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The role of the sponsor/facilitators and doers
Within any project two main roles can be identified that are crucial for a successful outcome: facilitators and doers. They could also be described as sponsors and champions. While the doers will need to drive both the concept and the implementation of the project, a facilitator is needed to provide the necessary framework for the doers to operate in. This should include buy-in to the project's goals, assuring that the project fits into the overall strategy of the organisation as well as provision of financial and staff resources.
In many cases, the champion, who has identified a need for a project, will have to find a sponsor and will be tasked to provide detailed evidence to justify a business case.
Without a sponsor it won't be impossible but could be quite difficult to get the business case approved by senior management. If a senior manager who is part of the decision-making process can be won for the project as the facilitator in the very early stages, it will be much easier. To do this it will be necessary to find out how the project goals could be related to the possible sponsor's goals. At the end of the day the idea of the project needs to be sold. If we look into the glittering world of advertising and sales, we may find that we don't necessarily buy the product that objectively gives us the most value for money, but the one we subjectively like best. It could be that we were only made to believe a product offers high value for money because of the way it is being sold.
This should not distract from the necessity to create a sound business case, but it shows that influencing beforehand, building alliances and getting relevant people's assistance should not be neglected.
It was found that a lot of geoinformation projects, particularly PAI, are predominantly or solely driven by the technical champion and that the role of the facilitator is not adequately developed. In fact, many unsuccessful projects can directly be related to the failure to find a suitable sponsor or an insufficient level of cooperation between facilitators and doers.
Roles
Ordnance Survey has worked with Medway Council to identify roles that necessarily need to be fulfilled for a PAI implementation project. It is possible that one person will take on more than one role, particularly in smaller organisations. The roles are as follows:
Champion
The champion identifies the need to deal with PAI, initiates the process and acts as the main focal point throughout the project.
Sponsor
The champion should not be the sponsor. Essential that there is a senior manager or board member who understands and can support the project and keep the CEO aware of progress.
Strategic Leader
Various steps, particular in the planning phase, require the alignment with an organisation's strategic plan and vision to utilise geographic data.
Data Owner
Data is usually not just created in its own right but used within business processes. Within these processes the ownership of the data and its quality should be allocated to a suitable person or department. A planning department, for example will usually be the owner for planning related data.
Project Manager
More information can be found on the project management page.
Marketing / Communicator
More information can be found on the communications page.
Technical Roles
The planning phase of PAI certainly requires some technical understanding in order to assess the impact of PAI; technical specialists, however, are primarily needed throughout the pilot and rollout-phases.
GIS expert - solution architect
The GIS expert will be tasked with the creation of an optimised technical solution to shift data and will support the roll-out phase.
Data administrator
The data administrator is responsible for the integrity of the system the data is used in throughout the process.
GIS Operator
GIS operators will process the manual parts of a PAI implementation. These include quality assurance as well as manual corrections.
Internal Support (technical)
Particularly in larger organisations where a central GIS team supports various departments there will be the need for internal support. One case could be that GIS operators in various owning departments need to be trained to utilise PAI software and processes.