When the City of Stevens Point Water Utility set out to implement a digital mapping and
records system, the Utility Commission was concerned about creating a "GIS (geographic
information system) Black Hole". There have been many horror stories about
communities investing enormous amounts of money into a records system, records
conversion, and data management, only to see limited payback. This paper presents a
winning approach to developing a GIS system for a medium sized utility. The keys to
success included focusing on how to realize immediate improvements in work process
performance by integrating the GIS with day-to-day utility operations. Decisions
regarding the accuracy requirements, scope of data conversion, and "bells and whistles"
features to be incorporated were driven by careful analysis of the costs and potential
benefits. The initial GIS implementation was targeted to address key work processes that
would achieve immediate benefits such as responding to customer needs for data,
digger's hotline locate responses, work order and inventory management. The
information presented will help similarly sized utilities make cost-effective decisions on
how to implement a successful GIS, and avoid the pitfalls of the "GIS Black Hole".
Includes table, figures.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 380 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 7 |
| Published : | 06/16/2002 |
