Cityworks
InPrint
Vol. 6, Issue 2, Fall 2007
Delivering Innovative GIS-Centric Maintenance Management Tools for Your Organization City of Woodland, CA, Increases Productivity and Asset Maintenance Management Utilizing Cityworks, ArcGIS, and GO! Sync Mobile GIS
Waterford Township, MI: Leveraging Cityworks Maintenance Data with RIVA Online Planning Software
by Shane Ring, TC Technology & Lindsay Ferguson, Azteca Systems
by David Woodbury, RIVA Online
The situation: 355 miles of sanitary sewers, 2 jetting crews, and a bunch of problem pipe that needs to be cleaned once, twice, or three times per year. The goal: Create a prioritized plan to jet every foot of sanitary main over a threeyear span, while maintaining the regular scheduling of problem main jetting. The solution: Use maintenance history from Cityworks to drive prioritization and RIVA Online software to create a complete schedule by month for a three-year cleaning cycle. After seeing the RIVA Online software at last year’s Cityworks conference, Waterford Township offered to provide a pilot site to prove that the Cityworks, ESRI, and RIVA Online applications could work together to create strategic plans. In initial discussions about what would provide the most “bang for the buck,” Waterford staff pointed to the ongoing sanitary mains jetting program as an area that could use improvement. cont. on page 24
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
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President’s Corner
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Introduction The City of Woodland, located about 20 miles northwest of Sacramento in California’s Central Valley, is the county seat of Yolo County. With a growing population of 52,000, the local economy is rooted in agriculture but increasing in manufacturing and distribution. The City has realized gains in productivity for field crews and more accurate recordkeeping through the use of Azteca Systems’ Cityworks Desktop, ESRI’s ArcGIS, and TC Technology’s GO! Sync Mobile GIS. Problem In early 2002, the City’s Public Works Department was looking for a way to manage their capital assets and infrastructure. They needed to manage and track costs, supplies, and materials associated with maintenance of assets to improve the efficiency of the department.
was also experiencing loss of asset information from employee retirement and turnover. They needed a way to retain and efficiently organize asset data and maintenance work being completed on their assets. Furthermore, GIS alone provided little information about an asset other than its location and characteristics, so the City needed a way of empowering their field crews to track work and relay asset data recorded in the field back to the office. Once information could be handled in this manner, decision makers would have a better understanding of both the costs associated with field work being performed and the condition of the capital assets they were charged with maintaining.
cont. on page 23
In the past, asset information was stored on paper, Excel spreadsheets, and paper map books, which was a time-consuming and difficult way to organize and manage data. The City
PM Update Innovative User Awards
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UC07 Conf. Recap
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Cityworks Permitting
Client Services
UC08 Info.
Partner News
Regional News
F o r m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n o n C i t y w o r k s a n d A z t e c a Sy s t e m s , v i s i t u s o n l i n e a t w w w. c i t y w o r k s . c o m
InPrint Editor in Chief: Tom Palizzi Editor: Kaye Ryser Advertising: Kaye Ryser Azteca Systems, Inc. 11075 South State Street, Suite 24 Sandy, UT 84070 801-523-2751 www.cityworks.com To receive a subscription or to change your address, please send your contact information to: inprint@cityworks.com or call 801-523-2751 Founded in 1986, Azteca Systems, Inc. is the leading provider of GISCentric Enterprise Asset Maintenance Management Systems for Public Works and Utilities. Built exclusively on top of ESRI’s leading GIS technology, Cityworks is powerful, scalable, and affordable. How to Reach Us: Tel.: 801-523-2751 Email: info@cityworks.com InPrint is published by Azteca Systems, Inc. (Azteca), at 11075 South State, #24, Sandy, UT 84070. InPrint contains material of interest to utility and public works organizations. Copyright © Azteca Systems, Inc. 2007 All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.
President’s Corner by Brian Haslam, President/CEO
Recently, I read an article in the Wall Street Journal written by Ben Worthen titled “Try Software on Workers First, Fix It Later.” Being the president and CEO of a software company, this article interested me. Worthen says this approach of software development is common for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. He quotes Adrian Sannier, the technology officer for Arizona State University, who says this approach is analogous to “having your wisdom teeth out…. You can have them out one at a time and have it hurt four times or you have them done once.” Typically, cost overruns add additional pain. What Worthen writes about applies not just to ERP software but to all software companies, some more than others. In replacing or upgrading critical software systems, challenges are to be expected. Sannier explains it this way. “You can’t repave the road and have no one know that you did it.” Critical for having a successful project is “managing the pain.” Managing the pain is a shared responsibility between the software vendor, IT, and the end users. The software vendor and IT “fix any technical glitches.” End users “identify problems, as well as adjust to working within the new system.” Of more concern are cost overruns. I am pleased to say that I cannot recall having a significant cost overrun where Azteca Systems has charged additional money. Worthen explains, “In order to avoid the cost overruns that are typical with projects like this, … stick to rigid deadlines, counting on the staff to adapt to the new software while the information-technology department works out any technical glitches.” Our experience has been that this type of attitude shared by the software vendor, IT, and the end users assures the success of a project. At Azteca Systems, we have tried to improve the Cityworks implementation, maintenance, and upgrade experience. We are not perfect. We realize we still have room for improvement. However, when a problem arises, we do everything that is appropriate and reasonable to resolve the issue. Our desire and goal is to have clients succeed with Cityworks. We have a very good track record of success with you, thanks to your help and support.
The information contained in this document is the exclusive property of Azteca Systems, Inc. The 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, Inc. All requests should be sent to Attention: Cityworks InPrint, Azteca Systems, Inc., 11075 South State Street, #24, Sandy, UT 84070. The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice. Azteca Systems and Cityworks are registered trademarks; Cityworks Desktop, Cityworks Anywhere, and Cityworks Server are trademarks of Azteca Systems, Inc.; and www.mycityworks. com, www.gocityworks.com, @azteca.com, www.azteca.com, @cityworks.com, and www. cityworks.com are service marks of Azteca Systems, Inc. The names of other companies and products herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective trademark owners.
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Cityworks MMS - Call Center
Cityworks Server MMS Everyone wants to know about Server. We are pleased there is so much interest. The summer and fall have been a time of busy Server MMS development. We continue to provide the assurance of cross-platform compatibility, meaning your
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President’s Corner Desktop and Anywhere implementation is compatible with Server MMS. When the time is right for you, the Server MMS software can be dropped into your system without mandated replacement of the existing hardware and software, major data migration, or retraining.
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years. We agree. This fall we will provide SP3 for 4.4. All of our current implementations begin by configuring Designer and rolling out Desktop and Anywhere. These two products are reliable, rich in functionality, and far from being obsolete. We will continue to maintain and enhance Desktop and Anywhere for many years and still consider these our flagship products.
