For the City of Shawano, municipal records were kept on paper. The GIS data that the City and Shawano Municipal Utilities (SMU) actively maintained was often in redundant files and scattered across departments. The City knew that their solution was not functional for the long-term, and sought a comprehensive GIS solution that would provide a cohesive system for all departments across the City.

GIS ASSESSMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING

The City of Shawano and SMU contracted with R/M to perform a GIS Needs Assessment, provide GIS solution recommendations, and write a GIS Implementation Plan. Our staff interviewed administrators, department heads, and lead operational staff to understand their infrastructure operations, their current technology use, and their priorities for GIS, as well as to deliver service efficiently to their customers.

With our knowledge of GIS and operations, R/M wrote a Needs Assessment highlighting where GIS could improve their operations. After review, we developed an Implementation Plan with SMU that prioritized these tasks and provided estimates for staff and consulting resources needed to achieve these goals.

R/M reviewed their operations and needs, identified the activities and information that would best be managed and collected in GIS, and reviewed their current GIS practices. R/M also reviewed the City's existing GIS data in it's different locations to assess the quality and quantity of this data.

GIS NEEDS ASSESSMENT REPORT

Based on the input from staff in workshops, and R/M's operational analysis and data review, the final deliverable for the project was a GIS Needs Assessment Report. This report was structured to layout the critical GIS considerations, and included the following sections:

  • GIS Functionality Requirements

  • City GIS and Operations Status

  • Implementation Needs by Department

  • Assessment of Available GIS Solutions

As part of this assessment, R/M staff reached out to the other major GIS providers and utilized GIS industry knowledge to provide the best GIS solution alternatives for selection by the City.

Services Provided

  • GIS Needs Assessment

  • Implementation Planning