Cityworks Magazine Spring 2021 by Cityworks, A Trimble Company

A Trimble Company

Spring 2021

CREATING GIS-CENTRIC

SYSTEMS OF ACTION GOODBYE,

GRAFFITI DETECTING LEAKS WITH

ONE EXTRAORDINARY DOG GET TO KNOW YOUR

CITYWORKS APPS

Featuring: Escondido, CA Central Arkansas Water, AR Rexburg, ID Charlotte Storm Water Services, NC San Antonio Water System, TX Park City, UT

SPRING 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

Jones Edmunds is excited to announce that we are now a

CITYWORKS PLATINUM PARTNER

Our Partnership is About People! The People We Serve and Our Experienced Team of Professionals. We are truly proud of the people behind the partnership. Our Implementation Consulting Team is focused on developing the right solutions to help you with your unique asset management and permitting needs. From the Nation’s oldest city to its largest waste-to-energy facility, our team serves a diversity of clients. We provide expertise in applying Cityworks AMS and PLL to help our clients with all elements of asset management, permitting, planning and development. We are ready to help you and your organization – from an initial implementation through the application of analytical tools to help you plan work, track work, refine budgets, and assess risk.

For more information, contact us at cityworks@jonesedmunds.com.

“For over 10 years, Jones Edmunds has helped us better manage our operations and capital dollars by ensuring that our staff get the most out of Cityworks, from our initial service request and work management system, to what it has become today, our comprehensive asset management solution.” - Tom Tibbitts, GISP PSM

Information Systems Manager St. Johns County Utility Department

SPRING 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

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CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

CONTENTS

CONTENTS | SPRING 2021 PRESIDENT’S CORNER

CREATING GIS-CENTRIC SYSTEMS OF ACTION

Using ArcGIS as the authoritative database for work activities and asset data lays the foundation for better informing your daily actions and long-term planning. BY BRIAN HASLAM, CITYWORKS PRESIDENT AND CEO

CITYWORKS EXPERT TIPS

5 Tips for Streamlining Urban Forestry with Cityworks

26 FEATURE STORIES

Goodbye, Graffiti

Graffiti is much more than a nuisance that ruins the aesthetics of cities and neighborhoods—it’s also a sign of gang activity that threatens the lives of residents. Here’s how the City of Escondido, California, is using technology to reclaim their city and create a safer, more resilient community.

From adding beauty to absorbing pollutants, trees are an essential part of any urban infrastructure. Here’s how you can enhance your city’s urban forestry projects with Cityworks. BY MICHAEL ROMANO, CITYWORKS CUSTOMER SUCCESS MANAGER

Visualizing Data with ArcGIS Dashboards and Cityworks eURL Cityworks eURL is a simple yet powerful tool for sharing data. eURL combined with an ArcGIS dashboard can create a one-stop interactive data shop for tracking operations and KPIs. BY BRIDGET SUDA, CITYWORKS REGIONAL SALES MANAGER

BY JAMIE ARMSTRONG, CITYWORKS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Sniffing Out Water Leaks with Cityworks and One Extraordinary Dog

IN EVERY ISSUE

Central Arkansas Water is using Cityworks in a unique and innovative way: to track the record of Vessel, the first water leak detection dog in North America.

BY CHELSEA BOOZER, CENTRAL ARKANSA WATER MEDIA SPECIALIST

Odds & Ends

News & Events

Inside the Numbers

SPRING 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

CONTENTS

CONTENTS | SPRING 2021 CASE STUDIES

BEST PRACTICES

Keen to move their permitting and plan review to an electronic process, the City of Rexburg, Idaho, considered a number of solutions. The city chose DigEplan for its attractive, short implementation time and straight-forward, fully integrated plan review with Cityworks PLL. BY CHRISTY HUNT, PRESIDENT—NORTH AMERICAN MARKETS, DIGEPLAN

Implementing an Electronic Plan Review During a Pandemic

An Evolution of Cityworks for Stormwater

The City of Charlotte Storm Water Services Division has been using Cityworks for 15 years and has moved their use of Cityworks from siloed instances to a robust enterprise system that includes Cityworks AMS and PLL. And in that time, Cityworks has played a critical role in fulfilling the organization’s mission of protecting the environment and maintaining high water quality for its residents. BY ASHLEY CONINE, SENIOR BUSINESS ANALYST, CITY OF CHARLOTTE ENTERPRISE APPLICATIONS

Implementing for the Largest Public-Private Partnership Water Project in the U.S.

When the San Antonio Water System embarked on the largest public-private partnership (P3) water project in the U.S., the team turned to KCI Technologies, Inc., to implement an innovative CMMS solution of Cityworks and ArcGIS. BY ALAN E. FOSTER AND JOE MURK, KCI PROJECT MANAGERS

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

3 Pillars for Vertical Asset Success

How can you represent concentrated assets in a threedimensional setting? Using vertical assets can help. BY SCOTT BARRELL, PUBLIC UTILITIES PROGRAMMER ANALYST, PARK CITY MUNICIPAL CORPORATION

The Benefits of Single Sign-On for Public Asset Management There are many considerations when planning your Cityworks implementation. How a user logs into the system may not have been at the top of the list, but with the evolution of Cityworks Single Sign-on (SSO), it should be. BY WOOLPERT GEOSPATIAL SPECIALIST CHERYL SPENCER, GISP, AND WOOLPERT PROJECT MANAGER CHRISTINA MARTINEZ, GISP

SOFTWARE DIGEST

Get to Know Your Cityworks Apps

Cityworks AMS and Cityworks PLL can each be expanded with optional applications. These specialized software apps support unique end user experiences and defined workflows. BY SARA ADELMAN, CITYWORKS SENIOR COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

Industry Insights from Matt Piper of Esri Matt Piper leads the solutions teams for electric; gas; telecommunications; water; and architecture, engineering, and construction. We asked him to share his insights on emerging trends for water utilities, how GIS is digitally transforming asset management, and best practices for managing a modern water utility.

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 Jamie Armstrong | Editor Kaye Ryser | Assistant Editor Rylee Jo Ashcraft | Graphic Designer

Marketing and Communications Cindy Curletti | Marketing Manager Paige Burnhope | Marketing Coordinator Chris Mounteer | Digital Marketing Specialist Westley Cottam | Content 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 | SPRING 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 FALL7 2018 15 LEARN.TRIMBLE.COM & SEARCHING FOR CITYWORKS. SPRING FALL 2020 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

STREAMLINE UNDERGROUND UTILITY LOCATING WITH

GIS

Discover how Dig-Smart software solutions changed the ticket management industry forever.

www.dig-smart.com 8 CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

ODDS & ENDS

ODDS & ENDS USING SCADA IN YOUR ORGANIZATION

We recently asked our customers, “Are you currently using sensor data such as SCADA in your organization?” Here is how more than 600 respondents answered.

Fun facts, poll results, and other interesting stuff

5 FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT TRAFFIC LIGHTS Most of us take for granted the traffic signals that keep our streets running smoothly. Here are some fun facts that will give you a whole new perspective. 1. The world’s first traffic light was installed in London in 1868. The gas-lit, manually operated signal exploded less than a month later, injuring the police officer who was operating it. 2. In 1912, Lester Wire, a Salt Lake City police officer, developed an electric “flashing birdhouse” traffic signal. He painted light bulbs red and green, mounted them on all sides of a wooden box, and connected the box to electric lines used for trolley cars.

68% Yes 23% No, but either we’d like to or we plan to 9% What is SCADA? To learn how the City of Akron, Ohio, is leveraging Cityworks, ArcGIS, and the power of SCADA, watch their presentation on the Cityworks YouTube channel: youtu.be/eqeWM3f1Go0

FAST FACT:

3. According to AAA, the average American spends 58.6 hours each year waiting at red lights. 4. In 1920, a Detroit police officer named William Potts added a yellow light to warn drivers to stop. The yellow light was patented in 1923 by Garrett Morgan, who eventually sold the patent to General Electric. 5. The world’s oldest operating traffic signal can be found in Ashville, Ohio. Installed in 1932, it has been in use for nearly 90 years and now directs foot traffic inside Ohio’s Small Town Museum.

“GIS is the nervous system for the planet.” —Jack Dangermond, founder of Esri

The City of Rexburg, Idaho, is built on top of a shield volcano—a broad, domed volcano created by erupting magma that spreads across the ground and cools over time. Turn to page 29 to learn how the city successfully implemented an electronic plan review in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

FAST FACT:

When the Milam Building in downtown San Antonio, Texas, opened in 1928, it was the first air conditioned high-rise in the country. Turn to page 37 to learn how the San Antonio Water System used Cityworks and ArcGIS to manage the nation’s largest public-private partnership water project to date.

