Join us as we delve into the benefits of developing a Governance strategy for your organization. Learn the requisite knowledge and tools for efficient deployment and management of FME Governance within your own organization. This webinar will feature two guest speaker segments: Segment 1, by Jelle De Zwaef from Nordend & Francis Vanden Bulcke from District09, unravels the Governance journey at the Municipality of Ghent. As FME Flow becomes a cornerstone for business-critical processes in Ghent, discover how a well-orchestrated governance strategy, employing Named Connections, Python Scripts, and user access control among other elements, has facilitated the transition of processes to a production environment. This also strategy ensures swift and accurate deployment of alterations in the FME process. In Segment 2, Théo Drogo & Lesley MacKenzie from Consortech, demonstrate a kickstart into FME Governance with a straightforward self-assessment approach. This segment unveils a proven methodology, cultivated over 20 years, to perform a quick yet thorough assessment of your current FME infrastructure. The discussion, grounded on three foundational pillars—technology, people, and practices, will provide a robust checklist to guide your governance strategy. This method aims to ensure an optimal, secure, and cost-effective FME integration into your IT and business dynamics. Attend and gain a better understanding of how you can use FME to support data and GIS governance, as well as practical tips and techniques for implementing FME within your own organization.

1. Initiating and Advancing
Your Strategic GIS
Governance Strategy

2. Don
Murray
Co-Founder
Safe Software
Théo
Drogo
GIS Strategic Advisor
Consortech
Lesley
MacKenzie
Director of Innovation,
Consortech

3. Francis
Vanden Bulcke
GIS Application Manager
District09
Jelle
De Zwaef
Founder / FME Expert
Nordend

4. Agenda
1 Introduction
2 Nordend & District09 | Governance on FME Flow at
3 Consortech | FME Governance Start of the Right Foot
4 Resources
5 Next Steps
6 Q&A Discussion
Agenda
Municipality of Ghent
with a Simple Self-Assessment

5. Welcome to Livestorm.
A few ways to engage with us during the webinar:
Audio issues? Click this for 4 simple
troubleshooting steps.

6. Poll:
What is the biggest challenge you
face in implementing GIS/data
Governance in your organization?

7. 1
Introduction

8. Today…
Gain tools for efficient deployment
and management of a GIS/Data
Governance strategy within your
own organization.
Introduction

9. One platform, two technologies
FME Form FME Flow
Build and run data workflows Automate data workflows
FME Flow Hosted
Safe Software managed instance
fme.safe.com/platform
FME Enterprise Integration Platform
Introduction to FME

10. 2
Governance on
FME Flow at
Municipality of
Ghent

11. We are
● Strategic ICT partner of City of Ghent
We provide
● IT infrastructure
● Application development
● Digital Innovation
● E-inclusion
⇒ To the city and its partner organisations

12. We are
● Consultants in FME-BIM-GIS
● Bronze Partner
We provide
● FME-BIM-GIS Consultancy
● Data Governance Services
● Training in FME - GIS
⇒ To public services as well as private market
Introduction

13. Agenda
1. Best Practices FME Flow
2. Resources
3. SDE / DB / Web Connections
4. Python / Deployment Parameters
5. Roles & rights
6. Project Deployment

14. Introduction

15. Best Practices on FME
Flow when processes are
made by Business
Introduction

16. Best Practices at District09
Governance can help to:
• Manage access to Repositories / Resources / DB Connections / Web Connections
• Avoid passwords in Workspaces (and Github)
• Make Business self-reliant
• Deploy to PR without modifications in the Workspace
Introduction

17. Implementation
of Governance

18. Resources
● No granular access to
FME_SHAREDRESOURCE_DATA
● Add network locations on Staging and PR
Implementation of Governance

19. SDE Connections
● Use Parameter in FME Form
● Central Share: AD User / Staging and
PR: SQL User
Implementation of Governance

20. DB Connections / Web Connections
● Use Parameter in FME Form
● Different content on central share and Staging /
PR
● Desktop: AD User / Staging and PR: SQL User
Implementation of Governance

