Project Charter
 

RPGS Geomatics Opportunities Study
 

August 28, 2002
 

Project Sponsors:
Client:  Marc Pelosse, PWGSC
Consultant:  Allan Krisciunas, KrisMaps






































Table of Contents:
1. Project Overview
2. Rationale
3. Scope
4. Objectives
5. Outstanding Issues
6. Approvals
7. References
8. Accountabilities
9. Project Approach
10. Deliverables
11. Dependencies
12. Plans for Support Activities
13. Project Control
14. Project Schedule
15. Cost Estimate


Annexe A Deliverables Chart
Annexe B GANTT chart
Annexe C Relevant Activities
Annexe D Cycle
Annexe E Contract (extract), A.Krisciunas, Appendix A



 
 
 
1. Project Overview

This study will identify all opportunities for RPGS (Real Property Geomatics Services) to support ARES (Accommodation and Real Estate Services) activities, using business geographics through GIS (geographic information systems). Details are provided under "Rationale" and "Objectives".

RPGS is a relatively new organization, that grew out of the L&BG (Land and Business Geographics) group in late 2001. Having only been established in 1996, L&BG itself was a relatively young organization when it underwent tremendous growth in 2001/2002, nearly tripling in staff size.

Rapid growth like this has enabled RPGS (and its predecessor, L&BG) to embark on a diverse number of projects. Since the client list has grown tremendously, and their needs are quite disparate, RPGS has produced a large number of geomatics and business geographics products and services, quite different from one another. RPGS now wishes to become more proactive than reactive, as a result of amassing a diverse line of products and services, enabling itself to serve the client with the best possible solution in the most efficient manner. This will allow RPGS to present a professional and polished image to its present and future clients and will facilitate strategic planning, seeking out new business lines with the self-assurance that it can deliver, on time and on budget.

A number of initiatives are now underway to develop systematic approaches to strategic thinking in RPGS. The NGTS (National Geospatial Technology Strategy), being carried out in the Fall of 2002, is one such initiative whose results will be used in the RPGS Geomatics Opportunities Study.

The goals of the RPGS Geomatics Opportunities Study are to:


 
2. Rationale

Real Property Geomatics Services (RPGS) is a professional service that supports the activities of Accommodation and Real Estate Services (ARES) in the same manner as do other professional services, such as architecture, engineering, appraisal or financial analysis. However, while geomatics has a history in Publics Works as long as that of architecture or engineering, its technological innovations, such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), have undergone such dramatic growth in the past decade that the time has come to re-evaluate how geomatics and business geographics fits into serving ARES in a role equivalent to the other professional services.

To this end, RPGS seeks to develop a catalogue of solutions, each of which is tailored -- using the wide array of GIS-based products and services in RPGS -- to fully serve each ARES activity, and uniquely to that activity. (NOTE: case-studies of ARES activities can be found here.) This project will accomplish this by:

More specifically, this process will involve moving from (A) to (D) in the following diagram:


 

There are two important themes to be considered throughout this study:

Presently, RPGS is marketed to clients on the ARES website as simply one of several services available under Real Property Information Services; however, it has become increasingly clear to senior RPGS staff that business geographics can be harnessed to provide a powerful analytical and reporting tool, taking GIS in RPGS far beyond its current service of providing mainly printed maps. Already, RPGS staff have experimented with web-based interactive mapping, and integrating property databases with interactive maps; this is just the beginning. This project should result in a significant expansion of the role of RPGS, wherever possible, within all of the three major service areas of ARES: Strategic Advisory Services, Brokerage Services, Real Property Information Services.

One issue that will have to be addressed is that, outside RPGS, its services are generally perceived as limited to providing maps. RPGS certainly does serve up a wide variety of high quality maps to ARES clients, but its staff and technological resources are such that it could do much more. The surface has only been scratched, for instance, in harnessing the power that GIS affords for spatial analysis and geographic based decision-making. Addressing this issue will require that clients outside RPGS are afforded an easy way to understand that GIS can do much more than produce great maps. To this end, an important part of the project will also be the development of prototypes and demos, showing clearly and in a user-friendly manner, how business geographics means much more than making maps for ARES clients.