SPRING 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

PRESIDENT’S CORNER

CREATING GIS-CENTRIC SYSTEMS OF ACTION Cityworks provides the foundational core of a GIS-centric asset management and permitting system and with ArcGIS is the authoritative database for both work activities and asset data. This lays the foundation for using GIS intelligence to inform both daily actions and long-term planning. BY BRIAN HASLAM, CITYWORKS PRESIDENT AND CEO

have always liked the classic view of the system of engagement, system of record, and system of insight as one continuum. For Cityworks, these are not silos loosely connected but rather foundational elements that together form a GIS-centric 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 duplication to other asset data tables. A GIS-centric asset management and permitting system maximizes the application of location intelligence for performing and planning work. Cityworks is the only GIS-centric solution that uses ArcGIS without syncing or writing to other asset data tables. The system of engagement connects users to valuable, accurate data. Whether you’re recording work activity on a mobile device, assigning work from the office, logging a service request, submitting a permit application, or reviewing a project dashboard—the system of engagement provides the necessary tools to interact with the system of record. The system of insight helps you better understand the full

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

scope of operational costs and work activity, as well as the overall health of your infrastructure. As a system of insight, Cityworks and ArcGIS can help you identify and prioritize risk, enhance operational efficiency, prepare for emergency events, identify community development opportunities, and build a business case for necessary personnel and resources. This continuum, taken either as a whole or as any one of its scalable parts, is a system of action. Many apps and solutions can make important contributions at any point in the continuum. For example, the numerous entry points into the system of engagement can include constituent engagement apps, leadership requests, mobile inspections, Internet of Things (IoT) instrumentation, data file uploads, and more. Location intelligence can enhance the quality of the data coming from any one of these entry points, and their contributions to the system of record can further inform the actions you take within your organization. The entirety of the system of record is available to the system of insight tools that enable visualizations, analytics, and dashboards to inform decision-making and

actions. The system of insight can be used in real time as well as for near-term and long-term planning to achieve improved work management, operational efficiency, master plans, and asset investment planning strategies. Take, for example, workflows that combine Cityworks and Esri apps. With Single Sign-on and web maps, users can seamlessly move between Cityworks and ArcGIS field apps to easily incorporate work activity data as part of the broader GIS-centric system of record. This ensures that all the work of an organization is cataloged and tracked to assets and available to support an organization’s broader asset management goals. You can also expand data collection capabilities with the help of Trimble Telog IoT instrumentation. This integrated solution—Cityworks IoT—can be configured to automatically trigger work activities to support real-time monitoring and response for water systems and wastewater systems. Dinorah Sanchez, Cityworks subject matter expert, describes the potential of GIS-centric systems of action this way: “Asset condition inspections performed on a mobile application

can be fed to and stored in the GIS and trigger a work activity. The data can also be used in asset risk calculations in Operational Insights. Then, asset managers can evaluate their adherence to the organization’s maintenance strategy and goals by visualizing risk with asset curves. Operational plans and actions can be created and viewed in dashboards and in ArcGIS Insights. Project functionality allows users to automatically gather similar activities, make adjustments, and monitor costs. Permitting cases facilitate the workflows for new investment or construction while engaging with external stakeholders and ensuring compliance. What begins as one work order, inspection, or permit not only documents the actions taken—it also creates a wealth of historical data informing and improving the decision-making process at all levels of an organization.” The continuum is a system of action. Actions can update the system of record. End users can streamline their actions, or activities, using the system of engagement. And the system of insights can inform an organization’s actions, either in real-time or as part of a strategic planning process. Perhaps most importantly, systems of action are scalable— able can span the entire continuum or operate within a single system. They can be deployed in one department or across an entire enterprise. They can also span the entire continuum or operate within a single system. Regardless of where your organization is in its digital transformation, we have scalable systems of action to meet your needs.

SPRING 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

CITYWORKS EXPERT TIPS

5 TIPS FOR STREAMLINING URBAN FORESTRY WITH CITYWORKS From adding beauty to absorbing pollutants, trees are an essential part of any urban infrastructure. Here’s how you can enhance your city’s urban forestry projects with Cityworks. BY MICHAEL ROMANO, CITYWORKS CUSTOMER SUCCESS MANAGER

very urban forestry department faces unique challenges when it comes to their tree inventory. These challenges can range from ineffective field workflows to working in a limited cellular connection environment to keeping track of equipment, labor, and material (ELM) on each project. At the end of the day, your organization needs a customizable solution to support your internal

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

budget and workforce allotment. With Cityworks, your organization can streamline workflows and maximize efficiency in the field and in the office. Here are six tips for using Cityworks for urban forestry.

map functionality, you can see the location and various attributes of each asset, pulling directly from your GIS. You can also create work activities by selecting the asset on the map.

1. Start with the GIS

2. Solidify Workflows

The first step to managing your forestry assets in Cityworks is to import all of your assets into your GIS platform. Using the Cityworks

Each work activity may require a unique set of tasks. It is important that each task is documented and completed as the crew member

CITYWORKS EXPERT TIPS

A list of tasks and their current status.

completes the task in the order that the task occurs. For example, these tasks are associated with a tree removal work order. As you can see, there is a sequence to these tasks. First, the tree is removed, then the site is inspected by a forestry specialist, and so on. After each task is completed, it will kick off the following task by changing the status from “PENDING” to “CURRENT” and changing the status for the recently completed task from “CURRENT” to “COMPLETE.”

It can help future forecasting of work or help to stay on track for the current project budget. With Cityworks, you are able to track ELM and associate each cost to an asset or task whether you are in the field or back at the office. Continuing with this same work order example, your users are able to track exactly how much time they have spent and each piece of equipment and material on tree removal. From there, you can run reports and make decisions on crew efficiencies moving forward.

3. Monitor Costs

4. Track Projects to Stay on Target

Tracking costs of a work activity or an asset is another important aspect of asset management.

The capability to track seasonal projects is a great way for your or-

ganization to track the quantities of trees that have been planted or inspected, as well as how much your organization has spent in costs on each tree. In addition to tracking seasonal programs, organizations can track various attributes associated with each tree such as tree condition, tree species, tree diameter, tree age, tree status, and more. For example, ash trees need to be inspected for the emerald ash borer beetle. When your organization has all of your trees mapped in your GIS, you are able to search for or run a report on trees that have emerald ash borer and then create inspections for your crews to go and manually inspect each tree.

A tree removal crew’s equipment, labor, and materials for a current work order.

SPRING 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

CITYWORKS EXPERT TIPS

Cityworks Respond dashboard and map view.

5. Utilize Historical Data

6. Go Mobile

With Cityworks, urban forestry organizations can look at the work history associated with each asset. This can be an extremely powerful tool since a crew member, manager, or supervisor is able to see, for example, how many inspections have been performed on a particular tree. This provides a look at how often and what types of work activities are being performed on this tree. Using this historical data, your organization can make decisions about how to treat your tree inventory moving forward (e.g., removing a tree and planting a new one based on historical work activities).

Cityworks mobile native apps and Respond are two powerful tools that support streamlined workflows in the field. Using the Cityworks mobile app, field crews can interact with the map, view and edit work orders, service requests and inspections, add costs, and view work assigned to them, among other key functionalities. Cityworks Respond provides the same functionality and will also allow you to display informative dashboards. Both apps increase field crew’s efficiency; however, the biggest difference is that Cityworks mobile native apps can work in a disconnected environ-

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

ment, whereas Respond needs a constant internet connection. No matter what challenges your urban forestry department faces, Cityworks can be customized to fit your organization’s needs and allow you to make more informed decisions moving forward. The City of Philadelphia manages more than 1.63 million park and street trees, and they needed a way for crews to assess condition, height, and visual asset data before heading to the field. Visit www.cityworks. com/city-of-philadelphia to learn how they added valuable asset data to the GIS.

Conference 2-DAY VIRTUAL EVENT Join us June 8-9 BRIAN HASLAM Cityworks President & CEO

Connecting Communities Innovate is a free interactive two-day conference for all Cityworks users that will change the way you think about your community. Get the inside scoop on cutting-edge Cityworks asset management and

For more information and to REGISTER FOR FREE Cityworks.com/Innovate

community development technology, connect with the brightest minds in public asset management, and collaborate with partners and other Cityworks users.

CITYWORKS EXPERT TIPS

VISUALIZING DATA WITH ARCGIS DASHBOARDS AND CITYWORKS eURL Cityworks eURL is a simple yet powerful tool for sharing data. eURL combined with an ArcGIS dashboard can create a one-stop interactive data shop for tracking operations and KPIs. BY BRIDGET SUDA, CITYWORKS REGIONAL SALES MANAGER

n ArcGIS dashboard is a great tool for helping organizations visualize and share data. ArcGIS dashboards transform operations and asset data into actionable information and are easy to share both internally and with external stakeholders. In just three steps, you can create an enterprise URL (eURL) to display Cityworks data in an ArcGIS dashboard. For this example, we’ll configure a dashboard to display public

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

works service requests and work orders data. Step 1: Create the Query After signing into Cityworks using Single Sign-on for ArcGIS Portal, the first step is creating the query so that eURL will know which data to make available. Then, click the search button to access the Query Editor to view existing saved queries and to create a new one.

After giving the query a name, select the query type from the dropdown list—in this case, it’s going to be service requests. The service requests fields pop up, paving the way to build the query. Use the simple point and click interface to populate the query with the desired fields. In this example, we’ll use the status code “not canceled” and the request category “public works.”

CITYWORKS EXPERT TIPS

Once the field has been established, options filter into the dropdown area with results populating in the right panel, confirming it’s returning the desired results. That query can now be saved. Step 2: Create a New eURL The second step is to create the new eURL with the saved service request query. It’s important to decide which fields to expose through Step 1: Create the Query

the eURL since the selected fields will be publicly available on the web map’s configured pop-ups. For example, you might not want to publish the name of the employee who received the work activity. The search functionality is designed to make it easy to locate fields of interest rather than scrolling through an entire list. Once the configuration box is completed and fields of interest are identified, click “add,” which will populate a new public works service request eURL ready to be incorpo-

Step 2: Create a new eURL

rated into the ArcGIS dashboard. Step 3: Copy and Paste the Newly Created eURL into a Web Map The third step in Cityworks is clicking the URL link on the newly created eURL. Essentially, eURL creates a feature service. The eURL can be copied and pasted into a web map.