21. Main idea for Access
● FME Form: AD user
● FME Flow: service accounts
Implementation of Governance

22. Passwords
● Python files next to Workspaces
● No check-in to Github
Implementation of Governance

23. Replace by Deployment Parameters
● Replace Python
■ Text (e.g. API keys, passwords)
● Replace DB / Web Connections in Workbench
■ No import of XML file with all connections
■ Different access rights
Implementation of Governance

24. Deployment Parameters: Improvements
● Text parameter: make it hidden + give description
● Values visible in FME Form (passwords)
● All types (text/web/DB) are mixed 🡪 categories
● Access rights in store directly (not only in items)
● Not selectable in Readers/Writers
Implementation of Governance

25. Deployment Parameters: Improvements
Implementation of Governance

26. Change existing Workspaces
● Read Workspaces as text and look for passwords
● Migrate 500+ Workspaces to new deployment method
Implementation of Governance

27. Roles and rights
● Developer: can only publish on Staging
● User: can test on FME Flow
Implementation of Governance

28. Roles and rights
Use load template to give the
same basic rights to developers
and to avoid mistakes.
Implementation of Governance

29. Roles and rights
● AD Groups to Repositories and Resources
● Self-reliant management AD groups
Implementation of Governance

30. Roles and rights: external tool
Data manager of a city
department can grant
rights to users.
Implementation of Governance

31. Roles and rights: improvement on FME Flow
● Permissions on FME Flow not consistent:
■ DB/Web Connections: only full access (Automations: View/Run/Full
Access)
■ Schedules: only full access
■ Flow Apps: not possible to share directly
Implementation of Governance

32. ● Already on the list
● Important to detect conflicts
Implementation of Governance
Calendar view for FME Flow schedules

33. Deployment Preparation
● FME Developer of Business prepares Project
● Project is validated:
■ Content Project: no DB/Web Connections,
Tokens, Users, Python files
■ Workspaces: no passwords, no embedded
connections, existence of SDE/DB/Web
Connections on PR environment
Implementation of Governance

34. Deployment Execution
● Business creates ticket
● Import project:
■ Overwrite existing
■ Token for Flow/Automation App are
disabled on the target system until
explicitly enabled.
Implementation of Governance

35. Conclusion

36. Summary
● Split access of AD and Service Users
● Let business prepare the Projects
● Validate the projects
● Deploy to PR with minimal effort
Conclusion

37. The customer can work
flexibly, under full control of
the FME Administrator
Conclusion

38. Next Steps
Conclusion
1
Apply Governance
FME Flow
2
Deploy processes by
system admin instead of
publishing directly to PR

39. Thank you Francis Vanden Bulcke
Francis.VandenBulcke@district09.gent
Jelle De Zwaef
Jelle@nordend.eu

40. 3
FME Governance:
Start on the Right
Foot with a Simple
Self-Assessment

41. Agenda
1 Introduction
2 Brief overview of governance around FME
3 How to do an FME Assessment
4 Assessment in action
5 Conclusion

42. We are
● GIS Consultants - 34 years in business
● Sole FME Platinum Partner in North America
We provide
● Strategic consulting, assessment, governance
● A structure implementation methodology
● Skills transfer (training, coaching, codev)
● Resale of licenses and needs analysis
GIS must-have
complementary technologies
Introduction

43. Grew organically in most
organizations
Managed by a few experts
Little to no organization
The cool unknown tool secretly
crunching away on data
Since 2008
FME Server(Now
FME Flow)
Inevitable
Challenges a
decade later
These include:
● Quality Control
● Staff Turnover
● Permissions and security
issues
● Volume of content with no
organization
● Legacy content
A Brief History
Challenges
faced by
everyone
● Changing IT Landscape
○ More deployment
options
○ IT security concerns are
increasing
● Integrations are not limited
to just GIS systems
● Bigger implementations of
FME

