1. Making the Case Justifying an eGIS to Management Beverly K. Richey Physical Scientist/GIS Analysis U. S. Army Support Center Huntsville, Alabama

2. HNC GIS Background Huntsville Center started the GIS program in 2003. – Funding available for training and hiring of personnel after a preliminary needs assessment was completed via contractor in FY 2003. – Two GIS professionals and one team lead brought on in early 2004. Became 100% project funded. – Another GIS professional hired in 2007. – Discussion to implement an Enterprise eGIS structure began FY 2008.

3. HNC GIS Background (Continued) Due to rapid expansion of projects, development of additional capabilities were needed. - Management of all various data sets on GIS server was becoming cumbersome. “Shapefiles, personal geodatabases, CADD and other mish- mash everywhere”. No real use to project managers or engineers outside GIS. - Project managers finding it to be much more difficult managing their own projects. The HUGE spreadsheet is becoming the tool of choice to track these projects. - It is taking over two weeks to compile data from various sources (budget databases, other installations, other personnel and HUGE spreadsheets) to complete monthly reports.

4. The complex project management issue came to a peak due to these factors: Employee Utilization Concern: Had 18 HNC personnel at Fort Bliss in the same week. Upper management could not readily pin point all the projects that were being worked and the purpose of these visits in a swift manner. Program Overlap Concern: A HVAC system was refitted in a building at Fort Bliss. It was later determined that this refit was not needed due to the building being scheduled to be demolished in the next fiscal year. An good example of one set of data not being able to access another set of data. HNC GIS Background (Continued)

5. The Plan – How to Solve the Problem HNC knew that an eGIS system would help management track their projects – but how can “we” pitch the idea?? Decided to start small. Develop an implementation plan that wouldn’t take time out of our very busy schedules. With the help of our middle managers (and persistence from our GIS’ers), it was decided to set aside funding to contract out the implementation plan. We wanted to find a GIS company that has set up an eGIS for other DoD organizations.

6. The Plan – How to Solve the Problem (Continued) RFP and other information was put out for bid. The bid was written in 3 phases, with phase 2 and 3 as an optional follow on contract. If management wanted to move forward in establishing the development of an eGIS, then these phases could be executed. Many good companies responded to the request. Documents were reviewed and decision matrix was built to establish the best qualified company to provide the service. Company was chosen on its strong experience on other eGIS DoD development.

7. Phase I of the Implementation Plan began in March of 2010. Met with contractor personnel and developed timeline to interview IT, HNC upper management and Program Managers. Purpose of the interviews were to gain feedback on management work flow and how they think an eGIS would help them. Interview schedule was established over a two day period in May 2010. The Plan – How to Solve the Problem (Continued)

8. Phase I of Implementation Plan development (continue): Basic pattern was found after HNC personnel interviews; there is a great need for a “visual” picture of the center’s various projects. Another pattern emerged; being able to search for different data in one quick and easy location. AND it needs to be simple simple and SIMPLE!!! From the project managers: “Don’t give me something that will take me more than 15 minutes to figure out”. The Plan – How to Solve the Problem (Continued)

9. Phase I of Implementation Plan development (continue): Interviews and Phase I competed with Plan write-up completed in August 2010 by contractor. Phase I of the Implementation Plan was briefed internally to various management involved in its initiation. Management determined that the plan was not in the detail that they expected (wanted a more visual picture – screen shots perhaps). The decision was made not to continue on with Phase II and Phase III. Back to square ONE and much disappointment among the GIS team. The Plan – How to Solve the Problem (Continued)

10. We have GREAT Management!! They have a “big picture” vision: Corps of Engineers Headquarters wanted each district, laboratory and center to identify specific objectives in an Implementation Plan (IPLAN) that they could accomplish which would support the overall goals identified in the USACE Campaign Plan. The GIS’ers proposed a strategic plan to develop a center wide eGIS as one of those objectives. Management concurred. The GIS team was happy again! STAND BY!! – The Plan Resurrected

11. How to Proceed? Obviously, additional training OR extra GIS personnel were needed to get this vision off the ground. – Do we train current HNC GIS personnel in database management or programming since these skills were not available in-house? This effort was not selected due to the current time and work schedules. – The decision was made to hire personnel from the outside who are experienced in database development, programming and web development. STAND BY!! – The Plan Resurrected (Continued)

12. How to Proceed (continue)? Vacancy announcement advertized in Spring 2011. Interviewed the top five candidates in June. A decision matrix was established to pick the top candidates and found the top two applicants to be excellent choices for our team. These two applicants were bought on board in September 2011. STAND BY!! – The Plan Resurrected (Continued)

13. The Path Forward Getting the basics established: Complete Army IT training for the new employees. Complex certification process for all Army IT for both system administration and design. Look at our existing GIS data and import into SDSFIE compliant geodatabase structure. Work with Project Managers on determining their needs. Set up relationships and discussions. Acquire funds to begin development.

14. The Next Step – after the Basics: Establish a strong but flexible eGIS business model and system architecture to initially accommodate several business units at HNC. Work to expand customer base and look for other growth opportunities. Expand to meet the mission by changing organizational structure and increasing staff levels – Creation of a self-contained GIS “Branch” – Branch manager, team leader, a System Administrator, Database Manager, GIS Programmer, QA/QC Specialist and several GIS Analysts. Thinking BIG!! The Path Forward (continued)

15. WE HOPE TO PROVIDE FURTHER UPDATES AT THE NEXT RCG 2012 Thank you QUESTIONS??