Measuring the outcomes of your geospatial strategy

December 2, 2024

Allen Williams

Is your organization measuring and tracking the impact of your geospatial strategy? In our latest blog post from Allen Williams, Esri Canada’s practice lead of management consulting, Allen explains how key performance indicators (KPIs) are essential tools for guiding strategic impact. Taking a high-level approach to capturing benefits, Allen will walk you through actionable steps to help your organization drive meaningful results with a geospatial strategy.

This year, our Management Consulting team has been hard at work with customers across Canada, creating transformative geospatial strategies and roadmaps. We’re dedicated to enabling organizations to leverage a geographic approach. A key focus has been helping customers understand how to measure the success of their strategies and track progress effectively. In this article, I’ll explore why key performance indicators (KPIs) help to evaluate the impact of a geospatial strategy, and I’ll outline a high-level approach I use with customers to ensure these benefits are captured.

Why KPIs matter in a geospatial strategy

KPIs are not just a component, but a cornerstone of a successful geospatial strategy. They are instrumental in tracking success, adapting to challenges and demonstrating value. Here's why KPIs matter, along with the risks of not measuring them:

They allow you to empower your teams: KPIs establish a clear, objective basis for team accountability. By defining specific outcomes, team members understand their roles in achieving the goals of the geospatial strategy, ensuring everyone contributes meaningfully to deliver it. This empowerment instills confidence and a sense of control in the team members.
They help you foster a shared vision: In GIS projects, KPIs help align various departments and stakeholders around shared objectives. This unified direction ensures that each team contributes to the overall strategic vision, enhancing cross-functional collaboration and reducing siloed efforts that can dilute the strategy's impact. This shared vision fosters a sense of unity and alignment among the teams.
They increase transparency and communication among stakeholders: KPIs offer a view of progress and obstacles, making it easy to communicate the status of initiatives to all stakeholders. This transparency gives stakeholders a clear understanding of how well the plan performs and how it adds value to the organization’s objectives.

The consequences of not measuring your KPIs

If geospatial strategy KPIs are not measured, organizations risk several issues:

Lack of clarity and direction: Without KPIs, it becomes difficult to determine if your geospatial strategy is achieving its desired goals, leading to uncertainty and potentially misguided decisions.
Missed opportunities for improvement: Without the feedback they can get from measuring their outcomes against their KPIs, organizations might miss the chance to refine their geospatial strategies based on real data. This lack of iteration can reduce the value and relevance of future projects on your roadmap.
Difficulty justifying GIS-related investments: Without measurable results, it’s challenging to justify the costs of geospatial initiatives to leadership. This can lead to reduced funding for the strategic roadmap and support for future GIS projects.

A simple approach to capturing benefits from a geospatial strategy involves establishing a clear KPI framework to guide performance capture, measurement and reporting to ensure alignment with organizational objectives. The process starts with defining specific, measurable objectives directly tied to your geospatial strategic goals.

For example, if your organization aims to reduce operational costs (saving time, improving service response times or reducing fuel consumption) through optimized routing, set a target percentage reduction within a defined timeframe.

Next, develop a monitoring method that includes key metrics, a data collection process and baseline measurements. Pay attention to the following as you’re developing your monitoring plan:

Which metrics to track: Identify which KPIs align best with your objectives. For example, a spatial data integrity KPI might tell you whether a spatial dataset is accurate, current, complete and compliant with your data standard.
What your data collection process looks like: Outline how data will be collected to support the KPI, including the frequency, responsible teams and data sources.
What your baseline measurements are: Take the current state measure to establish a baseline. For example, if you're tracking time savings, measure the existing process time before implementing the GIS solution.

Regular reporting and reviews are essential to maintaining transparency and accountability. Set a quarterly or biannual schedule to understand progress, evaluate KPI trends and engage leaders with insights and feedback. This ongoing engagement ensures a connection with organizational priorities and fosters continuous improvement. Be prepared to adjust and update your geospatial strategy as needed. This flexibility is important when implementing any geospatial strategy to ensure you continue to address your organization’s top needs.

Examples of KPIs that will help you measure the success of your geospatial strategic plan

Take time to carefully consider which KPIs are relevant for your organization. Which KPIs you choose will depend on the mandate of your organization and the focus of your geospatial strategy. Below are some examples of KPIs I have recommended to Esri Canada customers to help them measure the impact and benefits of a GIS strategy.

Organizational cost savings from geospatial initiatives

KPI: Total cost savings realized from geospatial initiatives over a given period
Example: An organization uses GIS data to optimize delivery routes, reducing fuel consumption and overtime costs by 10% annually.
Data sources: Financial reports on operational costs, fuel usage records, time-tracking software and GIS analytics reports

Return on Investment (ROI) for Geospatial Technology

KPI: Percentage ROI achieved through geospatial investments over a fiscal period
Example: A telecom company aims to expand its network coverage by 10% in rural areas within one year. Using GIS mapping and analysis, the company identifies high-potential areas and strategically places new towers to maximize reach. At the end of the year, coverage in these targeted rural areas grew from 50% to 65%, achieving a 15% increase in its network and correlated to a $ increase in sales.
Data sources: GIS coverage maps, service availability, new customers acquired in the region and the location of new towers

Time saved in annual planning processes

KPI: Reduction in time required to complete department strategic planning cycles due to GIS
Example: A local government’s public works department reduces its annual planning cycle by 10% by using geospatial data visualizations, asset maintenance planning dashboards and GIS platform collaboration features. The GIS platform helps multiple departments coordinate more efficiently to build an official plan and avoid duplicated efforts.
Data sources: Budget cycle, asset management plans and GIS analysis tools that streamline planning tasks

Level of business confidence in geospatial data (survey)

KPI: The level of business subject matter expert trust in geospatial data brought to them to support decision-making, measured on a confidence scale
Example: Executive surveys reveal a score of 4.5/5 regarding the quality and applicability of GIS insights in quarterly business reviews.
Data sources: Stakeholder surveys, feedback forms, internal reports on data usage and confidence rating surveys conducted regularly

Expansion in the number of GIS services

KPI: Increase in the quantity of enterprise geospatial services (capabilities) provided over a given period
Example: An energy company's geomatics department tracks the number of GIS services available to different departments, such as mapping for exploration, field mobility and spatial analytics on asset condition. Over a year, the organization expands from offering ten services to 16, reflecting a 60% increase.
Data sources: GIS service catalogue, internal documentation, system usage logs and user validation

In conclusion

The true impact of your organization's geospatial strategy can only be seen when value is measured, tracked and communicated effectively. Defining KPIs for a geospatial strategy allows you to validate assumptions and refine activities on your roadmap. KPIs allow organizations to clearly understand how their geospatial initiatives contribute to cost savings, enhance service delivery and improve department decision making.

Once you’ve got your KPIs in hand, consider developing a well-designed geospatial strategy KPI dashboard to help you keep track of GIS-related growth and collaboration. It will also help you showcase the benefits of a geographic approach.

Let me know how it goes, and feel free to reach out if you need support in developing your KPI dashboard. We’re here to help!

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