One of the most difficult tasks faced by many GIS administrators is answering the following question:

"What kind of Return on Investment can we expect by investing in a GIS program?"

Many times this can be a difficult question to answer because the benefits of a GIS program can be hard to quantify. In Hudson, we have been posed this question many times, so here are few examples showing Hudson’s return on investment in the GIS program.

Reduction of costs for engineering and design work:
The following table explains the ROI of mapping the major utilities and integrating them into our GIS. The table represents cost savings for a typical 2000 ft. waterline replacement on a major road. Generally a project of this type costs approximately $140,000.

As shown above, from a typical engineering project there is a cost savings of over 5% when the City can provide GIS utility information. Considering the City has approximately $8,000,000 in storm water and sewer projects scheduled over the next five years, a 5% reduction in those projects would result in $400,0000 (or $80,000 annually) in savings over the five year period.

EPA requirements for Storm Water Phase II mapping:
In 2001, the City received a proposal from consultants to carry-out a Storm Water Data Conversion and Collection project. The completion of this project is required by the EPA for the City to keep within the Phase II Storm Water regulations by the year 2008. The proposal exceeded $200,000, so the City decided to complete the project “in-house” with the assistance of current staff and University of Akron interns. These mapping projects began in late 2003 and the current expenditures associated with these projects are estimated to be approximately $50,000—saving the City $150,000 over the course of three years.The City has entered into the final phase of this project which involves collecting more detailed information for each asset. This information will be entered into the City’s Asset Management Program where the asset information will be stored and maintained.

Marking Utilities:
The Public Works Department receives approximately 1,500 requests for utility markings every year. With the utilities mapped and stored in the City’s GIS system, the time to mark utilities will be dramatically reduced. It is estimated that using the GIS system, will save an average of 30 minutes for every utility marking request, saving the City 750 staff-hours. If a staff member averages $25 per hour, it represents a savings of $18,750 per year.

Loss of institutional knowledge due to retiring employees:
A major problem facing many businesses is the loss of “institutional knowledge” when a long-time employee leaves the company. The City has a number of key employees who work in our utility departments that we anticipate will be retiring within the next few years. By loading the utility information into GIS, we will be able to capture a significant portion of this knowledge into an electronic, retrievable format. Examples of this knowledge include the location of underground utility lines and connections, age and condition of the lines, maintenance history, etc.

Availability of GIS layers online:
For the last six months, the GIS system has been available to the public via the Internet. Providing this information online will produce a considerable savings by reducing the number of calls to City departments, as well as time saved compiling public records requests. The latest addition to the GIS Mapping site allows users to view current “Active Work Orders” within the Public Works Department. This is the first phase of a project that will eventually allow residents to enter their own work requests directly through the GIS Mapping site.