Cityworks MMS -Work Order
This fall our goal has been to gain experience with Server at “targeted release sites.” These users are working with Azteca Systems as “early adopters.” Together we are gaining experience with ArcGIS Server as well as Cityworks Server. Admittedly, this has been a cautious approach. It is a good approach. Through the fall and into the first quarter of 2008, we will continue to implement Server at “targeted release sites.” Our goal is to have a broader commercial release in conjunction with ESRI 9.3 release. Cityworks Desktop and Anywhere Far from being shelved, we continue to dedicate a major amount of development resources towards maintaining and enhancing Desktop and Anywhere. Our cross-platform compatibility commitment assures this to be the case. We must maintain and enhance Desktop and Anywhere to be compatible with Server. Many of our clients have indicated that they plan on using Desktop and Anywhere for many
Cityworks Anywhere Remote Use
Cityworks Server Permitting The Cityworks product line is ever-growing. At our User Conference, we announced the development of Cityworks Permitting to complement the Cityworks Maintenance Management System (MMS). We are close to finishing what we call “Release One.” Our approach is to seek out current Cityworks MMS users who are interested in being part of the development as an “early adopter.” We currently have four user sites with others to follow. As we work to meet your needs, we sincerely appreciate and value your input, assistance, and patience. Many thanks to our clients for helping us improve our products and product line. J
WELCOME NEW CITYWORKS USERS! Chicago Forestry, IL Harnett County, NC Harrison County Utility Authority, MS
Montgomery County, OH New Braunfels Utilities, TX
Herndon, VA
Oakville, ON, Canada
Hesperia, CA
San Diego Gas &
Killingly, CT Marina Coast Water District, CA Midland, TX
Electric (SEMPRA) St. Cloud, FL Suffolk, VA West Valley City, UT
Milwaukee County, WI Cityworks Anywhere Wireless in the Field
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Project Management Update Innovative User Awards Wrap-Up by George Mastakas, Director of Enterprise Solutions
We had another great time at our annual User Conference this past May. For those who were able to attend, I hope you found it to be informative as well as fun. For those who were not able to be there, I certainly hope you will be able to make it in 2008. The venue will be phenomenal, and you will not be disappointed. Last year we started recognizing users who were doing extraordinary things with their Cityworks implementations. This year we selected four recipients for our Innovative User Awards and I wanted to take a little time to recap their accomplishments to hopefully give you ideas on how Cityworks can be expanded in your organization.
Horry County, SC – Cityworks User since 2004 Horry County’s Cityworks Stats: • Enterprise implementation across all County departments • Implementation includes the City of North Myrtle Beach (NMB) • Approximately 200 Cityworks users Horry County’s uses Cityworks to integrate with the… • County’s Register of Deeds software aCreate work orders for all parcel splits, combines, and subdivisions. aProvide Assessment Department QA/QC functionality. aUse tasks to track new parcels, street and address points in GIS, sales, listings, and appraisals. • Workflow of the County’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) aUse WebEOC to take calls during EOC activation. aAuto-generate work orders in Cityworks for incidents and assign to a project. aProvide a report to FEMA at the end of the event. • City of North Myrtle Beach (NMB) Maria Dolce, Timothy Oliver - Horry County aGenerate and submit a PW request from NMB to the County. aGenerate and submit a PU request from the County to NMB. aConnect NMB to the County’s SDE and Cityworks database servers via a fiber network. Horry County’s Future Uses… • IT Help Desk to use Cityworks for tracking work orders. • GIS is building a geometric network of County-owned infrastructure, including fiber lines (86 miles), routers, switches, servers, and PC’s. • County working on passing PC assets from Cityworks Storeroom into the GIS as PC’s are added. Horry County Miscellaneous… • Each new implementation takes 3 months. • AdminMagic is used to keep desktops up-to-date. • Three dedicated personnel oversee Cityworks: administrator, project manager, and software support engineer.
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Project Management Update
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City of Philadelphia, PA Streets Department – Cityworks User since 2004 City of Philadelphia’s Cityworks Stats: • Enterprise implementation across many divisions in the Streets Department • Cityworks instrumental in implementing Mayor’s “Smooth Streets” initiative • Approximately 100 concurrent users of Cityworks; up to 200 users total City of Philadelphia’s Uses of Cityworks… • Highways Operations group aRepair potholes, cave-ins, and restore ditches dug by other departments to work on other underground infrastructure. aExecute Mayor’s “Smooth Streets” initiative (an aggressive and innovative initiative to improve the quality of roadways in Philadelphia that includes quick turn-around to potholes that are reported by phone or through a public website integrated to Cityworks). aInspect street conditions and provide the ability for utilities to update the corrective work they perform. • Street Lighting group aTrack calls for problems with alley lights. aCreate maps indicating the correct pole for a contractor to Marion Storey, Nancy Sen - Philadelphia Streets perform work on using a custom tool in ArcMap to attach a PDF map to a service request. aTrack contractor time in work orders to verify invoices the City receives from contractors. • Construction and Facilities group aTrack work performed on the buildings used by Streets. aCapture the building asset in a work order custom field and group work orders as projects to simplify reporting. aTrack material costs and quantities using Cityworks Storeroom. • Survey group aTrack requests from citizens, companies, and other City agencies for performing surveys and developing site plans. aProvide requestors estimates for surveys and site plans using service requests; use work orders to track actual field and office labor costs. aUse custom fields in work orders to track money received. City of Philadelphia Miscellaneous… • Each new implementation takes between 2-5 months. • Crystal Reports used in creating and viewing complex, custom reports. • Web portal used by citizens to submit pothole requests. • Event layers display complex queries that combine GIS attributes with work orders to control map display and facilitate data clean-up. • Cityworks deployed using Citrix Presentation Server. • Part-time staff support the system: 1 GIS, 1 IT for reports, 2 IT for custom coding, 3 for developing implementation plans and custom user guides.
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Project Management Update
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City of Oklahoma City, OK – Cityworks User since 2003 City of Oklahoma City Cityworks Stats: • Implementation in the City’s largest departments – Water/Wastewater, Airports, Public Works, Parks & Buildings • Cityworks integration to City’s utility billing application • Approximately 200 users City of Oklahoma City’s Uses of Cityworks… • Water/Wastewater aCollect and respond to citizen requests. aDispatch reactive and preventive work orders to field crews. aTrack infrastructure assets throughout the service area. aTurn on/off water meters via a live integration to the City’s water billing system. • Airports aCreate work orders and projects to schedule work and report cost details. aPerform inspections on runway lights and building facilities. aUse Storeroom to manage their material inventory. • Public Works aManage all work related to streets, traffic, streetlights, signs, and drainage assets. aPerform driveway and curb inspections; work orders to repair curb cuts and right-of-way maintenance. aTrack snow and ice removal by creating work orders against snow routes defined in GIS; work orders are associated to projects so costs can be rolled up per project. • Parks aManage all work handled by Grounds Management – playgrounds, facilities, aquatic centers, and mowing. aCreate cyclical work orders en masse using a custom interface developed in-house. • Buildings aManage all building maintenance repairs and projects for 300 City buildings. aUse Storeroom to manage the significant number of parts; the first in the City to integrate with barcode readers and input devices. City of Oklahoma City’s Future Uses… Plan to implement in… • Water/Wastewater Quality to maintain rivers, canals, tanks, booster stations, treatment plants, and lift stations. • Solid Waste Management for pickups, missed routes, and delivering trash carts. • Myriad Botanical Gardens for the management of hundreds of trees, plants, flowers, and a greenhouse for tropical plants. • Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden for buildings, facilities, and grounds maintenance. • Transit for the tracking of parking meter maintenance.
Joyce Plunkett-Weaver, Mary Gentry, Aaron Shook, Dusty Borchardt, Eugene Modeski, Randy Harris - Oklahoma City, OK
City of Oklahoma City Miscellaneous… • Average time for each implementation is 5 months. • Four different project managers perform full self-implementations and provide Cityworks support internally. • Ted’s Café Escondido (yes, it’s in OKC) has the best chips, salsa, and queso in North America!!!
