Strategic information management in urban hydrology

The goal of this research is to define the governance tasks, which have to be addressed by municipalities to ensure the development, the exploitation and the maintenance of information as a corporate resource. This thesis points out, which institutions, processes and instruments are needed, and how they can be designed and implemented.

In order to address these goals, a specific methodical approach was developed. It consists of two components:

• A conceptual model provides a framework to set objectives and requirements for the use of information systems in public administrations. It supports the identification, the planning and the implementation of the necessary actions. The model enables the integration and coordination of different requirements and documents them in a transparent, comprehensible and explicit form.

• A methodology supports the design and the implementation of the governance tasks, which have to be addressed to ensure the development, the exploitation and the maintenance of information as a corporate resource. The methodology consists of the definition of a procedure, as well as the definition of the tasks and responsibilities, which have to be addressed by the political authority and by the public administration. The methodology points out how these governance tasks have to be supported instrumentally and which aspects related to the participation of several stakeholders and to their interactions are to be considered.

The development of this methodical approach bases upon a set of case studies, which have been carried out with a number of different Swiss municipalities.

Abstract [pdf, 112,8 KB]

Dissertation