1. The Minnesota Geographic Information Office: MnGEO
Summary of the
Drive to Excellence
GIS Functional Transformation Project
Prepared by Applied Geographics, Inc.
June, 2009

2. Overview The process that was followed
The business drivers for transformation
What was recommended
What happens now?
Risks
Success factors

3. Overview of the GIS Functional Transformation Project
Open and transparent process
No surprises
Lots of opportunity to provide input
Information gathering
Workshops
Interviews with 17 state agencies
Strategizing and recommendation development
State government workshop to refine preliminary recommendations
Supplemental information gathering
Cost to government survey
Prioritization survey
Oversight and guidance from Drive To Excellence Steering Committee

4. Business Drivers for GIS Transformation As with all things D2E, it’s about silos to enterprise…
Minnesota Drive to Excellence Transformation Roadmap Summary From Deloitte: March, 2005

5. Common problems many states face…
GIS governance has “grown up” incrementally and organically; not necessarily strategically
How to achieve coordination?
Agency to agency
State government to other levels of government
Who’s job is it? It’s not a part-time job.
Acknowledging that many departments have successful enterprise systems
Departmental programs can be larger and better funded than the “state GIS office”
Respecting departmental autonomy and expertise without creating “hardened silos”
Investing in new enterprise technologies
Without being redundant

6. High level business case for the MGIO:
Enterprise approach
New adopters: Lowers barriers for entry
Avoids costs for new investment
Specialized adopters: Provides communal infrastructure to tap into
Controls growth of costs
Mature adopters: Leverages their investments across the enterprise
Extends benefits of existing investments
Creation of Shared Service Centers

7. The Cost of GIS to Government Provides a baseline for cost savings estimation
GIS cost to government:
Conservatively: $12,564,000 /yr
10% efficiency would yield >$1M/yr. savings
Controlling growth of costs
Future avoided costs
Have not seen this completed for any other state
Thank you for your help!

8. Opportunities & Benefits
Reducing the Cost of GIS
Improved coordination
Reduced duplication of effort
More efficient data storage/management
More effective software licensing
Shared web applications and services
Coordinated data acquisition, collection and compilation
Common data distribution portal
Communal strategic investments in data/technology

9. What’s required to get there?
Identified specific activities for the MGIO to pursue
Collaborative approach respectful of agency involvement in developing technical architecture
Accesses departmental expertise to deliver shared services

10. Recommended Implementation Strategy
Principles:
The MGIO is about facilitation and coordination, not production
Leverage existing infrastructure and collaborative spirit of MN GIS stakeholders
Incremental, phased approach
Budgets will remain tight for the foreseeable future
Priorities:
Rank
Program Element
Priority Points
(of 100) 1
Leadership, Outreach & Communication
18.33 2
Data Coordination
15.80 3
Web Services
14.00 4
Data Services
13.20 5
Technology Coordination
12.07 6
Training
9.27 7
Technical Guidance
8.87 8
Project Consulting
8.47
TOTAL Points
100.00

11. Staffing Requirements for a Successful MGIO
High-level identification of teams
Rough numbers of staff across activities
Provides baseline that was modeled in budget scenarios

12. How ambitious is this? What other states are doing

13. Implementation Budget
Recommended funding:
Num
Item
Amount
FTE 1
Base budget (existing LMIC appropriation):**
$804,000 6 2
New operating budget to fully staff the MGIO:
$800,000 10 3
New operating budget
$200,000 4
New data development and maintenance funding:
$1,250,000
Sub-tot
TOTAL Annual Appropriation:
$3,054,000 16 5
OTHER revenue (based on 2009 estimates):
$700,000
3 Additional Lower Cost Scenarios:
$650k operating increase; $1M for data; $2.54M annual; 11 FTE
$400k operating increase; $250k for data; $1.45M annual; 9 FTE
$350k operating increase; $0 for data; $1.15M annual; 9 FTE
Warning against a “no new funding” scenario
Real “transformation” will be much more difficult without some new resources

14. Risks & Implementation Barriers
Missing the unique timing of the Drive to Excellence initiative
Loss of executive support for the proposed transformation
Agency GIS programs need direction to follow this path
Loss of agency GIS program support for the proposed transformation
MGIO needs to continue transparency and active outreach to agencies
Perceptions of insufficient transformation
Inadequate funding
Insufficient support for cross agency activities
Inadequate performance of shared services and resources

15. Success factors This is a well considered plan
The state has done its homework
There is senior executive support
Through the D2E Cabinet
The MN State Government GIS Community is committed and collaborative
And continues to grow
New technologies support this vision

16. Summary & Conclusion
A large cross section of GIS practitioners from across the state, have invested time and energy in this process with the belief that this type of GIS transformation will address existing problems and help restore Minnesota to national GIS leadership. Expectations are high. The path forward has been identified. It is now time to move forward.