TGIS

TGIS - SPECIALIST SOLUTIONS FOR MUNICIPALITIES

AGeographic Information System (GIS) creates, manages, analyses and maps all types of data. GIS connects data to a map, integrating location (where things are) with all types of descripting information (what things are like). This is critical in decision-making and planning. Coming out of segregated municipalities and towns at the dawn of democracy, municipal planners and administrators had a hard time finding out what and who is where, whilst addressing immediate needs for water, shelter and electricity as promised by the dawn of democracy and a solution was necessary.

One of the companies that embraced this challenge and went on to demonstrate the system’s usefulness to the prospective beneficiaries, the municipalities, is TGIS. We talk to its CEO Mr Johann Engelbrecht about this journey they travelled and prospects for the future.

Municipal Focus (MF): TGIS has been in existence since 1999, how much of that time has been spent in the local government sphere?

Johann Engelbrecht (JE): TGIS has been working on system development for local government since then and spends 95% of its effort in this sphere. The other 5% is spent on assisting clients with their delivery in this sphere.

MF: TGIS was established with a stated objective “to formulate and employ methods that help develop people, processes and systems that facilitate good governance”. How has that journey been? How has TGIS use impacted the work of municipalities?

JE : Exciting and fulfilling. Our clientpurpose focus is very effective when developing solutions, and our solutions deliver what municipalities need! Systems must enable an organisation to function as a single integrated whole. People, Processes, Systems, Data and Technologies must be seamlessly integrated.

We empower the person on the ground with tools that make their work easier. Reliable Management reports and work status result. This is the foundation of good governance

a. Two solution successes, stand out: i. Building Organisational Knowledge and Capacitation of Individuals. We moved the David Kruiper Municipality from a disclaimed to an unqualified audit opinion on Assets and then assisted them with processes tomanage their asset movements themselves.

ii. Effective Integration and Compliance. We were the first, in 2018, to create the tools and mSCOA compliant seamless system integration between our asset register management solution and the financial system at Saldanha Bay Municipality. They have received clean audit opinions for several years using this solution.

b. We go beyond the project scope, and unlock the additional benefits of each data set, in every area it can be utilised.

MF: What were the major challenges and achievements over the past 25 years?

JE : Major challenges:

Many municipalities procure systems in a fragmented way, usually considering only an individual department’s needs. The integration necessary to achieve mSCOA compliance is often ignored. IMIS’s level of integration made us mSCOA ready before mSCOA requirements were promulgated.

Most municipalities procure late, leaving us under sever time pressure. We have developed very effective processes to counter this.

Major achievements:

TGIS will be 25 years old on 1 June 2024. We have effectively adapted to the many challenges facing local government, such as compliancy with GRAP, mSCOA, National Archives, the addition of many indigent households receiving services, etc.

TGIS does not provide a financial system. We do cater to most of the non-financial system requirements in modules in IMIS, including Land Management, Town Planning, Building Control, Records Management, Document Management, Customer Care, Asset Registers, Asset Management, Cemetery

Management, Contract Management, Communication, and many more.

We have, since 2012, been ISO: 9001 certified. This means our management system conforms to the international standard for producing quality results for customers.

MF: How does the combination of a GIS (geographic information system) as the foundation of an integrated management information system (IMIS) assist municipalities?

JE : The municipality primarily delivers service to land parcels and derives its income from landowners and occupants of dwellings on land parcels. The land parcel data is the fundamental base, on which almost all municipal service delivery and income hang. This foundation and its linked data become available to all who need it.

It is difficult to grasp, identify problems and issues by examining a printout of accounts. When we put data into the GIS, and a thematic query application is run, results show on the map and problems are highlighted. “A picture paints a thousand words.”

MF: Can you give an example of a municipality that has benefited from engaging your services and what role you played in the municipality involved?

JE : One of our most effective Revenue Enhancement impacts was a byproduct of our asset register solution. It assisted Tshwane Metro to raise financial recovery from below 10% to above 90% in part of the pilot project area. We didn’t solve just one problem. We combined all the information into a comprehensive business solution that addressed assets, meters,

service usage, metering and irregular indigency status information, and debtors days/age analysis.

Besides Saldanha Bay Municipality and Steve Tshwete Local Municipality, another 60 municipalities have benefitted from implementing our systems, or from what we have done to help their service providers.

