I use my 11 years of experience to provide spatial data management plans that clearly lay out strategy and SOPs for all stakeholders. These plans can span across your project’s lifecycle or step a level up and look at an entire portfolio, department, or business. 

Poor data management can cost projects massive amounts of time and money. We’ve all experienced how sending data back and forth via email may seem easy at first, but over time version control becomes near-impossible. Project management tools like ProCore or ProjectWise are great for documentation, but anyone working regularly on projects knows these tools have limitations and get skipped over, at least initially, when urgent needs arise.

Making a plan that is honest about how projects run and accommodates for both standard operations and unexpected time crunches ensures that there are fewer data hiccups and, when hiccups do occur, they are quickly caught and dealt with.

• I created a data management plan for a 22-mile project that was already underway and was missing compliance deadlines, costing the project in fines and delays. In only 3 months I supported the buildout of a digital, spatially driven system where field staff would document construction progress using hundreds of different industry-specific checklists. The system also facilitated QC processes and automated reports were generated. With this scale and turnaround this was a deeply collaborative undertaking across a multidisciplinary team. I used my technical expertise and industry knowledge to provide specific database design and project workflows that would meet all users’ needs. The key was to think of the big picture when designing the most technical details. This resulted in the project hitting their compliance deadlines and field staff saving hours daily doing compliant documentation.

• I standardized figure and symbology templates for an entire department, providing clear documentation, including SOPs and QC guides. Instead of building a specific system everyone had to adhere to I built documentation and workflows accounting for what was realistic, including guidance for fringe cases where SOPs didn’t make sense. This saved staff hours on each project as they no longer had to find or re-create map template or duplicate specific symbology. The flexibility ensured they saved time without restricting their ability to adapt to project needs. This also sped up field work deployment as standard feature services were already created and ready to be copied or collected directly into, depending on department needs.

• I worked in close collaboration with an existing GIS team and their stakeholders to build a portfolio management hub for over 10 projects. This site made it easy to navigate between projects and check design progress. This was a fantastic example of creating a standard for project delivery though a partner mindset. I served as a resource for the client’s internal GIS; they could lean on me for my expertise while all project work stayed squarely with their team.

• Data governance plans that can realistically be followed

• Guidance that is flexible enough to account for the demands of our industry

• Coordination strategies for multi-party projects

• Scalable approaches that work across your portfolio

• A trusted collaborator who is there to support your existing internal talent