Ultimately RPGS must look at how its business geographics services "add value", based on the of the Four Value Proposition pillars that Real Property Services (RPS) clients have identified: Responsiveness, Risk Management, Ease of Doing Business, and Value for Money. During this entire project, that concept must be kept in mind; GIS applications can be extremely varied and interesting, but if they can not address the Value Proposition established by RPS, they do not warrant the investment on the part of RPGS.
 
 
 
3. Scope

The "environmental scan" of ARES activities is intended to cover all activities. As well, it is intended to be Canada-wide. The scope, thus, is broad.

It is likely that the study will identify a number of ARES activities that do not warrant RPGS services; these activities will be identified (with the rationale for RPGS non-involvement) and "filtered" from the list. Only the remaining activities will be studied further. This will then narrow the scope.

RPGS consists of 3 business lines: Business Geographics, Land Information, and Land Surveys. This study will examine only the contributions of Business Geographics to ARES activities.

The contract with the consultant is limited to 4 months. However, the scope of work and volume of deliverables requires more than 4 months to fully complete the study. To effectively manage the time budget, ARES activities will be put through the study cycle in 3 groups. This will allow at least some ARES activities to be fully completed in this study, should the consultant be unable to complete the entire study.

GIS covers several platforms and many types of commercial and open-source software. The business geographics solutions to be recommended will not be limited by the technology or data RPGS currently has access to or uses regularly. However, developing demos/prototypes may be limited to using current RPGS software/hardware and data to "emulate" certain GIS techniques, rather than making major expenditures simply to develop prototypes.

Target Audience:

All deliverables are intended for PWGSC staff only. All reports and presentations of demos or prototypes will be made available to all RPGS staff and interested ARES staff. No study results nor any material thereof are intended for public dissemination.


 
4. Objectives

In an effort to strengthen the RPGS business relationship with Accommodation and Real Estate Services (ARES) partners, develop business volume, and enhance the level of awareness of RPGS expertise, this project will develop a formal approach for the integration of RPGS in the effective management of federal custodians’ property portfolios, based on the complete suite of ARES services.

Since 1995 RPS has been "moving up the staircase" (page 3) to be "within a heartbeat of the client", shifting from simply an operational focus to a strategic focus. This project to improve the management of business geographics is but one of several initiatives to further this ascent. "Moving up the staircase" is a concept that exemplifies flexibility in how ARES can serve clients (and attract more). The lowest "steps" involve one-off types of service for rather minor and quick real property solutions. Further up the "staircase", ARES delves deeper into the client’s business, offering more services with greater property management responsibilities, and on a more formal and regular basis. Finally, at the top, ARES is providing the complete real property function for the client, essentially relieving the client of all real estate responsibilities, and permitting them to devote more resources to their programs.

RPGS must learn how to fit its business geographics function within the overall ARES strategy at each level of that "staircase". To that end, the ultimate objective of this project is to ensure that RPGS enhances the flexibility of ARES to "move up the staircase" and position ARES to "within a heartbeat of the client".
 
 
 
5. Outstanding Issues

Nil (29-Aug-02) – this will be updated as needed.
 
 
 
6. Approvals

Contract between PWGSC & Allan Krisciunas (KrisMaps).
 
 
 
7. References

  1. Deliverables chart (Annexe A)
  2. GANTT chart (Annexe B)
  3. Excerpt of Contract (Annexe E)

 
8. Accountabilities

The cascading client relationships are as follows, with representative staff listed as applicable:

OGDs ("Other Government Departments"), clients of :
... PWGSC as represented by:
... ARES (Michael Blaschuk), client of :
... RPGS (Marc Pelosse), client of:
... KrisMaps (Allan Krisciunas).

 
9. Approach

Since there is a considerable volume of ARES documentation, a cyclical methodology will be deployed to attain efficiencies in time management. The Consultant will complete a full cycle on the first subset of ARES activities, called "Group 1", finishing that cycle by producing a preliminary report for it. The second cycle, on Group 2, would theoretically begin after the completion of the first cycle on Group 1. However, in the event that a "roadblock" occurs during the first cycle, such as waiting for feedback from staff, work will begin on the cycle of Group 2 so as to maximize the use of the Consultant’s time. This is illustrated in a GANTT chart.

