Minimize Miscommunication with Good Documentation Cheryl Spencer – Indianapolis/Marion County ISA Rick Petrecca – Indianapolis/Marion County ISA

Overview Benefits of good documentation and methodology Challenges when implementing documentation and methodology practices Evolution of IndyGIS documentation

Benefits of Good Documentation and Methodology Documentation l Clear definition of expected deliverables l Clear description of received products l Easily access information as reference Methodology l Repeatable processes l Reduced development costs

Challenges Perception problem – not coding means not making progress l Compounded when staff is small Choosing a style that fits the organization Learning curve Discipline is required

Evolution of IndyGIS Documentation History 1997 – 2001 l IndyGIS had an exclusive contract with Convergent Group l Convergent did most or all of the documentation l They had their own styles and methodology l Internal ArcView development l Functional Requirements Specifications (FRS) l Preliminary Design Specifications (PDS) l Detail Design Specifications (DDS) l In later years test scripts were added to the documentation process. l No formal internal application development methodology

Evolution… History 2001 – Present l Started to formalize development methodology l Based on Rational Unified Process (RUP) l Used Unified Modeling Language (UML) Used Unified Modeling Language (UML) l Changed documentation style to Design Requirements Document (DRD)(DRD) l Developed iteratively l Combines elements of the original FRS and PDS.FRSPDS l 2002 – Started partnership with Woolpert l 2005 – Started to use Iconix methodology for application development l 2006 – New sourcing environment requires more complete documentation for better cost estimates

Keys to IndyGIS’s success Vision of what we wanted and where we wanted to go Architecture planning and documentation Adaptability

Questions?

Cheryl Spencer Web Developer Indianapolis - Marion County Information Services Agency Rick Petrecca, GISP Project Manager Indianapolis - Marion County Information Services Agency

URL to presentation This presentation is available on-line on the IndyGIS web site at: Services/GIS/About/Papers/