Have Option to Host Multi-user ArcGIS Pro Parcel Fabric in ArcGIS Online Instead of Portal

[JasonMcKeefry]

Our organization, like many others I presume, have a limited need for multi-user editing.  We have an enterprise geodatabase that meets the needs of our users and we use ArcGIS Online.  We do not need another "local ArcGIS Online".  We don't want to have more servers and software to manage...the Portal cost/benefit is quickly increasing.  We have been using the ArcMap Parcel Fabric for many years, and we like what we've seen of the new ArcGIS Pro Parcel Fabric.  Assuming that Portal really is based on ArcGIS Online and packaged for local use, it would be interesting if there was an option to host your ArcGIS Pro Parcel Fabric in ArcGIS Online so that those of us that use ArcGIS Online with no other need for Portal could still utilize a multi-user version of the ArcGIS Pro Parcel Fabric without having to install, manage, and maintain Portal.  To my mind having more than 20 years of experience with ESRI products, the requirement of Portal for multi-user parcel fabric editing is a significant blunder, and impedes the adoption of otherwise valuable technology.  Perhaps this suggestion is a relatively simple solution to that.

[jcarlson]

The Parcel Fabric requires the full functionality of an Enterprise Geodatabase.
Publishing to AGOL is akin to publishing a Hosted Feature Service on the Portal side. Publishing a Pro Fabric is not possible by those means either, so AGOL and Portal are equivalent in that respect.

They key sticking point here isn't so much the Fabric as it is Branch Versioning. Branch versioning is only possible via an Enterprise service. Supposing the Pro Fabric supported traditional versioning, then, sure, you could publish to a server and just connect to that service via AGOL, or just use it on-premise with a local DB connection.

I don't know your particular IT situation, but if all you needed it for was the Parcel Fabric, a single-machine install of Portal would not be terribly difficult to set up or manage. You could probably even get it to work on a virtual machine, though I've not tried that.

[AmirBar-Maor]

@jcarlson this is very sweet of you. But there are many customers that don't have the knowledge, need, and IT support to set up an enterprise environment.

@JasonMcKeefry this is and has always been part of the long-term vision for parcel fabrics.

It aligns well with the global trend of moving IT infrastructure to the cloud.

There are software engineering challenges to solve - but that is ours to figure out 🙂

When people upvote this idea, please drop a note what is your motivation? simplicity? cost? IT support? small organization?

[jcarlson]

@AmirBar-MaorOh! That's really cool to hear!