Chapter Six | Context and Rationale | Organisational Approach | Implementation Approach
Organisational Approach
As in any development it is important to understand who the stakeholders are and what roles each will play. For example in most national infrastructures government suppliers are key stakeholders. How they will play in the development and operation of the data access component of the infrastructure depends strongly on government policies regarding data distribution, cost recovery, etc.
Commercial entities will generally play a strong role as providers of tools and services but may also be suppliers of primary and value added data. It is important to understand the relationship between the commercial sector and the infrastructure as whole, e.g. will the commercial sector have a role in planning the infrastructure? What types of business arrangements will be supported in the infrastructure?.
The final category of stakeholder is the consumer or end-user. Their use of the data access element infrastructure is dependent on a number of factors including: the functionality of the infrastructure tools, the amount and quality of the content accessible, operating policies, infrastructure business model (will consumers be charged for access?), etc..
In the early stages of the development it is important to specify and review the long term vision for the entire infrastructure to determine where the access components fits and how it ties into other infrastructure elements. At this stage it is helpful to develop some scenarios and use cases that can be presented to the stakeholders and refined as required.
The importance of developing a supportive policy/organisational environment
should not be underestimated. Potential stakeholders will only become active
participants if they see advantages for their organisations and if they do
not feel threatened by the infrastructure. This policy/organisation environment
will vary from country to country and will need to be worked out closely with
the stakeholder community. The buy-in and commitment from senior management of
all stakeholders is critical to the success of the infrastructure as a whole
and to that of the access element in particular. The Canadian Geospatial
Data Infrastructure
(http://www.geoconnections.org/) is
an example of an infrastructure implementation that has developed an
organisation based on broad stakeholder participation.
Some of the issues that need to be considered in the development of the supportive policy/organisational environment are:
- Distributed/autonomous suppliers
The management of the data should be done as close as possible to source. This ensures the accuracy and quality of the data.
- Non threatening to mandates
Commercial and government stakeholders need to feel comfortable as active participants in the infrastructure. They should not feel threatened by infrastructure business models or policies.
- Multiple levels of "buy-in"; low barrier to entry
The access component of the infrastructure must provide multiple levels of buyin from a low cost option with limited benefits, e.g. basic advertising of products and services, to higher cost options that offer increased benefits, e.g. distributed search connections to the supplier's inventory. This allows suppliers to choose a level of participation that best meets their business and operational objectives. This is especially important in the early operation of the access component as many suppliers will want to "try" it out and hence may not be prepared to expend much effort until they see how it works.
- Sustainable long term business models
The access component of an infrastructure must provide an environment that supports a variety of supplier business models. The development of a sustainable business model for the operation of the access component is critical to the long term success of the entire infrastructure.
- Role of the private sector
The role the private sector as suppliers of data, services, and technology and as potential operators of the access infrastructure must be clearly defined.
- Marketing and promotion
The access component of an infrastructure must develop a marketing and promotion plan to build up the level of awareness and participation as quickly as possible. It is important to get a critical mass of suppliers so potential participants will see the benefits of joining the infrastructure. Potential benefits to suppliers include:
- Economies of data collection, closest to the source
- Reduced operational costs
- New clients (national and international)
- Data reuse (reuse vs recollection or conversion)
- Common tool and service reuse
- Advertising
- Benefits of "free" portrayal
- Enabling/supporting broad new applications, e.g.disaster management , value added
Table of Contents
Chapter Six | Context and Rationale | Organisational Approach | Implementation Approach