1. The Importance of Project Planning
GIS projects are expensive in terms of both time and money. Municipal
GIS
and facilities management projects developed by utilities may take a
decade
or more to bring on-line at a cost of tens or hundreds of millions of
dollars.
Careful planning at the outset, as well as during the project, can help
to avoid costly mistakes. It also provides assurance that a GIS will
accomplish
it goals on schedule and within budget.
There is a temptation, when a new technology like GIS becomes
available, to improvise a solution to its use, that is to get started
without
considering where the project will lead. The greatest danger is that
decisions
made in haste or on the spur of the moment will have to be reversed
later
or will prove too costly to implement, meaning a GIS project may have
to
be abandoned. To avoid disappointing experiences like these, GIS
professionals
have developed a well-defined planning methodology often referred to as
project
lifecycle. Lifecycle planning involves setting goals, defining
targets, establishing schedules, and estimating budgets for an entire
GIS
project.
The original impetus for developing effective lifecycle planning was cost containment. For many decades, the rationale for implementing new information technologies was that, in the long run, such projects would reduce the cost of business operations.
It is generally recognized that, for the foreseeable future, most information technologies projects will have to be justified on the basis of a "do more, pay more" philosophy. This means that effective lifecycle planning is all the more important. In the past, projected existing costs could be used as a baseline against which improvements could be measured. If the cost curve for new information technologies is always above the baseline, then greater care must be exerted in setting goals, establishing targets, and estimating budgets. There is far too great a danger that, in the absence of such checks and balances, a project may grow out of control.
2. The Value of a Problem-solving Approach
Lifecycle planning is really a process of practical problem solving applied to all aspects of a GIS development project.
Particular care is exerted in defining the nature of a problem or new requirement, estimating the costs and feasibility of proceeding, and developing a solution. This process should not be abridged; each step is important to the overall process. If this problem solving approach is applied to the design and creation of an entire GIS project a few additional subtasks must be addressed, as in the diagram below.
3. Project Lifecyle: An Overview
For definitions, click on the boxes.
4. Key Aspects of Project Lifecycle
Three aspects of this planning process merit special attention. 1. Setting goals and estimating costs.Each stage of the project lifecycle process involves setting clear goals for the next step and estimating the cost of reaching those goals. If the necessary funds or time are unavailable, it is better to stop the process than to continue and see the project fail. The process can begin again when funds are available.
2. The functional requirements study.
The functional requirements study is arguably the most important single step in the planning process. Here, careful study is devoted to what information is required for a project, how it is to be used, and what final products will be produced by the project. For a large organization, this amounts to a "map" of how information flows into, around, and out of each office and agency. The FRS also specifies how often particular types of information are needed and by whom. Furthermore, the FRS can look into the future to anticipate types of data processing tasks that expand upon or enhance the organization's work.
By assessing information flows so carefully, the FRS allows an organization to set goals for all of the subsequent steps in the lifecycle planning process. The FRS also allows an organization to consider information flows across all the domains of its work, forcing it to consider how different systems will be integrated. Without taking an encompassing view of information flows, a project implemented in one unit may be of no use to another. It is important to take this broad view of information flows to avoid stranding projects between incompatible systems.
3. The creation of a prototype.
By the time a project has moved into the development stage, the greatest temptation is to jump forward to full implementation. This is a very risky path, for it leaves out the prototyping stage. Prototypes are a critical step because they allow the system to be tested and calibrated to see whether it meets expectations and goals. Making adjustments at the prototype stage is far easier than later, after full implementation. The prototype also allows users to gain a feel for a new system and to estimate how much time (in training and conversion) will be required to move to the pilot and full implementation stages. Finally, a successful prototype can help enlist support and funding for the remaining steps in the lifecycle planning process.
As is noted in the module on Managing Error , the prototype provides a good opportunity for undertaking sensitivity analysis--testing to see how variations in the quality of inputs affects outputs of the system. These tests are essential for specifying the accuracy, precision, and overall quality of the data that will be created during the conversion process. If these analyses are not performed, there is a chance that much time and effort will be wasted later.
5. System Selection as a Compromise
In selecting a software and hardware combination, users are often faced with a number of compromises. For a given price, a system cannot be expected to do everything. A thoughtful choice is required in order to select the system that will best meet the prinicipal aims of a given project. The diagram below helps to show how users might attempt to balance four of the many characteristics of a given system. In these cases, the compromises involve: Speed: The speed with which a system can respond to queries and achieve solutions.Functional richness: The analytical capabilities of the system and its flexibility in addressing a wide range of spatial and statistical problems.
Database Size: The ability to handle large quantities of spatial and statistical data.
Training: The amount of time required to bring users up to speed on a system and to use the database on a regular basis.
References and Further Reading
Aronoff, Stan. 1989. Geographic Information Systems: A Management Perspective. WDL Publications: Ottawa.Chapter 8, "How to Pick a GIS" in Clarke, Keith C. 2003. Getting Started with Geographic Information Systems, 4th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Dagermond, Jack, Don Chambers, and Jeffrey R. Meyers. 1993. "Prototyping AM/FM/GIS Applications: Quality/Schedule Tradeoffs", Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual ESRI User Conference. Palm Springs, CA. Vol. 2, p. 75-80.
Daniel, Larry. Identifying GIS for What It's Worth
Daniel, Larry. Looking and Thinking Beyond the Department
Chapter 11, "GIS Implementation and Project Management," in Lo, C.P. and Albert K.W. Yeung. 2002. Concepts and Techniques of Geographic Information Systems. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Huxhold, William. 1995. Managing Geographic Information System Projects. Oxford University Press: New York.
Chapters 17 (Managing GIS), 18 (GIS and Management, the Knowledge Economy, and Information), and 19 (Exploiting GIS Assets and Navigating Constraints) in Longley, Paul A., Michael F. Goodchild, David J. Maguire, and David W. Rhind. 2005. Geographic Informaiton Systems and Science, 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Obermeyer, Nancy J. and Jeffrey K. Pinto. 2008. Managing Geographic Information Systems, 2nd ed. New York : Guilford Press
No comments:
Post a Comment