Cityworks Magazine Fall 2021 by Cityworks, A Trimble Company

A Trimble Company

Fall 2021

A DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION FOR

PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE CARING FOR YOUR

CANOPIES

3 WAYS TO STREAMLINE

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

5 APPLICATIONS FOR

3D GIS

Featuring: Ann Arbor, MI Arvada, CO Auburn, AL Cupertino, CA Dearborn, MI Evansville Water and Sewer Utility, IN Flint, MI Oakland, CA Westminster, CO

Cityworks.com FALL 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

UTILITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT WITH

Cityworks empowers your operations with better data, better insights, and better decisions. Local government and utility organizations have no shortage of data. But turning that data into actionable insights can sometimes feel … impossible. Cityworks is the only GIS-centric public asset management and permitting solution that leverages your investment in ArcGIS to make sense of the complexity of data and create scalable systems of action. From IoT remote monitoring to intelligent asset management, now you can easily track and visualize every asset and its associated history, labor, costs, materials, permitting workflows, and so much more.

Request your personal solution demo at Cityworks.com FALL 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | FALL 2021

CONTENTS

CONTENTS | FALL 2021 PRESIDENT’S CORNER

Cityworks: A Scalable and Connected System of Action

GIS-centric means putting customers and communities first. Our platform allows you to optimize your services and workflows and scale those efforts across your organization. Here’s how. BY BRIAN HASLAM, CITYWORKS PRESIDENT AND CEO

CITYWORKS EXPERT TIPS

5 Applications for 3D GIS in Local Government and Utilities

26 FEATURE STORIES

Upgrading Your Infrastructure with Cityworks A renewed focus on community resilience in the U.S. has led to federal funding negotiations and infrastructure program development. Here’s how two cities in Michigan are using Cityworks and ArcGIS to streamline large infrastructure replacement projects.

Many organizations already have access to valuable 3D data. Here are five ways to integrate it with your GIS asset management strategy today. BY CARL ALEXANDER, CITYWORKS SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT

3 Ways to Streamline Project Management with OpX

Organizing infrastructure data and reporting on large municipal and utility projects can sometimes feel impossible. Here are three ways to create a streamlined experience for project management and asset management in your organization. BY DINORAH SANCHEZ, CITYWORKS SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT

BY WESTLEY COTTAM, CITYWORKS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Caring For Your Canopies

Cityworks and ArcGIS provide a GIS-centric way of managing and streamlining workflows for urban forestry programs—ensuring that communities’ local canopies are properly cared for. BY STANLEY IGBOANUGO AND WESTLEY COTTAM,

IN EVERY ISSUE

Odds & Ends

News & Events

Inside the Numbers

CITYWORKS CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

FALL 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

CONTENTS

CONTENTS | FALL 2021 BEST PRACTICES

31 CASE STUDIES

31 Using GIS Data to Prioritize Traffic

Safety Service Requests

The City of Oakland is one of the first cities to adopt equity as a determinant of service delivery. Here’s how the Oakland Department of Transportation uses Cityworks, ArcGIS, and SeeClickFix to implement a datadriven workflow for prioritizing traffic safety requests in areas of need. BY WESTLEY COTTAM AND SARA ADELMAN, CITYWORKS CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

The Value of Trustworthy Data

Water utility crews are responsible for a variety of specialized work activities, and they often juggle siloed technology solutions. The City of Westminster implemented a new solution that reduces manual data entry and the questionable data that comes with it. BY CAROL BRZOZOWSKI, CITYWORKS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

A Water Utility’s Asset Management Strategy Goes Vertical

Evansville Water and Sewer Utility needed a way to schedule and track preventative maintenance for their water and wastewater treatment plants. Here’s how they organized their vertical asset data and plant maintenance workflows. BY LOGAN GUFFEY, EVANSVILLE WATER AND SEWER UTILITY, AND JESSICA STACK, POWER ENGINEERS, INC.

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | FALL 2021

A Gold Standard for Hydrant Flow Testing

Fire hydrants are critical assets for the safety of any community. That’s why Woolpert collaborated with water utility organizations to develop a Cityworks configuration that standardizes hydrant flow tests according to U.S. industry guidelines. BY JEFF PESLER, AICP, WOOLPERT PROJECT MANAGER, AND RYAN BUTLER, IAM GISP, WOOLPERT SENIOR SYSTEMS ANALYST

Best Practices for Leveraging Your Investment in Cityworks and Munis

Connecting Cityworks to an organization’s financial software system is one of the most requested integrations among local government and utility organizations. Here’s how involving the third-party software provider can help. BY MICHAEL EDWARDS, TIMMONS GROUP PROJECT DIRECTOR

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

Industry Insights from Cori Criss and Mark Grabowski of ITpipes

We talked with two of our colleagues at ITpipes about the future of water and wastewater management. BY WESTLEY COTTAM, CITYWORKS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

www.kci.com

TAKE YOUR CITYWORKS IMPLEMENTATION TO THE NEXT LEVEL!

• DIGITAL TWINS • ASSET GEODATABASE DESIGN • ASSET BARCODING • IOT / SCADA INTEGRATION

Implement Cityworks for Vertical Assets – Treatment Plants, Pump Stations, Facilities, and more!

• PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE SCHEDULES • ARCGIS INDOORS INTEGRATION

Contact: Asset-Management@kci.com CHECK OUT OUR VIDEO ON ASSET MANAGEMENT SERVICES

OTHER SERVICES INCLUDE: Asset Management Roadmap, Warehouse Inventory, PLL, GIS Solutions, Analytics & Modeling and Systems Integrations.

ISO 9001:2015 Certified | Employee-owned Since 1988

CITYWORKS GIS-CENTRIC CHARACTERISTICS Cityworks is an ArcGIS® pure-play, meaning we recognize the ArcGIS geodatabase as the only authoritative asset database. This translates to seven key characteristics that define our technology solutions.

Magazine Staff Westley Cottam | Editor Rylee Jo Ashcraft | Graphic Designer

Marketing and Communications Cindy Curletti | Marketing Manager Paige Burnhope | Marketing Coordinator Chris Mounteer | Digital Marketing Specialist

Subscriptions To subscribe, change your address, or cancel your subscription: stories@cityworks.com

Contact Us Tel: 801-523-2751 Email: stories@cityworks.com Archives available at: www.cityworks.com CITYWORKS, A TRIMBLE COMPANY 11075 South State Street, Suite 24 Sandy, UT 84070 801-523-2751 www.cityworks.com

The information contained in this document is the exclusive property of Azteca Systems, LLC, a Trimble company. This work is protected under United States copyright law and other international copyright treaties and conventions. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as expressly permitted in writing by Azteca Systems dba Cityworks. All requests should be sent to Attention: Contracts and Legal Services Manager, Cityworks, 11075 south State, Suite 24, Sandy, UT 84070, USA.

NO REDUNDANCY

ArcGIS is the authoritative system of record with no writing or syncing to other asset data tables.

FULLY CONFIGURABLE

Events

Sara Adelman | Editor

Cityworks can support any geodatabase design for your assets—including linear, dispersed, or condensed.

NONPROPRIETARY

We build on the geodatabase with well-known and understood data structure elements. Your organization owns and fully controls its data.

ARCGIS UPDATES

Cityworks relies solely on ArcGIS feature services to update the authoritative asset data to ensure data integrity.

ARCGIS WEB MAP

Any application can access an ArcGIS web map without constraints, allowing you to find and view asset data at a glance.

The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice. TRADEMARKS: Cityworks®, Cityworks Logo, Empowering GIS, GIS Empowered, the Three Layer Map Logo, Enables the Power of Where, @cityworks.com, cityworks.com, mycityworks.com, Azteca Systems, the Azteca Systems logo and Azteca Systems products referenced herein are either trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of Azteca Systems in the United States, Canada, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Trimble® and the Trimble logo are a registered trademarks of Trimble, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Changes are periodically added to this information. Cityworks may make improvements and/or changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described herein at any time. In no event shall Cityworks and/or its respective suppliers be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data, or profits, whether in an action of contract, negligence, or other tortious action arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of software, documents, or failure to provide services. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form.

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | FALL 2021

SINGLE SIGN-ON

Our software supports a single sign-on identity. All associated apps will support the preferred identity storehouse— ArcGIS Online or Portal for ArcGIS.

ANALYTICS & REPORTING

Cityworks uses ArcGIS tools for data analytics and powerful visualizations to support decision-making.

Training

EMPOWER YOUR TEAM. DRIVE RESULTS. Maximize your team’s success with Cityworks training. Whether you’re new to Cityworks or an experienced administrator, we have a training course to meet your needs. Choose from self-guided, live webinar, or in-person classroom sessions. Explore new Cityworks tools and functionality

Learn efficient workflows and best practices

Access exclusive materials to support your next project

EXPLORE FULL COURSE OFFERINGS ONLINE BY VISITING LEARN.TRIMBLE.COM & SEARCHING FOR CITYWORKS. FALL 2018 15 SPRING FALL 2020 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

A BETTER WAY TO VIEW CITY ASSETS

Transform your asset management workflows with high-res aerial imagery in Cityworks

AUG 2021 | BOSTON, MA U.S.

High-resolution aerial imagery from Nearmap helps you to stay in the know, with on-demand access to the latest location data – from wherever the job takes you. Inspect remotely and quickly make informed decisions based on the latest truth. Cloud-based access and easy GIS integrations will keep you, your teams and your asset management practices on track, without the need for lengthy site visits.

NEARMAP AND CITYWORKS To see how you can streamline asset management with MAGAZINE | FALL 2021 8 CITYWORKS Nearmap and Cityworks, visit: www.nearmap.com

ODDS & ENDS

Fun facts, poll results, and other interesting stuff

In the largest gathering of Cityworks users, over 2,500 people registered from around the world to attend the Cityworks Innovate Conference held in June 2021.

375

Registrants outside of United States

Top countries: United States

Jordan (15)

(2269)

Sweden (9)

Canada (269)

India (8)

South Africa (20)

Australia (5)

The next Cityworks Innovate Conference will take place Dec. 6-9, 2022, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Can’t wait? Visit Cityworks.com/Innovate to access on-demand sessions from 2021.

FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT GIS, AERIAL IMAGING, AND SATELLITE IMAGING

1. The first documented use of GIS—more aptly described as spatial analysis—was by Charles Picquet in 1832. Picquet used data to visually track and analyze the cholera outbreak in Paris. This was done by creating a rudimentary version of a heat map that spanned the 48 districts of Paris. 2. The first aerial images were captured using hot air balloons, kites, and even pigeons. In 1909, the first aerial photographs from an airplane were taken by Wilbur Wright. 3. Aerial imagery had always been an interest amongst scholars and the military since the early 1900s, but it wasn’t until August 14, 1959, that the U.S. would take the first satellite image. 4. In 1963, Roger Tomlinson conceptualized and developed the first computerized GIS in the world. The Canadian Geographic Information System (CGIS), as he called it, was used to perform a spatial inventory of Canada’s vast landscapes. 5. In 1969, Jack Dangermond—a member of the Harvard Lab—and his wife, Laura, founded Esri (Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc.). Today Esri is one of the biggest suppliers of GIS software and one of the leading figures in modern GIS.

FAST FACT:

An anonymous artist in Oakland, California, painted thousands of gnomes on small pieces of wood, then tacked them to the bottom of utility poles throughout the city. Want to gnome more about Oakland’s walkability? Turn to p. 31 to learn how the City of Oakland is using GIS data to prioritize traffic safety service requests.

“GIS ... allows us to analyze and use that information to make more sustainable infrastructure and organizations.” —Jack Dangermond, founder of Esri

FALL 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

PRESIDENT’S CORNER

CITYWORKS: A SCALABLE AND CONNECTED SYSTEM OF ACTION Cityworks pioneered and defined the GIS-centric approach of using ArcGIS as the asset inventory for local government and utilities without syncing or duplicating to other asset data tables. GIS-centric technology is the innovative leap that defines Cityworks and underscores our platform mindset when designing a scalable and connected system of action. BY BRIAN HASLAM, CITYWORKS PRESIDENT AND CEO

few weeks prior to the 2021 Cityworks Innovate Conference, Esri president Jack Dangermond and I talked about the significance of the ArcGIS platform supporting new and innovative application development among Esri users and partners. The importance of having a platform mindset cannot be overemphasized when supporting the critical work of local government and utility organizations. There are linear business models, and there are platform business models. Every organization has some linear thinking, but Esri is a good example of a software business that has always had a strong platform mindset. The ArcGIS platform is extensible to support data consumption and expanded functionality for user workflow needs. An article from Applico defines a platform as creating value by facilitating exchanges and creating communities that allow users to interact and transact. Also, very importantly, a platform shouldn’t limit or fully control the

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | FALL 2021

behavior of its users. Rather, it facilitates interactions. This approach to business and software development lies at the heart of our GIS-centric philosophy. Why? Because Esri became the de facto asset repository for local government and utilities. And this is an example of where our platform mindset helps. Instead of creating our own asset repository, Cityworks creates an environment where users can interact and make transactions against their assets in the GIS. Users can exchange data from many different solutions within a single GIS-centric environment. Our vision is to create a GIS-centric asset management and permitting system that maximizes ArcGIS location intelligence for performing and planning work. GIS-centric means putting customers and communities first. Our platform allows you to optimize your services and workflows and scale those efforts across your organization. Because we embrace a platform mindset, we remain open to the integration of other tools and solutions—from Esri,

offered by our business partners, built in-house by you, and from Trimble. Many tools and solutions can make important contributions at many levels. As a Trimble Company and a part of Trimble Geospatial, Cityworks is able to expand our platform and leverage the tools and workflows that are critical for your daily workflow needs. For example, Trimble Geospatial is recognized for providing world-class solutions for professional surveying. It is common for organizations to collect professional, survey-quality data and then upload the data into ArcGIS as the asset system of record. Cityworks uses the data for helping organizations manage and maintain their assets. You benefit from scalable and connected touch points among Cityworks, ArcGIS, and Trimble Geospatial, combining world-class and best-in-class solutions to improve data-driven decision making. Water and wastewater utilities can expand data collection capabilities with the help of Trimble Utilities’ Telog IoT instrumentation.

PRESIDENT’S CORNER

This integrated solution—namely Cityworks IoT—can be configured to automatically trigger work activities to support real-time monitoring and response. Electric utility organizations can work together with Cityworks, Esri, Trimble Utilities, and POWER Engineers to implement modular, GIS-centric utility vegetation management solutions that integrate

LiDAR analysis to identify high-risk areas and prioritize work. And nearly every day, I hear from another Cityworks user who is excited about the possibility of using Trimble e-Builder BIM models with Trimble Quadri to update their ArcGIS asset records to enhance their Cityworks operations and maintenance implementation.

“GIS-centric means putting customers and communities first. Our platform allows you to optimize your services and workflows and scale those efforts across your organization.”

Get Started Want to learn more about scaling the Cityworks platform at your organization? We explored three examples during the second day general session at the 2021 Cityworks Innovate Conference. Access the recording at https://youtu.be/uu9oU7HTaTs.

FALL 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

CITYWORKS EXPERT TIPS

5 APPLICATIONS FOR 3D GIS IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND UTILITIES Many organizations already have access to valuable 3D data. Here are five ways to integrate it with your GIS asset management strategy today. BY CARL ALEXANDER, CITYWORKS SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT

data will play a significant role in the digital transformation of local government, utility, and transportation organizations. The good news is that many of these organizations have no shortage of 3D data. Whether you need data on existing city buildings, airport terminals, utility infrastructure, or plant facilities, chances are your organization has as-builts stored somewhere.

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | FALL 2021

Additionally, many U.S. states have implemented LiDAR plans to establish regular and ongoing 3D data collection to inform land use, infrastructure, and environmental planning and management. It’s also more common for planning and permitting departments to require 3D plans as part of the application process for new construction. Having access to 3D data is one thing. Leveraging it to ad-

vance your digital transformation is another. How can you start to use 3D data within your organization to inform decision-making? If your organization uses GIS, then 3D mapping may be your answer. 3D Geographic Information Systems (3D GIS) are systems for structuring and managing 3D spatial data, capable of handling 3D geometry structures and performing the spatial analysis function-

CITYWORKS EXPERT TIPS

alities of GIS. 3D GIS builds upon the traditional 2D data structure by adding another dimension: z. In Esri’s ArcGIS, there are two types of 3D data: feature data and surface data. Z values are supported across the entire Cityworks platform and by individual work activities. If your GIS features are z-enabled, you can store activity data against those assets in Cityworks. Cityworks stores the x, y, and z values on work activities, and from there, you can view the data in 3D applications in ArcGIS Indoors, ArcGIS Scene Viewer, ArcGIS Pro, and more. Work history can be displayed in other 3D solutions using Cityworks eURL and APIs. Cityworks is promoting continued expansion of 3D functionality for seamless integration into your organization’s everyday workflows. Here are five ways you can get started with 3D mapping in your organization today. 1. Building Maintenance & Plant Management Whether you are caring for public buildings like libraries and municipal offices or managing pump stations and treatment plants, you are well aware of the technological gap that exists in visualizing vertical assets. Organizations that have used GIS to track their work in structures with multiple levels and floors traditionally used hierarchies of related records to organize and document their work activities. While this approach is possible and can be effective for vertical asset management, the end-user experience isn’t optimal. The end user doesn’t have true spatial awareness because this

approach can be overly complex and relies on non-spatial data. 3D GIS eliminates the need for complex data structures. Maintenance crews can easily see and navigate to the floor where an asset is located. They can also access 3D visualizations of other structures in the space—from furniture and stairwells to HVAC and electrical systems to pumps and their individual components and even the infrastructure behind building walls. Many organizations have BIM or other 3D data from as-builts that could be converted to 3D GIS. However, if this data is outdated or not available, there are a variety of 3D scanning solutions on the market that can help collect accurate data on your vertical assets. Indoor mobile scanning solutions like the Trimble TIMMs mobile mapping cart allow users to capture larger spaces cost efficiently and would be used in combination with static

spaces. These would also be complimented with static scanning. The scanning and modeling workflows tied to these scanners continues to get easier, as solutions like Trimble Field Link or Perspective allow even beginner technology users to capture data efficiently. Trimble and Cityworks partners like KCI Technologies have consulting teams that assist customers with their captured scanning and 3D model data so they can leverage it with different workflows and solutions.

scanning solutions like the Trim-

as well as cyclical maintenance

ble SX12 or X7. Drone solutions

activities and reporting require-

like Trimble Stratus and outdoor

ments.

mobile mapping solutions like the

2. Airport Facilities Airport facilities receive all the same benefits of interior 3D mapping as any other vertical asset management organization, with the additional perk of also adding valuable spatial data to their tenant and lease management workflow. Cityworks is the only GIS-centric platform that supports permitting and licensing workflows

Many airports have access to

Trimble MX50 provide cost efficient

facility BIM data and airfield LiDAR

ways to capture larger outdoor

data that can easily be converted

In ArcGIS Indoors Viewer, red icons display facility work orders and inspections in 3D. The work activities are extruded by z values.

FALL 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

CITYWORKS EXPERT TIPS

of sewer and stormwater lines, for example. If you do not yet have 3D data, consider making 3D data collection a priority in your asset management strategy. The technological advancement and increasing affordability of high-accuracy GPS units can help your crews start to collect z values on subsurface infrastructure. 5. Urban Planning Green icons indicate active building permits in an ArcGIS scene. The 3D buildings have been extruded and symbolized based on type.

to 3D GIS for enterprise access. This 3D facility data can be easily imported into the ArcGIS Indoors Model for enhanced capabilities and toolsets focused for facilities management. By combining Cityworks and ArcGIS, airports can streamline work and permitting processes to deliver exponential value for operations. 3. Utility Vegetation Management (UVM) Mitigating the risk of trees growing near power lines is often the most expensive operational activity for a utility. It’s also an activity with significant financial and reputational implications. Utilities require better data to reduce outages, meet budget constraints, and build more resilient networks. A new solution from Trimble combines LiDAR data analysis with a modular system to manage the complete UVM cycle. Trimble Vegetation Manager offers solutions for work identification, prioritization, and field execution—all within a GIS-centric environment that highlights hotspots and work activities in a map. When you enable your utility assets and nearby vegetation

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | FALL 2021

for 3D visualizations, you can easily see the impact of tree height and proximity to more accurately identify at-risk vegetation. 4. Subsurface Utilities The usefulness of z values is not limited to above-ground assets. Subsurface utilities can also benefit from the additional context of 3D visualizations. When so much of your infrastructure is buried underground, it’s arguably even more important to have accurate 3D models to provide a complete picture of what you cannot immediately see. Gathering this data and making it readily shareable in the form of GIS maps and visualizations can help improve interdepartmental collaboration. Imagine the power of your crews being able to look at accurate 3D models of subsurface utility infrastructure in the area— street crews and contractors could readily see water and wastewater lines, buried power lines, and even underground communications infrastructure. 3D data may already be available to you in the form of plan profiles that document the slope

New building and infrastructure development within a community can provoke many different emotions. Residents and stakeholders might feel excited by proposed changes—they may also feel surprised and nervous, criticizing the decision-making process for not being transparent enough. Spatial data can have a big impact in improving transparency and community engagement. Maps help communicate the vision and progress of community master plans, and GIS provides a foundation for powerful engagement and interaction during the planning process. 3D GIS further amplifies the positive impact of visual context. Take, for example, line of sight analysis. 3D maps allow decision makers to understand the impact of a building’s height and shape on the surrounding community, helping to optimize positive impact while also reducing perceived negative impacts. These same visualizations can be shared with the public, increasing transparency for community members. 3D GIS can support required architectural file types, from Sketchup for example, if 3D as-builts are required for large developments.

