GITA. We Are Infrastructure.

Introducing “How to Financially Justify Your Geospatial Projects,” a comprehensive workshop from the Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA).

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• Register Now or See Registration Prices
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• Who Should Attend?
• What's Included in Registration?
• About the Instructor

The Problem

Geospatial projects have rarely employed rigorous financial analysis tools, making it difficult to communicate the benefits and synergies of these projects to stakeholders and executive decision-makers. Why?

Geospatial applications are often expensive, complex investments and benefits are difficult to predict;
These projects typically require significant up-front investment and can take several years to achieve payback;
Decision makers (the check signers) don’t fully understand the basics of the technology, and
Geospatial professionals often lack the financial background to prepare a detailed business case;
Also, there has been no standard methodology for quantifying benefits…until now!

"After completing this workshop, I feel like I have the proper tools to develop a business case for my project. The workbook and spreadsheets are very useful, and the classroom setting adds value because we've been able to cover a lot of material in just two days."

—Matt Seidl, Black Hills Corporation

The Solution

All types of organizations now have a unique opportunity to learn from GITA’s landmark research project, “Building a Business Case for Geospatial Information Technology: A Practitioner’s Guide to Financial and Strategic Analysis.” The methodologies and processes for developing a solid, well researched business case to substantiate geospatial implementations have been adapted to help you make financial sense of your geospatial projects. Introducing “How to Financially Justify Your Geospatial Projects,” an interactive hands-on workshop created to revolutionize the way that geospatial professionals develop and communicate ROI and other financial project metrics.

Why ROI?

Your geospatial projects are in competition for scarce organizational funds. You need a solid business case because:

A large amount of money is involved and other investment opportunities are always being proposed;
Return on Investment analysis is a fiduciary responsibility and quantifies project value;
ROI analysis ensures full validation of a project prior to initiation;
ROI offers opportunities to structure a project to achieve interim benefits quicker; and
ROI and business case development provides detailed documentation to improve project management and post-implementation reviews.
When Should Your Organization Use ROI Analysis?

ROI analysis is not a one-shot deal! The techniques you will learn at this workshop should be used before, during, and after implementation. For example, these techniques are being used successfully by utilities, government agencies and other organizations:

During project strategy development;
At project initiation, detailed design, and completion;
After some time in operation to continue to assess ongoing benefits; and
When evaluating replacement of a specific application.

The information and experience you will gain from “How to Financially Justify Your Geospatial Projects” will equip you with the tools to demonstrate how your project’s benefits will outweigh its costs, and by how much, how long it will take to see a return on your organization’s investment, and will continually confirm your confidence in your financial analysis.

Who Should Attend?

This program is intended to support anyone who is responsible for financial measurement and justification for geospatial spending, and is a must for anyone seeking funding for geospatial projects.

What Will You Take Away From This Workshop?

You will leave this workshop with a working example of a Business Case Analysis unique to YOU! Attendees will use their personal laptop computers to enter information into templates designed and tested during GITA’s research project. The knowledge and supporting materials you will receive about the ROI process will enable you to repeat the ROI and Business Case Analysis whenever you wish, and on whatever geospatial implementation you choose. You will know how to:

Develop detailed documentation to improve milestone and post implementation reviews;
Create and present full validation of your geospatial project prior to initiation; and
Identify clear ways to structure your project to achieve interim benefits quicker.

Become the geospatial ROI “go-to” resource in your organization!

A Workshop That Pays For Itself

Register now!

	GITA Members	GITA Nonmembers
Full Package For participants who do not have GITA’s ROI Workbook, which is needed for this workshop.	$980	$1,255
Workshop Only Registration For participants who already have GITA’s ROI Workbook.	$449	$599

Team Registration Option (one workbook per team): If you’re bringing additional people from your team, they can register at the lower, workshop only rate—each organization only needs one workbook!

What’s Included in Workshop Registration?

A one-and-a-half-day training and work seminar. Participants should bring metrics from their agencies, with each organization creating a financial analysis using the GITA process and spreadsheets. Training will be a mix of lecture, learning by doing exercises, and problem solving. Participants continue to acquire data after the workshop, enabling them to conduct ongoing financial analysis back at the office.
Two webinars (one before and one after the seminar) to ensure participants bring necessary metrics to the workshop and leave the workshop with an ROI business case.
GITA’s ROI Workbook, “Building a Business Case for Geospatial Information Technology: A Practitioner’s Guide to Financial and Strategic Analysis.”
Proven business case template spreadsheets, which you’ll learn how to use to measure the ROI for geospatial spending.

About the Instructor

Mary Ann Stewart is a professional civil engineer with a career focused on GIS implementations for government and utilities. She began her work in financial analysis while an IT manager at an investor-owned utility, developing financial analysis standards for IT projects and for the development of gas turbine power plants. She began to work on GITA’s ROI research effort in 2004, as we geared up to partner with AwwaRF, FGDC and GeoConnections to develop the core functionality of the workbooks and the initial case studies. She has continued with GITA’s ROI project, working on the Washington State DOT multi-agency study commissioned by FGDC, providing training to the Department of the Interior, teaching seminars at the GITA annual conference, and developing a major business case for Iowa’s Geospatial Information Council, as well as case studies for statewide imagery projects in Maryland and Delaware.