The list below is a summary of the 'tips and tricks' presented by Peter Thorpe, of Peter Thorpe Consulting, at the Royal Town Planning Institute's (Planning and Environmental Training) GIS Selection and Implementation Conference at the Cavendish Centre, London on 19 April 1996.  You are welcome to print copies, but please acknowledge its origin!

'Top Ten Tips And Tricks For Selecting And Implementing GIS'

Selecting:

1. First develop your vision for how GIS will support your business priorities, then fill in the details of your requirements.
2. Focus on your key requirements, not on the GIS technology.
3. Decide the overall shape of your GIS procurement at the outset (map management?  full GIS? integrated systems such as Development Control?  Land and Property Gazetteer?  links to data-bases such as Census?  links to existing Council systems such as Land Charges?).
4. Identify the first 'showcase' project so as to ensure high visibility and maximum chance of successful implementation.
5. Get commitment from Elected Members, Chief Officers and Senior Managers.
6. Refine your requirements through supplier demonstrations and visits to local authorities which are active in GIS - but don't get deflected from your own priority needs.
7. Review the British Standard BS7666 ('Spatial Datasets for Geographic Referencing') and put in place 'home grown' standards for your geographic data ('streets', 'properties', 'addresses').
8. Consider the Local Government Management Board's GIS Functional Specification - but treat it with healthy suspicion and don't use it indiscriminately!
9. Structure your Invitation-to-Tender to ease direct comparison between suppliers - if possible in a way which can be quantified.
10. Call the tune in assessing suppliers and ensure that presentations, demonstrations and benchmarks are carried out to rules that you define.

Implementing:

1. Set 'benefit targets' in advance as the challenge for implementation.
2. Hand pick the 'Project Leader' (skills in GIS, people management and trouble-shooting equally important).
3. Dedicate adequate resources within the Project Team.
4. Keep alive a detailed Implementation Plan and use it rigorously as the basis on which to monitor progress and take corrective actions.
5. Don't skimp on training, which is a fundamental investment without which the project is unlikely to succeed.
6. Administer geographic data as a major corporate asset and put in place procedures to ensure standardised definitions, responsible ownership and quality.
7. Maintain the support of Chief Officers and Members in order to underpin ongoing success.
8. Exploit the opportunities for new ways of working which GIS can offer the local authority.
9. Promote the successes and achievements accruing from the implementation of GIS, in order to sustain and justify continued commitment.
10. Keep it all under review because things never stand still (vision, strategy, implementation plan, benefits, future direction)!

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