GO ONLINE WITH PERMITS, LICENSES, & INSPECTIONS Whether your constituents are at home, in the field, or their office, Timmons Group’s userfriendly Portal provides a way to gather data into PLL so municipal staff get the most out of Cityworks PLL, allowing you to: √ Apply for and manage the application, schedule, and payment process for permits, licenses, and inspections online √ Extend the functionality of your Cityworks platform √ Facilitate engagement with your constituents and improve public access √ Streamline workflows √ Provide greater transparency

PORTAL Manages applications, payments, inspections, documentation, and renewals

Keeps permits, licensing, and inspection workflows operating, even when municipal offices are closed

Gets you up and running in as little as four weeks

Manages traditional counter-based and phone interactions and data intake with a web-based tool

Allows for efficient electronic plan review with OnBase integration

Seamlessly integrates online pointof-sale for citizens and internal staff

w w w.timmon sgi s . com

To learn more, contact Louis.Garcia@timmons.com

CITYWORKS EXPERT TIPS

3 WAYS TO STREAMLINE PROJECT MANAGEMENT WITH OPX Organizing infrastructure data and reporting on large municipal and utility projects can sometimes feel impossible. Here are three ways to create a streamlined experience for project management and asset management in your organization. BY DINORAH SANCHEZ, CITYWORKS SUBJECT MATTER EXPERT

n the world of public infrastructure, asset management is an all-encompassing practice that seeks to understand an organization’s assets, costs, risks, strategy, and policy. Asset managers have always understood the value of extending an asset’s useful life, and maintaining expected services has been a critical point of focus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, disaster

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | FALL 2021

recovery needs, and infrastructure reinvestment initiatives. Asset management practices can help an organization tackle these opportunities and challenges through effective work management, a.k.a, knowing what work is getting done, where, when, why, and how often. Effective asset management requires a massive amount of data and documentation: from asset

information to work activities, from contract issuance to budget management, and from federal reimbursement requests to project tracking. OpX is a new software application that provides a GIS-centric experience for managing data and documentation for ongoing operational programs, large-scale infrastructure projects, and emergency

CITYWORKS EXPERT TIPS

response activities within Cityworks. Here are three ways OpX can help local government and utility organizations streamline project management and asset management. 1. Regulatory Compliance Regulatory mandates, such as EPA consent decrees or PHMSA’s Gas Distribution Integrity Management Program, require documented progress and completion. For example, consider a consent decree enacted to minimize and eliminate sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs). Wastewater organizations typically have mitigation efforts underway before the multi-year action plan is finalized, so compiling all those activities is key. In Cityworks, projects have long been the thread that connects the service requests and

work orders associated with any SSO event. OpX leverages this project functionality while also tallying the estimated and actual costs associated with equipment, material, and labor. If follow-up inspections are completed after the remediation of an SSO, those activities can also be associated with the project, and more importantly, the impacted assets are easily accessible on the project details page. Clearly identifying the assets affected by the SSO can aid in future evaluations for reinvestment projects. 2. Emergency Response & Recovery With natural disasters occurring more frequently and on a larger scale, impacted communities are not just responding to events but

also preparing for the recovery and mitigation phases. In the United States, FEMA requires documentation of all activities, associated costs, and impacted areas. For the first time, OpX presents the spatial context for projects, which means the assets related to the project are visible on the map and all the map tools are available. If any aspect of the emergency event is outsourced, users can easily access the contract from the project details page, bringing all related activities to one convenient location. Also, for the first time, projects created in one domain can now be shared across domains, eliminating data silos and the need to duplicate projects for each individual department. When an emergency arises, domains don’t matter, and the work still needs to be documented.

The OpX project details page displays critical data in one place.

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CITYWORKS EXPERT TIPS

OpX provides a single place to compare actual costs to estimated costs; track permit revenue against estimated revenue; and quickly access related contracts.

3. Track Operational or Rehab Activities For daily operations, organizations must balance corrective and preventative work with capital replacement or rehab activities. Take, for example, sidewalk or pavement inspections. Today, Cityworks users can set up dashboards to track preventative maintenance activities. OpX expands on this capability by allowing users to configure preventative maintenance programs as projects. Then, whether that project defaults to the selected template

which allow users to tag other usor the crew members assign the ers when requesting or sharing project to their inspections, all information. These comthose inspections will be ments are saved against nicely organized as a the project for easy project and viewable in Did you know? reference. Organizaone location. If only a OpX stands for Operational tions can also configspecific crew needs to Experience. ure an event layer with access the project on Cityworks enterprise the work activity page, URLs (eURLs) to share the new OpX permission project data with residents model provides this function. and contractors. This same capability is helpful for Want to learn more? Visit rehab projects. https://bit.ly/3zZnPOs to play the Communication is fundamenOpX presentation from Cityworks tal in any workplace. That’s why Innovate Conference 2021. OpX supports rich text comments,

Customer Success The City of Troy, Michigan, is a longtime user of Cityworks. The Facilities and Grounds Department decided to take advantage of the functionality available in OpX 1.0 to inform staff about current projects. They like that the Project Summary page provides a one-stop view of all their open projects. Staff also appreciate the ability to communicate

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | FALL 2021

via attachments or by using the new rich text comments section that supports user tagging. Now the facilities and grounds staff is exploring how they can capture more project details available in OpX, even reevaluating workflows to take advantage of the new financial views broken down by equipment, labor, and materials.

Cityworks and SeeClickFix: Partners in Public Asset Management And Your Partners in Getting Work Done Our public works teams are the unsung heroes of our communities— ensuring that citizens never need to worry about the quality or accessibility of local infrastructure. But we know that ensuring citizens don’t need to stress about public assets is a 24-hour job for the staff members working tirelessly behind the scenes.

We want to take some of the pressure off your shoulders. We built our SeeClickFix citizen relationship management software to give

With SeeClickFix and Cityworks, Field Staff Benefit from: •

to-end issue management •

across both systems

convert into actionable work orders. And we partner with Cityworks to serve as the behind-the-scenes secret weapon for your public works heroes. The result? More efficient public works service operations and citizens who couldn’t be happier with the place they call home.

To learn more about SeeClickFix, visit us online at civicplus.com/seeclickfix/citizen-request-management

Requests and comments that are automatically logged and updated

citizens a simple tool to submit service requests that administrators can create an end-to-end digital public asset and service request solution to

Synched request categories for end-

•

The ability to manage citizen questions and answers

UPGRADING YOUR

INFRASTRUCTURE WITH CITYWORKS

A renewed focus on community resilience in the U.S. has led to federal funding negotiations and infrastructure program development. Here’s how two cities in Michigan are using Cityworks and ArcGIS to streamline large infrastructure replacement projects. BY WESTLEY COTTAM, CITYWORKS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

hether it is flipping a lightswitch, turning on a water faucet, or traveling on a road, public infrastructure has a direct impact on our everyday lives. Sustainable and efficient infrastructure has the potential to connect communities, promote health, foster equity, and enrich quality of life on an individual level. In the United States, the reality is that much of the country’s public works are rapidly aging— becoming outdated and, in some cases, unsafe. For years, U.S. infrastructure has been largely underfunded, leaving public works and utility organi-

zations to grapple with the task of maintaining their communities’ aging assets while also staying within budget constraints. If you are one of many asset managers in the U.S. feeling overburdened by the amount of infrastructural upkeep that needs to be done, you have likely worked day-in and day-out to ensure that your public assets are well maintained to the best of your ability. With new funding opportunities on the horizon, you may also be in luck.

FALL 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

NEW OPPORTUNITIES ON THE HORIZON This past year, focus on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., has shifted toward infrastructure improvement programs. A handful of new bills and packages have been proposed and aim to increase funding for a wide spectrum of infrastructural improvements in the U.S., ranging from water and wastewater to roads and electricity. If passed, these proposed bills and packages have the potential to free up billions of dollars of federal funding and create opportunities for local governments and utilities to bring their community services up to date. One issue in particular that is brought up in almost every proposed piece of infrastructure policy is the need to update water infrastructure—namely the inventory, management, and removal of lead piping and service lines. It is well known that lead is very harmful to human health and poses an extreme safety hazard for communities where they are present. In fact, the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group, estimates that there could be as many as 12.8 million

lead services lines in the U.S. that need replacing. It is only a matter of time before cities across the country are required to inventory, inspect, and remove their lead pipes and service lines. Cities like Flint and Dearborn, Michigan, have already begun their lead abatement process. Here’s how Cityworks and ArcGIS are helping them inventory, inspect, and remove lead piping and service lines.