MF: As an operator in Geo-spatial environment, you have mapped the transition of the South African landscape post democracy - what is the most notable role that TGIS has played in advancing this democratic change?

JE : TGIS was engaged by the Panel of Experts on Foreign Land Ownership in South Africa to ascertain who owns South Africa. The concern was that a weak Rand makes property acquisition attractive to strong currencies, and causes an increase in prices, making ownership unattainable for many South Africans.

The Asset Registers we create are included in the system with all the land parcels and consumers, and the spatial development framework. Then service delivery infrastructure planning and budgeting for creation and maintenance, are based on complete and reliable data. This leads to sustainable and reliable service delivery to all.

MF: Technology is known to work well with developed areas and cities, but as you know many municipalities in South Africa are rural or semi-rural – does this intervention assist them and how?

JE : We have developed an approach to dealing with traditional and informal land rights, which are not surveyed in the formal cadastre. This brings these

land parcels and their occupants into the fold of managed service delivery within the municipal space.

We acquired the first IPS2 3D Mobile Mapping system in South Africa, which we use to rapidly map infrastructure and dwellings at low cost. This is useful in informal and traditional settlements areas where no land parcels are registered and little to no information is available.

We manage informal and traditional land, dwellings, and infrastructure in the same system as the formal urban settlements are managed.

MF: This sounds like a hightech solution which is great, but municipalities have constraints; human resource capacity, budgets, etc – is this not an added burden to them?

JE : We are experts in the arena of land data cleaning and linking to deeds and financial data and systems. Typically land and deeds data has 15% to 20% error. Our ability to clean this data is based on rigorous processes and quality control.

Once data has been created and cleaned, it should never be allowed to get out of date. We offer training for those with the capacity, and a bureau service for those who don’t, to ensure data is properly maintained.

IMIS’s business process management capability helps guide the inexperienced through the rights steps. This contributes to the NDP goal of a competent state.

Another key aspect is that each process role player need only be trained on the aspects that they deal with. Nobody is required to learn the whole system, so we have a short and inexpensive implementation training schedule.

Numerous Management Reports give an insight into what is happening in a municipality, enabling management to better allocate limited resources.

We have a cloud-hosted, low cost entry-level implementation approach to ensure that financially challenged municipalities can have the foundations for revenue enhancement in place.

MF: When most people assess the Democratic South Africa & performance, only Infrastructure is considered. Are there any other underlying issues that you feel should be considered? How have these transformed in the Democratic South Africa?

JE: Failing infrastructure, causing disinvestment, is a major barrier to desperately needed economic growth. We must develop a longer-term mental framework. We should adjust municipal performance management measures to focus more on sustainability and maintenance than creation. Infrastructure is often allowed to collapse and is then rebuilt at many times the cost of maintenance. Regular audit finding statements by the Auditor General are “inadequate audit evidence” and “management did not ensure that a proper Record Management System is in place.” This means that documents could not be found. IMIS Records & Document Management solves this problem. SMART cities and SMART municipalities are NOT founded on SMART technology, but on SMART people using reliable data to make smart decisions.

Consequence Management for poor performance is lacking and is a regular audit finding. Effective systems, with comprehensive incorruptible audit trails will not only provide evidence for disciplinary and legal action, but with proper process flow management, can close many fraud gaps that are currently exploited.

MF: What makes TGIS excel in applying GIS and asset management technology in the way that you do – how does that translate to a benefit to your client?

JE: We have 25 years of experience in Municipalities and municipal systems, and implement, guide, and assist with quality control. We are highly qualified and experienced with two registered Professional Land Surveyors, and Professional GIS Practitioners. Our staff have diverse qualifications and experience at all spheres and levels of government.

We have a professional development team that delivers reliable software.

We work with Strategic Partners, such as CA’s, Engineers, Valuers, Land Surveyors, Town Planners. This makes us a one-stop shop for solutions to municipal challenges. Our systems have APIs in place for integration with other open municipal systems whose providers are willing.

MF: What would you describe as the main advantages for a municipality to use TGIS? Please list these.

JE:

a. Clean Audits and Improved Audit Outcomes on GRAP compliant Asset Registers

b. Enhanced Revenue Collection

c. Effective Records management

d. User friendly Document Management

e. GRAP Compliance

f. mSCOA compliance enabling system.

g. Effective management of all application processes, with audit trail

h. Effective Customer Care

i. Complete and reliable Valuation roll and Town Planning data

j. Web based portals for application submission of Building Plans and Town Planning

k. Contract Management that eliminates surprises and ensures continuity of service provision by third parties

l. Automatic disaster recovery backup from Cloud based hosting of IMIS and GIS technical Projects.