Step 3: Add the eURL to a web map.

Diving into the Esri side of the proess, a web map is created with the base map of choice. Layers can be added from the web using the URLs. Web map pop-ups can be configured, and layer names can be edited. Attributes selected as part of the eURL creation are displayed in the desired order. Don’t forget to save the web map!

SPRING 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

CITYWORKS EXPERT TIPS

Building the Dashboard Next, it’s time to build the dashboard using different widgets. The dashboard can be configured to look and act as desired. It can be constructed by first adding the map that was created and giving users a few simple options. Charts and graphs can be added to provide greater data visualization. A pie chart, for example, can be built using service requests. The pie chart can be built off of the “status description” category to offer a breakdown of the status of service requests. With a few clicks, the pie chart is constructed and ready for a title, which can be centered, large, and bold for easy viewing. What really makes these dashboards engaging is the ability to add actions that make the dashboard interactive. Users can configure it so the maps and charts will update their displayed data when a particular slice or bar of a chart is selected. Clicking on parts of the charts will effect what’s displayed on the map that’s on the dashboard as well as other charts that will eventually be added. For example, clicking on the “received” status on the pie chart hides a number of service requests from the map because they don’t have a status of “received.” Additional components can be added and edited, enabling users to see the breakdown of how many requests there are for the problem types being tracked and a breakdown of work orders per department. More actions can be configured for the Work Order chart so that when a bar on the chart is clicked, the pins on the map and total work orders adjust accordingly.

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

A dashboard displays service request status data.

The map displays filtered data after selecting a slice in the pie chart.

Final dashboard.

After adding the desired number of widgets, the project is finished. In this case, users can view total work orders, work orders by department, service request types, and service request status.

The finished product now achieves the goal of helping users visualize data and transform it into actionable information.

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

GOODBYE, GRAFFITI

The traditional stopgap of doing more with less during tough times is not a sustainable solution. Graffiti isn’t just a nuisance that ruins the aesthetics of cities and neighborhoods. It’s also a sign of gang activity that threatens community safety. Here’s how the City of Escondido, California, is using technology to reclaim their city and create a safer, more resilient community. BY JAMIE ARMSTRONG, CITYWORKS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

n March 7, 2017, 55-year-old Catherine Kennedy was driving on Grand Avenue in the City of Escondido. The dental hygienist was on her way home from an evening service at the nearby Church of St. Timothy when she was caught in the crossfire of rival gang members. A stray bullet struck her in the head, causing her to lose control of her vehicle and crash into a parked car. Paramedics rushed to the scene, but Kennedy died at the hospital an hour later. During the police investigation that followed, officers discovered that the incident was sparked when a gang member sprayed a graffiti tag on an apartment building in a rival gang’s territory. “No one can tell me that graffiti isn’t an absolutely critical issue for a community to address,” says Jeffrey Epp, Escondido’s city manager. “Whenever anyone takes graffiti casually, I remind them of Catherine Kennedy. It’s a serious issue that can be a matter of life and death.” In fact, the city has made graffiti eradication a top priority, creating an award-winning program built upon technology and innovation. Before the program, it used to take days for city workers to remove a graffiti tag. But by combining the Cityworks mobile native app, Esri’s ArcGIS, and the city’s Report It! community engagement app, graffiti is now removed within 24 hours.

City employees can respond quickly to reports of graffiti.

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

IDENTIFYING GRAFFITI HOT SPOTS “We knew that we needed community engagement. We needed help,” says Rob Van De Hey, the city’s director of information systems and deputy city manager. “Through the Report It! app, residents can report the location of a graffiti tag, upload pictures of the issue, and provide a description of the issue. Then we can leverage the power of data and technology to create efficiencies.” With that data, city employees are able to identify graffiti hotspots using heatmaps. “I have a dashboard that has heatmaps showing where graffiti activity is happening, and the ArcGIS layering allows us to have exact locations,” says Joe Gou-

“No one can tell me that graffiti isn’t an absolutely critical issue for a community to address. . . . It’s a serious issue that can be a matter of life and death.”

A city employee takes a photo of graffiti that needs to be removed.

lart, the city’s director of public works. “Without technology, we’re working blind, but when we’re able to capture so much data, we are able to make better decisions and create huge efficiencies in the workflow process.”

INCREASING EFFICIENCIES One of those efficiencies is being 100 percent paperless. When an issue is reported with the Report It! app, a work order is automatically generated within Cityworks. Using the Cityworks mobile native app, crewmembers receive work orders directly on their mobile phones, saving valuable time since they are no longer required to come into the office for assignments. The City of Escondido understands that communication and information are essential for successful asset management, and Jake Nyberg, deputy director of public works, says that they now have the ability to quickly share the right information with the right person in real time. “It gives us the flexibility to dispatch whoever is closest to the graffiti tag or the person who has the right color of paint to cover it or the right tools to do a

larger job,” he explains. “The data also allows us to run reports to better plan for staffing needs and accurately budget for materials.” According to Jerry Dunaway, senior maintenance technician, the city has experienced dramatic service level improvements using the digital solution. For example, in 2019 alone, the City of Escondido removed a total of 36,424 tags and completed 10,428 work orders—all with tags removed within hours of being reported. “The numbers speak for themselves,” he says. “I think it’s astonishing. When we were using paper, a worker would average about ten work orders a day. Now, each guy is doing about twenty-five.” Because crewmembers are able to work more than twice as efficiently, the city has also been able to save significantly on labor costs. “Before, they couldn’t keep up with it all,” Van De Hey adds. “Now, they’re not only able to take care of everything, but we’re starting to assign more work to them because they have more time on their hands than the amount of graffiti that is out there.”

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SHARING REAL-TIME DATA WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT Without a doubt, the graffiti eradication program has been an overwhelming success. But the program is about much more than keeping neighborhoods looking nice, working more efficiently, and managing public assets effectively—it’s also about protecting the city’s 152,000 residents. “Criminal street gangs use graffiti as their way of marking what they think is their territory or their neighborhood. It’s a warning to others to stay out of that area,” says Ed Varso, Escondido’s Chief of Police. “An uptick in graffiti is oftentimes a precursor to some sort of violent criminal act between gangs. So, if we allow that graffiti to remain, it compounds that problem. The faster that we can remove graffiti, the less likely it is to provoke some other criminal activity.” That’s why crucial data is shared with the gang unit of Escondido’s police department. When officers know where the graffiti hotspots are, they can patrol those areas and help preempt gang violence.

“We’re tasked with making sure that the city is available to everybody, so we want to reclaim every part of the city as quickly as possible.” “If we continually allow an area to be tagged, we’re essentially giving up ownership of our city,” says Nyberg. “We’re tasked with making sure that the city is available to everybody, so we want to reclaim every part of the city as quickly as possible. If the data is used correctly, we can get out in front of it and be proactive with our local law enforcement to stop it from ever happening. We have that predictive data.” Escondido’s graffiti eradication efforts also protect property values. According to the National Association of Realtors, homeowners can experience a decrease in property value between 15 percent and 25 percent if they live in a community where graffiti is present. Graffiti can also jeopardize economic opportunities for the city as a whole.

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“If you’re a corporate CEO and you drive through a neighborhood where there’s graffiti all over the place, you’re going to instantly have a negative first impression,” Epp explains. “We don’t want that to happen.”

UNITING FOR A COMMON GOAL The City of Escondido takes its stewardship over infrastructure, services, and citizens very seriously. And through the graffiti eradication program, city workers continue to create a safer, more resilient, and more sustainable community for their residents. “We have city staff from one end of the political spectrum to the other. They represent completely different demographics, races, and political beliefs, but they all are united for a common goal—eliminating graffiti,” says Epp. “We mean business,” says Dunaway. “This is our city. When I first started this job, the graffiti was all big stuff. Now, you have to look hard for the little stuff— two-inch tags on utility boxes or on the back of a sign. That tells me that we’re winning.”

The Innovation Continues Escondido tripled its typical rate of development in the past few years. And with new development comes an increased demand on water supply. That’s why water utility managers took advantage of an offer from Cityworks and Trimble to participate in a pilot program for creating a system of action that focuses on leveraging their investment in Cityworks, ArcGIS, water sensor data, location intelligence, and analytics tools. The system was implemented by combining the Cityworks and ArcGIS asset management solution with Trimble’s Telog IoT pressure recorders and Trimble Unity Remote Monitoring software. “We were able to make some changes and improvements using the data from the system within days,” says Rob Van De Hey, Escondido’s information systems manager and deputy city manager. “It was a huge success for us, with minimal investment other than time and energy into it to realize that this is really the right direction for us and the right product for us.” He added that by utilizing the integrated Cityworks and Trimble technology, “we’re creating more efficient workflows, preventative maintenance, and reacting to emergencies faster.” Read the full story at trimblewater.com/escondido.

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Find out what everyone's talking about. Visit Cityworks.com/Converge to explore videos from past events.

SNIFFING OUT WATER LEAKS

WITH CITYWORKS & ONE EXTRAORDINARY DOG

Central Arkansas Water is using Cityworks in a unique and innovative way: to track the record of Vessel, the first water leak detection dog in North America. BY CHELSEA BOOZER, CENTRAL ARKANSAS WATER MEDIA SPECIALIST

hen Vessel came onboard as a Central Arkansas Water (CAW) employee more than a year ago, the fanfare began, and it hasn’t let up. You see, Vessel is not like other employees. In fact, in lieu of a paycheck, she is rewarded with treats, belly rubs, and games of fetch. In November 2019, Vessel, a black lab mix rescue dog, became North America’s very first water leak detection dog. Executives at Central Arkansas Water—a regional drinking water utility headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, that serves almost half a million consumers in 18 communities—first got the idea of using a dog to find leaks after hearing about a United Kingdom utility that does just that.