Thus, a number of components of the project may be occurring simultaneously to maximize time management. This cyclic aspect is portrayed in Annexe A. and in this chart.

Demos/prototypes will be drafted by the Consultant, but finalized by the GIS technical support in RPGS.
 
 
 
10. Deliverables

The deliverables are as defined per the Contract between PWGSC & Allan Krisciunas (KrisMaps), as follows:

  1. Detailed reports (3 preliminary and 1 final) on business geographics participation on the listed and described ARES services,
  2. GIS demos and prototypes for different ARES business lines,
  3. All utilized and produced data, including geospatial data, workspaces, and other sources of information, and any other documents produced by the Consultant for the Project.

 
11. Dependencies

The success of the project is primarily dependant upon the Consultant’s individual work, but will also depend upon the following:

Access to all documents (electronic or paper) representing ARES activities is essential.

Software needs for development of demos or prototypes are not considered an issue, as RPGS has sufficient resources in this area.
 
 
 
12. Plans for Support Activities

Presentation materials will be prepared for RPGS staff to promote the demos and prototypes that are developed. Presentations to selected clients (based on advice from ARES) may be requested of the Consultant, within the Terms of Reference of the Contract and at no additional Consultant fee.
 
 
 
13. Project Control

The Consultant will meet weekly with the Client. As well, being based primarily on-site, the Consultant will participate in other regular RPGS meetings, retreats, work-groups, etc. Once the RPGS intranet web-site is fully functional, the Consultant will post progress reports of this project on the site, as directed by the Client.
 
 
 
14. Project Schedule

The major milestones of the project are as follows:
 

  • Group 1
    • ARES activity list
    •   "        "       descriptions
    • BizGeo product catalogue
    • GIS Demos/prototypes
    • Preliminary report
    • Oct. 4/02
    • Oct.11/02
    • Nov.11/02 *
    • Dec.11/02
    • Dec.18/02

     

    D1

  • Group 2
    • ARES activity list 
    •   "        "       descriptions
    • BizGeo product catalogue
    • GIS Demos/prototypes 

    • Preliminary report
    • Nov.11/02 *
    • Nov.18/02
    • Dec.18/02 **
    • Jan. 25/02
    • Feb. 1/02 

     
     
     

    D2

  • Group 3
    • ARES activity list 
    •   "        "       descriptions
    • BizGeo product catalogue
    • GIS Demos/prototypes
    • Preliminary report
    • Dec.18/02 **
    • Dec.25/02
    • Feb. 1/02
    • Feb. 8/02
    • Feb.15/02 

     
     
     

    D3

    Final Report Mar. 1/02 D4

     
     
     
     
    15. Cost Estimate

    The Consultant fee is $25,000 for the first 4 months of work. As well, some staff time will be required on the behalf of Real Estate staff (see: 11) and RPGS staff (see: 11), estimated to be in the range of 25-50 hours. Development of demos and prototypes at the end will require RPGS GIS technical staff time, estimated to be in the range of 75-100 hours.
     



     
     
     
    Annexe A: Deliverables Chart

    (based on discussion with M.Pelosse during week of 12-Aug-02)
    "Dlv.Code" = "Deliverable Code" (to be used for time coding purposes)
     
    Deliverable Description Dlv. Code
    Group 1 preliminary report This summarizes all work completed for Group 1 ARES activities, including the group’s business geographics product catalogue and the group’s GIS demos/prototypes.
    D1
    Group 2 preliminary report This summarizes all work completed for Group 2 ARES activities, including the group’s business geographics product catalogue and the group’s GIS demos/prototypes.
    D2
    Group 3 preliminary report This summarizes all work completed for Group 3 ARES activities, including the group’s business geographics product catalogue and the group’s GIS demos/prototypes.
    D3
    Group 1

    Full cycle in :

    • Site Remediation
    • Contaminated sites & environmental management
    • Airport Zoning
    • Law Records
    • Accrual Accounting
    • Inventory rationalization
    Group 2

    Full cycle in : 

    • Real Property Management Frameworks
    • Divestiture Strategies
    • Location and site selection
    • Property acquisition, development, & disposal
    • Strategic portfolio and asset management
    Group 3

    Full cycle in : 