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Project Management Update
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City of Ann Arbor, MI – Cityworks User since 2000 City of Ann Arbor’s Stats: • Cityworks in each of the six units in Public Services and in the Community Standards Unit of Safety Services • Recent implementation of the Sidewalk Inspection Unit (Public Services); able to quantify ROI associated to using Cityworks • Approximately 45 users, including 4 staff involved in implementation activities as well as outside consultants (Velocitie) Particulars of the City’s Sidewalk Inspection Program: • The City inspects every sidewalk in the city every 5 years for all 27,000 parcels. • Inspection consists of: aA visual inspection aNotification to homeowner the inspection took place and, if needed, a request to fix any problems aTemporary, but immediate, corrective measure to bring any violations up to code aReturn for final inspection or to make the repairs if the homeowner does not comply aBill homeowner for any repairs and if necessary send a collection to tax roll if homeowner does not pay • Before Cityworks: aTwo teams of interns took a pile of paper inspection forms and walk targeted streets. aAn inspection form was completed for properties with a violation. aPictures of violations were taken but not kept with the inspection (no link). aCompleted paperwork was entered into a custom Access database (3 days for this step and staff cannot access inspections during this time). • The Cityworks way: aTwo teams of interns take a tablet PC loaded with Cityworks, ArcGIS, and the City’s geodatabase into the field. aThey create an inspection for every property – not just the violations. (The work order is generated against the parcel.) aPhotos are attached to the Cityworks work order. aBack in the office, work orders and inspections are loaded into the main database using DataPump. aAn automated backend routine executes and associates parcel and owner information to the inspection. • The benefits: aAll aspects of the inspection are in a database instead of on paper. aDuplicate inspections are no longer a problem. aThe City also uses Cityworks for billing. aInspections are available to City staff immediately. aInspections are spatially referenced and explicitly associated to a parcel so the City can identify gaps in the inspection program. aScheduling and routing are more efficient because of the GIS. • The ROI: aBecause of the reduced time spent on data entry, the City saves $500/ week per team – or $52,000.00 per year. aWith the purchase of digital cameras that will interface with the tablets, this is expected to increase to $100,000 per year. aThis savings is realized by the Sidewalk Inspection Unit… No telling how much the other units are saving. Dave Wilburn - Ann Arbor, MI
I hope this helps illustrate some of the many uses of Cityworks. If you have any questions concerning any of these implementations, have an idea for a possible use and wish to discuss it in more detail, or are currently using Cityworks in an innovative way, by all means, please contact me at georgem@azteca.com. I’d love to hear about it and recognize your organization for your achievements as well. J
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Cityworks UC07 Conference Recap
The 2007 Annual Cityworks User Conference was held May 22-24 in Park City, Utah, and proved to be another successful and collaborative event. The conference had a strong turnout with over 300 participants in attendance, consistent with the upward growth trends experienced since its debut in 2001. Complete with Cityworks technical courses, user and partner presentations, an exhibit hall, networking, and evening socials, this year’s conference provided an educational and enjoyable atmosphere, truly benefiting all who attended. The conference was preceded by two Cityworks pre-conference training courses held May 20-21 at the Park City Marriott, Introduction to Cityworks ArcGIS and Cityworks Administration, attended by both Cityworks users and business partners. The conference was kicked off Monday evening with a Welcome Reception and conference check-in. Azteca has long recognized the importance of providing informal opportunities for users to network and learn from each other, building these around social gatherings complete with good food. Tuesday morning the conference officially began with the plenary session, where Brian Haslam, President of Azteca Systems, and George Mastakas, Director of Enterprise Solutions, presented Innovative User Awards to four Cityworks users for their outstanding use of Cityworks: Horry County, SC; Oklahoma City, OK; Ann Arbor, MI; and Philadelphia Streets, PA. See the article “Innovative User Awards Wrap-Up” (page 4) for an in-depth look at these award-winning sites. Following the award presentations, Brian proceeded by giving his annual State-of-theCompany report. He illustrated that Azteca’s overall client count in 2006-2007 surged from the previous year and is on the same solid track for 2008, along with revenue that was up 38% in 2006 from 2005. Azteca staff is constantly growing to match the demanding needs. The company is on sturdy ground and totally self-funding with no third-party debt, unlike many companies in the market who have recently consolidated or been bought out. Brian stated that while Azteca is maturing, the company will continue to maintain a conservative growth posture to sustain sensible expansion. Brian assured that customers remain the focus of Azteca with Research and Development as an important priority. Azteca places great value in listening to customer ideas and using their feedback to identify the future product development. While retaining crossplatform compatibility was more difficult than anticipated, Azteca remains committed to insuring the interoperability of their products. Wayne Hill, Director of Client Services, discussed Cityworks customer support and support technology. Remote interactive training, GoToMeetings, mycityworks.com, and documentation provide continued client support demonstrated by the drop in the number of calls and the decreased time to resolution. In 2005, client services logged 1700 calls as compared to 1442 in 2006. So far in 2007, 971 calls were logged while servicing an additional 85 new clients. Carl Horton, Director of Software Development, demonstrated and discussed Cityworks Server, a new
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guest presentation tracks presented by various Cityworks users and partners.
and innovative Cityworks product which relies on ESRI’s ArcServer technology and provides a highly configurable and customizable Cityworks setup. For example, when opening Server a user can customize a “dashboard” with third-party web pages for weather reports, traffic, etc. Kirk Dunn, Senior Project Manager, unveiled Cityworks Permitting in a brief demo. Cityworks Permitting is the newest addition to the Cityworks suite of applications, which is slated for release in 2008. It is also built on the new ArcGIS Server platform. George Mastakas discussed the enhancements to Cityworks version 4.4, including the new budgeting tool and cost types. Tuesday morning’s plenary session was followed by a series of breakout courses spanning over the next two days. Breakouts included a total of four tracks with two technical workshop tracks presented by Azteca Systems personnel and two
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Sessions included: •Cityworks Technology Review — Workshops focusing on new Cityworks technology such as Cityworks Server, Permitting, and Cityworks version 4.4 •Using Cityworks — A variety of indepth courses on using Cityworks •Cityworks Implementations — Knowledge and insights gained during Cityworks implementations from user’s and/or partner’s perspectives •Cityworks Case Studies — Examples of how users are utilizing Cityworks in their organizations
The conference closed Thursday afternoon with a Cityworks 4.4 product feedback lunch and working meeting. Hosted by Brian Haslam and the Azteca management team, the session included product feedback discussions about Cityworks Desktop, Anywhere, Add-ons, and other Cityworks features. This meeting provided Azteca with valuable feedback and input for the future direction of Cityworks development.
There were about 12 presentations in each track, totaling nearly 48 sessions throughout the conference. The conference included a vendor hall with 15 exhibiting companies. The Exhibition opened Tuesday afternoon with a Vendor Reception Dinner that evening, with generous vendor raffle prizes donated by the exhibitors. The vendor hall was open all day Wednesday with breaks and lunches held in the hall. Included as part of the conference, Azteca Systems hosted a Cityworks Luau Dinner Party Wednesday evening at the Snow Park Lodge at Deer Valley Resort. The Luau was a conference highlight with island-style cuisine, an island band, hula and fire dancers, and a Hawaiiandress contest. All who attended thoroughly enjoyed this entertaining, fun-filled evening.
