Project

Project Initiation of the Swiss FDFA Geodata Infrastructure

The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) is in need of a networked information landscape that will enable it to better perform its assignments. Geodata represent an essential part of this landscape. Working on behalf of the FDFA, EBP helps to supervise the initiation of the “FDFA Geodata Infrastructure” project in accordance with the Hermes 5 method.

The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) has a wide range of responsibilities. These include the provision of consular services to Swiss citizens abroad, the management of Swiss diplomatic missions and of Swiss properties abroad as well as the organisation and completion of official overseas assignments. In order to better perform its various tasks, the FDFA is in need of a networked information landscape that will enable it to easily access and process up-to-date geographical data.

The aim of the "FDFA Geodata Infrastructure" project (FDFA GDI) is to outfit the FDFA and the Geoservices Unit with a needs-appropriate GDI that meets the latest geodata management standards and includes a range of user-specific features and functions.

Working on behalf of the FDFA, EBP helped to supervise the completion of the project’s initiation phase according to the Hermes 5 method of IT project management. In the interest of coordinating efforts with the project "Federal Spatial Data Infrastructure-Abroad" (FSDI-A), we organised workshops and conducted interviews with representatives of the most important agencies (FDFA, Gruppe V, swisstopo, Federal Office for Buildings and Logistics).

We also used workshops and interviews with our client to ascertain their specific GDI needs. The workshop participants and interviewees included the directly affected Geoservices Unit and the FDFA’s IT Unit, as well as representatives of the various foreign service departments.

Using the results of this preliminary work as a foundation, we completed a Hermes 5 study that included a situation analysis and an identification of targets, requirements and solution propositions. EBP submitted a range of technology-neutral potential solutions and weighted these in a recommendation framework. Finally, we coordinated the necessary analyses of the legal framework, the protection needs analysis, the project management plan and project charter.

Contact persons