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Excellence Award

“Escalating URA’s Location Intelligence for Urban Renewal” Special Award

Urban Renewal Authority Excellence in Future Skills Development

Background
Location Intelligence (LI) involves the people and technology used to visualize spatial data in identifying insights for decision making. As a key agency to
improve the built environment of old districts through restructuring and re-planning of land uses, the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) decided to build
an enterprise version of the Geographic Information System (GIS), named Urban Renewal Information System (URIS) and embarked on the journey to
become a data-driven organization with an IT-savvy workforce.
Objectives
A dedicated LI Training Plan was implemented in 2018 to support the development of URIS and groom LI talents for URA. This training plan aimed to:
1. Shape staff’s mindset towards GIS and gain their ‘buy-in’ towards URIS
2. Build GIS and data analytics capability
3. Develop insourcing support

Design and Implementation
Shape mindset and get buy-in: A high-level steering committee comprising the Managing Director and heads of all divisions was formed to push for
URIS applications across the whole spectrum of URA functions. The URIS project in-charge and project team members also shared the vision, explained
and demonstrated the GIS applications in URA with all staff on a regular basis. At the same time, external GIS experts, e.g. Smart City Consortium, ESRI,
Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks etc, were invited to share the latest smart technology and GIS developments from around the world to broaden
our staff’s horizons. Practical programmes, e.g. Mobile GIS, Survey123, Flying Drone, 5-mins GIS videos etc. were also provided to general staff, so that they
found that learning GIS was actually useful and fun.

Build GIS and data analytics capability: While URIS was still under study and development, a customized workshop designed by Department of
Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University was offered for divisional staff to equip them with the basic GIS and data
preparation concepts. Data is the new oil in an information-based economy. Therefore, we also provided data analytics training for our staff. Between
2018 and 2019, Data science and Tableau workshops were organized for 970+ participants to learn data collecting, cleansing, visualizing and mining skills.
These workshops enhanced our staff’s data analytics capabilities and facilitated them to design practical and user-friendly applications together with the
GIS consultant.

Develop insourcing support: When URIS was in the testing stage, URIS briefing sessions were organized for staff at different levels and divisions,
covering over 73% of URA staff. A Train-The-Trainer programme was introduced in mid-2020 as an insourcing strategy to support the roll-out and future
development of URIS. These trainers then conducted workshops for all users and produced over 25 videos to explain to staff the use different URIS
applications. All these videos were uploaded to our internal Learning Platform, supporting staff to learn URIS whenever they need.
Measurement and Outcomes
After a series of briefings, training programmes and video education opportunities, staff provided positive comments about URIS, e.g. Powerful,
Informative, Easy, User-friendly. Since the launch of URIS in January 2021, two-thirds of our staff have accessed the URIS platform, have used different
applications and have independently created 360+ webmaps. This shows that our staff have acquired the basic skills in using related applications
and data at work. In addition, the availability of the URIS platform and LI talents have supported URA in applying the GIS technology to a freezing
survey, enabling survey progress and client data to be transmitted instantly to the command post and visualized in a 3D model for enhanced progress
monitoring, report generation and decision making. Through the insourcing strategy, URA saved more than half of the annual training budget if the
training and video productions were outsourced to vendors.

Comments from Adjudicators
A comprehensive programme and initiative to improve URA’s core competence to become a data driven organization with a tech-savvy workforce. The
objectives were clearly defined and aligned with business needs, organization goals and development.
The inclusion of technical training for general staff to create a learning atmosphere and enhance their understanding of GIS should be complimented.
The engagement approach of shaping mindset and creating learning desires before developing the skills was outstanding. The insourcing training
support which enabled skills transformation was proven as an effective strategy, and the overall transformation observed was remarkable.

AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT 2021 41
AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT 2021

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