This year’s Cityworks User Conference was an outstanding event, beneficial to everyone in attendance. It offered a unique educational and enjoyable, first-rate experience, which will continue as we prepare for next year’s conference. The 2008 Cityworks User Conference will be held June 16-18, 2008 at the Snowbird Resort and Conference Center in Snowbird, Utah. Mark your calendar with these dates to ensure your participation in this unparalleled event. Check out our website at www.cityworks.com for updated information on the ‘08 conference and watch for registration information in the near future. J
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Software Update Cityworks Permitting by Kirk Dunn, Sr. Project Manager
As the functionality of Permitting continues to develop over the last few months, we have concentrated in three main areas – workflow, public access, and GIS. Workflow received a lot of attention immediately following the User Conference in May with the intent that a user would have the basic functionality once this was completed. Currently we have completed the first release, allowing the user to define and configure a default workflow and attach it to a case – Application, Permit, or Code Enforcement.
and review their status as well as request, schedule, and view inspections. We anticipate that will be quickly followed by the ability to apply for and pay fees online. The general look and feel of our Public Access is designed to be intuitive and user-friendly.
GIS is also receiving significant attention. We are releasing into the core software the proof-of-concept functionality shown at the User Conference, allowing users to start applications in GIS, select the needed objects, and attach them to the application. Once the application is accepted, users will also be able to move from a case to the associated GIS objects.
The workflow can also be viewed graphically by simply clicking the Workflow button in the upper right to open a pop-up window.
Once the case is created and work begins, the workflow can be modified. Users navigate to the task insert form and choose to add either a single task or a group of tasks. Users then configure the task(s) to be placed in the correct place within the workflow. Permitting also allows the insertion of task groups or single tasks to be automated based on the result code selected for existing tasks within the workflow.
The development team and I always appreciate your input. If you have ideas or needs you’d like considered or included in the new Cityworks Permitting, please feel free to contact me at kdunn@azteca.com. J
Public access was an issue that was brought up by many of you during our User Conference. We have tried to listen intently to your requests and have moved this up as a priority. So we are happy to announce the first Beta version of Public Access will be released late 2007. This will be released in parts with the initial ability to query permits
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INPRINT /FALL 2007
Client Services Update Client Services Staying Strong
Partners and International Clients
by Wayne Hill, Director of Client Services
Everything is moving strong within the client services group. You’ll notice from our new support map that the regions have changed a bit. Part of this is because we have a new client services manager. Greg Walters started working for Azteca in October as the “Central Region Client Services Manager.” Prior to working for Azteca, Greg was the GIS specialist for the City of West Bend, Wisconsin, where he also managed all of their Cityworks activities. Changes are always happening on MyCityworks.com. One of the newest is the addition of our Cityworks work management data models. Make sure to check them out within the “Documents/Cityworks 4.4 Data Models” directory. You’ll also want to keep an eye on the “White Papers” information. We’re always adding new technical articles on “how to” with Cityworks. Matter of fact, check out Bryan Chadwick’s InPrint article with his discussion of our new white paper dealing with a DBO-owned single SDE database and Cityworks. J
by Kyle Boyd, Client Services Manager
Hello, Partners! Autumn is arriving here in Utah— hope you had a fun summer! For those partners and international clients who might not have gotten the memo yet, I’m your first contact for support on technical issues. I sit here in my office every day, waiting with bated breath for your calls or emails, ready to solve your technical issues (or to track down the answers for you, in case I don’t already have them!). Okay, maybe “waiting with bated breath” is going a bit overboard, but hopefully you get the idea, which is that I’m here for you. In the past couple of months, I’ve assisted partners with everything from finding the right fields in our database for their reporting needs to diagnosing the underlying causes of those wacky error messages that sometimes don’t make sense to the average user. Let me know how I can help! Thanks again for being our partner in this fascinating industry. J
Give a Cheer for our Client Services Group!!! “I wanted to take a few moments to drop a quick note to say how much I appreciate Bryan Chadwick. I fell into the role of Cityworks Administrator for the City of Woodland in February of this year. My transition was assisted by remote admin training by David Hansen. However, in my opinion, without the front line support from Bryan, my ability to administrate Cityworks would not have been so smooth.” J Kimura City of Woodland, CA
“I would like to thank you for all the excellent service you have provided us over the years.You’ve answered everything quickly and professionally.” Mark Stram, City of Grand Rapids, MI
“One more time, thank you very much for your great support!” Zbigniew Brodzik, City of Richmond, VA
Support Regions As you call in for support, please ask for the representative over your area. “Thank you for all your help and fast support solutions.” Tim Ryan, North Penn Water Utility, PA
“I just wanted to thank Azteca for the great business partner support. Reed has always been very responsive and supportive of the Timmons Group and I just wanted you to know how much Jen Coughlin and I appreciate the services he has provided.” Kirk McClurkin, Timmons Group, Richmond, VA
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Client Services Update
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Cityworks Implementation within the DBO-Owned Single Schema SDE Instance by Bryan Chadwick, GIS Technology Administrator
Note for non-tech users: Before SDE 9.2, the most popular Spatial Database Engine (SDE) configuration was the SDE-owned multiple schema instance, which means that the SDE database was administered by a user named SDE and contained all the tables that defined the “guts” of the configuration while the actual spatial and tabular GIS data was contained in one or more databases typically residing on the same server as the SDE database. The DBO-owned single instance means that the SDE database is administered by the System Administrator (SA) user or database owner for the server. Single schema means that the SDE database contains the configuration tables and the actual spatial and tabular tables in a single database. WARNING - Please note that failure to read this small paragraph before the rest of the article may cause extreme drowsiness and is not recommended while driving… One of the most intriguing enhancements that ESRI provided through SDE 9.2 is the DBO-owned single schema SDE instance. This new functionality led us at Azteca to ponder two significant questions. Initially, what is a DBO-owned single schema SDE instance as compared to previous functionality offered in SDE? Then, how will Cityworks interface with this enhanced functionality for our clients’ greatest benefit? DBO-owned means that this sort of instance is owned by the system administrator (SA) user for the server instance that SDE is installed on, as opposed to being administered by a SDE user created through the post installation process. The advantage to having the SA user as your SDE administrator user is that you do not have to create and grant permissions to an additional user, which is much more efficient as it reduces your susceptible surface area on the server. Single schema means that this sort of instance contains all
of the SDE tables and your GIS data in one database, as opposed to a multiple schema instance – where the SDE tables are contained in one database and the GIS data is stored in one or more other databases. In addition, you can have more than one independent single schema instance on a given server. It is important to note that this enhancement can also be combined with another new piece of SDE functionality – the ability to install SDE on one server and your database solution (SQL Server, Oracle, etc.) on another server. This allows for a database administrator to optimize server resources by having the gserver processes running on the server with SDE and all other server processes running independently on the other server creating a “non-competitive” environment. Setting a DBO-owned single schema SDE instance to work in harmony with Cityworks is a relatively straightforward process. In fact, the solution is very similar to one employed when running Cityworks with a multi-schema SDE instance. In that scenario, two views need to be created by the SDE user in the database that stores the GIS data-referencing tables in the database containing the SDE tables. In particular, the GDB_OBJECTCLASSES table, which serves as a “directory” for all of the feature classes/tables that exist in the geodatabase, and the GDB_RELCLASSES table, which serves as a “directory” for all of the relationship classes that exist in the geodatabase. In order for Cityworks to work with a DBO-owned single schema SDE instance, those same views have to be created internally by that same SDE user in the single geodatabase. This involves creating a SDE user in the database, as one was not created earlier because the SA user owns the tables in this circumstance, and granting that user only Create View permissions. Then creating the aforementioned views as that SDE user and adding Grant Select permissions to those views to all of your users accessing GIS assets in Cityworks – either through their participation in database roles (ex. sde_view, sde_edit, etc.) or on a login-by-login basis. If you’re interested in obtaining further details about the concepts discussed in this article, please log on to MyCityworks.com to download “Cityworks Implementation within the DBOOwned Single Schema SDE Instance.” After logging into the site, click on the White Papers tab at the far left of the webpage and then the “Cityworks and a DBO Owned Single SDE Schema” (July 2007) link to load the PDF document with step-by-step instructions . J
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INPRINT /FALL 2007
Client Services Update
(cont.)
