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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-NarrativeFinal Project Narrative The Final Project Narrative should correspond closely to the plan of work that you submitted. It should begin with a chronological timetable recording the beginning date for the project; hiring dates and duration of work for personnel hired with grant funds; consultant's schedules and copies of their reports; beginning and ending dates for all contractual services; and dates of all other significant activities carried out during the project. The second part of the narrative should provide a description of every aspect of the project and how it was accomplished. You should note particularly any changes from your original plan of work. Be generous with examples, and be specific about the names and significance of the items or collections that benefited from your project. The final part of the narrative should detail the most important outcome and specific benefits of the project, and the plans in place to maintain the local government's records management program. Remember to Save your work o~ten LGRMIF Final Report Page 1 of 4 Archives Partnership Trust I O~cc of Cultural Education I Online Catalog I Search { Home H LGRMIF __ -- Initial Application Forms: Post-Grant Award Forms: Help Final nm'rative report~hel~ Final Project Narrative The Final Project Narrative should correspond closely to the plan of work that you submitted. It should begin with a chronological timetable recording the beginning date for the project; hiring dates and duration of work for personnel hired with grant funds; consultant's schedules and copies of their reports; beginning and ending dates for all contractual services; and dates of all other significant activities carried out during the project. The second part of the narrative should provide a description of every aspect of the project and how it was accomplished. You should note particularly any changes from your original plan of work. Be generous with examples, and be specific about the names and significance of the items or collections that benefited from your proje~. The final part of the narrative should detail the most important outcome and specific benefits of the project, and the plans in place to maintain the local government's records management program. Part 1 of Final Narrative - Chronological Timeline September 23~ 2010 - Tentative notification of award. October 20~ 2010 - Received official letter of notification of award. October 25~ 2010 - Beginning date of project. Town Board adopted resolution accepting the proposal of Bowne Management Systems, Inc. to compile "Needs Assessment for GIS" and authorization for contract execution. October 26~ 2010 Meeting of key project personnel from Town of Southold and Bowne Management to develop Kick- Off presentation mmerials. November 10~ 2010 - "Kick-Off Meeting" by Bowne Management attended by thirty-four (34) Town representatives. After this meeting Bowne met with department heads and scheduled appointments for interviews. November 16~ 2010 to December 14~ 2010 - Interviews were held by Bowne Management of forty-three (43) Town and Village employees. December 15, 2010 to December 31~ 2010 - Bowne Management developed the contents of the GIS UNA report. January 6~ 2011 - Submission of Draft User Needs Assessment to all Town representatives who participated in the project. January 7, 2011 - January 24. 2011 - Edits were incorporated into the report based upon feedback from Town representatives. January 18~ 2011 - Final presentation to Town Board at work session meeting. January 26~ 2011 - Submission of Final Needs Assessment to Town Board https://eservices.nysed.gov/ldgrants/lgApplicant.do?i=finalrpt&m=lg 8/1/2011 LGRMIF Final Report Page 2 of 4 Part H of Final Narrative - Description of Project and details The Town of Southold completed a Cooperative Geographic Information Systems (GIS) User Needs Assessment (UNA) with the Village of Greenport using funds obtained from the 2010-2011 grant cycle oftbe Local Government Records Management improvement Fund (LGRMIF). The Southold Town Board adopted a resolution on October 25, 2010 accepting the proposal of Bowne Management Systems, Inc. and authorizing the execution of a contract for their services. A Kick-Offmeeting with Town representatives was conducted on November 10, 2010. A total of thirty-four (34) representatives attended the Kick-Off meeting including the Town Supervisor, two (2) Town Board members, seventeen (17) Town department supervisors and two (2) employees from the Village of Greenport. The roster of attendees is included as an attachment to our final report. Prior to the Kick-Off meeting, key project personnel from the Town of Southold met with key representatives from Bowne Management Systems to develop Kick-Offpresantation materials. In addition to the Kick-Offpresentation which was reviewed and approved by the Town, a general document outlining G1S technologies and questions for each attendee was created and approved by the Town. Both the Kick-Offpresentation and GIS documentation was provided in advance of the Kick-Offmeeting to each oftbe attendees. Both documents are included as an attachment to our final report. Finally, the Kick-Offmeeting was taped by the Town (at the Town's expense) and made available as a video on the Town's website at http://www.southoldtown.north fork.net A link to this video was distributed to all Town employees in the event they were unable to make the presentation. Immediately after the Kick-Offmeeting presentation, representatives from seventeen (17) Town Departments and two (2) Village Departments met with the Bowne Management Systems to schedule appointments for the actual