For Vessel, the utility’s GIS division created a custom field category in Cityworks to better track and report the efficiency and accuracy of CAW’s Canine Leak Detection Program. Behind the novelty of employing a dog and being the nation’s first utility to do so, CAW had a real job for Vessel to do. Her purpose is to assist the utility’s humans in more quickly finding water leaks—those both surfacing and non-surfacing—to lower the unaccounted for, non-revenue water that leaks from the distribution system each year after money and manpower have already been invested in turning it into high-quality drinking water. Right now, the utility’s non-revenue water averages at about 10 percent on a rolling 12-month average, but Utility Chief Executive Officer Tad Bohannon has a lofty goal to cut that in half. (The goal set for utilities by the American Water Works Association is 9 percent.)

“We’ve tried lots of things including satellite detection and many of the other technical responses,” Bohannon said at a press conference announcing Vessel to the public. “But even then, it’s a time-consuming process for the employees to go out and look for surfacing water and test every one of those surfacings to see if it’s ours.” It turns out that a trained dog is the perfect solution. Vessel sniffs to detect chlorine in the treated water. Whereas a human leak detection crew must test a puddle of water to determine if it is rainwater or a leak from the utility’s distribution system, Vessel runs right past groundwater with just a sniff.

FROM ABANDONED PUPPY TO LEAK DETECTION DOG Vessel has an amazing story. The rescue of Vessel and her siblings from a rain-soaked cardboard box

in a corn field in Louisiana is documented on the network television show Pitbulls and Parolees. Vessel then became a trainee in the Arkansas Paws in Prison program, which allows prisoners to train rescue dogs as service animals. Two local dog trainers who teach the prisoners how to train the dogs noticed that Vessel’s ball drive and high energy did not suit her well to be a service dog. When those trainers learned of CAW’s need for a leak detection dog, they thought they could teach Vessel to alert to chlorine in treated water. After six months with trainers Carrie Kessler and Tracy Owen, Vessel showed signs of a very successful career as the first water leak detection dog in North America.

TRACKING VESSEL’S WORK WITH CITYWORKS After realizing how valuable the dog would be to finding leaks across CAW’s service area, the utility needed a way to accurately track the work Vessel was doing. They turned to Cityworks, the asset management platform the utility has been using since 2008. CAW uses Cityworks throughout the organization, including in the Distribution Department and the Maintenance, Dispatch, GIS, Accounting, and Customer Service divisions. Uses include: assigning and tracking day-to-day work and larger projects; managing material inventory and usage; tracking preventive

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

maintenance on vertical and horizontal assets scattered throughout multiple facilities; assigning called-in incidents based on spatial relationship by utilizing the Cityworks map and integrated GPS truck positions; and creating reports based on Cityworks work order data. The utility’s customer service information system integrates with Cityworks to push out work orders and receive the fieldwork information back when the work order is closed. For Vessel, the utility’s GIS division created a custom field category in Cityworks to better track and report the efficiency and accuracy of CAW’s Canine Leak Detection Program. By adding a service request for “K9 Leak Detection,” Vessel’s handler, Leak Detection Specialist Tim Preator, could easily view all tasks assigned to Vessel. “Cityworks is a great tool to keep up with all the stats, as well as service requests and work orders,” Preator said. “Once I create a service request, which keeps track of my activities, if a leak is found I can create a work order for the crews to come fix the leak.” Using service requests and work orders in this way allows the utility to run a report to specifically identify work orders that are tied to leaks found by Vessel. Cityworks also allows CAW to determine and track man hours, labor, and equipment costs associated with Vessel’s leak detection activities, in addition to her success rate.

The Cityworks features help streamline the workflow, allow dispatch personnel to easily create a service request for the dog based on a supervisor assignment or a customer call, and easily allow Preator to create a work order based on Vessel’s detection when they have completed the service request.

HARNESSING THE POWER OF SATELLITES Starting in December 2020, CAW began using Cityworks’ capabilities to track the accuracy of Vessel’s work with a satellite leak detection image service the utility had purchased from Israeli company Utilis. Utilis provides a satellite aerial image of a water utility’s service area with possible leaks identified on the map. The utility then checks each possible leak location to verify if there is a leak there.

“Cityworks is a great tool to keep up with all the stats, as well as service requests and work orders.” When CAW first piloted the satellite software in 2018, the company used a typical boots-on-the-ground crew to check each possible location. This time, the company is using Vessel to sniff out the locations, and then her handler uses listening equipment to check the dog’s work. With a quick view in Cityworks, Preator and his supervisors can check the “Leaked Detected—K9” field to see if a majority of the satellite-identified locations are actual leaks or not. The field allows Preator to report Leak Found, No Leak Found, False Positive, or False Negative. CAW has continued to expand its Cityworks user base since the initial implementation in 2008. The addition of Vessel presented an opportunity to do something that has not been done before in the United States—both in the industry as well as with Cityworks. The future is exciting as CAW continues to innovate in the water industry while extending the functionality of Cityworks across the organization.

Pictures provided by Central Arkansas Water.

SPRING 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

CASE STUDY

IMPLEMENTING AN ELECTRONIC PLAN REVIEW DURING A PANDEMIC Keen to move their permitting and plan review to an electronic process, the City of Rexburg, Idaho, considered a number of solutions. The city chose DigEplan for its attractive, short implementation time and straight-forward, fully integrated plan review with Cityworks PLL.

REXBURG, IDAHO Pop. Served: 35,000 Depts. Using Cityworks: Building & Permitting, Engineering, Facility Management, Fire, GIS, Planning & Zoning, Public Works, Sanitation, Utility Billing, Wastewater, Water Staff Using Cityworks: 85 User Since: 2012 (PLL) & 2016 (AMS)

BY CHRISTY HUNT, PRESIDENT—NORTH AMERICAN MARKETS, DIGEPLAN

ith a population of 35,000, the City of Rexburg in Madison County, Idaho, has been using Cityworks PLL since 2012 and wanted to integrate electronic plan review. The city had been using a paper-based system to review plans, yet they were well aware that it presented a number of challenges.

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“Our policies require three sets of plans to be submitted, but we had more than three people that needed to review the plans,” Bret Stoddard, building official for the City of Rexburg, explained. “The logistics of passing around three sets of 24- by 36inch plans were cumbersome,” he continued. “We like to keep one

set in our permit tech’s hand, so then you just have two sets to pass around between six to eight people. We try to review plans in a timely fashion, but it was hard to do when reviewers couldn’t get hold of the plans. Plans also got lost because somebody may have thrown them to the back of their desk, then all of the sudden

CASE STUDY

IMPLEMENTATION IN WEEKS

Rexburg’s population has increased by nearly 50 percent since 2001.

it becomes a decorative piece rather than something that’s in the process.” Faron Young, asset management system administrator for the City of Rexburg added, “When you think about it, paper processes are really backwards. Professionals design these plans on a computer in a digital format, such as CAD, and they are then printed. Often, we then scan them so that we can work on them in a digital format, converting from electronic, to paper, back to electronic. It isn’t just that the process takes time and money, but it’s also the loss of quality.” Knowing electronic plan review would make a major difference to their efficiency, the City of Rexburg began the search for the right partner. “We looked seriously at a number of vendors in the market, but the other software vendors we found were beyond what we really needed,” said Stoddard. “It’s

like buying a Cadillac when all you really need is a Geo Metro.” For the City of Rexburg, DigEplan’s integration into existing systems that were already enhancing permitting was a huge benefit. “ArcGIS has been an important component to our city for many years, and we integrated Cityworks PLL for GIS-centric platform permitting to expand our capabilities and simplify processes,” said Stoddard. “Leveraging ArcGIS with Cityworks, for example, allows us to use a map-based search of property history for the complete development process, including zoning, platting, building, and infrastructure,” he explained. “It provides knowledge of any special conditions that exist with the property from the onset of any new project, such as conditional use permits, sunset clauses, or restrictive lot covenants. Without this easily accessible map layer, a great deal of research is required, and things could be overlooked.”

Having made the decision to introduce DigEplan, the City of Rexburg was anxious to get the system installed quickly. “The simplicity of DigEplan was reflected considerably in the time it took to implement, which was estimated at around four weeks. Other software timelines were six months minimum,” said Stoddard. “We were keen to get up and running so we could actually use what we had purchased. We managed it in record time, only lagging a couple of weeks due to it coinciding with COVID-19. This came down to the commitment of the DigEplan team making it happen. I believe they went beyond just the typical implementation and were very accommodating, ensuring that it would work with the city’s processes. The simplicity of implementing DigEplan alongside Cityworks is the number one reason I would recommend DigEplan and Cityworks.”

DIGITAL PLAN EFFICIENCY DigEplan enables collaboration and digital efficiency for the City of Rexburg. “We have users in a variety of departments—building, fire, public works, planning and zoning—that all need to review plans,” said Young. “DigEplan speeds up this process, with multiple users able to access and mark-up simultaneously.” Young says that DigEplan also creates consistency, providing the ability to see others’ comments and vice versa. “Everyone is working from the same set of plans, and it removes contradicting comments from people in the same process,”

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CASE STUDY

he explained. “It provides a very easy, consistent way to communicate plans, required revisions, or approvals back and forth between the design professional and the building department. It also gives us one version of the plan, so that anyone on site, such as a builder or contractor, is working off the same exact plan set that was revised and approved.” All permitting applications for the City of Rexburg are now required to be submitted electronically, which is favored by the architects and designers who were the driving force behind the change. “It is beneficial for the architects and designers who are not located in our area to submit plans online, removing the need for them to ship cumbersome triangle tubes,” Stoddard said. “Our local larger design firm said DigEplan was one of the easiest software solutions that they’ve worked with, so we’ve had really good feedback.” Stoddard also says that developers can now easily upload plans through the Cityworks public portal

DigEplan fully integrates with Cityworks PLL.