Cityworks Training by John Jarnagin, Support Training Manager, Azteca Systems, Inc.
The Cityworks Administration training course continues to be very popular with our end users and business partners. Currently, this course is offered quarterly throughout the year. The next Cityworks Administration training will be held December 10th-14th at our company headquarters in Sandy, UT. If you can’t make that training, the next one will be March 10th-14th, 2008. Pre-conference training will be offered in conjunction with next year’s Cityworks Conference, June 13th-14th, at Azteca company headquarters and a few other nearby locations in Sandy, UT. The Cityworks Administration class is beneficial to both end users and business partners alike, as it: • Gives attendees plenty of hands-on time with Cityworks software in its various flavors, along with Add-on products (Storeroom) and periphery tools (Database Manager, Cityworks Data Template, etc.). • Offers a “big-picture” view of the overall configuration process which includes the installation of Cityworks, creation and population of the SQL Server database, Cityworks Designer set-up, and everything in between from start to finish. • Provides an opportunity to interact with other Cityworks users to discuss applications, integration with third-party software in a relaxed learning atmosphere.
• Allows dedicated time away from the office to become familiar with Cityworks software and its related products without the distraction of work-related stresses. Remote Interactive Training (RIT) is offered to Cityworks users over the web. RIT utilizes the same curriculum offered in the Cityworks Administration training but has been segmented into half-day sessions. It is another way to become familiar with Cityworks software while having the convenience of staying at your office and choosing which courses you want to pursue. RIT has been a very popular method of training to introduce basic Cityworks functionality to new and existing users. A schedule of current RIT courses is posted on the www.mycityworks.com site under training. Azteca will be launching the Cityworks Campus site in the next few months to bring more convenience and information about training to our users. This will be a dedicated site specifically for training and will allow training attendees to select, register, and pay for courses on-line. Please stay tuned for updates on this exciting addition to the Cityworks training department. J
Red Pine Trail Hike We’re not all blood, sweat and tears at Azteca Systems, Inc. Sometimes, we like to have fun too. After a grueling (I meant to say “fun”) day of Cityworks Administration training in August 2007, training attendees took a hike on the beautiful Red Pine Trail, up Little Cottonwood Canyon (on the way to Snowbird Resort; site of the 2008 Cityworks User Conference). Even with the climb in elevation and taking a few rests here and there, a good time was had by all. We even spotted a moose in a meadow along with the other spectacular scenery as part of our hike. Many thanks to Gary Nicholson of Locus Ltd. for taking the photos during the hike. 1 - John Jarnagin (Support Training Manager) gave the other hikers an overview of what was ahead on the Red Pine trail. 2 - Heading out on the trail: (from L to R) Darin Loucks (Azteca Pacific Region Account Manager), John Jarnagin, Tiffany Whitfill (City of San Mateo, CA), Maureen Grener (City of Delaware, OH), Mansour Qwaider (City of Glendale, CA) 3 - In the heart of the forest with the amazing quaking aspen trees 4 - Checking out another trail map during the hike: (from L to R) Sandra Bifolchi (Global Water – Phoenix, AZ), Mansour Qwaider, Khaled Hussein (Clark Nexsen A & E – Norfolk, VA), John Jarnagin, Maureen Grener, Tiffany Whitfill
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INPRINT / FALL 2007
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June 16 - 18, 2008 / Snowbird Resort / Snowbird, Utah conference sessions
event overview The Cityworks User Conference is the premier event for Cityworks
Technical breakout sessions are the focal point of our conference,
users, business partners, and potential users. Complete with
offering you an exclusive opportunity to sit in on classes dedicated
Cityworks technical courses, user and partner presentations, a
to further educating about Cityworks and providing examples
Cityworks doctor’s office, an exhibit hall, networking, and evening
of the organization’s specific usages of the software. The 2008
socials, the conference provides an educational and enjoyable
conference will offer the following five technical session tracks
atmosphere, benefitting all who attend. In addition, the conference
designed to enchance your expertise of Cityworks: Using Cityworks,
offers the unique opportunity of interacting with Azteca Systems’
Cityworks Technology Review, Cityworks Server, Cityworks
personnel and having a chance to dicuss future product direction.
Implementations, and Cityworks Case Studies.
Learn about and discuss product enhancements made over the past year, brush up on your Cityworks skills, build relationships with other users and business partners, and learn from others’ experiences. We have developed sessions with every level of user in mind and highly encourage anyone who uses or is involved with Cityworks to
cityworks doctor’s office The Citywork’s doctor’s office is equiped with Azteca Systems’ personnel ready to spend one-on-one time with you to answer Cityworks questions, give demonstrations, and address other details you may need or want to discuss.
attend.
pre-conference training
A unique, first-rate experience, you are sure to benefit from attending the 2008 Cityworks User Conference. Online registration begins January 1, 2008 at www.cityworks.com. We hope to see you there!
June 13 & 14 in Sandy, Utah Our training courses provide a way to learn more about the Cityworks application you own and use. Courses are conducted by Azteca staff members who are eager to help you increase your knowledge and understanding of the software. In these sessions, you will see and participate in real-life examples of Cityworks in action. Courses offered at this year’s pre-conference training:
• Introduction to Cityworks ArcGIS, Part I & II
• Cityworks Administration
• Cityworks Server
• Cityworks Permitting
Pre-conference training will be held two days prior to the User Conference in Sandy, Utah, at three locations: the Azteca Systems
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training facility, the Marriott Courtyard, and the Hampton Inn.
Visit www.cityworks.com for more information and to register.
accomodations Conference proceedings will be held at the Cliff Lodge Conference Center at the Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort. Located up Little Cottonwood Canyon of the Wasatch Mountains, just east of Salt
“I enjoy attending the Cityworks User Conference to see where Azteca is headed in terms of product development, and to talk to other users about how they are currently using Cityworks. I learn a lot, and always come away with new knowledge and good ideas.” Wendy Barto City of Encinitas, CA
Lake City, Snowbird offers breathtaking mountain scenery and views unmatched by any other resort in the area. Special room rates of $109 per night are available to conference attendees, which includes complimentary access to the exclusive Cliff Spa facilities with a private rooftop pool, fitness center, and yoga classes. Snowbird offers a variety of recreational activities including the Snowbird Tram, Alpine Slide, ZipRider, and many other outdoor attractions. Come experience the grandeur of this amazing resort! Bring your families along for the once-in-alifetime opportunity of spending a few days at this world-renowned destination. Visit Snowbird’s website at www.snowbird.com for more information on the resort. registration details Conference early-bird rate (before March 1): $400.00 Conference standard rate: $450.00 Pre-conference training & conference package - early-bird rate (before March 1): $900.00 Pre-conference training & conference package - standard rate: $999.00
Don’t miss out on this valuable learning opportunity! Registration opens January 1, 2008. Register online at www.cityworks.com.