interviews. Questions regarding the presentation and details about the interview process were further elaborated during these meetings. At the conclusion oftbe day, interviews were scheduled for all nineteen (19) departments. A template of topics to be discussed during the interviews was created and distributed to all interviewees prior to the interview dates. The interviews started on November 16, 2010 and concluded on December 14, 2010. A total of forty-three (43) Town and Village representatives were interviewed during the project. As part of the agreed upon process, interview notes were compiled after the interview and distributed to all attendees for review and approval. All interview notes were reviewed and approved and included as part of the Final GIS UNA report. It should be noted that all interview notes were also reviewed and approved by key project personnel from the Town of Southold. After the interviews were completed, Bowne Management Systems developed the contents of the GIS UNA report which included the following components: * Executive Summary * Review of Current Environment * Typical Government Software Environment * Needs Assessment Key Findings * GIS Application Review for the Town and Village * Conceptual GIS Design for Town and Village * Phased Implementation Plan The report was provided to the Town in draft format on January 6, 2011 and distributed to all Town representatives who participated in the project. Edits were incorporated into the report based on feedback from the Town representatives and a final report was created and distributed to the Town on January 26, 2011. In conjunction with finalizing the report, Bowne Management Systems developed a final presentation with support from the key project members from the Town. The details of the final presentation included an overview of key findings, overall recommendations, the phased implementation plan components and the overall costs associated with the implementation plan. This final presentation was given to the Town Board during a work session board meeting on January 18, 2011. A copy of the final presentation is included as an attachment to the final report. The costs for the overall implementation plan were distributed across three (3) years in an attempt to minimize the overall financial burden to the Town and Village in support of a Cooperative Enterprise GIS solution. The plan included applying for another LGRMIF grant in the 2011-2012 grant cycle in support of Phase One (1) of the implementation plan. Subsequent year costs were identified with the presentation (and dfftailed in the final report) to ensure the Town's understanding of future implementation costs. The Town Supervisor and Board Members were made aware that Phase Two (2) and Phase Three (3) costs would NOT be covered by another LGRMIF grant and would be the responsibility of the Town and Village. Discussions of initiating a capital program in support of funding for these GIS costs were discussed. On November 16, 2010 the Southold Town Board adopted a Town Capital Budget allocating $100,000. for the Phase Two (2) and Phase Three (3) implementations oftbe GIS plan. https://eservices.nysed.gov/ldgrants/lgApplicant.do?i=finalrpt&m=lg 8/1/2011 LGRMIF Final Report Page 3 of 4 Part 111 Final Part of Narrative - detailing the mast important outcome and specific benefits of the proiect~ and the plans in place to maintain our Iocal government records ma,~o~ement program The most important outcome of this project is the expert knowledge and information gained to enable the Town to develop another LGRMIF Cooperative Grant Application for the 2011-2012 grant cycle in support of the Phase One (1) implementation plan outlined in the final report delivered by Bowne Management Systems with the commitment from the Town Supervisor, Town Board and the Village Mayor and Village Board. Our approach to the completion of the G1S UNA project and the implementation plan adopted by the Town will effectively guide the Town in successfully implementing a Cooperative Enterprise GIS system that will increase our overall Town and Village efficiencies as well as increase our ability to share information among both governments. Additionally, implementing the technology recommendations identified within the final report will move the Town to a common GIS platform with the County of Suffolk and other local municipalities. This will further increase sharing and cooperative engagements between the Town and Village. One of the key components of the GIS technology stack recommended in the final report included the use of both commercial-off-the-shelf(COTS) and open-source GIS software. The careful balance of these technologies will allow the Town to effectively collaborate with other municipalities at the local level, county level, state level and federal level while keeping the overall costs of annual maintenance Iow. While the Town has some of the same GIS needs as other Towns and Counties on Long Island, we are not as large and do not have the same funding and resources available. With the increased ability and functionality available with open-soume GIS technologies, the mlianee on COTS software, however, may be further minimized thus allowing the Town to continue to mdace overall software costs while maintaining a high level of GIS functionality within the Town in the future. Additional recommendations made within the final report include the creation ora GIS Steering Committee, appointment ora GIS Coordinator as well as participation in local G1S user groups/committees. The GIS Committee has been created and the members have been appointed. The appointment of the GIS Coordinator is in the process with Civil Service. We are looking into participating in the user groups/committees. Interactions with these groups coupled with the GIS training recommendations to be implemented in Phase One ( I ) will provide the Town with a solid foundation of user requirements and software technology functionality to effectively support our needs. While GIS training is critical in Phase One (1) of the implementation plan, it should be noted that G1S training is included in each of the first three (3) phases and indefinitely to further solidify the Town's GIS capabilities and ensure GIS can be maintained effectively within the Town and Village. Training and support will be provided to all users, as follows: 1. Basic orientation in GIS was provided in preparation for the needs assessment. 