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

and download the revision report or the approval report with those pages commented. “It enables them to have the plans at their fingertips, wherever they have internet connection, and makes for very nice two-way communication.” In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, DigEplan has also given the city the ability to do plan review remotely since plans no longer need to be physically dropped off. “As it is all now digital, we can continue working whatever scenarios we face,” Stoddard said.

to the community. This creates an audit trail, so should you need to go back to any of the plans, it is easier to find them, and you can justify the decision that was made because you can follow through the comment history.” For the City of Rexburg, DigEplan has easily fit into their existing processes and provided them with the consistency benefits of electronic plan review and efficiencies delivered from integration into their Cityworks platform.

ROBUST AUDIT TRAIL The City of Rexburg is required to keep commercial plans indefinitely and residential plans for two years, so storage was challenging with the old system. “For a long time, when we were collecting paper, there was a point when the city was purchasing real estate to try to manage storage,” Stoddard said. “But with DigEplan, it is definitely manageable to keep plans even longer than two years, providing a better benefit

Learn More For more information about this project, watch the Cityworks ConvergeTM User Summit presentation by DigEplan CEO Jason Matthews at youtu.be/43Id2eYAWfo.

CASE STUDY

EVOLVING FROM SILOED DATABASES TO ENTERPRISE WORKFLOWS For 15 years, Cityworks helped the City of Charlotte Storm Water Services Division fulfill its mission of protecting the environment and maintaining high water quality for its residents. Here’s how the organization upgraded from siloed instances to a robust enterprise system that includes Cityworks AMS and PLL.

CHARLOTTE STORM WATER SERVICES One of many City of Charlotte divisions using Cityworks Pop. Served: 885,708 Staff Using Cityworks: 141 User Since: 2012

BY ASHLEY CONINE, SR. BUSINESS ANALYST, CITY OF CHARLOTTE INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY

he southern Piedmont region of the United States, nestled between the Appalachian Mountains and the eastern coastline, is one of the fastest growing regions in the country. The ongoing development boom and steady population influx over the last several decades, while generally a sign of a robust economy, can also lead to environmental indicators such

as increased stormwater runoff, flooding, and surface water quality degradation if left unchecked. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services was established in the early 1990s to address these issues. The mission of the joint municipal and county stormwater utility—which includes Charlotte, the surrounding towns of Davidson, Cornelius, Huntersville,

Matthews, Mint Hill, and Pineville, as well as Mecklenburg County—is to manage the runoff from rainfall, reduce flooding, restore floodplains, and protect the water quality of surface waters countywide. With a strong GIS infrastructure already in place at the organization, Cityworks was a natural fit to help manage workloads related to addressing these concerns. City

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CASE STUDY

of Charlotte Storm Water Services began using Cityworks Desktop in late 2006 in coordination with Mecklenburg County Land Use and Environmental Services Agency. Over the course of several years, the city developed its own internal instances of Cityworks. This resulted in three separate Storm Water Services sites with each configured to meet the different business requirements for individual subgroups: water quality permitting, stormwater project tracking, and stormwater inventory. Ultimately, overlap in some lines of business, upgrade requirements, and other potential efficiencies led to the need to consolidate these into a single site.

WATER QUALITY PERMITTING The first site developed in-house for Storm Water Services was a water quality permitting application. Built with Cityworks PLL 2012, this application was set up to track permitting activities, project impacts, and mitigation bank credits and debits. It didn’t utilize GIS data and was basically a repository of permit types and issuance dates, tabular data, and attached documentation. Customizations in the 2012 site included custom tables to track mitigation credits and debits, and stream and wetland impacts. The oldest of the city’s internal Cityworks applications, the permitting site was in severe need of an upgrade. As part of the process, Cityworks PLL was modified to capture basic project summary data, mitigation credits and debits, monitoring activities, and permits and permit issuance dates. Future enhancements may include a more robust GIS component, but all

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

Stormwater project tracking.

the permitting sites haven’t been mapped for use as assets in GIS, yet.

STORMWATER PROJECT TRACKING The stormwater project tracking site, another application merged during the upgrade project, is used to track general stormwater issues, engineering and design projects, capital improvement projects, and stormwater-related CDOT work. Additionally, on-site investigations of stormwater issues are performed via Cityworks custom inspection forms. While it didn’t require many significant functional changes, an upgrade was necessary to move away from the Silverlight map. Originally a Cityworks 2015 application, it had the most customizations and reports across the three individual instances and was used as the core site during this project. Following an upgrade to Cityworks 15.4.1, data and map services from the other two were migrated into it. This resulted in one application and

data repository that users could log into, preventing them from having to manage project-related work in multiple sites with multiple logins. Customizations integral to this site include a two-way BizTalk-integration with the City’s 311 application (Emerald) and service request generation in the previously separate stormwater inventory application.

STORMWATER INVENTORY The third site developed by Storm Water Services that was upgraded and combined during the project was the stormwater inventory application (Cityworks 2015). Primarily used for updating and maintaining inventory-related GIS features, it’s also used for tracking dam and culvert inspections. Along with some standard XML customization, automated status changes, and the stormwater project tracking inventory request functionality, it contains a customized inventory area tool that allows users to create a polygon for field or desktop inventory data capture and work

CASE STUDY

those early days. An organization starting from scratch today with a new Cityworks application build will have the benefit of developing an all-encompassing work order management system that incorporates entire departments or even the entire municipality.

FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES The functionality of the Cityworks

Stormwater inventory area tool.

order generation. Key metrics such as the number of existing features, estimated features, and estimated and actual hours for data capture and review are calculated and tracked within the work order.

CHALLENGES While upgrading and merging the three sites resulted in efficiencies for users and the ability to maintain all the data in a single database, the process wasn’t without challenges. The same Cityworks custom fields were being utilized for different items in the project tracking and inventory sites. These needed to be reconfigured, resulting in all available custom fields being utilized. The impact on reporting was minimal since only one site has reporting generated from custom field data, but it could have been problematic if that wasn’t the case. Global settings for fields such as Priority and Status were also different between sites and had to be combined. XML layouts for project tracking and inventory service request and work orders are significantly different. The workaround implemented to address this involves assigning project tracking XML to the Cityworks Office layout, and inventory XML to the Cityworks

GIS-centric asset management and Tablet layout. Users switch between layouts within the same site depending on the data they need to view. Some of these more minor challenges, while creating some day-to-day workflow changes, were addressed through staff training.

permitting platform looks much

As an early adopter of Cityworks

revisited at each software upgrade.

Desktop and Cityworks AMS, implementations were designed for specific subgroups within departments based on specific business needs and the technology available at the time. While this was still an advance over paper or spreadsheets, it still yielded some siloed

different than it did in 2006, or even 2012. Cityworks AMS and PLL include many more customization options, and they should be taken advantage of—with the knowledge that those customizations should be In addition to the Storm Water sites upgraded and merged during this project, the City of Charlotte has employed multiple Cityworks applications across several departments including General Services, CDOT, Charlotte Water, Solid Waste, and Aviation, and the oppor-

workflows. The Cityworks platform

tunities for application consolida-

has evolved significantly since

tion or integration are significant.

Inventory area custom calculations.

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ENGAGE YOUR COMMUNITY

Efficient and transparent processes for permitting, licensing and code enforcement activities. A citizen-focused solution for managing permits, business licenses and code enforcement activities can help local governments and utilities improve efficiency and better serve their communities. Cityworks PLL —permits, licensing, and land— allows for increased transparency from application to project completion through its customizable Public Access App. Ready for some more great news? With POWER’s team of experts dedicated to implementing Cityworks PLL, your organization can benefit from proven strategies to fully leverage existing Cityworks PLL functionality and create any configuration you envision for your program’s success.

We are ready to help you improve processes for the following activities: » » » » »

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Public Facing Portal Online payments Mobile field inspections Code enforcement Construction, building and well permits

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CASE STUDY

IMPLEMENTING FOR THE LARGEST PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP WATER PROJECT IN THE U.S. When the San Antonio Water System embarked on the largest public-private partnership (P3) water project in the U.S., the team turned to KCI Technologies, Inc., to implement an innovative CMMS solution of Cityworks and ArcGIS. BY ALAN E. FOSTER AND JOE MURK, KCI PROJECT MANAGERS

n order to secure water for their future, the San Antonio City Council voted in October 2014 to approve the Vista Ridge Pipeline—a pipeline designed to bring water to the city from aquifers six counties away. The San Antonio Water System (SAWS) embarked on a public-private partnership (P3) to fund and build the system, which is currently the nation’s largest P3 water project to date.

deliver up to 50,000 acre-feet of water per year, additionally helps the city prepare for drought and San Antonio identified the need for supports continued conservation the Vista Ridge Pipeline as part of SAWS’ 50-year water manefforts. Completed in 2020, the agement plan. Since the 149-mile water collection Produces 16 city expects to add one and transmission project billion gallons of million residents by the went live on April 15, 2020. water per year. year 2040, SAWS recogSimultaneously, Cityworks nized the responsibility Online is handling all proactive to protect their existing and reactive work, as well as all aquifer while increasing capacity inspections for the system. SAWS recognized the need and easing water restrictions. The for a computerized maintenance Vista Ridge Pipeline, which can

THE NEED

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CASE STUDY

Map illustration of the water system extention.

management system (CMMS) early on and requested that implementation of the CMMS be handled prior to system go-live.