INVENTORY

The first step of planning for any infrastructure project is knowing where your assets are located and which ones need to be upgraded. As Andrew Murray, GISP for DLZ Michigan, Inc. who works on behalf of the City of Flint puts it, “The actual physical execution of replacement is one part of the process, but the documentation portion of lead removal is just as important.” One of the difficulties many cities run into when starting the lead removal process is a lack of information concerning the location of lead service lines. A large portion of water infrastructure in the U.S. was installed long before laws required detailed material and location records. To fill this data gap, Flint What’s in a bill? used lead service line inventoHere’s a high-level overview of the infrastructure initiatives included in proposed ry data that the University of U.S. legislation, as of September 2021. Actual programs may differ depending on the Michigan-Flint compiled from final outcome of the bills. digitized tap cards and historic parcel records, and then Investment in Reconstruction of mapped out and visualized in renewable energy and street grids, parks, and ArcGIS. A similar inventory prozero emission transit other infrastructure cess has been adopted by the City of Dearborn. In order to Fix highways Rebuild bridges comply with state mandates, the city has taken it upon themselves to sift through Upgrade ports Modernizing and airports public transit vast amounts of tap card and historic infrastructure data in order to locate potential lead Increasing climate Ensure that clean service lines. resiliency and natural drinking water is “The whole process for disaster protection available to all maintaining a digital inventory was new and we had to start Upgrades on the power grid, Provision and installation from the ground up,” says including a focus on clean of high-speed broadband Eric Roggow, the Cityworks energy transmission to all Americans administrator for the City of

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Dearborn. “It was a difficult task to undertake. Pipe material data from the time of installation was often unreliable or totally absent and this data hadn’t been recorded digitally.” Dearborn was able to work through this process to organize a preliminary inventory of lead service lines in their community. Similar to Flint, Dearborn’s inventory data is constantly being updated in ArcGIS as the lead abatement process is being completed. This ensures that a GIS-centric system of record is being created not only for present replacement efforts, but for future maintenance activities. “Our inventory is constantly evolving and getting updated. So when someone goes out to do an inspection, they can see in Cityworks what material we have previously documented for a particular address,” says Roggow. Dearborn has also created a way for the community to get involved in the lead abatement and inventory process. The city has set up a survey using Survey123 and ArcGIS Online that allows residents to report what type of service line materials are used in their homes. Around 300 hundred of these surveys have already been submitted to the city, contributing valuable data to the city’s water infrastructure material inventory.

INSPECTIONS The inventory data in ArcGIS provides a foundation for the inspection process, which consists of in-person assessments by city crews and contractors. At the start of their inspection process, Flint was using a legacy asset management system and paper spreadsheets to keep track of inspection data. “Everything was disorganized and stored on various hard drives, flash drives, and printed documents,” says Terry

Biederman, vice president of DLZ Michigan, Inc. Flint eventually implemented Cityworks AMS to organize and maintain their inspection and restoration data and workflows. “It was great to have everything in one place where all of our data was standardized, searchable, and easily accessible.” Inspection work orders were created in Cityworks AMS and based off of the location information from the inventory GIS data. Contractors performed their inspections, and all observations and data were logged in custom Cityworks inspection templates. These inspection templates included various data fields where observations were recorded, pictures were taken, and it was determined whether a restoration or replacement was needed. A similar process within Cityworks and ArcGIS has greatly enhanced Dearborn’s inspection efforts, which was originally done by use of paper spreadsheets and digital cameras. “Cityworks streamlined the inspection process by helping us organize our inspection data and images and making us more time efficient. We no longer have to constantly update and keep track of various spreadsheets,” says Roggow. The City of Dearborn now uses Cityworks and ArcGIS in both field and office settings to assist with data collection and organization in the inventory, inspection, and abatement process. Dearborn currently collects service line material data in the course of their water main replacement projects. Inspectors are sent out to conduct an inventory of pipes and service lines in the area where a water main replacement is taking place. For areas where water mains were already replaced, inspections are also conducted and A service line inspection observations form used by the city recorded in Cityworks. of Dearborn, Michigan.

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REPLACEMENT Once the inventory and inspections were complete, Flint used Cityworks to transfer lead pipe replacement work to contractors by creating a restoration work order. This ensured that the full lead removal process was smooth and fostered communication between city crews and contractors. Through this process and the use of Cityworks and ArcGIS, Flint was able to update their water infrastructure and ensure the safety of their community by fulfilling approximately 8,900 inspection and replacement work orders over the course of nine months. In the City of Dearborn, lead lines identified during water main replacement projects are removed and replaced with copper lines by contractors. Other replacement projects, completed by city crews, are fully managed in Cityworks. When lead is discovered during the inspection process, a child work order is created in Cityworks to kick off the service line replacement project. City crews document equipment, labor, and material in Cityworks in order to keep track of the full abatement process. After lead service lines are replaced, water quality sampling is documented in Cityworks. This ensures the ongoing health and safety of the community. Dearborn also uses the GIS information and Cityworks data to create reports for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). This allows the city to share with the State of Michigan the efforts that they have put into the lead abatement process and comply with state mandates.

A service line exploration form with custom fields: used by the city of Flint, Michigan

“We are required to replace all lead in the city within the next 20 years,” says Roggow. However, Roggow is confident in the city’s lead removal program and the tools that they have adopted. “We have good plans in place to make sure we accomplish that before the deadline.”

LOOKING AHEAD With an increased focus on infrastructure revitalization in the U.S., it is likely that many local government and utility organizations will be following in the footsteps of Flint and Dearborn by setting up their own lead abatement programs. Cityworks can not only help you organize, manage, and maintain your infrastructure throughout its entire lifecycle, it can also help you plan and execute public works projects, such as removing lead from your water system. The main goal of infrastructure investment and projects is to ensure that public assets are safe, sustainable, efficient, and foster equity for years to come.

A service line replacement work order with custom fields; used by the city of Dearborn, Michigan.

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CARING FOR YOUR

CANOPI ES 5 BENEFITS OF GIS-CENTRIC ASSET MANAGEMENT FOR URBAN FORESTRY BY STANLEY IGBOANUGO AND WESTLEY COTTAM, CITYWORKS CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

he impact that trees have within our urban environments is often overlooked and underestimated. Trees not only bring beauty to our cities, they also improve a community’s overall health and well-being. Healthy urban canopies can help clean the air, cut energy consumption by up to 25%, boost property value, reduce costs associated with stormwater management and erosion control, and more. Cityworks provides a GIS-centric asset management system that enables cities to start, manage, and improve their urban forestry programs, which in turn helps them reap the benefits of having beautiful urban forests. As Tiffany Giacobazzi, the urban forestry and natural resources planning coordinator for the City of Ann Arbor, Michigan, explains, “Planting trees is good, but if you don’t have a strong management program in place to care for the trees and keep them healthy, you’re not going to get the same benefits.” Whether your forestry program is new, or decades-old, here are five ways you can join Ann Arbor and other forestry-focused cities that benefit from Cityworks and ArcGIS. 1. Increased Productivity With Cityworks, customers can achieve their goals faster and with fewer resources. This has been the case in Ann Arbor, a city with six International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) certified arborists, 60,000 street trees, and a Tree City certification for forty years in a row. “We exceeded our goals last year,” Giacobazzi says. “Our target was to trim 4,212 trees but we trimmed 4,829. We also exceeded our goal of planting over a thousand trees and removed 575 trees that were dead, dying, or creating a public hazard.” To achieve this, Ann Arbor needed to automate its workflow with Cityworks. As KC Bemish, the GIS applications specialist for Ann Arbor, says, “Without the need for paperwork, we’ve been able to work faster while saving time in the field, in the office, and on logistics. Because Cityworks streamlines our workflow, our field crew can make better use of their time, make better decisions, and be more productive.” “I’ve worked in cities that didn’t have Cityworks,” Giacobazzi adds. “When I send a spreadsheet over to

our planting contractor, he has to send the updated spreadsheet back to me. This takes time. Also, I have to make sure I’m working off the latest version of the spreadsheet. When you don’t open the right one, it can cause confusion and delay.” Cityworks also provides multiple features and tools for field crews to report on their progress, and to collaborate from anywhere, anytime, and on any device. This makes communication seamless and improves staff productivity. “Cityworks sped up our data collecting workflow. I can’t tell you how much extra time we used to spend on recording data,” Ian MacDonald, the city forester for the City of Arvada, Colorado. “Sometimes, one field worker out of three would spend the whole time doing data entry while the other two worked. Now Cityworks updates all that information for us and keeps a record.” 2. Cost Savings Improved productivity allows organizations to reduce operational costs. “We save more with Cityworks,” says Giacobazzi. “In 2018, we got 1500 calls from residents about our trees. That’s 1500 slips of paper we didn’t need because everything’s being done electronically.” Cityworks provides data, tools, and insights that help facilitate preventative maintenance activities such as tree trimming. “Before Cityworks, we never really had preventative maintenance cycles. We simply took calls on issues with trees, and attended to the problem,” says Andy

Benefits of Urban Forests: • Beautify and give character to a community • Improve overall health and well-being • Clean air, eliminate pollutants, and help with storing carbon emissions • Cut energy consumption by up to 25% • Boost property values • Protect against erosion and drought • Reduce water pollution • Foster community involvement and pride • Reduce costs associated with stormwater management Source: fs.usda.gov/ccrc/topics/urban-forests-and-climate-change

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City of Cupertino’s online tree plotter application allows residents to view data on the trees in their community.

Badal, asset management technician for the City of Cupertino. “Now, we’re able to create a preventative maintenance cycle and prioritize tasks more effectively.” Today, the City of Cupertino prunes trees on an eight year cycle and monitors trees for disease and pest infestations. In addition to extending the life of the trees, regular maintenance and inspections can also help ensure public safety and reduce legal costs. “There’s been a tremendous reduction in tree failures since we started using Cityworks,” says Badal. “This has meant fewer tree-related accidents and fewer tree-related legal claims. Those are big costs for the city to endure because we’re either replacing or fixing personal property.” As a consequence of having fewer tree failures, Cupertino also spends less on tree removal and replacement. Badal says, “When we remove a diseased or dying tree, its replacement may take 20 or 30 years to mature and add the same monetary and aesthetic value to the urban forest. That’s why we want to use preventative maintenance to reduce the number of trees that we’re actually removing. By using Cityworks, we’re able to do this.” Mobile tools for work activity tracking and digitized back office workflows can help reduce the costs associated with inaccurate data. Badal says, “In Cityworks, we find and mitigate errors that would have required

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months to find on paperwork. Some of these errors are misidentified tree species or private trees wrongly classified as public assets. Not correcting these errors can cost us valuable time and resources.” 3. Interdepartmental Cooperation Cityworks is built exclusively on Esri’s ArcGIS, is easily customizable, and supports a wide range of powerful third-party applications. This means customers can leverage Cityworks to solve different needs across several departments—enhancing collaboration among forestry staff and other departments. The upsides here are increased productivity, higher quality of work, and fewer errors. That’s why MacDonald says, “Having a program like Cityworks that you can use in streets, utilities and forestry is more efficient and economical for the city than paying for multiple specific, highly-detailed programs for one workgroup.” Meanwhile, more than seven departments at Cupertino use Cityworks. “All of our public works staff are using it. That would include our facilities department, fleet department, tree department, traffic department, engineering, and others,” Badal says. “And within each of these departments, there are several different activities going on which Cityworks also supports.”