44. Solution? FME Governance
and Implementation Plan.
Introduction

45. Our Pillars for FME Governance
Technology
People
Practices
Key Pillars
of how we approach
FME Governance

46. ● The business needs drive all the
REST
● What are you doing with FME
and WHY?
● What do you want to do with
FME?
○ Six months
○ 1 year
○ 3 years
The Main Driver The Mindset
● Avoid scarcity-based thinking
● Measure the value FME is
bringing to solutions
● Collaborative thinking
What
Governance
is not
✖ A 3000-page rule book
✖ One size fits all
✖ Static in time
Introduction

47. Assessing
your FME
Platform

48. Where do we stand
with FME?
Assessing your FME Platform

49. Regardless of the scenario, the assessment
methodology must be the same…
Initial
diagnostic
Analysis and
cross-reference
Prioritization and
recommendation
Roadmap &
implementation
Depending on the initial context, certain steps will be analyzed in greater depth.
Assessing your FME Platform

50. 1. Initial diagnostic
• Implementation history
• Organizational context
• Users (type and skills)
• Overview of systems
• FME vision
FME Global
Context
• Infrastructure
• Architecture
• Security
• Configuration
FME Flow
environment • Backup
• DEV vs UAT vs PROD
• Monitoring
• Maintenance
• User management
• Etc.
FME Flow
Management
• Workspaces
• Automated processes
• FME apps
• Etc.
Business
use of FME
A sequence of workshops, each having specific objectives
Assessing your FME Platform

51. Evaluate the information gathered
during the workshops
● Cross-reference and brainstorm
on specific topics
● Identify challenges
● Etc.
Technical analysis of the most
representative processes
● Workspaces
● Notification streams
● Etc.
2. Analysis phase
You can also use FME to analyze FME…
Assessing your FME Platform

52. Take into consideration
the organization’s …
● Priorities
● Orientation
● Constraints
3. Define priorities
and recommendations
Assessing your FME Platform
☑ Identify gaps between the
current and the target state
☑ Synthesize gathered
information to establish
recommendations
☑ Agree on the elements that
should be implemented
This step will help
define a clear roadmap
for the next stage.

53. Assessing your FME Platform
4.
Roadmap &
implementation

54. Assessment
in Action

55. Assessment in Action

56. Conclusion

57. Summary
● Business needs drive everything
● Measure your success
● Assess where your organization is today
● Pick impactful actions
● Don’t think with a scarcity mindset
Conclusion

58. Get your FREE
FME Governance
self-assessment
Resources
bit.ly/FME-Governance

59. Thank you
Lesley MacKenzie
lesleym@consortech.com
Théo Drogo
theod@consortech.com

60. 4
Resources

61. 29+
27K+
128
190
20K+
years of solving data
challenges
FME Community
members
countries with
FME customers
organizations worldwide
global partners with
FME services
29+
29K+
128
140+
25K+
years of solving data
challenges
FME Community
members
countries with
FME customers
organizations worldwide
global partners with
FME services
200K+
users worldwide
Safe & FME

62. Check out how-to’s & demos
in the knowledge base
community.safe.com
/s/knowledge-base
Knowledge Base Webinars
Upcoming & on-demand
webinars
safe.com/webinars

63. Get our Ebook
Spatial Data for the
Enterprise
fme.ly/gzc
Data is not just a commodity but
a catalyst for real change.
academy.safe.com
FME Academy

64. 5
Next Steps

65. We’d love to help you get
started.
Get in touch with us at
info@safe.com
Experience the FME Accelerator
Contact Us
A world where data is not just a
commodity but a catalyst for
real change.
academy.safe.com

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67. 6
Q&A

68. ThankYou
Recap of Next Steps
1 Join the FME Community
2 Contact today’s speakers:
Jelle@nordend.eu
Francis.VandenBulcke@district09.gent
lesleym@consortech.com
theod@consortech.com
3 Experience the FME Accelerator
Please fill out our webinar survey