THE SOLUTION Kansas City–based Garney Construction took on the majority stake in the project and built the pipeline. (Ownership of the project was conveyed to Ridgewood Infrastructure shortly after achieving commercial operations.) Pape-Dawson Engineers, part of the Garney team and responsible for design and survey services for the project, selected KCI Technologies, Inc., to provide asset register and CMMS services. KCI provided comparisons of the pros and cons of three GIS/CMMS configurations. After careful review and discussion, the team opted for a GIS-centric SaaS solution. This approach reduced the need for specialized GIS training and the need for local IT infrastructure and support. Since the initial operating

nized that the long-term success of the CMMS relied on an accurate and functional inventory. Using GIS as the asset register improved locational accuracy and spatiotemporal functionality of the CMMS, enabling KCI to demonstrate the value of an Esri-based GIS as part of the overall solution. Getting GIS in “on the ground floor” represented a unique opportunity to design the asset register and CMMS in tandem with construction and design. The team was able to strategize the asset register and CMMS from an immediate best-practices point of view with negligible influence from preexisting workflows or database schema. The asset register was creatcontract for the pipeline is a 30ed from a clean slate using Esri year agreement, the desire for information models as the basis third-party system hosting for linear schema. The vertical was an important driver. schema was developed from The pipeline While many engiscratch to meet the physicrosses neering design-build cal design of and operator 7 counties. projects do not typically workflows against the syslook to GIS as part of the tem. Using Esri’s ArcGIS Pro, initial setup, KCI recogthe entire system inventory

Pipeline construction.

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CASE STUDY

gistical and location support from Pape-Dawson Engineers. Onsite attendees practiced social-distancing and mask usage, while additional support resources attended virtually. This quick thinking and dedication ensured the Cityworks and ArcGIS CMMS solution was ready on time, with operators prepared and equipped for go-live.

THE RESULTS

Water tower construction.

and demonstrate security capabiliwas captured prior to go-live, and ties of the system. data were published to a cloudGiven the scope of the project based enterprise GIS hosted by and criticality of the new infrastrucEsri’s architecture, engineering, ture to San Antonio’s water system, and construction (AEC) solutions the contract required the operator in ArcGIS Online. to provide detailed and accurate The project team selected reports on a regular basis. Using ArcGIS Online and Cityworks Cityworks and Crystal Reports, the Online as the enterprise platforms team developed 11 reports that of choice for the asset register and produce the required metrics with CMMS. The combination met or the click of a button. Reported exceeded all contractual information includes current requirements and Terminus tank backlog, upcoming preventive resulted in increased site is located in maintenance work orders, functionality for the Bexar County. asset abandonments, asset system. The GIS and downtime, completed work, the CMMS in the SaaS costs, and water loss. model, coupled with In order to ensure employee the offline field capabilities readiness prior to system go-live, of Cityworks mobile native apps, on-site training was scheduled for meant that accessibility would not the end of March 2020. With the be a concern despite the remote COVID-19 pandemic unfolding at locations of the project. Cityworks the same time, trainers from KCI Online provided the necessary and attendees from the system security and off-site hosting for the operator moved training to a virCMMS, and Cityworks personnel tual-capable location, thanks to lomet with stakeholders to discuss

Cityworks Online provided a straightforward and configurable interface while simultaneously addressing security, scalability, and portability. Since go-live, Cityworks has been adopted by the operators, who rely on it for their day-today responsibilities. “Cityworks exceeds the requirements of the project, providing a complete answer to the operator’s CMMS needs,” said Chris Noe, Assistant Vice President of Pape-Dawson Engineers. “The state-of-the-art solutions delivered by KCI Technologies will help ensure the continued success and operation of this complex project well into the future.” The Vista Ridge Pipeline is now supplying up to 44 million gallons of water daily to the residents of San Antonio. This innovative project is protecting the city’s aquifers and helping secure San Antonio’s water for the future. As this historic infrastructure moves into the next phase of its lifecycle, Cityworks will undoubtedly be a critical tool to ensuring effective operations and maintenance.

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BEST PRACTICES

End Waste &

Your Budget

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To learn more visit: www.radley.com/Cityworks

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

BEST PRACTICES

CLIMBING THE VERTICAL ASSET LADDER How can you represent concentrated assets in a three-dimensional setting? Using vertical assets can help. One utility shares the three pillars of their successful vertical asset management program. BY SCOTT BARRELL, PUBLIC UTILITIES PROGRAMMER ANALYST, PARK CITY MUNICIPAL CORPORATION

he once common saying “GIS is a fast-growing field” is quickly becoming outdated. It’s now widely apparent that utilizing advanced Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology to represent spatial data is vastly superior to the once-mighty pen and paper. GIS is quickly establishing itself as a critical tool for organizations to catalog, inventory, and manage their programs and assets.

However, a major functional gap in standard two-dimensional GIS data (consisting of points, lines, and polygons) is how to represent data oriented in a small, concentrated, or vertical configuration in a three-dimensional (3D) setting. Complex facilities such as power plants, water treatment plants, and wastewater treatment plants, which often contain many floors and complex arrays of concentrat-

ed assets stacked directly on top of each other—are notoriously difficult to map and represent using GIS data. This can greatly limit the effectiveness of GIS in these large and often mission-critical facilities. A solution to this gap is the use of vertical assets—a technique that links nonspatial tables to GIS spatial data, greatly increasing the ability to store and represent large amounts of data in a small

SPRING 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

BEST PRACTICES

Park City’s representation of their water facilities using individual polygons.

geographic area. While creating, implementing, and maintaining an effective vertical asset program requires considerable time and resources, this does not exclude smaller organizations from creating and launching successful programs of their own. Here are some essential components to consider when thinking about creating a vertical asset program for your organization, large or small.

PILLAR 1: THE MAP Setting up the map and deciding how, where, and what layer the vertical assets will start from is a very important decision that shapes the flow, direction, and user interaction of the entire program. Vertical assets enable you to efficiently organize and identify records in tables by geographic features that you define. Polygons are good for encompassing large areas such as buildings, rooms, or process areas within a facility.

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

Points can represent more granular or specific features such as control panels or pump assemblies. If a polygon is too big and encompasses too many assets, then it becomes more difficult to find what you’re looking for. If it’s too small, it can become tedious and difficult to manage, maintain, and interact with. An empty warehouse may have 10 related records, and a control panel may have 100. Defining the type and scope of the geographic feature needs to be addressed on a case-by-case level. Park City uses a polygon layer called “Water Facilities,” which represents everything from pump stations to rooms of treatment plants. Pump stations are comprised of fewer assets and can be represented by individual polygons. Conversely, treatment plants contain immensely more assets and are more adequately represented by several different polygons pushed together.

PILLAR 2: THE DATABASE If the map is the facade of the vertical asset program, the database is the foundation. The database structure dictates how the tables relate to each other and to the source feature within the database. While there are countless approaches for setting up database structures, I’ve identified three simplified methods: simple assets, complex assets, and systems. 1. Simple assets is when a single table is directly related to the feature class and only goes one layer deep. 2. Complex assets involves multiple levels of nested related tables, where an object table has a hierarchal relationship to other object tables expanded in lower levels. This could be an asset that has component tables that can go as many layers deep as necessary.

BEST PRACTICES

3. The systems approach organizes object tables into thematic groups, such as “electrical system” or “mechanical system,” that contain all tables relevant to that group. Park City has developed a database structure consisting of 30 tables grouped and organized into 7 systems. This is not an intuitive process and might take several iterations to get it exactly how you want it. There is no such thing as too much planning since changes can be more difficult to make after you implemented. A good approach for building your database structure is to think backwards by identifying what you want the data to look like and then building the structure from there.

PILLAR 3: THE DREAM TEAM Building, implementing, and maintaining a vertical asset program can be challenging and complex, especially for a small municipality. The most crucial factor to success is the team behind the effort. From the beginning, this effort should be a collaborative process involving individuals at all levels of the organization. Every team member, from the director to the end user, offers a unique perspective and can help ensure that the program being developed will work at all levels. One of the most successful aspects of Park City’s vertical asset program was the management team’s identification of the need to include all operators through-

out the development and implementation process. This entailed reworking schedules to ensure adequate time for operators to train, learn, and participate in program utilization, which encouraged operators (end users) to more efficiently participate in the data collection process. Creating an effective vertical asset program for your organization is no small undertaking; however, with the right resources applied, it is certainly not out of reach for small organizations. Determining the feature layer, developing the database structure, and ensuring a collaborative effort across the entire organization will lay the groundwork for a successful vertical asset program.

Three simplified methods for configuring a database for vertical asset management.

