GIS Steering Committee

“Where People Count” MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS 1000 Civic Center Drive, Niles, Illinois 60714 Telephone (847) 588-8000 Fax (847) 588-8050 GIS Steering Committee Meeting March 10, 2011 Co-Chairs: Andrew Przybylo – Trustee George Van Geem – Village Manager Persons in attendance: Robert Callero Mayor Steve Cusick MIS Scott Jochim Public Services Mousa Nazzal Engineering Chuck Ostman Community Development Bob Pilat Public Services Andrew Przybylo Trustee Bill Shaw MIS George Van Geem Village Manager Andrew Vitale MIS Rich Wlodarski Community Development The meeting was called to order at 8:06 a.m. Agenda Item #1 – Approval of Minutes The minutes of the February 10, 2010 meeting were approved. Agenda Item #2 – Old Business – Project Updates Atlas Training A.Vitale reported that he and Tim Spadoni have held a total of four training classes, which went well and received good feedback. A proposed change to Atlas, based on a suggestion from housing inspectors, is the addition of email addresses, when available, to the “People Search” section. We are looking for this committee to approve this change. B. Shaw commented that because email addresses will become a more standard form of contact in the years to come, we feel that this is a good feature. Trustee Przybylo asked of the sensitivity. B. Shaw responded that Atlas already reveals, to employees only, a person’s name, phone number, birth date (age), and relationship for every address in the Village. We are now asking to include an email address with this information. Mayor Callero said that it should be optional for residents to share their email addresses. B. Pilat expressed concern over having information for teenagers on Atlas. He asked if there is a way to “red flag” people under the age of 18. It was pointed out that only Village of Niles employees have access to this information, not residents, and only Village employees who have a login have access to this information. Trustee Przybylo stated that he has no problem with people giving their email addresses as part of their contact information, but would like to see controls applied so that only certain employees have access to this information. He asked if access is traceable. Yes, any search made on Atlas is recorded in a log, so we can trace on what computer, using what login, and when (date and time) an employee looked up a particular piece of information. Trustee Przybylo would like to restrict Atlas to different levels of employees in order to prevent a non-employee from viewing a screen when the employee is away from his/her desk (as could happen at the Teen Center, for example.) B. Shaw moved that this committee recommends that we allow email addresses in the “People Section” of Atlas. The vote was unanimous in favor of allowing email addresses in the “People Section” of Atlas. A.Vitale reported on another question that has come up as a result of the training: Employees who are also residents do not think it is fair that their personal information, drawn from our Employee Maintenance database, is published on Atlas. The biggest issue for these employees is that the birth dates and ages of their underage children are listed. They want the option to exclude their children from the list, assuming the children are not members of the Teen Center, Fitness Center, etc. B. Shaw clarified that the children’s names are coming from the Pharmaceutical Distribution List. Mayor Callero and Trustee Przybylo both feel that access to information regarding children should be restricted to the highest level. S. Cusick pointed out that restricting this information could hinder the ability of front desk employees to provide quick aid in the event of an emergency. B. Shaw stated that he will come back to the next meeting with a solution to this problem. He will come up with a restriction level for any relationship information in Employee Maintenance for minors – under 18. Trustee Przybylo stated that he feels it is acceptable to put all the information out there, but that we should restrict its access. Department Heads and the Village Manager would make the decision as to who has access. B. Shaw concluded that he will work on it and present solutions at the next meeting. Maintenance Management System (MMS) B. Shaw reported that the MIS and Public Services Departments have found a software solution for maintenance management. We now request that this committee approves going to the Board to accept the proposals. 2 A maintenance management system is software the will allow Public Services to do service requests and work orders; track equipment, labor and materials; and inventory control, with future capabilities that include risk management and budget planning. We have wanted to implement a maintenance management system for a long time, but funds haven’t been available until now. MIS reviewed six available packages, looking at how it runs “in the back of the house,” how the user interface works, and how it works with GIS. Based on our findings and on Public Services’ criteria, we narrowed the field to two solutions that would do what we need within the constraints of our project. MIS viewed two demonstrations of each solution, and brought Public Services in for the third demonstrations. MIS showed Public Services each package without revealing their own conclusions. At the conclusion of the demonstrations and discussions, Public Services unanimously selected VUEWorks, which is the package that MIS would have recommended and is priced the lowest of all the considered packages. VUEWorks, a company of experienced software developers based in New Hampshire, has been in business since 2001. They are partnered with a local VAR (Value Added Reseller) – Ruekert- Mielke – who will do the installation, training and support. (Ruekert-Mielke is the company that helped us build Atlas, worked with us on GIS engineering issues and helped us gather water assets.) VUEWorks $33,569.40 software, user licenses Ruekert-Mielke $16,400.00 installation, training, configuration, support _________ $49,969.40 We have negotiated both contracts; the Village attorney has reviewed them and has found them acceptable. We also consulted the Northwest Municipal Conference to see if they have done any studies related to maintenance management systems. As