A Local-State Government Spatial Data Sharing Partnership

A Local-State Spatial Data Sharing Partnership Model to Facilitate SDI Development
agreement to proceed. The final phase is the implementation stage which is the putting
together of the plan, building the support systems and monitoring the implementation
process.
Prefontaine et al. (2000) described the collaborative process as six end to end stages that
include start-up, search for partners, setting-up, implementation, operational management
and cessation (see Figure 3.1). The authors identified that each stage of the process
requires specific conditions to ensure success. Each of the stages also includes continual
processes of negotiation, evaluation, decisions and actions which reflect the evolution of
the relationship of the organisational participants.
Figure 3.1 Collaboration process (Prefontaine et al. 2000)
The figure also emphasises the stages of negotiation, commitment and execution which
represent the maturing of the collaborative process. The stages do not necessarily indicate
the completion of a process, but that continuous re-assessment needs to be undertaken to
ensure that the overall collaborative effort is meeting its objectives.
3.2.7 Collaboration and Success
Gray (1989) described collaboration as a temporary forum within which consensus about a
problem or issue can be sought, mutually agreeable solutions invented and collective
actions taken to address the problem. Importantly, the author found that “Understanding
how this process unfolds is critical to successfully managing the kinds of multi-party and
multi-organisational relations described. If collaboration is successful, new solutions
emerge that no single party could have envisioned or enacted” (Gray 1989, p. 16).
However, both definition and the measurement of success is not easy and in some areas
such as natural resource management standard economic indicators may not be applicable
(Dedekorkut 2004).
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