    • Payment-in-lieu of taxes
    • Property valuation
    • Demographic and socio-economic analysis
    • Urban planning 
    • Market analysis
    • Accrual accounting
    • Facilities management
    • Heritage analysis
    • Office accommodation strategies
     
    NOTE: "full cycle" refers to the following 4 major steps outlined in the "Terms of Reference" of the contract:
     
     

      " Create exhaustive listing of ARES’ Strategic Advisory, Brokerage and Real Property Information service "
     
     

      " Develop comprehensive description of ARES’ Strategic Advisory, Brokerage and Real Property Information services, " (including validation with RES)
     
     

      " Identify business geographics potential contribution to these services, " (including verification with RPGS/NGTS, and culminating with development of the business geographic products catalogue)
     
     

      Prepare customized demos/prototypes for the different ARES business lines,

    _______________________
     
     

    Within the above steps, additional tasks are nested, which could potentially lengthen the processes, including:

    • need to validate ARES activities with RES professionals (i.e.: work only with activities and documents that are currently being used in CSUs), and
    • need to verify that all possible business geographics opportunities are identified (whether through NGTS or interviewing RPGS staff).
    For this reason, the term "effective time management principles" is added in Annexe D. If feedback for Group 1 is taking longer than anticipated, as an example, it is more efficient to then begin the first steps for Group 2 while waiting for this feedback.
     
     

    If component  above requires additional staff input (i.e.: NGTS data are insufficient), it will be carried out by:

    • Developing a structured questionnaire to interview RPGS staff nationally to complete this inventory, 
    • Obtaining approval of the questionnaire from the Client, then
    Interviewing RPGS staff with the structured questionnaire.
    Final Report Summarizes all preliminary reports, presents final RPGS business geographics product catalogue for ARES activities, including all GIS demos/prototypes, and provides materials for promotional presentations by RPGS staff.
    D4

     
     
     
    Annexe B: GANTT chart


     
     
     
     
    Annexe C: GIS-Relevant ARES Activities

    Definition of "GIS-relevant ARES activities" – Accommodation and Real Estate Services (ARES) activities that:

    1. are actually being carried out for clients, or likely to be carried out for clients, whether regularly or intermittently (i.e.: excludes ARES activities which are potentially provided, but for which no demand has yet to materialize), and
    2. contain spatial components and require some degree of business geographics based solutions, employing Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
    The study will begin by examining all ARES activities, and end with a suite of solutions for GIS-Relevant ARES Activities. Steps 1 and 2 above will be carried out as part of the validation process in  of Annexe A and the verification process in  of Annexe A. Those that do not qualify, in the end, as "relevant" will

    be listed.
     
     
     
     
    Annexe D:    Cycle


     
     
     
     
    Annexe E:  excerpt of Contract entered into on 
    the 15th of July, 2002, BETWEEN:

    Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada (hereinafter referred to as "Her Majesty") represented by the Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada (hereinafter referred to as the "Minister")

            AND

    Allan Krisciunas
    43B-802 St-Andre Drive
    Orleans, ON K1C 4R3
    (hereinafter referred to as the "Contractor").
     
     

    Her Majesty and the Contractor agree as follows: ...
    ...

    ... Appendix A  -  Description of Services

    Scope of Work:

    In an effort to strengthen RPGS business relationship with Accommodation and Real Estate Services (ARES) partners, develop business volume and enhance level of awareness of RPGS expertise, develop a formal integrated approach for the integration of RPGS in the effective management of federal custodians’ property portfolios based on the complete suite of ARES services.
     

    Terms of Reference:

    1. Create exhaustive listing of ARES’ Strategic Advisory, Brokerage and Real Property Information services,
    2. Develop comprehensive description of ARES’ Strategic Advisory, Brokerage and Real Property Information services,
    3. Identify business geographics potential contribution to these services,
    4. Prepare customized presentations to the different ARES business lines,
    5. Other relevant related activities.


    Deliverables:

    1. Detailed report on business geographics participation on the listed and described ARES services,
    2. Customized presentations to the different ARES business lines,
    3. All utilized and produced data, including Geospatial data, workspaces, and other sources of information,
    4. Other relevant related deliverables.


    Contract Date:   2002-AUG-12 to 2002-DEC-16