of now they have only evaluated pavement systems, which we are not considering. There are some future considerations that VUEWorks will have in their next release. These features are important enough that we have asked them to put together a Memorandum of Understanding, which we hope to have later today. Once the Village attorney reviews and approves it, we can then assemble all the paperwork and, with this committee’s approval, present it to the March Board meeting. Mayor Callero asked about the quotes from the other companies. B. Shaw gave the following breakdown: VUEWorks, Inc. Concord, NH $49,969.40 Complete Azteca Systems (CityWorks) Sandy, UT $78,930.00 Complete The Davenport Group Colorado Springs, CO $91,580.00 w/o Training GBA Master Series Overland Park, KS $83,000.00 w/o Services CarteGraph Dubuque, IA $150,000.00 Estimated Hansen Information Technologies Inc. Alpharetta, GA $250,000.00 Estimated 3 B. Shaw continued that the VUEWorks package is the most affordable and most complete, and is expected to do what we need it to do. Mayor Callero asked if S. Jochim, M. Nazzal and B. Pilat all agree that this package is good. S. Jochim responded that while the other package had “all the bells and whistles,” it was more complicated. This package is very easy to understand and accomplished the same thing in fewer steps. Unbeknownst to them, it was the cheaper one. Mayor Callero asked if S. Jochim’s people will use it. S. Jochim responded yes, it will save a lot of time. Currently, all calls are recorded in writing on an action request, and we have boxes of them. If you need to refer to a particular request, you have to find it in a box. This will save a lot of time. Also, there are often things that need to be done, such as sign and tree inventories, but we don’t have the tools to do them. There are many things that can be tied into this system. Mayor Callero asked if we will need additional personnel to implement this, or if current employees can do it. B. Pilat responded that the main difference is that instead of the service request being written down, it will be entered directly into the computer by the receptionist. The supervisor would be notified immediately, and the work order can be generated right away. It automates the whole process, making a record of every service request that comes in and tracking duplicate requests, thereby eliminating double work. S. Cusick added that this software “sits directly on top of GIS,” and actually lets Public Services edit the data that is in GIS. As they make changes to the infrastructure, the changes will be entered into the system, and GIS and Atlas will thereby be kept up-to-date. B. Shaw continued that a maintenance management system manages Village assets and infrastructure. This system includes a web portal that we will eventually open so that residents will be able to make requests online, which should also provide a savings. Once a service request is entered, the appropriate Public Services personnel will be notified, who will then decide the proper disposition and turn it into a work order that will identify the crew, the equipment and the materials needed to do the work. The actual equipment and labor details will be recorded for future analysis. One of our goals is to expand this system and open it to other departments, but right now our focus is Public Services. Mayor Callero asked if we are planning to have computers in the trucks. B. Shaw replied that we have money in the budget for a half dozen laptops or iPads for the managers. We are also reviewing the phones that we issue to Public Services personnel and will make sure that the next generation of phones that we issue will support this system’s notifications. We won’t have to give everyone a laptop; service request/work order information can go right to their phones. We are trying to take advantage of all the technology we can. This purchase of the MMS will come out of the current (2010-2011) budget. The purchase of the laptops will come out of the next (2011-2012) budget. G. VanGeem recalled that the last time we worked with Ruekert-Mielke on Atlas, we had to work hundreds of hours to get it where it is today. He asked how many hours we will have to spend on this to get it to be what we want it to be. A.Vitale answered that any package that we go with would require a lot of configuration because there are some configurations that are unique to how we work. S. Cusick added that Atlas is custom-written software, which is why we 4 had to put in so much time. This MMS is an off-the-shelf product, with no customizations. We have to enter Village of Niles data, which will take some time, but we will not be writing code or developing a solution. The first step will be to enter information for water, sewer and signs, and the labor, material and equipment behind that. The second step will be streets, trees and all the other asset layers. Trustee Przybylo asked about references for VUEWorks. A.Vitale replied that he has many references for Ruekert-Mielke and the VUEWorks team and for the software itself. He has not heard a single negative comment from any one of them, whether they are a smaller organization serving only 1,200 residents or a larger city of 74,000. They have all had glowing things to say, not only about the learning curve of the software, but also about the tech support response and the enhancement response. They have all been very positive. B.Shaw added that we have requested VUEWorks’ financials. Our Finance Department looked them over and feels comfortable that their capital and assets make them very stable. Trustee Przybylo asked if this software has GPS interconnectivity. For example, if a truck is out to fix a water main break, will the system record when the truck gets there and when it leaves so we can do time management studies? A.Vitale responded no, the system was not designed for that purpose. B. Shaw added that this system does have the ability to connect to other databases so that if we do acquire GPS capabilities for our vehicles, this package will be able to tie into it without any huge burden on our part. Mayor Callero made a motion to approve going to the Board for acceptance of this MMS package. The vote was unanimously in favor of the motion. B. Shaw stated that he, A.Vitale and S. Cusick plan on being at the