SPRING 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

BEST PRACTICES

THE BENEFITS OF SINGLE SIGN-ON FOR PUBLIC ASSET MANAGEMENT There are many considerations when planning the implementation of your new asset management or permitting system. How a user logs into the system may not have been at the top of the list, but with the evolution of Cityworks Single Sign-on (SSO), it should be. BY WOOLPERT GEOSPATIAL SPECIALIST CHERYL SPENCER, GISP, AND WOOLPERT PROJECT MANAGER CHRISTINA MARTINEZ, GISP

hen speaking with clients about implementing Single Sign-on (SSO)—both the licensed Cityworks extension and the similar IT function of SSO— there is often confusion. In an IT setting, SSO is a session and user authentication service that permits the customer to use one set

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

of login credentials (e.g., name and password) to access multiple applications. The service authenticates the end user for all the applications to which they have been given rights and eliminates further prompts when the user switches applications during the same session. Cityworks SSO uses

this concept and piggybacks upon the Esri authentication mechanisms in either Portal for ArcGIS or ArcGIS Online (AGOL) to provide authentication and then passes users through to the Cityworks application. The tool also provides additional functionality beyond a traditional SSO.

BEST PRACTICES

MAJOR BENEFITS So, what does this shiny tool get me? The major benefit—and the one most commonly requested—is allowing users to log into Cityworks using their AGOL or Portal for ArcGIS credentials. Depending on how AGOL or Portal is set up within the user’s organization, in many cases this is set to use network credentials. For users, this means fewer accounts and passwords to remember; and for administrators, this gives a single place to administer accounts and reset forgotten passwords. Note that Cityworks groups are not fed from Portal or AGOL groups, so if a group changes in Active Directory, it does not automatically update the Cityworks groups and permissions. In this case, the user or group change in Cityworks needs to be updated to keep users in sync. A second benefit of SSO is that administrators do not need to configure an Esri resource proxy for secured GIS services to be consumed by the Cityworks map. This is particularly important if your ArcGIS Server and Portal are federated, together so as not to violate the Esri named user license agreement. Cityworks SSO also provides two additional map tools: Web Map Manager and Roads and Highways. The Roads and Highways tool allows you to track work on roadways, such as pavement conditions, signs, signals and other roadway-related assets. Cityworks Web Map Manager enables administrators to enrich the

user experience by allowing users to leverage Portal or AGOL web maps within Cityworks. The Web Map Manager provides a way to add Cityworks saved searches to ArcGIS Online or Portal for ArcGIS, including adding saved searches to web maps. In addition, an organization’s saved enterprise URLs (eURLs) can be dynamically added into a web map as a layer and ordered by the user interactively. See the Web Map Manager 1.2 Guide on mycityworks.force.com for more information. When using the Cityworks mobile native app, which can be downloaded from Google Play or the Apple App store, Cityworks SSO allows users to log in to the mobile native app for Android and iOS using their ArcGIS Online or Portal for ArcGIS credentials. This enables the use of secured GIS services from ArcGIS Online or

Portal for ArcGIS. Integrations with Esri apps like ArcGIS Workforce are also possible. See the Cityworks and ArcGIS Integrations white paper on mycityworks.force.com for more information.

HOW DO I GET CITYWORKS SSO? Cityworks SSO is a licensed extension, so talk with your Cityworks customer service representative to determine if your organization is licensed for Cityworks SSO. You will also need named user licenses in your Portal or AGOL account. In some cases, you may need to evaluate your current ArcGIS Enterprise environment or AGOL environment to review security settings, version compatibility, and functional and business needs— especially when Cityworks isn’t the only dependent system using the ArcGIS infrastructure.

Web Map Manager allows you to easily add saved searches of Cityworks data to web maps.

SPRING 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

HOW DO YOU TURN DATA INTO ACTION?

Join us virtually at the Esri User Conference to see how Cityworks and ArcGIS help you leverage GIS intelligence for public asset management and community development. Whether you’re conducting routine maintenance, responding to an emergency, managing permits, or developing an asset management strategy, we have a GIS-centric solution for you.

Esri User Conference July 12-15, 2021 Cityworks.com/esriuc

GET YOUR HEAD With Cityworks Online, you can connect and collaborate from virtually anywhere while freeing up critical IT resources to focus on strategic tasks. Cityworks Online provides a cloud-hosted GIS-centric platform that helps your organization automate business processes, scale and manage growth, and work smarter to make informed decisions.

VISIT CITYWORKS.COM

TO LEARN MORE AND REQUEST A DEMO.

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SOFTWARE DIGEST

GET TO KNOW YOUR CITYWORKS APPS Cityworks AMS and Cityworks PLL can each be expanded with optional software applications. These specialized apps support unique end-user experiences and defined workflows. BY SARA ADELMAN, CITYWORKS SENIOR COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER

ityworks AMS and Cityworks PLL are designed to support business workflows at every

level of your organization and across multiple departments. We also recognize that your field inspector doesn’t need the same tools your warehouse manager uses. That’s where Cityworks apps come in. Here’s an overview of the latest software applications that support defined workflows.

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

OPERATIONAL INSIGHTS Operational Insights enables organizations to assess and identify high-risk assets and analyze preventative and reactive maintenance strategy targets. In the latest version, asset curves allow you to view the impact of configured asset and maintenance strategies on the asset’s expected useful life with business risk implications. In addition to viewing the results directly in the app, you can also

combine them with other financial data sources in ArcGIS Insights to comprehensively evaluate capital improvement needs.

PAVEMENT MANAGEMENT Whether you’re patching potholes or rebuilding roads, maintaining pavement infrastructure is both costly and time-consuming. Pavement Management provides an easy-to-use communication link between Cityworks and pavement analysis tools like PAVER.

SOFTWARE DIGEST

In Operational Insights, asset curves show the impact of adjusted maintenance strategies on the asset’s expected useful life.

By managing your pavement infrastructure in the geodatabase, Pavement Management allows you to track materials, costs, work history, and pavement analysis data in one central location

PERFORMANCE BUDGETING By leveraging the estimated equipment, labor, and material (ELM) tracked in Cityworks AMS, Performance Budgeting develops projected annual and daily budgets that can be reconciled through work order activity, ultimately facilitating the pre-planning budget process in your organization.

PUBLIC ACCESS Public Access is the public portal to Cityworks PLL. It allows residents and contractors to apply for

and track the progress of permits and licenses, start the application process, or finish an incomplete application. Once a case has been created, the user can add comments, update case information, request inspections, check the status of an application, and pay permit fees online.

RESPOND Cityworks Respond delivers a persistent map experience and powerful dashboards with a modern look and feel—whether you’re on a computer, tablet, or smartphone. Respond gives you the power to manage assets and create work orders, as well as capture digital signatures for inspections and permitting tasks, right in the palm of your hand. The latest version of

Respond supports asset barcode scanning and includes the ability to share and find queries.

MOBILE APPS The Cityworks mobile apps, which are available on both iOS and Android devices, cache data locally on the device. This allows field crews to conduct inspections, investigate service requests, perform maintenance, and complete tasks even out of network range. Cityworks mobile apps allow seamless integrations with Esri apps, expanding your out-of-the-box functionality. For example, field users can easily access Collector or Field Maps for ArcGIS from the Cityworks mobile apps to capture or edit an asset in the GIS.

SPRING 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

SOFTWARE DIGEST

The latest version of Storeroom allows you to create interactive dashboards for viewing material data at a glance.

STOREROOM

modify what each group or end user sees so it pertains to their operational needs. The latest version allows you to share and copy user profiles. Whether it’s moving a profile from test to production or importing a unique profile from another Cityworks client, this negates the need to create the same profile multiple times and is much more efficient.

Our warehouse management application is designed to track materials and transactions in a secure environment. In combination with Cityworks AMS or as a standalone application, Storeroom can help organizations reduce material costs, improve inventory levels, and better inform budgetary needs. Storeroom supports barWEB MAP MANAGER code scanning and other methods of automated warehouse Web Map Manager prodata collection. The latest vides a way to add saved release allows users to searches to ArcGIS OnTurn to page 44 configure in-app dashto learn more about line or Portal for ArcGIS, Cityworks Single boards with interactive including adding saved Sign-on. data visualizations. searches to web maps—

STYLE

A text box option allows mobile app users to search entity identifiers manually when barcodes are too damaged to scan.

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

This application allows Cityworks administrators to customize other Cityworks apps. With the help of Style, Cityworks admins can

all without leaving the Cityworks environment. You can also dynamically add saved enterprise URLs (eURLs) into a web map and order them interactively. You must be licensed for eURL to

SOFTWARE DIGEST

employee schedules can be a daunting task. Workload gives supervisors a simple yet powerful interface for reviewing, assigning, and modifying work activities. The application includes a dynamic map interface and allows managers to

interact with Cityworks PLL cases as well as Cityworks AMS work orders and inspections. Manage the work distribution by taking into account crew and employee current load, therefore providing operational awareness.

NEW! ADMIN

NEW! OPX

Admin is the new HTML5 app for configuring and customizing Cityworks AMS and PLL. The long-term vision for Admin is to streamline functionality available in Designer and PLL Admin by allowing administrators to manage Cityworks in one location. In the first release, administrators can manage plugins, language files, access, and profiles from one page rather than navigating separate pages.

This new app provides a single, easy-to-use interface for creating, editing, and managing projects. OpX aims for a comprehensive project approach by expanding cost breakdowns, linking assets, sharing projects across domains, taking advantage of rich text comments and attachments, and designating a spatial project silhouette. With its initial release, OpX lays the foundation for the operational experience to incorporate contracts and performance budgeting.

NEW! TRIMBLE UNITY MOBILE FOR CITYWORKS

use Web Map Manager, and you must be logged in via Cityworks Single Sign-on.

WORKLOAD For supervisors who manage field crews and inspectors, juggling

This new mobile app improves end-to-end services and optimizes asset management for water utilities. The app works together with Cityworks AMS and Cityworks mobile apps to provide extended, value-added capabilities for water workflows. On Windows devices, the app includes an integration with E.H. Wachs to streamline valve exercising data collection.

