone number for all tree related requests. Initial service requests should be entered into the system and transmitted to the appropriate district through the LAN for inspection and disposition. This would focus the local district clerk efforts on accessing the appropriate record and entering inspection and disposition data status (unless done in a real-time manner using field data gathering equipment downloads) at the local site and minimize telephone responsibilities. This district information would be accessible by the central service representative for status checks and/or generating form letters. This should also be the location of dispatchers for emergency events. This organizational modification would minimize time spent getting a request to the appropriate district regardless of format. All permits for tree work should also be handled from this location rather than each individual district. All permit information would then be sent to the respective district for inspection and system updating.

Centralized Capital/Contract Office:   All contractual monitoring and capital planning should be done through a contract management unit located in a central location by staff not required in the field. All contract related work would be managed and maintained by this unit. The updating of work progress and final acceptance could be done remotely, but all reporting and other system queries would be done from this location. The city-wide inspector should also operate out of this unit. The unit would need access into district information regarding tree pruning and there should be an interface used by local district personnel to enter data that would automatically update contract status regarding this process. All contract work reporting, performance monitoring, and planting guarantee inspections would be maintained by this unit.

Job Descriptions:   There should be strong consideration given to completely revising job descriptions that include information system operation requirements and computer literacy. These descriptions should be based on actual work responsibilities and be adhered to except under extenuating circumstances.

Process:   Under this sub-section, suggestions are made for business process improvement in order to facilitate improved information tracking, response time, and population of a true tree inventory. The process components presented covered:

Permits: The acquisition of a permit for all tree planting and removal should be absolutely required, severely enforced, and fines should be levied if this policy is not followed. This would hold true for all city departments/agencies, as well as volunteer organizations and private citizens. The permit applications should be entered into the central system and assigned a unique identification number. This would be for all tree planting/removals from internal city departments/agencies, volunteer groups, private citizens, and real estate developers as well as all tree trimming work. The monitoring of all permitted work should become a high priority as well as the collection of permit fees and the fines.

Field Equipment:  Inspectors and arborists, along with all crew members, should carry equipment in their vehicle that would allow work to be done on either an inspection or site visit. This would mainly involve equipment such as orange work cones, pruners, loppers, saws, shovels, and rakes. This would reduce the initiation of contract work and provide quicker response to some customer complaints/service requests. The field equipment should also contain communication hardware such as cell phones.

Inspections:  There are many required "site inspections" as part of tree related work. There is an initial inspection to determine the problem and prioritize the request, an inspection required for capital planning (determine site conditions), an inspection before actual contact work is done to make sure that the prior site conditions are constant (i.e. is a tree to be removed still there or has a tree been planted where one was projected), an inspection done during contract work phases to assure that Park standards are being met (planting, pruning, removal), an inspection once a contractor invoice has been submitted, and an inspection during the planting guarantee period. In all, there could be a minimum of six individual site visits to one tree based on contract work. The process is similar for permitted work. There are also two types of "inspectors" on the street: the city-wide inspector (contract planting/removals) and district inspectors (service request/contract tree trimming/permits). This overall process should be reviewed and a determination made regarding the true number of "required" inspections that are necessary. There is also some potential inspection overlap resulting from these two inspector types and this theory should be validated.

City Department/Agency Coordination:  A method for tracking outside department/agency work such as inlet cleaning, leaf pick-up, and street renovation needs to be incorporated into the business process and system. This requires increased coordination and tracking of all department /agency scheduled work in a format accessible by all districts such as a hardcopy or digital map. This would hold true for all type of "work" be it capital, operational, or maintenance. An increased emphasis on both private utility and city operating department planning would be of great benefit to pro-active tree capital planning as well as response to some customer service calls. The more city-wide data the better for both the Park and the citizen.

Maps:  The incorporation of "maps" into the daily business process is needed. The use of maps could assist in identifying the service request "asset" (tree) during a call, using a block map while inspecting the site, routing crews to emergencies and inspections, or for display purposes plainly identifying the location of proposed tree planting/removals. The incorporation of Geographic Information System applications into the "new" information system capabilities is a necessity. The incorporation of maps and GIS would also assist in the many tree related requirements such as balancing plantings/removals by zip codes. It would also assure that approved capital expenditures on trees was evenly distributed throughout an area and areas most in need were served as a priority.

Routing:  The incorporation of routing would greatly improve timely response and fuel savings through the park. This routing would focus on inspection routing and emergency response. As part of the new system a routing program should be integrated, similar to the Street Department Sanitation Routing Program, which has been a great success. In this case, there is a city department that has already implemented this system and would be a great resource for further study and conveying "lessons learned" during the process and actual implementation.

Information System:  The following "high-level" needs regarding the new information system are based on process interviews and existing system operational and functional issues. The system needs covered in this section will focus on:

These system needs were presented in a general manner to assure that potential system designers understand the overall functionality that is necessary for successful implementation. The components covered relate to system architecture, functionality, interface, and application integration.

Conclusion

This paper has described the importance and methods for integrating business process diagramming into the initial aspect of any GIS/IS project. Examples from three separate efforts have been provided to demonstrate the types of information that can be obtained through these efforts. The process diagramming efforts are only the first step in any GIS/IS analysis, but one of the most important in an effort to truly understand an organization's business, their system needs, and provide the basis for clear definition of system, be it GIS or IS requirements. These requirements are used in a variety of ways in order to prototype and eventually program successful applications with the end-user's needs truly met.