O ne of the often-overlooked components in the successful implementation or expansion of a GIS is the development of spatial and attribute databases designed to support an organization's business functions. Although most of the excitement is related to selecting and learning new software, most of the cost and effort is related to converting an organization's data to a new software format. How this is accomplished is critical.
Some organizations convert their data using internal resources.
But many organizations don't have the time or resources to do this. In this case, it's necessary to outsource these services to a qualified contractor. The contracting process for data conversion services should follow a series of steps. The first step is to clearly define the objective. It's critical that the potential conversion contractors understand what you want to do.