1. Avoiding the Mistakes of GIS Development Top Ten Blunders of Starting a GIS Program Pam Kelrick, GIS Coordinator GIS Consortium Northeast Regional GIS Workshop Kirksville, MO

2. 1. Unrealistic/no expectations Educate decision-makers Establish simple, FUNCTIONAL goals Assure stakeholder ‘sign-off’ ‘Garbage in, Garbage out’

3. 2. Lack of support within the organization STOP – Do not pass ‘Go’ Identify the reasons for lack of support and proceed to address these

4. 3. Inadequate Planning Successful technology-based projects require the same solid planning as ALL successful projects. Identify a reasonable timeframe to carry out a reasonable amount of work????? Identify a reasonable budget and stick with it.

5. 4. Poor Project Management The best plans will fail without consistent implementation. Evaluate progress and stakeholder comfort, make adjustments

6. 5. Lack of focus on end-user participation Product, product, product Support for GIS programs depends on your success at getting data used. Data must be accessible and users must be trained.

7. 6. Skip model or prototype project Save money, time, headaches by doing the small project BEFORE the big project Improve quality of final project outcome Improve the integration of data and operations

8. 7. Inappropriate System Scale Save MONEY and time Focus on the hardware and software that IS needed rather than what WILL BE needed The complexity of your system should not exceed your ability to manage it ‘in-house’.

9. 8. Fail the ‘bus’ test Equally important as having a data backup system is having knowledgeable personnel backup. This is also an excellent time to backup your investment with metadata.

10. 9. Failure to take ownership of the information While this alone is generally not a fatal problem, it certainly can limit the support for GIS development. Conduct annual reviews of data quality and development with stakeholders.

11. 10. Failure to integrate GIS into organization operations Success in every other facet of the program development will not give you a ‘pass’ on this important milestone. Integration builds on-going support

12. TOP TEN LIST 1. Unrealistic expectations or no expectations 2. Lack of support within the organization 3. Inadequate planning 4. Poor project management 5. Lack of focus on ‘end-user’ participation 6. Skip a ‘model’ or ‘prototype’ project 7. Inappropriate system scale 8. Fail the ‘bus’ test 9. Failure to take ownership of information 10. Failure to integrate GIS into organization operations

13. Avoiding the Mistakes of GIS Development QUESTIONS? Pam Kelrick gisc@cableone.net 660-665-0408