End users

GIS project management

Needs assessment
Bela Markus
markusbela@gmail.com

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Bela Markus: GIS project management, MPG, University of Prishtina, 2016

GIS project planning Needs assessment

Project idea Project proposal Approval • A needs assessment, or the process of developing
system requirements, is generally developed by
documenting the ways in which an organization uses
information. It is the evaluation of existing systems
Educate managers Needs assessment Detailed plan Approval
and their capabilities to perform future processing
needs.
• Identify these components of target organization:
Functional
Tendering Benchmark Approval • Data Input & Output
requirements
• Output Products
• Procedures & Policies
• Applications Used
Detailed design Pilot project Refinement Training
Database
conversion
• Users

GIS Trial phase Test data

http://lagic.lsu.edu/gisprimer/strat_need.asp#func_chart

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Bela Markus: GIS project design - LFM, Kazakh National University, 2014 Bela Markus: GIS project management, MPG, University of Prishtina, 2016

End user needs analysis Key questions

Information-centred approach
• What do we do that can be helped by GIS, and
• How prepared are we to undertake that work?

• Inventorying what you do (or want to do) is best

approached by looking at the outcomes you work to create:
the scale and type of data, the extent and nature of maps,
the degree of public education, and how they administer the
work as an organization.
• How prepared the organization is to do work has to do with
the skills of the staff and consultants they have, the overall
approach of the organization to technology and organized
data, their budget, and the broad timing of introducing any
significant changes into the organization.

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Bela Markus: GIS project management, MPG, University of Prishtina, 2016 Bela Markus: GIS project management, MPG, University of Prishtina, 2016

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 Products > services Products > services

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Bela Markus: GI project initiation, Kazakh National University, 2014 Bela Markus: GI project initiation, Kazakh National University, 2014

Content of a simple needs assessment

• Summary - A short summary that boils down your entire assessment.
• Context - Description of the context of the organization - where are they now in overall
efforts, and what their history is with GIS and computer technology.
• Project Functions - An evaluation of each of the major functions of your project,
describing the present situation, its near-term needs (next six months to one year) and
long-term needs (more than a year). This evaluation is not yet about GIS, but focuses
on what the project want to do.
• Existing Capacity and Technology – An assessment of staffing and computing
capacity in the organization, generally and in relation to GIS.
• GIS Options - A review of what role GIS could play in the organization. This is not a
plan for GIS, but an imagining of how it could be useful.
• GIS Priorities - Based on discussion of options, the top functions should be called out,
including indications about how these priorities relate to your capacities.
• Recommendations and Next Steps – Based on agreements reached in the above
process, the steps and schedule that will be followed to design and implement a GIS.

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Bela Markus: GIS project management, MPG, University of Prishtina, 2016