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Gauteng Integrated Decision Support (GIDS)
Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development
South Africa

The Problem

The Department has four line functions. It used to cover only nature Conservation and Agriculture line functions which meant that Conservation, Environment and Planning, Compliance and Enforcement and Monitoring line functions were all not using the Gauteng Integrated Decision Support (GIDS) before 2009. Line functions were working in silos with regards to Geographical Information Systems (GIS).
The line functions within the same GDARD, that were using GIS; namely Agriculture and Conservation, had their own systems, which themselves were not compatible to one another. This resulted in generation of multitude of different options available for delivery of spatial data. The departmental personnel would then spend unjustifiably lot of time making delivered data and information useful to the intended end-user.
It was difficult to incorporate public participation in the processes of policy formulation and implementations. This social group is very important in the development and implementations of the policies relating to agriculture, conservation and rural development, amongst others. The other groups that interacts with the department such as Environmental Consultants, Developers, Estate Agents, Private Institutions, Local Authorities were also affected by non availability of GIDS.
Internally, the GIS system that was there was not friendly to non-GIS employees of the Department and this hampered the efficiency of the flow of knowledge in the organisation.
The incompatibilities of systems that existed and the lack of this GIS system in other line functions in the department was affecting the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development negatively with regards to efficiency of decision making.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The GIS was extended to all the line functions of the department. Secondly the GIS was then integrated to enable all line functions to have access and be able to use the data stored in the system. The department saw the need to establish a unit that manages the GIS functions internally on behalf of all line functions. For internal personnel the GIS is accessible by using an ArcExplorer software.
The new system was made available to external stakeholders as well such as Environmental Consultants, Developers, Estate Agents, Private Institutions, Local Authorities and interested members of the public in the Gauteng Province or beyond.
This initiative was started in 2005 and updated in February 2009.
There is evidence that there has been improvement in decision making processes within the department and between the department and the external stakeholders.
The innovative part of the system is that it has the ability to put together different data set into one application and is empowering environment officers to share the information with the department and its clients.
There is now a central database in the department’s server which is accessed even by the regional offices of the department.
The GIDS is updatable whenever it is necessary to do so and is using a free application and the available infrastructure in the department.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
The project was started after the recommendations by a Project Rosie consultants (this is explained under implementation of initiative) The departmental staff was also highly involved in this phase; namely, Mike Malema, Mlondolozi Ncapayi, Thatego Noko and Tendai John Murashia. They all are coming from the Information System Management unit of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD).
The initiative has seen the requests coming from other organizations outside of GDARD for replication or sharing the benefits of the system with them. The national Department of Water Affairs and Forestry in South Africa and Emfuleni Local Municipality are some of those organizations.

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
As discussed above the GIDS is implemented by both GDARD employees and the external clients.
The whole process that resulted in GIDS started with Project Rosie which started in 2003, Rosie stands for Rationalisation of Sustainable Use of Environment. Project Rosie made recommendations for establishment of structures, collation of data, new ways of storing data and centralization of GIS services. The initiative was in all intents and purposes an extension of GIS services of the Gauteng Provincial Government which had to be customized at the Departmental level. It was supported by the Head of the Department in the province.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
This initiative was started in 2005 and updated in February 2009.
There is evidence that there has been improvement in decision making processes within the department and between the department and the external stakeholders.
The innovative part of the system is that it has the ability to put together different data set into one application and is empowering environment officers to share the information with the department and its clients.
There is now a central database in the department’s server which is accessed even by the regional offices of the department.
The GIDS is updatable whenever it is necessary to do so and is using a free application and the available infrastructure in the department.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
Lack of GIS related skills and capacity. Data format that was not uniform. The need to meet certain ISO and SABS standards through quality assurance activities. Licensing is also involved for using certain softwares.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
Resources of the initiative can be broken down as approximately half a million spent on project Rosie which was conducting research and making recommendations; The procurement of software that was used in the initial stages of the implementation of the GIS system; Compensation of staff was approximately half a million. Approximately R1 500 000 was spent in the process of initiating the GIDS.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
This initiative is sustainable in the sense that where there is a developed software in the public sector of South Africa, any government department can import and use it. As there is focus on rural development in South Africa, this system is sustainable because there will be a demand for what it can do for those involved in land/estate developments, those in agriculture and those who are in conservation. The mere existence of the Department that deals with agriculture, conservation and environment makes this initiative to be sustainable because of the demand from the stakeholders for relevant information. This initiative is sustained by having a unit within the department that focusses on the initiative.Information systems unit drives this project with 3 database systems personnel, 4 GIS personnel and 3 Software systems personnel all reporting to the head of this unit at Deputy Director level in the provincial Department.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
GIS system is expensive; There is a high demand for the product by the Developers; The subsectors of environment, conservation and agriculture too benefit greatly from the product. The academic institutions in the country approach the department for the information generated through this initiative.
Information systems unit drives this project with 3 database systems personnel, 4 GIS personnel and 3 Software systems personnel all reporting to the head of this unit at Deputy Director level in the provincial Department.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development
Institution Type:   Government Department  
Contact Person:   Mike Maleka
Title:   Deputy Director  
Telephone/ Fax:   27+1 355 1377
Institution's / Project's Website:   086 640 0847
E-mail:   mike.malema@gauteng.gov.za  
Address:   73 Market Street, Glencairn Building, 5th Floor, JOHANNESBURG
Postal Code:   2000
City:   Johannesburg
State/Province:   Gauteng Province
Country:   South Africa

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