MF: The Auditor General’s report on a municipality plays a big role in its rating, and management of infrastructure and assets has a major influence in auditing/ financial management. How do you assist municipalities in this regard? Are there any special offerings or innovations designed to do this?

JE : The municipal asset register is bult into the GIS database. We deliver this to the finacial system in a workflow from a low-cost, proudly South-African Geographic Information System.

Records and document management become the repository for audit evidence that is also spatially linked to assets and land.

MF: You frequently mention “Technologies” as part of the set of elements that need to be included for effective system integration. What does this mean, and can you give example, and explain how they help.

JE : Specialist and less known technologies we employ are:

i. 3DMM: Three-Dimensional Mobile Mapping.

Captures millions of 3D points that model the area being surveyed, and then drape 360-degree images (like Google Street View) on this. We capture the location, measure the dimensions, record the materials, and clip an evidentiary image of all visible assets.

ii. SLAM: Simultaneous

Localization and Mapping

Uses Laser Scanning to build a 3D model by capturing millions of points on visible items. We capture inside buildings where the 3DMM can’t see items such as Furniture, Pump, Pipes, etc.

iii. UAV

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones) are used to capture any kind of remote sensing data, but for a smaller area, at a higher resolution, and at a lower cost, than we would do with aerial photograph or satellite imagery.

iv. Metal Detector

A low-cost device used to find buried ferrous (Iron) items such as cables, pipes.

v. GPR

Ground Penetrating Radar is a high-cost complex device used to detect the location of buried infrastructure, whether ferrous or not (UPVC pipes).

Known and frequently used technologies include:

vi. GIS:

Geographic Information System

vii. ERDMS:

Electronic Records and Document Management

viii. WORKFLOW:

Moves work around digitally

ix. CLOUD:

A web application space that can expand and contract on demand

x. AERIAL / SATTELITE IMAGERY

‘Photos’ in planned view for capturing infrastructure and providing a visual content to data

xi. IOT and 3IR devices & applications Sensors offering valuable data at low cost, such as water level in a reservoire

MF: Has there been any professional or external recognition of TGIS’ work in the local government sphere and what was that for?

JE : We were awarded the South African Asset Management Association’s (SAAMA) team award in 2021 for the innovative approach used in assembling the AssetRegister for Steve Tshwete Local Municipality.

Deeds Registry recognition by the Chief Registrar and the Panel of Experts on Foreign Land Ownership of our capability in understanding and processing digital deeds data.

Clean and Unqualified audit opinions for our clients from the Auditor General are powerful evidence of success. The numerous requests we receive from municipalities for demonstration and assistance in improving audit outcomes is testament.

MF: What are the lessons learned over the past 25 years of development in Geo-spatial development?

JE : We have learned that most software is a container of tools delivered with an empty “box” (No data). The municipalities challenge is how to:

• Populate the “box” with correct, reliable data.

• Avoid conflicts between separate non-integrated systems that hold the same data.

• Maintain that data.

Appropriately qualified, registered, and experienced GIS service providers, who understand the complete range of Municipal Activities, comprehensive municipal systems integration, and governing legislation, such as we do, are rare, but necessary.

We have to learn to speak the language of municipalities, as well as the specialist domain within them, to communicate clearly.

MF: What is the TGIS promise to clients, keeping in mind the challenges that face municipalities?

JE: Our promise to our clients is that we will take your hand and walk alongside you, through the difficult challenges you face, to help you fulfil your purpose.

MF: This next election is seen as a milestone in the development of a democratic South Africa. What, in your view, should the country be focussing on in this next stage to take its people development forward?

JE: We need the following;

• Sustainable local municipalities who can create and maintain infrastructure that attracts wealth creators, businesses that support an energetic economy.

• Secure land rights.

• Appropriate skills development to increase productivity to be globally competitive.

• Robust municipal systems that eliminate fraud gaps and ensure reliable delivery of basic services.

To deal decisively with corruption, crime, and violence.

• A new mind-set, rooted in a transformed heart-set, that gives our people hope - a personal and communal shared vision of a better tomorrow.

• We should therefore establish a sustained long term National Transformation programme.