2. Continued briefings during the planning, design, and implementation phases. 3. User training courses as needed in computing, general purpose software, databases, GIS and spatial analysis. 4. User involvement and evaluation during pilot study and benchmark tests. 5. User training in specific application uses. 6.Technical support service while GIS is in use. 7. User feedback procedures to identify system enchancemants in GIS functions/applications and database. 8. Data error/problem reporting and resolution procedures. 9. User feedback on data accuracy and system performance. 10.User involvement in decisions on all system upgrades - database, sofiware and hardware. Maintenance of the system will include, but not be limited to the following: 1. System enhancements, e.g., additional functionality; hardware and software upgrades; new technology; interface with additional systems. 2. Database expansion, e.g., new attributes; new entities; expanded spatial extent. 3. Routine system maintenance will include, but not be limited to the following: e.g., (a) Managing existing data; backup and restore - This is written into our Southold Emergency Management Plan. It is also included in our "Policies and Procedures for Data Processing Disaster Management Plan" adopted by the Southold Town Board on May 10, 201 I. Both of these plans are subject to periodic review to keep them updated and current. (b) Granting access to data, read only, or read and write permissions. Data will be handled by the GIS application, by the database software, and/or by network security operations. We will have the capability for transactional maintenance. We currently have audit trail tools for the following software: Laserfiche, Municity, Town Clerk BAS, Receiver of Taxes BAS, RPS, PAYMATE, and (GFS) Government Financial System software. Creating this history log is essential for the accuracy and quality of any data base. If problems arise you know who to go back and talk to about it. (c) Records Management Retention Guidelines of the New York State Archives and the Local Government GIS Development Guides supported by the New York State Archives and Records Administration will be consulted on a frequent basis and adhered to throughout the implementation of the project. https://eservices.nysed.gov/ldgrants/lgApplicant.do?i=finalrpt&m=lg 8/1/2011 LGRMIF Final Report Page 4 of 4 (d) Development ora quality control system for the data to review for errors and changes, e.g., Incompleteness, to check for missing layers of data or duplicate layers; Errors, both positional and attribute; Topological errors; tools will be used or developed to detect closures, connectivity, and coincident features; Detecting change and identifying sources for update. Building permits, real estate transactions, subdivisions, and zoning changes all must be included in the GIS. Various sources of data can be included from other entities, e.g., aerial photos, subdivision drawings, and other state and federal agencies. (e) Collection of new information - Decisions on how to capture the new information will be made. Data conversion; Purchase of digital data; Staffdaily routine task. (f) Applying the edits and tracking changes - Edits will be done accurately and consistently to maintain data integrity. Changes will be tracked through an audit trail history log. Archiving data will be considered in order to keep out-of-date information from cluttering the system and also so that it can be used to compare things like protected lands, land use, etc. in the past to today. (g) Verification of corrections will be performed randomly to confirm corrections were made accurately. (h) Updating the master database will be performed after verification. (i) Distributing the updates of data to users will be accomplished by server for staffand the internet for the public. Town Information Technology personnel are very cognizant of the value of maintaining databases in order for them to be useful. Finally, having the foundation of a Cooperative GIS technology (including hardware, software and networking) in place at the Town, the ability to distribute GIS data, functionality, and maps to the Village of Greenport and other entities, as well as support the Village's GIS technology needs can more readily be accomplished. This shared Enterprise GIS environment will serve as a model in New York State. It will set the stage for future records management program improvements including integration with sof~vare products such as Laserfiche, Municity, RPS, Town Clerk BAS, Receiver of Taxes BAS, PAYMATE, and (GFS) Government Financial System sottware. As a long term goal, we env!sion having all our major records management software programs integrated seamlessly, thus producing a model work enwronment that will allow the Town of Southold and Village of Greenport to continue to do more with less, despite the decreasing amount of municipal funding available. Cultural Education Center, Albany, New York 12230. Phone: (518) 474-6926 https://eservices.nysed.gov/ldgrants/lgApplicant.do?i=finalrpt&m=lg 8/1/2011