In the inspection template now available in Admin, users can configure conditional observations.

SPRING 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS FROM MATT PIPER Matt Piper is the Global Director of Utilities, Water, AEC & Infrastructure Industry Solutions at Esri. We asked him to share his insights on the Utility Network, GIS-centric solutions, and the value that location intelligence brings to a predictive asset management strategy. INTERVIEW BY JAMIE ARMSTRONG & CHRIS MOUNTEER, CITYWORKS CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Q: Why is location such a vital part of asset management, and why is a modern GIS so important? A: In the past, assets were largely over-engineered and built to last. Now, they are built to specification with defined lifespans. In response, asset management programs have moved from using time-based assessment methods to condition-based and, more recently, predictive and prescriptive methods. As these maintenance programs mature, they require additional information to create a better understanding about why the asset may be trending to fail, or why the asset is experiencing an abnormal failure rate. An asset’s location may contribute to higher failure rates, a higher probability of failure, or susceptibility to adverse conditions from weather or other major events. A modern GIS offers

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

the ability to incorporate location analytics.

your assets and are all related to where the asset is located.

Q: What main areas should organizations focus on for geo-enabling asset management?

Q: Talk to us about ArcGIS Utility Network. How can this solution help utility organizations?

A: Geo-enabling asset management means using location to assist in managing assets throughout their lifecycle. This can provide additional insights in three key areas. First, it ensures utilities have spatially accurate and up-to-date asset data systems. Once you know where your assets are, you can better coordinate your work plans by bundling activities based on location and also reduce travel time by optimizing routing. Finally, location provides an opportunity to understand failures beyond just the attribute details of age, make, and model. Factors such as weather, time of year, and soil type all affect

A: The ArcGIS Utility network was purposefully built for utilities managing water, electric, gas, and telecom networks to connect and manage a modern network. The ArcGIS Utility Network will transform the way utilities perform asset management in three ways: by offering a modern architecture, creating digital twins, and supporting better data management. The Utility Network is built on a flexible services-based architecture that is available on any device or web application. Mobile applications can be developed for your inspections and asset tracking, and web solutions can be provided for

INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

both workers in the field as well as in the office. The Utility Network accurately models real-world assets in context to both the natural and man-made worlds. Networks can display their associations, connectivity, containments, and structural attachments with high accuracy. And the Utility Network solves the challenge of maintaining accurate data by allowing only accurate and validated data to be entered on the

ing common to see point-to-point solutions deployed to solve niche problems or improve workflows. The risk in this approach is that while these quick solutions can offer short term value, their specific customizations often become a constraint on moving a utility forward. The value of a true platform is that it provides an adaptable framework to scale and build commercial, off-the-shelf solu-

“If you want an asset to last and operate as expected, you need to invest in it. Data is the same.” network and asset level either at the desktop or in the field. Q: Why are mobile solutions so important? A: High quality asset management requires that employees have access to current data in the field and that data captured on site can be immediately communicated back to the enterprise. With approximately 50 percent of a utility’s workforce operating in the field, improvements to mobile workflows can bring significant improvements to asset and works management programs by improving coordination and operational efficiency. It reduces or even replaces reliance on paper and ensures that both fieldworkers and office staff use the same authoritative data. Q: What is a key differentiator between a true platform solution and a point-to-point custom solution? A: Utilities are undergoing more change now than they have seen in decades. As a result, it is becom-

tions through configurations, not customizations. This is the model deployed between ArcGIS and Cityworks. Cityworks extends the ArcGIS solution to provide specialized asset management solutions and analytics. Cityworks’ GIS-centric platform is focused on enhancing business intelligence for organizations by combining authoritative asset information with operations and permitting workflows. Q: Why should organizations think of their data as an asset? A: If you want an asset to last and operate as expected, you need to invest in it. Data is the same. When asset managers make decisions, they need the data to be accurate. This ensures accurate reporting and analytics as well as the safety of your network and people. Inaccurate data can also be very costly to constantly update or recapture. Having the appropriate systems and processes in place to manage the data lifecycle is critical to modern asset management workflows.

Q: Why is performance assessment of assets so important? A: By managing an asset’s performance, utilities can visualize vulnerabilities, and monitor and validate risk in their efforts to shift from a time-based and prescriptive maintenance program to a financially optimized and predictive one. Q: Why is real-time data so important? A: Previous inspection programs would capture data on assets only during routine inspections, meaning performance data was captured in cycles, often with as many as 4 years between inspections. With the introduction of smart meters and IoT sensors, asset information can be captured, visualized, monitored, analyzed, and then shared across the organization in real time. This allows for improved coordinated operations as well as immediate communication to the general public. Q: How can organizations better understand an asset lifecycle? A: It starts with the planning stages, when the need for an asset is identified, and continues all the way through its useful life and eventual disposal. Using geographic information system (GIS) technology to integrate location information results in greater understanding of the causes and symptoms of asset failure. ArcGIS allows for real-time insights into asset conditions and streamlines refurbishment and replacement programs.

SPRING 2021 | CITYWORKS MAGAZINE

NEWS & EVENTS

Industry happenings and highlights

ONLINE TRAINING Have you logged in to our new online training platform at Learn.Trimble? In addition to registering for live online or in-person courses, you can also create personalized learning plans with pre-recorded courses that are available on demand. Here are some of the latest offerings. Create an account at Learn.Trimble.com and search for “Cityworks” to get started.

TRIMBLE UNITY MOBILE FOR CITYWORKS

INTRODUCTION TO CITYWORKS STYLE 1.3

CITYWORKS ANALYTICS WITH ARCGIS INSIGHTS

The purpose of this course is to help administrators and partners with their configuration of a Cityworks add-on, Trimble Unity Mobile for Cityworks. This course will teach you how to pass an inspection between Cityworks and Trimble Unity. There will also be a section on how to connect to an E. H. Wachs truck mounted machine via Bluetooth.

This course covers both the administrative and end user basics for configuring Cityworks Style to your site. Learn how to set up profiles with specific layout modifications to suit your organization’s needs, as well as how to navigate the app, its toolbars, pages, and panels.

Cityworks Analytics© utilizes ArcGIS Insights to find trends and patterns in your data through Cityworks models created for work orders, service requests, inspections, storerooms, and PLL activities. ArcGIS Insights can also be used to create customized models to strategically analyze Cityworks data to fit your organization’s needs. This course features Cityworks Analytics 3.0 and ArcGIS Enterprise 10.7.1.

TRIMBLE UNITY AND CITYWORKS - AN INTEGRATED IOT SYSTEM OF ACTION This course is for those that use (or want to use) Telog Enterprise, Trimble Unity Remote Monitoring, and Cityworks AMS. It is designed to show users how to connect data from Unity RM into Cityworks. This training will also examine how the user can automatically create work orders through the work activity template configuration by using Cityworks APIs.

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

CITYWORKS MOBILE 9 FOR IOS This course covers the basic configuration and usage of our Cityworks mobile native app. You will learn how to download the app, configure it to your site, and how to create, view, and edit various AMS and PLL work activities within a mobile workflow. Join us to see how the native mobile app can enhance your out-of-the-office data capture and how to configure the app for your organization’s needs.

CITYWORKS RESPOND 3.1 FOR AMS This course covers both the administrative and end user basics for configuring Cityworks Respond to your site and AMS functionality in Respond. Learn how to configure Respond with proper settings to suit your organization’s needs, as well as how to navigate the site, toolbars, pages, and the map. Additionally, you will learn how to build dashboards which are a specialized component of Respond.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

GRAFFITI:

Communities everywhere battle graffiti to keep their neighborhoods safe and clean. Here are some fascinating facts about the crime and how it impacts communities.

A.D. 79

Year Mount Vesuvius erupted in southern Italy, preserving ancient examples of graffiti in Pompeii, including curses, magic spells, and political caricatures

1967

Year that modern, spray-paint graffiti was invented by a Philadelphia high school student

1984

1949

Year spray paint was invented by Ed Seymour

15%

412 MILLION

cans of spray paint produced in 2010

Year a federal law was passed prohibiting railroad vandalism in an effort to prevent trespassing and graffiti

6 MILLION

Square feet of graffiti that Los Angeles, California, cleans each year

30 MILLION

Decrease in property value homeowners can experience if that graffiti is profane or hateful

PAGE

20 56

Turn to page 20 to learn about the innovative way the City of Escondido is fighting graffiti.

CITYWORKS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2021

1980s

Decade subway graffiti in New York City died out due to heightened security

2008

Decrease in property value homeowners can experience if they live in a community where graffiti is present

25%

Year the Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network was founded to fight the spread of graffiti

Annual cost of graffiti removal in Phoenix, Arizona

62%

Likelihood that a “tagged” area will be tagged again

24–48 HOURS

Window of time in which graffiti needs to be removed to prevent further incidents

1,650

Legal graffiti walls around the world

Licensing • Permits • Inspections • Code Compliance • Zoning

GOODBYE, PAPERWORK. HELLO, EFFICIENCY.

For more than 20 years, Cityworks has been Empowering GIS® for public agencies. Designed to simplify utilities deliver better service to their communities. •

automation • Help customers faster

• Boost productivity • Make insightful decisions • Improve collaboration

Learn more by visiting us at Cityworks.com PERMITTING, LICENSING, & LAND (PLL)

11075 S. STATE STREET, STE. 24 SANDY, UT 84070

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 Spring 2021

Articles inside

IMPLEMENTING FOR THE LARGEST PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP WATER PROJECT IN THE U.S