“The Cityworks User Conference sessions and presenters were great - perfect length and good variety. We came back with some really good strategies to implement. I can honestly say the conference was ‘top-notch’, one of the best I have attended.” Inez Pollok City of Danville, VA “Over the years, we have found attending the Cityworks User Conference to be very beneficial. Besides attending the scheduled sessions, we network with other attendees to discuss processes, alternatives, and potential enhancements. The Azteca staff is always available for face-to-face interaction that you just can’t get over the phone.” Stan Reichert Oklahoma City, OK
Visit www.cityworks.com for more information and to register.
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Partner News The City of Encinitas, CA – Cityworks Implementations by Wendy Barto, City of Encinitas, GIS Supervisor
Encinitas and SDWD General Info Located along six miles of Pacific coastline 25 miles north of downtown San Diego, Encinitas is a mid-size municipality with population of approximately 62,000. Encinitas was incorporated in 1986, bringing together the communities of New Encinitas, Old Encinitas, Cardiff-by-the-Sea, Leucadia, and Olivenhain. In addition, the San Dieguito Water District (SDWD) is a subsidiary district of the City of Encinitas which provides potable (drinking) and recycled water to over 37,000 citizens in the communities of Leucadia, Old Encinitas, Cardiff, and portions of New Encinitas. The City of Encinitas and San Dieguito Water District staff work together at City Hall and Encinitas’ City Council also serves as the SDWD Board of Directors. The City of Encinitas has had a GIS presence since 1990. For the first 10 years of its existence, GIS was departmentally focused and used primarily by the Planning Department. GIS’s main responsibilities included making maps for staff, making large city-wide maps for sale to the public, assisting with public mailing notifications, and updating some planning-related GIS data. In 2000, the GIS was not enterprise, not integrated with any other systems in the City, and not well known or understood by staff or citizens.
The Strategic Technology Plan In June of 2001, Encinitas adopted a Strategic Technology Plan (Tech Plan) which included five major initiatives. Two of the top five initiatives identified were to bring the City’s GIS to enterprise-level status and to implement an asset management system. The Tech Plan recognized several of the major initiatives, including asset management, had the potential to leverage GIS capabilities and that GIS was a dynamic technology that could greatly enhance the City’s ability to manage its complex infrastructure, plan for future growth, and deliver improved overall City services. In addition, the Tech Plan identified the City’s need for an automated asset management system because, at the time, the system was manual with no available management reporting or analysis tools. It was often difficult for City Departments to determine work request status or completion without searching through piles of paperwork.
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Why Cityworks? Encinitas chose Cityworks because we wanted an asset management system that would be tightly integrated with the City’s GIS system which was planned to become the ‘hub’ of all new enterprise systems in Encinitas. We anticipated that with Cityworks our staff would be able to easily track and obtain information about the City’s infrastructure (mapped in GIS), such as sewer, water, storm drains, trees, park equipment, and street infrastructure (e.g., signs, signals, streetlights, bus benches, etc.), and would be able to assign and track work orders issued against the City’s infrastructure. Labor, material, and equipment costs would be captured by the work order. Cityworks would also be able to create and track service requests and certain kinds of City inspections.
An important feature of Cityworks was the ability to do comprehensive and near-instantaneous reporting on the City’s infrastructure and work order history. This would eliminate the need for endless searching through hardcopy binders to try to determine the last time work was done on a particular infrastructure component. It would also help make the Public Works Department, SDWD, and the Parks Department operations more efficient by assisting in the determination of work priorities, concentrating work in specific geographic locations, and/or allowing for preventative maintenance of assets through cyclical work orders against infrastructure. Overall, Cityworks was anticipated to be an efficient time-saver for staff, a comprehensive tracking tool for supervisors, and a necessary and easy-to-use reporting tool for management. Phasing It In From the beginning, the City realized that implementing an asset management system would be a big undertaking, so Encinitas decided to implement Cityworks in phases. Implementations were done by module for separate groups. We also defined the term “baseline,” which we considered to be an implementation of Cityworks on the desktop only, and did not include Cityworks in the field or GIS data capture. The definition of “baseline” was necessary due to the amount
INPRINT /FALL 2007
Partner News
(cont.)
Since the GIS staff is only 2.75 full-time equivalents (FTEs), data capture of the City’s infrastructure was done using a variety of resources: existing GIS staff, unpaid GIS interns working for course credits, GIS contract employees, and occasionally some light-duty staff assistance.
of funding allocated to the asset management initiative. With Azteca Systems’ assistance, the first Cityworks implementation was completed in 2002 for SDWD. Implementing the water module first was done primarily because SDWD maintained its water infrastructure data in a CAD system that could be migrated into GIS. After the initial migration and additional data capture, GIS currently has over 60,000 water infrastructure features mapped and attributed, including meters and service lines. Although the GIS environment at the time of the first Cityworks implementation was in tune with the City’s enterprise GIS vision (i.e., it consisted of ESRI’s ArcGIS suite of products and an SDE geodatabase in SQL Server), there was very little infrastructure data mapped besides SDWD’s water infrastructure. Because of this, the City could not take full advantage of the GIS capabilities of the Cityworks asset management system with the implementation of additional modules. As a result, the City made it a goal to capture and collect the City’s infrastructure and asset data so Cityworks could be used to its full potential. In 2003, Encinitas ramped up its efforts to map the City’s storm drain infrastructure (pipes, inlets, outlets, etc.). In addition, we hired a local Azteca Business Partner, Quartic Solutions, to assist with enhancements to SDWD’s Cityworks water module implementation. In 2004, we worked with the Engineering Stormwater division to implement a Clean Water Program ‘Commercial Site Inspections’ application in Cityworks. This project was significant because we had just spent about two years mapping all of the address and sub-address data in the city, which consists of over 27,000 point features. We also continued to map storm drain infrastructure and began to map sewer infrastructure. All of our infrastructure data capture efforts have been team efforts consisting of at least one GIS senior analyst and one or more GIS technicians. The senior analyst’s job consisted of tackling data modeling (with staff’s input and feedback), database creation, and the determination and management of data capture procedures. The GIS technicians would do the actual data capture – which would usually consist of a combination of GPS capture of above-ground features in the field along with coordinate geometry (COGO) entry of below-ground features from Engineering plans. We also did a significant amount of attribute data capture using Engineering plans.
INPRINT / FALL 2007
In 2005, it became apparent that we needed additional resources to make significant progress with our asset management program, so Quartic Solutions hired another senior analyst to help us resume our original Cityworks goals. Since then, Encinitas has implemented service requests and work orders against City-owned street assets for the Public Works Streets Maintenance (PWSM) division and sewer and storm drain infrastructure for the Public Works Wastewater division. We have also completed the data capture for the storm drain (over 33,000 features mapped and attributed) and sewer infrastructure (over 34,000 features mapped and attributed), and have captured about 60% of the street assets. Currently, we are working on implementing Cityworks baseline parks module, which includes inspections as well as service requests and work orders. We are also wrapping up all of our existing baseline implementations with the development of some custom Crystal Reports for staff. In addition, we developed a well-received, staff training program. We try to schedule a general training session for new staff, and existing staff who would like refresher training, about once every three months. We train staff on the basics of using the City’s ArcGIS application, CityGIS, which is the front end for Cityworks. We also cover the basics of filling out Cityworks service requests, work orders, and inspections, and on searching and reporting. Staff is then responsible for training their new employees on the specific workflows they have set up through Cityworks. Next Steps Funding has been identified in the current fiscal year to begin the next phase of Cityworks – which will be to get Cityworks into the field. Currently, all of our Cityworks implementations require staff to print out work orders and inspections, fill them out in the field, and then input the completed
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Partner News
(cont.)
information into Cityworks once back in the office. Some groups think this is time-consuming and inefficient, since the data is essentially captured twice – once in the field and again in the office. Other groups are happy with this arrangement, because they feel it assists in quality control and gives them a way to double-check the information captured out in the field. Last year, the City reviewed a variety of field solutions and determined that the iMap solution from iWater, an Azteca Business Partner, would best suit our needs. iMap is built using ESRI’s ArcEngine technology, integrates well with Cityworks, and provides redlining capability, additional functionality, such as routing, GPS tracking, and hook-ups with SDWD’s valve-turning machine.
