In the News...
Grand Valley Metropolitan Council Retains Convergent Group for Massive Multiparticipant GIS Implementation
(Englewood, Colo., February 4, 1998) - In what has been billed as one of the largest local government multiparticipant Geographic Information System (GIS) projects ever, 16 cities, townships and quasi-governmental organizations in the Grand Rapids, Michigan, area have retained Convergent Group (UGC Consulting) to provide overall project management, systems specifications and procurement management, data conversion management, consulting and systems integration services. Convergent Group, headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, is North America's largest spatial systems integration and consulting firm.
The GIS contract is between Convergent Group and the REGIS Agency, an autonomous, self-governing agency of the Grand Valley Metropolitan Council charged with all policy and governance issues pertaining to the GIS implementation. REGIS is an acronym for REgional GIS. The Grand Valley Metropolitan Council is a voluntary consortium of local governmental units that embraces regional planning and intergovernmental cooperation. The Metro Council's membership includes 27 communities located in seven counties of west Michigan. The Grand Valley Metropolitan Council exists to serve its members through coordination and cooperation.
The consulting and systems integration contract, whose value is in excess of $10 million, involves development of a shared GIS that will provide a common database and suite of applications and interfaces to satisfy the spatial data management needs of some 40 REGIS agency member departments. Functional areas and departments that are involved with the multi-agency deployment include planning and development, utilities (including water, sanitary sewer, storm sewer and electric), assessors, public safety, parks and recreation, clerks, engineering, zoning, traffic and streets and roads.
Under the terms of the contract, Convergent Group is responsible for the executive and technical level management of the GIS program. With an objective of cost savings and business process improvements, the multi-year agreement focuses on deploying and integrating the technologies required to put user-friendly, enterprise wide applications on the desktops of several hundred end users.
Representative applications and interfaces include standard and custom map generation, incident analysis, parcel-based ad hoc queries, mass appraisal system interfaces, floodplain mapping, code enforcement, infrastructure management, interface to the county tax system, zoning assessment, work order generation, land use analysis, pavement management interface and dispatch/routing.
Convergent Group is a spatial systems integration and consulting firm whose mission is to ensure the success of its clients through effective application and integration of GIS and related technologies. The firm is the largest spatial systems integration firm in North America, with an industry focus on local government agencies, electric and gas utilities, and water/wastewater utilities.