Situation

With circa 200-300 GIS data requests per annum and processing times ranging from 30-60 minutes per request the processing of these submissions placed a significant impact on resources for the Asset Information Development (AID) team. Further the turnaround time for the request being made to data being supplied could be up to 15 days in times of increased demand. This causes delays at the design stage of capital investment projects if data is not requested with sufficient lead-in time. 

AID, working in collaboration with our internal customers, have developed a solution which permits our Project Managers to make self-service requests for GIS asset data on behalf of consultants. This is an essential requirement in the design and construction of all new PC21 capital schemes delivered by consultants and contractors. 

Action

The solution has been live for the past 6 months and in that time has processed over 200 requests for GIS data. A second phase allowing external contractors to make requests directly via the ArcGIS Enterprise platform is currently undergoing a trial with selected NIW contractors.

Results

The automated solution, which was developed entirely in house uses the FME Server platform to automate the approval of requests and the extraction of 91 different datasets for identified request areas. Once a request is submitted data is available to contractors on SharePoint within minutes. Given the previous turnaround time of 15 days for requests, this has considerably improved the service delivered to our internal customers and contractors as well as freeing up AID resource allowing staff to concentrate on more value-added tasks.