“While the GIS functionality is one of the first things I liked about Cityworks, I also love that it can be built to fit any situation. It’s 100 percent customizable,” says Bemish. “In fact, our current manager at public works has been pushing for the integration of Cityworks into all the areas that she manages. She sees the value of it from a management standpoint.” Bemish said that there are 70 to 80 unique users signed into Ann Arbor’s Cityworks system every day. Additionally, Cityworks helps foster collaboration and communication between customers and contractors by enabling contractor activity to be managed in one place. “We have our contractors use Cityworks as well,” Giacobazzi said. “It has streamlined our relationship with them.” Using work orders and Storeroom features, Ann Arbor was able to show contractors which tree species were available for the desired action, the selected locations, and the associated price. The city also monitored inventory levels. Bemish says, “We communicate fully with our contractors on Cityworks. They can see work orders on their iPads, select tree species out of Storeroom, add it to the work order as material and notify us as they make progress. So we always know what they’re doing. It’s a process that is handled almost entirely through Cityworks. That’s a pretty elegant solution to something that used to be handled very tediously through a lot of phone calls, Excel spreadsheets, and sticky notes.”

4. Informed Decision-Making Using a GIS-centric framework for urban forestry programs can help organizations understand the location-based patterns occurring within the urban canopy. “Cityworks shows us everything on an ArcGIS map. We’ve been able to build a robust and efficient tracking method on Cityworks that makes it easier to make critical decisions,” says MacDonald. These features enable organizations to apply location intelligence in the management of their urban forests—empowering them to prioritize work activities and justify budgets.

“We use Cityworks to know the trees and regions needing the most work. We can then concentrate our efforts in those areas.” -Tiffany Giacobazzi “We use Cityworks to know the trees and regions needing the most work. We can then concentrate our efforts in those areas.” Giacobazzi says, “With data from Cityworks, we’re also able to justify funding requests. We know exactly how much each tree costs us to maintain. We use the information to justify budgets and keep track of employee time.” According to Badal, Cupertino has also been able to streamline the reporting for Tree City USA Accreditation requirements. “We must satisfy the requirements yearly if we’re to remain a certified Tree City,” he says. “Using Cityworks, we’ve been able to accomplish this for the last ten years. Cityworks helps us learn what things we need to be tracking and improving to hit our goals.” 5. Enhanced Communication with Residents Sharing urban forestry data with the public is made easy with a GIS-centric platform. Organizations can externalize Cityworks data to the public using ArcGIS Dashboards, web maps, and more. These provide public-facing solutions that keep residents in the loop and foster community engagement and support. One such example is Cupertino’s Tree Plotter application, which allows residents to explore the

A GIS-visualization of asset information on an individual tree.

FALL 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

Dashboard displaying Cupertino’s urban forestry tree operations.

urban forests within their community. The Tree Plotter program pulls GIS asset data from Cityworks and ArcGIS and displays it in an interactive map that allows residents to view information on individual trees—including an in-depth tree species biography, monetary benefits, maintenance work history, pruning cycles, and much more. Residents are also able to submit service requests through this application. “I think one of Cityworks’ biggest benefits is it helps us communicate the history of our work to the public,” Badal says “It also helps us address the needs of the public quickly. When a resident creates a request on our resident engagement tool or calls our service center, it also shows up on Cityworks. This way, we can immediately access all service requests in one place.” Giacobazzi adds, “We have all sorts of resident engagement programs. For example, we have a citizen pruner program where we work with volunteers to prune small trees so that our staff can prune the larger

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trees that require bigger equipment. There’s also a tree-planting program for residents.” Meanwhile, the City of Arvada relies on historical tree data from Cityworks and Esri ArcGIS to provide intelligent answers to queries from residents. According to MacDonald, “If we cut down somebody’s memorial tree five years ago and they want to know what happened to it, I can still find that asset in the database, even though it’s technically gone. I simply need to look up the work history of that tree. This has occurred a number of times.” Urban forestry programs greatly enhance the beauty, sustainability, and livability of a city. Cityworks and ArcGIS assist to further maximize the benefits that come from having a healthy urban forest and increase the maintainability of your city’s trees—all while saving utilities money, encouraging transparency and communication, and enhancing departmental efficiency—allowing you to truly see the forest for the trees.

CASE STUDY

USING GIS DATA TO PRIORITIZE TRAFFIC SAFETY SERVICE REQUESTS

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA Pop. Served: 441,000 Depts. Using Cityworks: Public Works, Transportation User Since: 2008

The City of Oakland is one of the first cities to adopt equity as a determinant of service delivery. Here’s how the Oakland Department of Transportation uses Cityworks, ArcGIS, and SeeClickFix to implement a data-driven workflow for prioritizing traffic safety requests in areas of need. BY WESTLEY COTTAM AND SARA ADELMAN, CITYWORKS CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

veryone deserves access to safe transportation options, whether they are driving, walking, riding a bike, or using public transit. Yet data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control show that more than 36,000 people in the U.S. were killed in traffic-related incidents in 2019. It was the leading cause of death for people

aged 5 to 24, and the second leading cause of death for all other age groups under 85. According to the Safe Routes for Schools National Partnership, low-income communities and communities of color are more likely to experience traffic-related injury and death. Infrastructure improvements can help calm traffic in high risk

areas. Traffic signs, pavement marking, and small-scale traffic calming devices can be implemented quickly and at relatively low cost. In an effort to reduce traffic-related injuries in their community and ensure equitable services, the City of Oakland Department of Transportation (OakDOT) Traffic Safety Request

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CASE STUDY

Program uses a data-driven approach to deliver quick-build improvements to problematic intersections and street segments.

A DATA-DRIVEN APPROACH The city integrated their Cityworks public asset management platform with SeeClickFix, a 311 request and work management app that bridges the communication gap between residents and their local government. Known as OAK 311, the app allows residents to report problems they encounter in their community. These reports are then sent to Cityworks as service requests. Residents can use the traffic safety category in the app to request quick-build traffic safety improvements such as signage, pavement markings, and traffic calming devices. OAK 311 has been so successful that many city departments, including OakDOT, receive more service requests than their resources can handle. OakDOT created a data-driven prioritization model that leverages Cityworks and ArcGIS to assign a

priority score, or value, to each street segment in the community. As a result, service requests are automatically given higher or lower priority depending on their geographic location. The goal of this data-focused approach is to promote equity in the community by ensuring that traditionally underserved and high-risk areas are not overlooked. Prioritization scores are based on three core variables: traffic collision history, land use proximity, and equity. Each of these factors is weighted equally (33 percent) to calculate the final prioritization score. Once the final prioritization scores are calculated, they are assigned to their respective street segments in GIS. Cityworks then incorporates the GIS layer, provides map visualization, and displays the final prioritization scores in the context of the Cityworks map. When a service request comes in, either from OAK 311 or by other means, the prioritization score is automatically assigned from the respective

A public map shows Oakland street segments highlighted with their combined prioritization scores.

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | FALL 2021

street segment where the request is located. This creates a system of record that allows city employees to filter, organize, and report on work activities by their assigned prioritization scores.

TRAFFIC COLLISION HISTORY Traffic collision data not only correlates directly with the types of service requests being submitted, but also aligns with the City of Oakland’s focus on creating equity in the community. Historic crash data shows that certain demographic groups and geographic areas within the city experience a disproportionate number of traffic incidents compared to others. This factor is calculated by pulling traffic collision data from the state of California’s Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS), a database that collects and processes traffic collision statistics and information gathered from collision scenes. The City of Oakland translates the SWITRS data into a collision database using a proprietary software called Crossroads. The city further analyzes the SWITRS collision information and assigns each incident an individual score using an Equivalent Property Damage Only index (EPDO). The EPDO is a number-based index that assigns a weighted score to traffic incidents according to their severity. For example, a car crash that involves a fatality receives a 9.5, the highest EPDO score, whereas a minor collision with no injuries receives a 1.0, the lowest score. Once the SWITRS and EPDO index data has been analyzed and assigned a score, it can then be visualized in ArcGIS as a heatmap with a street layer added to identify

CASE STUDY

A public dashboard includes interactive tabs for exploring the relationships among demographics, geography, and various health impacts in Oakland.

where the most severe collisions have occurred. With the data in GIS, each street segment within the City of Oakland is assigned its respective traffic collision prioritization score—the first factor in determining the overall prioritization score.

LAND USE PROXIMITY The City of Oakland also prioritizes locations adjacent to places where vulnerable populations travel. Schools were the first land use category to be used for this calculation. The city drew polygons around the school’s parcel location, marking each of the street segments within a 500-foot radius to increase the prioritization score. In 2021, OakDOT updated the model to include a 500-foot radius around point locations of a wider range of land use categories, including libraries, senior centers, health clinics, major transit stops, and more.

DEMOGRAPHICS Knowing that transportation activities have a demonstrated history

of being more dangerous and less THE FUTURE OF accessible to vulnerable populaPRIORITIZATION SCORING tions, OakDOT wanted to ensure that disadvantaged neighborhoods Cityworks and ArcGIS provide a were not being overlooked. They succinct way to organize, manage, therefore chose equity as one of and maintain prioritization data the factors to determine overall and service requests, allowing prioritization, becoming one of the OakDOT to view their prioritization first cities to adopt an equity comscores in a GIS-centric manner. As ponent as a determinant of service. new data is received from SWITRS This methodology has been and censuses, and new priority faregularly refined. As of 2021, the cilities are built, the City of Oakland OakDOT equity index uses seven can easily go into Cityworks and demographic factors to determine ArcGIS and update their prioritizathe level of priority for a census tion data to reflect the most up-totract or neighborhood: race, indate information. come, disability status, educational The combination of these attainment, age, single parent three prioritization factors has households, and rent burden. helped OakDOT use a variety of Neighborhoods are asvaluable data to inform their sersigned a prioritization vice strategy. It has given them rating on a scale a rational and data-driven Visit way to optimize and streamfrom lowest to bit.ly/3j3s1WC line traffic infrastructure upto view the OakDOT highest, and street Geographic Equity dates in the community and segments within Toolbox. allows them to make the each neighborhood most of their limited resourcthen receive a correes to execute projects that bring sponding score. the highest equitable return.

FALL 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

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CASE STUDY

WESTMINSTER, COLORADO

THE VALUE OF TRUSTWORTHY DATA Water utility crews are responsible for a variety of specialized work activities, from valve maintenance and inspections to hydrant repair and flushing. To manage these workflows, they often juggle siloed technology solutions. The City of Westminster implemented a new solution that reduces manual data entry and the questionable data that comes with it.

