Is ArcGIS Online a good solution to use for contractor work?

[ChrisCrabtree]

Hello all,

I currently work doing IT, but have a degree in GIS and do GIS on the side. Mostly creating data sets for government agencies and cartography work. I've recently been asked by several local government about doing GIS contract work for them, and what they all seem to want is online mapping applications. I've created tons of web maps using ArcGIS explorer online and have used ArcGIS online for one organization years ago, but my question is, if I have multiple agencies wanting me to do this and they all want me to handle the accounts would it be advisable for me to handle all agencies under one account. What I'm asking is, can I myself as a contractor have an account in which I pay a fee for, and then charge agencies a fee for creating and hosting their applications under my account?

Since each agency only wants 2 or 3 maps it seems like it would be cheaper if I consolidated all the maps under one account, but also would ArcGIS online be the solution for this or something else. Also could each agency have a their own user account so when they logged in they would have access to only their applications?

Thanks!

[LanceCole]

Chris‌,

Contact ESRI or your ESRI sales rep to discuss this. 

The way you have outline the process you would likely be in violation of your ESRI AGOL general terms and conditions - Except as expressly permitted by ESRI, you cannot "sell, rent, lease, sublicense, distribute, lend, time-share, or assign Services or Esri Offerings". 

However, each client can purchases their own AGOL accounts and needed licenses.  You as consultant would be allowed access, with clients permission, to manage these accounts but independent of each other.    AGOL is a great platform for what you are looking to do, you just need to deal with the legalities.

[ChrisCrabtree · Accepted solution]

I was at a conference over the weekend and talked to a few contractors who did advise that this was frowned on at ESRI. They do indeed want each agency to purchase their own account and then a single point of contact can be used to develop the applications. I found out about a different product called mango and was told this could be used for what I'm wanting to do. I can use my ESRI Desktop license to create the files for the agencies and then put the data into mango and charge individuals for application development. 

Thanks for the info!

[AlanScott]

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