G1: Oral Presentation C Thursday, 1:30 – 2:00 pm C French River Room

Enterprise GIS Deployment: The Minneapolis Model

Gary Criter
City of Minneapolis
331 2nd Avenue Suite 220
Minneapolis, MN  55401
gary.criter@ci.minneapolis.mn.us

Like many large cities, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, has begun deployment of their next generation Geographic Information System (GIS). The GIS 2000 program is a departure from the traditional department-by-department application development strategy indicative of the 1980s and 90s. City leadership mandated the use of a business process driven approach for the citywide initiative. This approach was based on an enterprise vision of providing City staff with a supportive technical, information and organizational environment for improving the level of services to the citizens of Minneapolis. The software selected for the program includes ESRI’s ArcIMS and ArcGIS software and Oracle’s Spatial 8i database management system.

As identified in Figure 1, the City’s vision is articulated through their priorities that define the culture of the organization, the standards that drive enterprise technology acquisition, and the data environment that enables access to the organization’s enterprise information.

Figure 1: The Minneapolis Model

The intricacies of the GIS program required the assembly and governance of a diverse group of both internal and external specialists. Their objective: to build an organizational, information and technical framework necessary to support user needs across the City. By emphasizing business process as well as organizational change, establishing new ways of thinking and approaching problems, connecting people and groups, giving them information and motivating them, this partnership has helped transform the organization of which it is a part. Key partners include: all City departments and affiliated agencies; Hennepin County, Minnesota; Oracle Corporation; Environment Systems Research Institute; and EMA, Inc. The collaborative partnership approach serves as a mechanism for building relationships among all stakeholders, helping them to expand their effectiveness and reach of the GIS program.

This presentation will detail the results of this collaborative partnership, which has allowed for unprecedented influence and participation on the part of the departments and agencies involved, enabling them to transform the very nature of their organization and inter-relationships.