Pop. Served: 112,000 Depts. Using Cityworks: Public Works and Utilities Staff Using Cityworks: 100 User Since: 2019

BY CAROL BRZOZOWSKI, CITYWORKS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

auren Walcott is always seeking new ways to streamline work and maximize resources for the City of Westminster, Colorado. She works as the infrastructure asset management coordinator for the Department of Public Works and Utilities, which manages 33,000 metered accounts for 112,000 people within the city for water, potable water, wastewater, and reclaimed water. That entails complex workflows for water treat-

ment and wastewater treatment, as well as field operations. The Westminster field crews were already using E.H. Wachs valve exerciser to operate valves when the city adopted Cityworks in 2019 as the asset management solution across the organization. “Crews were essentially getting a reading from E.H. Wachs that they had to hand type into Cityworks,” says Walcott. “They asked me if there was a way the two

products could talk to each other. We learned that Cityworks and Trimble were offering an integration with E.H. Wachs that could automate existing workflows.”

IMPLEMENTING THE SOLUTION The solution was Trimble Unity Mobile for Cityworks, a new mobile application that improves end-toend services, optimizes asset data collection, and manages workflows for water and wastewater

FALL 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

CASE STUDY

utilities. The average age in the Westminster valve operations crew is 25 years old, and “they’re always down to try new technology and integrations,” says Walcott. “So, we jumped on board.” The app works seamlessly with Cityworks AMS, providing a plug-and-play solution for streamlined data collection and condition assessment workflows. On Windows devices, the app supports an integration with E.H. Wachs to eliminate the manual entry of valve exercising data and key performance indicators. It also helps simplify the amount of hardware carried by field crews. “This integration reduced the time previously spent hand typing and the human error of manual data entry,” says Walcott. “The tool assesses how much torque is being

used and reads that right into the system, as well as number of turns and additional data about the valve.” Cityworks products and the new Trimble Unity Mobile app are built on a common platform of Esri technology, allowing users to access the same data across the entire Cityworks platform as well as in web maps, ArcGIS Dashboards, ArcGIS Insights and more. With this

tight coupling of technology, field users and office users are able to view the data for infrastructure and workflows in real-time. The app supports high accuracy GPS positioning when integrated with Trimble GNSS receivers (Trimble R-series). This allows users to collect accurate location data at the same time they are performing mandatory inspections—saving time and personnel

“Data is not helpful to us if we don’t trust it—if we don’t think it’s accurate. Now with Trimble Unity Mobile for Cityworks we’re more confident in our data and can make smarter decisions and better use of funding. Trustworthy data is a huge benefit. We put a lot of value in that.”

The data captured in Trimble Unity and stored in Cityworks is then visualized in Microsoft PowerBI to track maintenance program performance.

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | FALL 2021

CASE STUDY

“It’s a win for me because it’s more of a ‘deploy and go’ solution. It minimizes the overhead. We have other integrations that aren’t that way. It’s a lot more work making sure things stay up to date and still communicate. When integrations are part of the Cityworks system, I can spend time on other innovations or workflows instead of keeping everything together with duct tape.” Trueman Sanchez, a utilities operator, explains that Trimble Unity Mobile for Cityworks is user-friendly. “We did one training session together and Lauren wrote up a cheat sheet. We never ran into any issues after that.” “This app makes things easier because we can now do all of our data entry and valve exercising from one spot instead of multiple interfaces,” says Mark Uhland, distribution maintenance team foreman. The ability for the utility to Trimble Unity shows area-specific valves needing maintenance.

resources while improving the quality of the organization’s geodatabase. Adding Trimble Unity Remote Monitoring (RM) also enables field technicians to manage and install Telog IoT devices to help organizations monitor asset performance data in the field. Walcott also likes that Trimble Unity Mobile for Cityworks can work offline in areas within the city without good cellular reception. Once the crew is back in network range, they can sync the data for immediate access in the Cityworks platform.

IMPROVING DATA QUALITY Organizations that use the integrated solution report as much as 30 to 40 percent improvement in operational efficiencies. For example, Trimble Unity Mobile for Cityworks has made Walcott’s system administrator duties easier. “Any time there’s a pre-canned integration like this with existing software, I don’t have to spend time installing new products or making some other external system talk to Cityworks,” she says.

“This integration reduced the time previously spent hand typing and the human error of manual data entry.”

integrate digitization with the enterprise asset management system and GIS ensures valuable information is not lost. Data quality fuels more informed decisions on repair prioritization and capital planning. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, employees had to work independently rather than as crews to take pressure readings off of the hydrants. “When we dug into our hand-typed data, we found a lot of ‘guesstimating,’” notes Walcott. “Data is not helpful to us if we don’t trust it—if we don’t think it’s accurate. Now with Trimble Unity Mobile for Cityworks we’re more confident in our data and can make smarter decisions and better use of funding. Trustworthy data is a huge benefit. We put a lot of value in that.”

FALL 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

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CASE STUDY

A WATER UTILITY’S ASSET MANAGEMENT STRATEGY GOES VERTICAL Evansville Water and Sewer Utility needed a way to schedule and track preventative maintenance for their water and wastewater treatment plants. Here’s how they organized their vertical asset data and plant maintenance workflows.

EVANSVILLE, INDIANA Pop. Served: 121,000 Depts. Using Cityworks: Engineering Services, Distribution and Collections, Plants, Vehicle Maintenance, and Regulatory Compliance Staff Using Cityworks: 50 User Since: 2012

BY LOGAN GUFFEY, FACILITIES ASSET MANAGER AT EVANSVILLE WATER AND SEWER UTILITY, AND JESSICA STACK, SENIOR CONSULTANT AT POWER ENGINEERS, INC.

he Evansville Water and Sewer Utility (EWSU) draws water from the nearby Ohio River to supply water and sewer services to 65,000 customers in the metropolitan area. As a longtime Cityworks user, EWSU is well-versed in managing and tracking its horizontal water and wastewater assets.

Vertical asset data for the utility’s three water and wastewater treatment plants had historically been tracked via paper methods and work activities were being tracked through two legacy systems. Although the two asset management systems for the utility’s treatment plants were working

well, neither system had a mapping component, and the asset selection process was not robust enough to consistently meet EWSU’s preventative maintenance needs. Recognizing there was a gap between the information being collected and the assets being managed, EWSU turned to long-

FALL 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

CASE STUDY

and work orders will tie into the new vertical asset hierarchy being developed for wastewater assets.

time trusted advisor POWER Engineers, Incorporated (POWER), to overhaul their vertical asset tracking and management procedures.

EXPANDING VERTICALLY

IMPROVING INSPECTION PROGRAMS The team began by converting the water treatment plants’ mechanical work activities in the legacy system to Cityworks AMS branching inspections. Branching inspections were selected since they could facilitate the robust nature of the vertical asset hierarchy and align with the Institute of Asset Management’s best practices. Since EWSU did not have a complete GIS database for the treatment plant, the project team was able to build the assets into the branching inspection so that each system branch was exclusive. With this style of inspection, observations displayed to the user are determined by each previously selected result, allowing the user to hone in on a discrete asset or system and create a finite selection. This helps ensure accuracy of inspections by reducing the chance of choosing an incorrect asset. Before the implementation of Cityworks, deteriorating asset conditions of water filtration were not reportable or traceable and were often communicated verbally or recorded on paper, which made it difficult to properly manage and maintain this system. To help streamline these processes, linear inspections in Cityworks were developed to capture cyclical preventative maintenance activities. Instruction and safety check observations were configured without any predefined result set and were

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | FALL 2021

An example of the vertical asset structure that will be deployed for headworks.

designed to appear at the top of each observation set. This arrangement ensures the user must review the observations prior to beginning the inspection. To support the water treatment plant’s preventative maintenance needs, roughly 30 cyclical inspections were configured. Realizing the benefits that Cityworks, Esri, and their vertical asset management system could provide, stakeholders on the wastewater side of the treatment plant requested POWER’s assistance with migrating wastewater work management practices to Cityworks. This involved an intense review and understanding of the approximately 440 separate work types within the legacy system and how those would translate into Cityworks work orders and inspections. This migration has resulted in removing redundancy and culling the work activities down to roughly 180 total work orders and inspection templates. These inspections

Building on examples from similar utilities around the country, POWER constructed a vertical asset structure that was concise, promoted ease of data editing, and facilitated the future growth of the utility’s GIS data. By strategically grouping similar assets into a small number of tables (HVAC, electrical, etc.), EWSU staff can easily find specific types of equipment without having to search through an overwhelming number of tables. Using GIS relationship classes, EWSU can quickly find all assets in an individual wastewater treatment plant or facility. Not only will this allow for reporting on all assets in a facility or site, but will also allow for future reporting to identify assets that are frequently failing or incurring an excessive cost. EWSU plans to continue expanding its GIS vertical hierarchy to make sure all inspection and asset data are cataloged in GIS, the utility’s system of record.

STREAMLINING INSPECTION WORKFLOWS EWSU implemented a number of key features to help refine and streamline various workflows for their inspection programs. The utility set up its inspection program hierarchies to be location-based rather than equipment-based. This allowed the maintenance crew to follow a similar process that was originally used before the implementation of Cityworks, which included selecting a build-

CASE STUDY

ing location first instead of the equipment type. When the crew visits a location, all preventative maintenance can be done at one time in a single location, removing the need for multiple visits—making inspections and maintenance activities more efficient. The location-based process aligns with the GIS and helps streamline inspections for the

utility, making it more cost- and time-effective. This workflow allows an entire filter bed group or the entire chemical building to be inspected during one visit with each component visited representing a unique inspection observation. Due to the concrete construction of treatment plants, the signal strength inside most plants is low, making it difficult to input inspec-

tion data from the field. EWSU solved this issue by implementing the Cityworks mobile app, which can be used in a disconnected environment and synced when back online. They also provided the teams with iPads equipped with cellular LTE connectivity. With this new setup, teams don’t have to rely on a Wi-Fi signal to conduct their inspections within the plants.

LOOKING AHEAD EWSU plans to expand its use of Cityworks and ArcGIS to encompass electrical, HVAC, and structural inspection activities. They also plan to create a vertical GIS asset model for water treatment, which would further assist in maintaining their water assets and would expand their use of Cityworks in plant management. In the near future, EWSU will perform condition scoring and weighting of inspections for each individual vertical asset. Once all vertical assets are established and organized, EWSU is planning to use Esri’s ArcGIS Field Maps to keep assets updated in the GIS. Field Maps will be useful for the utility to capture asset data in the field and can be used seamlessly with the Cityworks mobile app. With plans next year to transition from the geometric network to Esri’s new Utility Network, EWSU has set a clear path for meeting its asset management goals. This will ensure the utility continues to provide safe and reliable water and sewer services to its customers for many years to come.

