Enterprise Tech Assessment & Governance for the Port
The Port of Portland is a large, complex land‑managing agency responsible for an international marine port with multiple terminals, an international airport, and several regional airports. In Spring 2024, the Port engaged the Gartrell Group’s Strategy Team to conduct a comprehensive assessment of its geospatial program, with particular emphasis on GIS Governance and the GIS Technology Portfolio.
Concourse @ PDX
Geospatial Program Assessment
The assessment included engagement with dozens of GIS stakeholders across the Port’s aviation, marine, environmental, engineering, real estate, and administrative lines of business. Through interviews, workshops, and technology reviews, our team:
Assessed the Port’s existing GIS application suite, evaluating its alignment with stakeholder needs, operational requirements, and the Port’s long‑term strategic objectives.
Conducted an in‑depth review of the GIS technology stack, including server and desktop environments, mobile tools, data storage patterns, integrations, and system lifecycle management.
Developed a strategic technical roadmap outlining recommended enhancements, consolidation opportunities, and modernization steps to streamline and optimize the Port’s geospatial capabilities.
Data Governance & Technology Platform Findings
A central component of the engagement was a deep evaluation of the Port’s data governance practices and geospatial data management architecture. Through this work, Gartrell helped the Port recognize several systemic challenges:
The Port had accumulated a large volume of file‑based geospatial datasets, distributed across departments and shared drives.
These datasets were not unified within a centralized enterprise geodatabase, nor were they subject to formal governance processes.
As a result, the Port lacked authoritative, verified, and formally stewarded data, despite relying on these datasets to support critical operations, regulatory compliance, engineering design, business intelligence, and high‑impact decision‑making.
This fragmented data landscape left the Port vulnerable to inconsistencies, version drift, inefficiencies in maintenance, and potential operational risk.
Strategic Recommendations
In response, the Gartrell Group delivered a set of prioritized recommendations aimed at modernizing and simplifying the Port’s geospatial technology ecosystem. These included:
Implementing a robust, unified, and supportable GIS platform to replace outdated and redundant technologies.
Consolidating geospatial information within a centralized enterprise geodatabase with clearly defined roles, permissions, and version management.
Establishing a formal data governance framework that aligns stewardship responsibilities, business processes, and quality control procedures.
Revising operational workflows and providing role‑specific tools that enable data stewards to effectively manage creation, maintenance, integration, and publishing tasks.
Strengthening long‑term sustainability through clearer ownership, documentation, standards, and improved cross‑department communication.
GIS Governance Initiative
In parallel with the technology assessment, the Port engaged the Gartrell Group to support the development of a formal GIS Governance program. This ongoing effort involves close collaboration with stakeholders across the organization to:
Define governance structures and decision‑making processes.
Establish policies, best practices, and operating procedures.
Clarify roles and responsibilities for data stewardship and system oversight.
Ensure sustained alignment between the geospatial program and enterprise‑level strategic priorities.