• UNDERSTAND FULL IMPLEMENTATION IS TYPICALLY A 3-5 YEAR PROCESS. • DON’T UNDERESTIMATE THE UPFRONT INVESTMENT. In conclusion, the City of Encinitas has made great strides toward having a highly functional and robust asset management program. It’s been a long time coming, but we believe we have very thorough data and well thought-out processes. The program is successful and fully supported by the upper management of the City. Staff is also generally happy with the system and sees its many benefits, as indicated by the following comment from a staff member of the Public Works Street Maintenance Division. “The [Cityworks] program is user friendly, easy to navigate and the results are fantastic.” J
In addition, funding has also been secured in the current fiscal year to implement hydrant and commercial site inspections in Cityworks for Encinitas’ Fire Department. We expect to begin the project sometime within the first six months of 2008. Conclusion Our current implementation has about 70 users from five departments. The asset management program continues to grow, the GIS data needs on-going maintenance, and we will most likely find more uses for Cityworks in the future. We believe we have been successful because we’ve followed some simple rules: • IMPLEMENT A LITTLE AT A TIME. (DON’T GET OVERWHELMED!) • GET BUY-IN FROM ALL LEVELS – END USERS TO UPPER MANAGEMENT. • ESTABLISH AN ONGOING TRAINING PROCESS. • GET EVALUATION / FEEDBACK.
Making Cityworks work for you! Local Government Water & Wastewater Districts GIS Consulting www.quarticsolutions.com
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INPRINT /FALL 2007
Partner News
(cont.)
Suffolk, Virginia, Begins Integration with Cityworks by Prentiss Lund, Woolpert, Inc.
Located in the southeast corner of Virginia, bordered by the city of Chesapeake, and minutes from North Carolina, the city of Suffolk is one of the seven cities that make up the Hampton Roads area. As the largest land-area of any city in Virginia, Suffolk encompasses 430 square miles and is home to more than 80,000 residents. According to the City of Suffolk Department of Economic Development, the city is expected to grow by more than 45% from 2000 to 2020, a growth rate surpassing all other cities in Virginia. The increasing population, size of the city, economic growth of the region, and unfunded U.S. Government mandates (e.g., GASB 34) places increased demands on the municipality to better manage its assets and resources.
City elected a phased implementation to allow integration of other City departments at a manageable pace. So far, work has been performed on the asset management system for the Public Works and GIS departments, though more departments will require integration in the future. Understanding the City’s requirements, expectations, and the desire to leverage their existing GIS data and based in part on the GIS-centric nature of the software, Azteca’s Cityworks was chosen as the tool to best meet the City’s needs. Required tasks pertaining to the project include acquiring the asset management system, implementing the selected system and performing custom code development, training City staff on the use and maintenance of the system, assisting City staff with the development of any customized reports, and performing any data migration/creation required.
The City, through its Public Works, Public Utilities, and GIS departments, released an RFP for an asset management system that could meet the City and U.S. government’s asset management requirements. Of the 25 functional requirements outlined by the City, 17 were designated as mandatory, including the following: • Maintain asset inventories in conjunction with ArcGIS. • Support GASB 34 requirements. • Support constraints of the upcoming Virginia Department of Environmental Quality Consent Order for Sanitary Sewer Systems. • Access and use the City’s Human Resources database for employee job rate determination when calculating maintenance costs. • Support the document management system being implemented by City IT. • Interface directly with a pavement management system. • Integrate with other City information systems, including SCADA and Firehouse.
Through an intense project schedule, both the Street Maintenance and Traffic Engineering departments’ existing systems, databases, GIS datasets, and IT infrastructure were evaluated. The City’s department staff and GIS department worked to install and implement the Cityworks software. As part of this work, recommendations were made and implemented to modify the existing database tables for both divisions. Woolpert worked closely with City
Heavy emphasis was placed on a system that could leverage the City’s existing GIS to avoid duplication of data generation and update efforts. The City further requested that the solution be able to support all phases and functions of a typical municipal government. Due to the complexity of the project and the number of departments involved, the
INPRINT / FALL 2007
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Partner News
(cont.)
staff to prepare the GIS data for use within the new CMMS environment. Once the software was implemented, software testing was performed by creating work order scenarios in each department. These simulated scenarios checked the workflow and the materials used in each process and ensured that procedures were in place to support field reports and office activities. Additionally, training for approximately 30 Public Works personnel as well as Cityworks Administration training for a small group of power users has taken place. In the first several weeks since installation was completed for the Street Maintenance and Traffic Engineering departments, the Street Maintenance Department has already processed 387 service requests. The Traffic Engineering Department received 70 service requests in one week alone. Under stringent deadlines and a fast-track schedule, Woolpert and Azteca worked closely to meet the development needs of the City while also expanding the implementation as additional requests are made. And the project is growing; the next department within Suffolk to come online with Cityworks as part of the phased implementation will be Mosquito Control. The City’s sanitary division is scheduled to come online next year. J For more information on this project, contact: Prentiss Lund Woolpert, Inc. prentiss.lund@woolpert.com Bob Oblinsky City of Suffolk roblinsky@city.suffolk.va.us Wesley King City of Suffolk wsking@city.suffolk.va.us
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INPRINT /FALL 2007
Partner News
Sacramento Suburban Water District, CA by Clifford Tompkins, Westin Engineering
Sacramento Suburban Water District (SSWD) is a water supplier in the fast-growing suburbs of Sacramento, California. Issues SSWD was created as a merger of two suburban utilities. As a result of this merger, SSWD needed to assess and replace significant portions of their existing information infrastructure including financial/HR systems, customer billing and information systems, maintenance management systems, and GIS. SSWD needed to make these technology investments in the most cost-effective manner possible while achieving the business objectives of the District. Solution SSWD contracted with Westin to perform an application Gap Analysis and to manage the subsequent implementation of 4 core business applications. The goal was to enable metered billing and improve operational efficiency. Program highlights include: • 24 months from plan to full implementation • Full integration of core information systems and processes • Real-time application access to live maps, customer information, and work orders for work crews in the field Westin assisted SSWD in performing an application Gap Analysis to ascertain if the business application suite was an appropriate fit for the business process environment at SSWD. The Gap Analysis led to the development of a remediation and implementation plan. The plan outlined a series of technical initiatives including improvements in customer service, finance, maintenance management, geographical information, mobile computing, network infrastructure, fleet management, backflow, and automated vehicle location. During the 24-month long implementation of CIS, FIS, Cityworks CMMS, and ESRI GIS, Westin is providing project management, oversight, business process review, system configuration, integration, report development, and user training. System implementations are being staged based on technical prerequisites and the utility’s ability to adopt new processes and systems. The program initiatives Westin is responsible for include: • Design and implementation of a new geodatabase (GIS) • Implementation of a new Cogsdale Financial Management System, Customer Information System, and Cityworks Maintenance Management System
INPRINT / FALL 2007
(cont.)