High service pump #4 located in the high service 2 area of the water filtration plant.

FALL 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

Enhancing Cityworks with OnBase Plan Review and Document Management Connect content with your permitting, licensing and land use tasks while managing work orders and service requests from a single interface

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CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | FALL 2021

BEST PRACTICES

A GOLD STANDARD FOR HYDRANT FLOW TESTING

Image source: Getty Images

very city, county, and water authority in the U.S. strives to meet the industry standards for hydrant flow tests set forth by the American Water Works Association (AWWA) and the National Fire Protection Association. Consultants at Woolpert have collaborated with water utility organizations to develop a Cityworks configuration

to standardize hydrant flow test field data collection according to AWWA guidelines. By combining Woolpert’s industry knowledge with the highly configurable nature of Cityworks, water utilities can utilize mobile technology to collect, input, and calculate data. Working with an inventory of hydrants in GIS, this

solution enables clients to perform and manage hydrant flow inspections in the same efficient, accurate, and comprehensive manner to which Cityworks clients are accustomed when performing other common field workflows. Water utilities may not have workflows built specifically for hydrant flow testing. In these cas-

FALL 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

BEST PRACTICES

es, utilities develop workarounds such as independent databases, GIS tools, or even Excel spreadsheets—leading to manual data entry, data silos, and cumbersome reporting. Woolpert’s configuration simplifies this workflow by providing a template with a single screen interface. A custom dashboard adds additional value by displaying the test results graphically to provide enterprise visibility into the efficacy of the hydrant testing program. The configured solution enables workers in the field to follow a step-by-step hydrant flow inspection process and input data on the fly using a mobile device. The system then performs calculations automatically on the same mobile form to determine whether the hydrants are within the range specified in the guidelines. If they are not within the standardized range, the user can take several actions in the field, such as testing additional hydrants or creating a follow-up work order to ensure the system is functioning as intended.

Cityworks can then generate STANDARDIZING PROCESS reports detailing the results of all the hydrant tests within a jurisAWWA recommends flow testing diction. To help with reoccurring hydrants every 10 years, in addition to general inspections and flushscheduled testing, the system ing, which should be performed at tracks which hydrants have been different times every year. AWWA’s tested and when using color-coded guidance on flow testing hydrants symbology on the map. This enoutlines best practices in assessables water utility supervisors and ing water pressure and flow rates, fire departments to easily follow operability of the asset, and water data-driven hydrant test schedquality. The standards include lesules and ensures that appropriate sons learned—advising on details routine hydrant tests and maintesuch as traffic control, creating a nance activities are completed. safe area for the hydrant to disWhy is this important? Hycharge, the types of tools needed, drants are critical assets for the and wearing rain gear due to the safety of communities and enhigh probability of wet conditions suring proper operation and during testing. adequate pressure to During an inspeccombat fires is just as Visit tion, AWWA recomimportant as delivhttps://bit.ly/3mrSApm mends that field ering safe drinking to learn how San Juan technicians follow water. Woolpert’s full Water District modernized certain procedures their hydrant maintenance Cityworks configuraprogram. and access different tion can be deployed parts of a hydrant and for virtually any municits relevant infrastructure ipality, county, or water using dial gauges, electronic utility agency to help everyone apply the same set of industry recorders, and similar devices. This process provides data on static standards of hydrant flow testing.

This custom configuration of Cityworks includes specialized templates for collecting and calculating hydrant inspection data.

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | FALL 2021

BEST PRACTICES

Woolpert’s custom configuration form for hydrant flow tests is based on the standards and procedures set forth by the American Water Works Association.

The customized dashboard provides a high-level view of hydrant flow tests and their statuses.

pressure when the hydrant is not flowing, residual pressure when the hydrant is open and flowing, and Pitot pressure, which refers to the actual flow rate in the middle of the discharge stream. These measurements provide the data needed to calculate the available fire flow rate. The Cityworks configuration creates a step-by-step process that can be followed by field technicians and that adheres to industry standards. Fire hydrants can be damaged during flow tests if procedures are

not followed properly. For example, a sudden change in pressure and flow momentum can severely damage pipes, valves, and other subcomponents. By empowering field crews with straight-forward, step-by-step workflows in an easyto-use mobile application, such problems can be avoided. The future development of hydrant flow testing applications within Cityworks is likely to incorporate integrations with other IT systems. In that streamlined scenario, an inspection could au-

tomatically generate a work order if a hydrant does not comply with AWWA standards after multiple tests. Cityworks enables water utilities to monitor hydrant asset performance, track repair costs, predict when rehabilitation should occur, and seamlessly issue work orders to ensure that required repair activities are completed. To get your organization started with this solution, contact Jeff.Pesler@Woolpert.com. Images courtesy of Woolpert.

FALL 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | FALL 2021

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BEST PRACTICES

BEST PRACTICES FOR LEVERAGING YOUR INVESTMENT IN CITYWORKS AND MUNIS Connecting Cityworks to an organization’s financial software system is one of the most requested integrations among local government and utility organizations. Here’s how involving the thirdparty software provider can help. BY MICHAEL EDWARDS, TIMMONS GROUP PROJECT DIRECTOR

s Cityworks has grown to be a true platform solution capable of integrating with other enterprise systems, experienced Cityworks users and business partners have identified best practices for ensuring the long-term success of a system integration. Tyler Munis is a

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | FALL 2021

financial software solution used by many local government agencies to manage financials, procurement, human resources, payroll, and revenue. Integrations with Munis allow Cityworks to access data such as employee labor rates and equipment and material costs, as

well as send back to Munis the costs incurred on work orders or the permit revenue that has been collected. For any integration to be successful, the third-party software provider—in this case, Munis—needs to be involved to

BEST PRACTICES

confirm the technical approach and functional requirements of the integration. For example, does the third-party system support your workflow requirements? Does the project team need to modify workflows or the setup of the third-party system to support the integration? Third-party documentation is often inaccurate or outdated or there may be bugs in the third-party code that prohibit technical adaptations. Involving the third-party provider can help an organization understand how to balance the costs, complexity, ease of use, support, and sustainability of an integration. Timmons Group used this approach when they worked with the City of Auburn, Alabama, to update their existing Cityworks and Tyler integration using APIs. A previous integration with Tyler’s legacy system, Eden, relied primarily on flat-file transfers, or manual exports of datafiles from one system to another. We reviewed existing workflows, with an emphasis on functional requirements and business processes. The team then worked to identify where each system should be leveraged in the workflows to maximize the integration. Auburn’s updated Munis and Cityworks integration is split into several sections of support: employees, materials, utility billing, and cashiering. Here is how the updated integration benefitted each support section.

EMPLOYEE RECORDS In a previous integration to Eden, service requests were dispatched to Cityworks admins every time a

human resources (HR) staff member updated an employee record. HR staff could amass hundreds of generated requests a year, particularly during busy seasons. City staff can now add, remove, or update an employee record without creating additional requests that bog down their HR team. The new one-way integration from Munis to Cityworks automatically updates the Cityworks employee table, eliminating most service requests. When human interaction is needed, a subset of the output fields automatically determines whether a service request should be generated for additional follow-up. APIs can be leveraged on both sides by the Munis administrator or the Cityworks administrator, allowing changes made at any point in the process to automatically update both systems. “Without this critical piece of the integration, there is simply no way we can support accurate and timely employee data in Cityworks without also growing support staff. This integration alone has saved the city thousands of Cityworks administration hours,” says Christopher Graff, deputy chief information officer for the City of Auburn.

Integrations are most successful when they are treated either as subprojects within a Cityworks implementation or as a separate project after Cityworks go-live. Integration projects should contain five distinct phases. 1. Plan: Define the functional requirements and design the integration 2. Build: Write code, develop workflows, etc.

MATERIALS Tracking the costs, inventory, and use of raw materials for municipal projects is a critical component of Auburn’s operations management. Items like concrete mix, stone, and cold patch asphalt are all tracked through the city’s Munis system. Cityworks allows crews to record how much material is used in a project and how much inventory remains. Previously, city staff dedicated valuable work hours to manually update material data between the two systems. We designed an API integration between Cityworks Storeroom and Tyler Munis that streamlines raw material tracking. Utility employees now use Cityworks AMS and Storeroom to maintain the cost of a material, the amount used in a project, and the remaining quantity after the inventory has been adjusted. The system updates nightly to keep both finance staff and utility crews appraised. “Work stoppages and overtime used during inventory audits has greatly decreased. We’ve been able to lower inventory costs because we better manage what’s on hand and can efficiently order materials,” says Christopher.

3. Test: Integration and user acceptance testing 4. Train: Empower the system administrator as well as end users 5. Deploy: Place the integration into production environmentproject details available in OpX, even reevaluating workflows to take advantage of the new financial views broken down by equipment, labor, and materials.

FALL 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

BEST PRACTICES

City of Auburn’s Cityworks integration with Tyler Cashiering for permit fee payments.

UTILITY BILLING Up-to-date finances are an important facet to any successfully operating municipality. The Auburn utility billing team needed a way to immediately update financial records with each filing. The previous configuration produced a 15-minute delay with each utility billing update. Although this delay may not seem significant, it created unnecessary information in a second staging table upon closing a work order and often resulted in orphan canceled billing records. The fields available to Cityworks were also too limited to be functional. The new Cityworks and Munis integration allows for instantaneous data transfer, a function that is vital to reliable customer billing. The integration sends billing and meter information to Cityworks. When the Cityworks work order is closed, only applicable information is sent back to Munis, eliminating dual records and unnecessary data transfer.

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | FALL 2021

“The instant communication between office and field—Munis and Cityworks—facilitates greater teamwork among staff. We see increased productivity from this, and this ultimately builds happy customers,” Christopher says.

CASHIERING The final section of Auburn’s Cityworks and Munis integration did not have a legacy implementation. Instead, city staff manually transposed fees to Tyler Cashiering. We proposed a solution to create a web service that combines Tyler Cashiering and Cityworks permit management to support fee lookups, permit fee payments, and permit voiding. As a result, finance staff no longer need to manually monitor Cityworks fee-based transactions. With the fee lookup, staff can search for a customer name, address, or phone number, and Cityworks will return a specific output such as fee amount or due date. The Tyler Cashiering side of the integration is responsible for both

making the call to the web service and parsing the results. Fees are returned by the web service for permits that do not have a status of closed, denied, expired, void, or withdrawn. Another critical value added to this new API integration is reporting. Prior to this process, most fees were categorized at a high level and with few details. The new integration allows for highly detailed permitting fee data to flow back to Munis, thus creating a richer data set to help the city make data-driven decisions around planning and operations. To mark Cityworks permit fees as paid, we developed a web service that will acknowledge payment information and return the output as successful or failed. Tyler Cashiering makes a call to the web service that can parse results for each fee that requires payment. To mark Cityworks permits as voided, we developed a service that can delete a payment and all its associated records throughout Tyler Cashiering, keeping dual or unnecessary records out of the integration. As the City of Auburn continues to grow in its business processes, Timmons Group will continue to help its employees, supervisors, and utility workers establish best practices that benefit the entirety of the municipality. Bringing third-party software providers to the table brought Auburn tremendous success. The world of geospatial technology and asset management continues to evolve quickly, and we welcome the challenge of building and implementing forthcoming best practices for our industry partners.

