AWWA CSC95009

This paper discusses the ownership of a GIS through out its life cycle from inception to full productivity and even to full maturity. It turns out that there are very few systems that are ill conceived but there also are many that get off track part way in through their lives. In order to avoid letting one's GIS system suffer the consequences of being unused, it is important to understand the system's full life cycle of a GIS. Since it is the owners of a system that make it and shape it into what it is and what it will be, it is also important to understand who has ownership of the system at what stage of its life. This paper will attempt to clarify all of these points in a way that will help management at a water authority make the successful decisions about their existing or future GIS. In fact, the lessons learned from this exploration can be extended to any computer system such as SCADA, LIMS etc.