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Enterprise GIS · Automation

Item Inventory & Dependency Explorer

A desktop tool that turns a sprawling ArcGIS environment into a searchable inventory of every app, web map, service and data source, and answers the question every administrator dreads: if I change this, what breaks?

ClientMunicipal GIS division
PlatformArcGIS Enterprise and ArcGIS Online
StackPython · tkinter · ArcGIS APIs · file and enterprise geodatabase
StatusIn production
The challenge

Nobody could say what was safe to touch

A mature GIS environment accumulates fast: hundreds of services published over years, web maps built on those services, apps built on those web maps, and databases feeding all of it. Portal shows the items but not the connections between them.

Before this tool, answering “can we retire this service?” or “what breaks if this database moves?” meant opening items one by one, checking REST endpoints by hand and hoping nothing was missed. A wrong guess meant broken dashboards in front of leadership or dead links for field crews.

The estate, by the numbers

521ArcGIS Server services
288ArcGIS Online services
203web maps
145internal apps
954data sources
1,361service to data links
The approach

One geodatabase that knows the whole estate

Scheduled Python walks Portal, ArcGIS Online, the REST Admin API and service manifests, then writes what it finds into a geodatabase: nine item tables for the things themselves and thirteen dependency tables for how they connect.

A desktop explorer reads that inventory. Paste a database path, service URL or item ID into Dependency Search and every service, web map and app that touches it appears in seconds. Service Usage ranks services by real request counts so retirement decisions are backed by evidence.

Dependency Search: one lookup returns 1,567 connected records for a single service.
Dependency Search: one lookup returns 1,567 connected records for a single service.
The tool, running

Every screen is the live application

Organization names, URLs and accounts are replaced with generic values. Structure, counts and behavior are exactly as deployed.

Inventory summary after connecting to the geodatabase.
Inventory summary after connecting to the geodatabase.
Table viewer with search across every inventory table.
Table viewer with search across every inventory table.
Usage breakdowns by status, owner and service type.
Usage breakdowns by status, owner and service type.
Top services by request count over the past year.
Top services by request count over the past year.
Outcome

How the GIS team uses it

Impact checks in seconds

A database is moving servers. Paste its path and the change plan writes itself, with nothing forgotten.

Retire with evidence

Zero-traffic services with no dependencies are cleaned up, freeing server capacity and upgrade effort.

A record that keeps itself current

The inventory rebuilds on a schedule, so the picture never goes stale between audits.

Related servicesGIS AutomationPortal AdministrationArcGIS Enterprise
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