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INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS FROM CORI CRISS & MARK GRABOWSKI OF ITPIPES We talked with two of our colleagues at ITpipes—Cori Criss, founder and CEO, and Mark Grabowski, business development manager—about the future of water and wastewater management. INTERVIEWED BY WESTLEY COTTAM, CITYWORKS CONTRIBUTING WRITER Q: You’ve been working with GIS and asset management for more than 30 years. Why did you choose this field and how did you get your start? CORI: The field chose me. Most people don’t choose to work in the dirty water business but I had great mentors, clients, and friends helping and encouraging me. I worked at Hancor Pipe and then a division called Pipetech that performed pipeline rehab before rehab was a day-to-day occurrence. The inspectors would bring me inspection reports via printouts and videotape. I would wipe down the reports with antibacterial spray and paper towels before I would touch them. I knew there was a better solution. After some networking at a NoDig show in 1993, I was introduced to an international development company that we partnered with to design and supply pipe inspection software. The beginning was tough. People back then laughed about the idea of having a computer in a field inspection truck, run by someone who had never used a computer. Eventually, our company became the leader for sewer in-

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | FALL 2021

spection software and even larger than the development company. Al Rossmeisl and I founded ITpipes to focus on delivering software that is configurable, consumes Esri products, and offers bi-directional automations with enterprise systems like Cityworks. My team and I have never set our sights on being the biggest operation. Instead, we’ve continually focused on being the best by providing unparalleled service and innovative products.

very diverse geography, which means that water infrastructure costs vary greatly. For those in the drought-stricken areas, for example, the costs of pumping or purchasing fresh water may become much greater than the cost of cleaning and treating wastewater. In order for water reuse to work, both water delivery and wastewater systems need to be functioning properly and routinely inspected.

Q: What does the future of water and wastewater management look like?

Q: There is a renewed interest in updating water infrastructure in the U.S. How can utilities start preparing now?

CORI: In the short-term, agencies are focused on “tightening up” their systems by detecting and fixing leaks in both water and wastewater infrastructure. In the long-term, many water utilities will be focused on water reuse. The U.S. has a

MARK: Napoleon Bonaparte said that “war is 90 percent information”—this can be applied to water infrastructure. In order to manage your assets correctly, you must first understand them. Knowing exactly where your assets are and under-

“We never set sight on being the biggest... We focus on being the best by providing unparalleled service and innovative products.” -Cori Criss

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

standing their overall condition allows utilities to calculate the risk of failure versus the likelihood of failure, which helps create an efficient and effective maintenance plan. Q: When it comes to water and wastewater infrastructure, what is the biggest challenge that the U.S. faces? MARK: It’s the age-old “out of sight, out of mind” dilemma. It is difficult for engineers and utility directors to convince elected officials and residents to invest significant amounts of money on infrastructure projects that will never be seen or properly appreciated—until the infrastructure fails. However, the ability to share wastewater data and information via Esri and Cityworks is proving to be instrumental in making the case. Q: What is the biggest challenge with managing water and wastewater assets? How can organizations overcome them? CORI: Many small- to medium-sized agencies have never done asset management because their systems have “alway worked.” When system failures arise, these agencies often don’t know where to begin to fix them. ITpipes has been able to help these agencies set up standards, processes, and workflows that work for them. We are not afraid to be honest with potential clients and let them know if they are not ready to begin a pipe inspection program. In these cases, we try to guide them through their initial steps and offer recommendations of those who can help.

Knowing where your assets are and understanding their condition allows you to calculate the risk of failure versus the likelihood of failure, which helps create an effective maintenance plan.” -Mark Grabowski Q: Any tips or tricks to getting the most out of ITpipes and Cityworks integration? MARK: The best approach is an automated bi-directional integration. This allows data entered into ITpipes to be automatically synced with Cityworks and ArcGIS. Make use of workflow automations to save your organization time. For example, anytime a pipe cleaning crew records a “roots, greater than 75 percent” observation, that can trigger an email and create a work order in Cityworks. We also recommend that utilities keep their legacy inspection data when upgrading software. This historical data can bring future insight and Cityworks—in conjunction with ITpipes—makes the tracking of l legacy inspection data easier. Q: What is one of the biggest mistakes organizations can make with their end users? MARK: Lack of training. Organizations have a tendency to spend significant amounts of time and money demoing, investigating, and implementing a new system and then fail to properly train their users. ITpipes offers initial training and weekly online training sessions for both office and field users.

Clients can access our extensive library of knowledge-base articles available on our support site. In addition to that, we offer step-bystep tips and instructions to ensure that organizations are getting the most out of ITpipes. Q: What technology are you currently geeking out over? MARK: Panamorph video. Specialized cameras travel down the pipe and take 360-degree images that are stitched together to essentially create a Google Street View of the inside of a pipe or manhole. This allows for mass collection of data, and the coding can be done in the office or outsourced. CORI: I love tech. Wearables for energy are devices that use your sweat to create power. Imagine powering your phone by holding it or your house by sleeping in it. Not only is this a major improvement on efficiency but also environmentally friendly. Another piece of technology I find interesting is Unreal Engine 5. This is an open real-time 3D creation tool primarily used by gamers, but in the future it will affect how simulated cities are designed and built.

FALL 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

NEWS & EVENTS

Industry happenings and highlights

2021 CITYWORKS INNOVATE CONFERENCE AWARDS We created the Cityworks User Awards to recognize the good work you are doing in your communities. Award winners represent a diverse group of municipalities and utilities. To read more about each awardee, visit https://bit.ly/2VgLASB.

EXCELLENCE IN DEPARTMENTAL PRACTICE

EXCELLENCE IN ONLINE PRACTICE

• City of Alcoa Public Works

• City of Grand Rapids, Minnesota

& Engineering Department,

• City of Racine, Wisconsin

Tennessee

EXCELLENCE IN ENTERPRISE PRACTICE

• Central Arkansas Water • Clayton County Water Authority, Georgia • Detroit Water & Sewerage Department, Michigan • Truckee Meadows Water Authority, Nevada

• City of Cleveland, Ohio • Halifax Water Commission, Nova Scotia, Canada • City of Stockton, California • City of Tallahassee, Florida • City of Weatherford, Texas

ESRI SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN GIS Cityworks clients recognize the value of ArcGIS and location intelligence. At the 2021 Esri User Conference, several Cityworks clients were recognized for using GIS to improve their communities. • City of Akron, Ohio • City of Bozeman, Montana • City of Lebanon, Tennessee • City of Newport News, Virginia • Green Valley Water, Arizona • Southern Company, Georgia

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | FALL 2021

ONLINE TRAINING Our training courses can help you learn new skills and maximize your organization’s investment in Cityworks. Here are just a few of the latest on-demand courses available on Learn.Trimble. Create an account at Learn.Trimble.com and search for “Cityworks” to get started.

CITYWORKS ACTION MANAGER: INTRODUCTION Automations can help you streamline workflows and reduce manual tasks within Cityworks. By the end of the course, you will understand the basics of automations within Cityworks and be able to configure action templates, events, and webhooks.

CITYWORKS OFFICE 15.7 FOR AMS: STANDARD & CUSTOM INSPECTIONS Learn to build fully customized inspection templates, set observations to calculate a condition score, and link fields between systems so that updates write directly to your geodatabase once an inspection has been closed.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

INFRASTRUCTURE:

C-

Here are some fasinating facts—provided by the American Society of Civil Engineers—about the current state of public works.

D+

There is a water main break every two minutes and an estimated

Most wastewater treatment plants are designed with an average lifespan of

6 BILLION GALLONS

40-50 YEARS

D Urban flooding results in

$9 BILLION

in damages annually

of treated water is lost everyday

4-7 YEARS

the average cycle for airfield pavement maintenance

$28 BILLION$169 BILLION

43%

of public roadways are in poor or mediocre condition

is lost from the U.S. economy on a yearly basis due to power outages

AMERICA’S OVERALL INFRASTRUCTURE SCORE IS PAGE

20 56

Turn to page 20 to find out how the City of Flint and Dearborn are using Cityworks to update their water infrastructure.

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | FALL 2021

C-

USER SUMMIT

Cityworks Converge provides rich content experiences that spark innovation, deepen knowledge, and empower GIS intelligence in your communities.

JOIN US ON THESE DATES:

February 15 | May 17 | September 20

REGISTRATION IS FREE! Visit Cityworks.com/Converge to explore videos from past events.

SPEAK AT CONVERGE

Converge presentations are 15-20 minutes and cover a challenge you overcame using Cityworks and ArcGIS. Do you have a success story to share? Send your presentation idea to events@cityworks.com.

2022 THE PUBLIC ASSET MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE

DECEMBER 6-9, 2022 SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH

READY, SET, GO! WE ARE BACK IN PERSON

Innovate is the conference for public asset management. It will change the way you think about your community. Get the inside scoop on cutting-edge Cityworks technology, connect with the brightest minds in public asset management, and collaborate with partners and other users.

MORE ANNOUNCEMENTS COMING SOON. Visit Cityworks.com/innovate

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If you have received this magazine in error, please call 801-523-2751 or email stories@cityworks.com.

TOGETHER, CITYWORKS AND ARCGIS HELP YOU MANAGE A MORE RESILIENT, SUSTAINABLE, AND SAFE COMMUNITY.

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Cityworks Magazine Fall 2021

Articles inside

Using GIS Data to Prioritize Traffic Safety Requests

Best Practices for Leveraging Your Investment in Cityworks and Munis

Upgrading Your Infrastructure with Cityworks

A Gold Standard for Hydrant Flow Testing

3 Ways to Streamline Project Management with OpX

Caring For Your Canopies

A Water Utility’s Asset Management Strategy Goes Vertical

5 Applications for 3D GIS in Local Government and Utilities

The Value of Trustworthy Data

Cityworks: A Scalable and Connected System of Action