Board meeting to assist with the presentation. He feels that the Board will want Public Services to field some of their questions. S. Jochim will be there. There will be no product demonstration, but there is a brochure with screen shots of some of the modules. A.Vitale will investigate if we can view another community’s website to see a work order request module. He knows of one particular community who would be willing to open their site to us. Trustee Przybylo suggested that we select a different name for this system because “Maintenance Management System” doesn’t say anything. Perhaps there is some way we can include “Public Services” in the name because the system mostly has to do with what the Public Services Department does. Mayor Callero added that because it’s all related to public service, we have to include that term in the name. He suggested “Public Service Maintenance Management.” B. Shaw assured that this issue will be addressed. IMS Mapping Software Replacement A.Vitale reported that the replacement of the mapping software (the interactive map component) within Atlas is ongoing. ESRI is not yet ready; they still have a lot of information to work on before we can start working with them on the transition from our old mapping software to the new mapping software. We are hoping to have our demonstration of the next step take place either later this month or early in April. We will likely have something significant to report at the next meeting. 5 Agenda Item #3 – New Business GIS Consortium Data Sharing A.Vitale reported that last week he received a call from the NSECC asking for our point layer of addresses. (Apparently, they didn’t have a current address list for the Village of Niles within their dispatch system.) Further conversations revealed that they were looking for more than just addresses, and they were going to share this information with the entire GIS Consortium and include Niles’ GIS layers within the GIS Consortium’s website. In further conversations, they talked about a reciprocal sharing of information between us and the Consortium. A.Vitale stated that he cannot enter into any data sharing of this type without this committee being aware of it. (We are looking at some data sharing agreements and will give them to the Village attorney for review.) He wants this committee to know that we have a real opportunity to share more information than we ever have before, thereby strengthening the relationships of the neighboring communities that are members of the consortium – Park Ridge, Des Plaines, Morton Grove, Skokie, and Glenview (not Chicago.) Trustee Przybylo confirmed that we are only sharing data with other governmental agencies. He also confirmed that there is a clause that prohibits any of these municipalities from selling this list to or sharing this list with anybody – be it private industry or another municipality - without our knowledge and written consent. Mayor Callero asked for a definition of “information.” A.Vitale replied addresses, streets, parcels, possibly infrastructure, but not residents’ names. There are two main reasons for other communities to have our current information, and for us to have theirs: 1) for our Fire and Police Departments, so they can answer and assist with emergency calls outside our borders, and 2) for our Community Development and Public Services Departments, so they can better deal with construction issues on our borders and Stormwater concerns. B. Shaw asked if there was any concern about the information in Atlas being shared with them. A.Vitale responded that the information to be shared does not include names or licensing information, nor does it violate any of our current data sharing agreements with Cook County; he will not be sharing anything that he cannot share. Cook County is aware of this proposed data sharing and is fine with it. A.Vitale will put together a formal list of the layers to be shared, and will bring this list to G. Van Geem. He will present that list and a data sharing agreement to the committee for approval at the next meeting. Agenda Item #4 – Departmental Projects Sign Inventory B.Shaw reported that he and S. Cusick have been working on the sign inventory, taking the sign information from Public Services and GIS, and identifying all of the fields and attributes in both. They have also reviewed the document regarding the regulations and have identified some concerns. A.Vitale is in the process of getting a sign database model from ESRI in order to take into account any industry standard. They plan to meet with B. Pilat and Lynn Ball (Streets and Signs Manager) early next week to review the findings and select exactly what we want. We can 6 then assemble an Access database that will allow Public Services to build the inventory for GIS and MMS. By the week after next, we should have a working system in place. B.Shaw commented that Tim Spadoni and A.Vitale held four Atlas training sessions. The classes have been very successful, and have led to the addition of new information to Atlas based on recommendations from the participants. Everyone on this campus has been trained. Fire, Police and Public Services are next to be trained; their schedules and multiple shifts make scheduling the classes a bit more complicated. We are also planning to conduct a training session for the Trustees. A.Vitale added that T. Spadoni has outlines to arrange for the training at the remote sites by the end of this month, depending on the demands of MMS. At a minimum, we should have these sessions scheduled by the next meeting. Agenda Item #5 – Schedule Next Meeting (recommended date: April 14, 2011) The next meeting will be Thursday, April 14, 2011 at 8:00 a.m. in the 2nd floor main conference room 218. The meeting was adjourned at 9:03 a.m. Steering Committee Members Andrew Przybylo Trustee atp@vniles.com George Van Geem Administration gvg@vniles.com 847-588-8002 Bill Shaw MIS wfs@vniles.com 847-588-8015 Andrew Vitale MIS ajv@vniles.com 847-588-8022 Steve Cusick MIS src@vniles.com 847-588-8018 Moses Nazzal Engineering mhn@vniles.com 847-588-7924 Scott Jochim Public Services snj@vniles.com 847-588-7901 Bob Pilat Public Services rmp@vniles.com 847-588-7926 Chuck Ostman Community Development cfo@vniles.com 847-588-8041 Rich Wlordarski Community Development rjw@vniles.com 847-588-8085 7