IT Governance Business Case
Tree Inventory Data Management
General Services
Background
The existing tree inventory software used by the Urban Forestry division (OpenTree Map) will no longer be offered by its vendor at the end of 2021. This platform is currently used by the division to catalogue the City’s inventory of street trees, determine potential planting sites, and provide data analytics. A new platform will be needed to host the division’s existing tree data and to ensure continuous operation of the Urban Forestry program.
Current Business Problem
• The Urban Forestry division current tree inventory management software platform (OpenTree map) support ended as of January 2021.
• The Urban Forestry division will lose access to its current tree inventory management software platform January 2022.
Current Pain Points
• Limited amount of time to procure and implement new tree inventory management software before access to current platform ends
• Absence of a tree inventory management platform will negatively impact division’s ability to track tree inventory and plan future planting work
• Loss of ability to calculate ecosystem service benefits of City’s public trees
(stormwater runoff reduction, air quality improvement, CO2 reduction, shade coverage)
• OpenTree map has limitations that could be improved on with a different platform
Desired Business Value
City of Durham’s Strategic Plan Goal: Innovative & High Performing Organization
Initiative: Develop and implement a continuous improvement model that includes evaluation and process improvement to analyze and improve City services
• To improve the ability to track tree inventory and plan future planting work by adopting a tree inventory management software platform, which increases effectiveness.
• Increase operational efficiencies related to reporting and data modeling.
Desired Business Value
City of Durham’s Strategic Plan Goal: Create a More Sustainable Durham
Initiative: Develop and execute urban forestry management plan to achieve the City's goals and priorities for achieving equitable tree canopy goals.
• Increase the health and diversity of the city's street trees through active maintenance
• Extend the canopy of street trees over high priority/low canopy areas
• Encourage the preservation of trees on properties not owned or maintained by the City of Durham through partnerships and reevaluation of policies and practices.
Future State Benefits
• New platform will ensure continued delivery of Urban Forestry division services by providing operational data and functionality (tree inventory management, data analytics, reporting)
• Better technical and customer support from vendor
• More “out of the box” reporting capability vs need to create reports manually (exporting data to Excel)
• Improved data cataloguing ability (more support for tree data attributes such as neighborhood, planting dates, condition)
• Additional GIS capability, more data layers that can be displayed over maps (utilities, property boundaries, aerial imagery)
Recommended Solution and Analysis
Solution #1: Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI)
Description
A cloud-based industry leader in mapping & spatial analytics technology that allows to access, manage and update urban forestry data from any location
Pros
• ESRI is already in use and is the enterprise mapping standard
• Ability to calculate ecosystem benefits
• Easy to manage and customize data attributes
• Easy to access and update data from any location
Cons
• Will require some internal development
Solution #2: TreeKeeper Inventory Management Software
Description A cloud-based urban forestry inventory management software that allows to access, manage and update urban forestry data from any location
Pros
• Easy to manage data
• Ability to calculate ecosystem benefits
• Customize data attributes
• Easy to access and update data from any location
Cons
• There will be a minor business disruption to the organization until users are proficient using the new tools as with any new system
Recommend Solution #1: Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI)
Description A cloud-based industry leader in mapping & spatial analytics technology that allows to access, manage and update urban forestry data from any location
Pros
• No additional cost
• ESRI is already in use and is the enterprise mapping standard
• Ability to calculate ecosystem benefits
• Easy to access and update data from any location
Cons
• Will require some internal development
Recommended Solution - ESRI: Project Financial Estimate
COST ESTIMATES FUNDING
*Total Project Funding Requested (External), includes External Year 1 Run Costs and Non-Labor
Description Year 1 Costs (Hours) Annual Run Costs (Hours)/ KTLO Departmental Funding Amount: $0 Labor $ (Hours) Internal TS: 85hours 20 hours Funding Requested (Y/N): N Business Analysis 5 hours 0 hours TS Services 60 hours 20 hours Project One Time Costs $0 TS PMO 20 hours 0 hours Project Run Cost (External) $0 Internal Department: General Services 60 hours 52 hours *Total Project Funding Requested for Year 1 $0 External: $0 $0 *Recurring Costs $0 Professional Services $0 $0 Non-Labor $ Hardware: $0 $0 Software: $0 $0 Other: $0 $0
Risk Identification
Description of Risk Risk Impact Mitigated (Y/N) Contingency(Y/N) Poor execution Low Yes No Project team turnover Low Yes No Vendor performance Low Yes No Cyber Security Low Yes No
Mitigation Risk (Costs)
• No cost
Contingency Risk (Costs)
• No cost
Our Ask
We are asking to approve the business case for the General Services
ESRI
solution.
