Local Government GIS Demonstration Grant - NCGIA Buffalo

Needs Assessment 31
Once all of this information is collected and analyzed for each department and published in a report,
it can be used as a blueprint for implementing the GIS. The GIS coordinating group within the
organization will use it to:
• Design the GIS database
• Identify GIS software that will meet the government's needs
• Prepare an implementation plan
• Start estimating the benefits and costs of a GIS
A common mistake in performing a needs assessment is to simply take an inventory of the maps
and spatial data currently used in each department. There are two major problems with this
approach. First, this does not allow the GIS coordinating group to evaluate how a GIS could be
used to enhance the work of each department and the agency as a whole . By looking at the
department functions and what the department does or produces, the GIS coordinating group and
potential users develop an understanding of the role GIS can play in the organization. The existing
data and maps do need to be inventoried and may well be used in building the GIS, however such
an inventory should be separate from the needs assessment.
The second major problem with the "data inventory" approach is that it tends to focus only on data
internal to the organization. Local governments rely heavily on data from outside sources - federal
agencies, state agencies, business, etc. The need for these data is better determined by looking at
the potential GIS applications and how data will be used by each application. It can then be
determined what data should be acquired from other sources.
2 CONDUCTING A NEEDS ASSESSMENT
The most significant aspect of a needs assessment is to document the findings in a standard and
structured manner. It is very important to adopt (or develop) a standard method to be used for the
description of all the GIS tasks, processes and data that will be included in the needs assessment.
These forms will be used in needs assessment to identify the three kinds of GIS requirements:
• GIS applications - these will be tasks that can be performed by the GIS when a user
requires them, such as preparing a map, processing a query, or conducting some particular
GIS analysis. GIS applications can be described using the five page GIS Applications forms
included with this guide as Appendix A.
• GIS activity - these are situations where information needs to be kept on some activity or
process important to the user, such as issuing building permits, conducting public health
inspections, etc. A GIS activity can be described using pages 1 and 4 of the GIS Applications
forms - the main application form and the data flow diagraming (DFD) form.
• GIS data - there will be certain categories of spatial data that are important to keep, but which
will not appear in any GIS application or activity identified in any application description. A
separate method must be developed to systematically record the need for such data. Other GIS
data needed but not included in either of the above categories, can be entered directly into the
master data list.