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What are you doing? Why are you doing it? If you work in GIS - for a company, for a non-profit, or for a public agency - these are valid questions. How do you answer? Hopefully your GIS program was conceived and initiated to meet some defined business goals for GIS. And the work that you do supports the individual objectives necessary to achieve those goals. Most, but not all, GIS program began after a GIS needs assessment and development plan was developed. Many GIS operations have gone ten or more years without a reassessment of its business needs. Needs change, technology changes, the business environment changes, and you change, as well. Proceed without a periodic updated plan at your own peril. Unfortunately the term ‘GIS Needs Assessment’ has come to mean many different things. The term is not used consistently by academics, by consultants, and by GIS managers themselves. This presentation will clarify the components and minimum process requirements of a valid and useful GIS needs assessment. It will clarify the many related concepts: swot analysis, strategic plan, implementation plan, business plan, ROI analysis, operating and maintenance plan, etc. It will provide guidance to help you decide what components would best serve the needs of your GIS program and its key stakeholders. It will help you decide if you doing your planning on a DIY basis, or call in professional help. This presentation will also provide a checklist for you to build a scope for a GIS needs assessment by understanding your planning needs. If you have a GIS needs assessment in place, you should be ready at any time to answer: This is what I’m doing and why. And this is the value that my GIS program and my work provides.