Utilizing Cityworks at SSWD by David Hansen, Project Manager, Azteca Systems
Sacramento Suburban Water District (SSWD) employs Cityworks for their asset maintenance management needs, extensively utilizing service requests and work orders. Customer account information is visible as a related object on service points in the GIS and customer complaints requiring attention are imported from the Cogsdale Customer Management System into Cityworks as service requests. The City’s service requests and work orders are then handled by field crews accessing Cityworks Anywhere maps available via wireless laptops. The District also has GPS tracking units in field trucks so they can track the vehicle locations on the GIS. Using Cityworks, SSWD has experienced benefits on many levels. Service request processes have improved with the ability to display the requests on a map, resulting in increased field access to service requests, complete customer history of service calls, less travel time in response to a service request, and more efficient time in the field. Utilizing Cityworks work orders, the District experiences real-time and centralized access to all work order information, reduced amount of in-office work, improved accuracy of work orders, greater access to historical work order data, elimination of “lost” work orders, and improved general tracking of work order status. Overall, SSWD’s use of Cityworks has resulted in better control and monitoring of work activities and projects throughout the District. J
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Partner News
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• Application integration to automate key business processes and workflows • Mobile, truck-mounted computers to provide work crews with real-time information, access to maps, asset locations and data, as well as service requests and work orders • Ongoing technical support as required by SSWD Outcomes SSWD and Westin are performing full implementation and integration within 16 months. The fast-track turnkey methodology is delivering quick results and minimizing the time from planning to full system operation. SSWD will realize many benefits from the new systems including: • New capabilities for financial analyses, automated business processes, and streamlined workflows for financial, engineering, asset, maintenance, and customer management • Automated customer billing and improved collections • Effective use of mobile GIS integrated with maintenance and customer service resulting in less windshield time, increased worker productivity, elimination of redundant data entry, data capture at the point of work, and better information access by workers in the field • Establishment of an integrated information infrastructure to better manage business and facilities in the future. J
Key Westin Staff Jeff Ott: Architect, Project Manager Glenn Wolf: Integration, Data Management Teaming Partners Cogsdale Corporation Azteca Systems
Partner Directory Authorized Business Partners
Associate Business Partners
• • •
• • • • • • • •
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
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Burns & McDonnell Chester Engineers Civic Engineering and Information Technologies, Inc. Civil Solutions GeoAnalytics, Inc. IT Nexus Jones, Edmunds and Associates MACTEC Corporation Motorola Municipal Information Systems North Arrow Technologies NTB Associates OneGIS, Inc. Power Engineers, Inc. Schneider Corporation Short Elliott Hendrickson (SEH) Sunrise Engineering Timmons Group Velocitie Integration, Inc. VESTRA Resources, Inc. Westin Engineering Weston Solutions Woolpert
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Arcadis G&M Inc. Associated GIS, LLC Bowne Management Systems BP Barber & Associates CH2M Hill, Inc. Clark-Nexen Collier Engineering Concord Engineering Surveying (CESI) Data Transfer Solutions, LLC EMH&T Enterprise Information Solutions, Inc. GeoDecisions geographIT Greenhorne & O’Mara, Inc. Jones & Demille Engineering KCI Technologies Malcolm Pirnie Michael Baker Jr., Inc. OHM, Inc. PBS&J, Inc. PSOMAS Quartic Solutions Resource Data, Inc. Service4GIS, Ltd. Stantec Consulting
• •
Strand Associates, Inc. Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. (VHB) • Wade Trim Associates
International Distribution Partners • • • • •
ESRI Canada ESRI Costa Rica (Geotecnologias SA) ESRI Israel (Systematics) ESRI Sweden (Meldis AB) OneGIS, Carribbean
Strategic Partners • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Cobra Technologies CompassCom Coulter Mapping Solutions DHI Dig-Smart ESRI Onbase (Hyland Software) Miner & Miner MWH Soft Orion Technology Inc. RIVA Online Route Smart TC Technologies
INPRINT /FALL 2007
Woodland, CA Solution Woodland decided to implement Cityworks, a product of Azteca Systems, as the solution to track their asset information in 2003. Cityworks is a powerful and flexible GIS-centric software system utilized for asset maintenance management. Once Woodland’s GIS implementation was completed, the City was able to map work orders and service requests created within Cityworks to particular assets, providing a geographic context to its maintenance operations. This gave the City a complete solution for managing data associated with their assets. This mapping view is available in both the office and field environment, eliminating the need for outdated, inefficient paper map books.
“Cityworks has been a great asset to our Public Works Department,” stated Johanna Currie, Management Analyst for O&M. “It allows us to pull up information and reports with a touch of a button, rather than having to sort through reams of paper and books of maps. By utilizing Cityworks and ArcGIS, we can determine what needs to be fixed and schedule work accordingly and quickly. Public Works is ensuring that we get the most ‘bang for our buck’ when we send out crews on a repair and maintenance job.” Cityworks has greatly enhanced Woodland’s workflow and provided the City with many tangible results. The City has saved a great deal of time using Cityworks because the staff can retrieve information quickly through the system rather than thumbing through stacks of paperwork. Customer service has greatly improved because tasks don’t fall through the cracks anymore as details are documented in the database and problems remain open until they are addressed. Customer satisfaction levels have also increased as callers are surprised and impressed when Woodland staff members follow up once a problem has been resolved with specific details tracked in Cityworks, such as when the customer called, what was said, what the solution was, and how and when it was completed.
(cont. from page 1)
more efficiently whereas before Cityworks, the information would have only been on paper or would have been lost when certain staff members left. In addition, Cityworks allows Woodland to track problems and solutions more closely, and, because of this, administrative staff are enabled to answer questions over the phone that previously required a visit from a field worker. The City is able to plan their workload better and identify repeat problems and repetitive complaints, permitting them to account for aspects of the City that need more attention. “Cityworks has improved our workflow in a variety of ways,” states Robert Thomas, the City’s GIS Specialist. “It has greatly reduced the amount of paper we use, we are more on top of what is going on in the City, are able to access information more quickly, and do not have to rely on staff memory as we did in the past. As the City continues to grow and maintenance personnel retire, it will be impossible for our staff to remember everything, and Cityworks greatly helps us with this in tracking our history. It has also assisted the City with liability issues by keeping detailed notes that are dateand time-stamped and cannot be altered.” The Public Work’s Operations & Maintenance division has several work groups using Cityworks to track and manage work being completed. The Utilities Collection branch field personnel use GO! Sync Mapbook, an easy-to-use mobile GIS product by TC Technology, to integrate work orders and service requests with electronic maps from GIS. Simple locating is accomplished by searching on the address from the work order or service request. Onsite field workers use GO! Sync Mapbook’s intuitive set of tools to record pertinent asset information, perform isolations on the sewer network, and collect data on assets. Gus Bush, the City’s IS Manager said, “GO! Sync allows us to leverage our new mobile computing initiative with our Cityworks maintenance management system from Azteca Systems; simplifying GIS updates will also increase the productivity of our field crews and the GIS/CAD staff.” Utilities Superintendent, Jerry Gedatus explains, “Our collections branch will be the first group to begin using GO! Sync, but the rest of the branches can’t wait to be next.”
Woodland has also experienced many unforeseen benefits using Cityworks. For a variety of reasons, the City has experienced high staff turnover in recent years. Using Cityworks, Woodland has been able to track their data much
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Woodland, CA
(cont.)
In order to help improve the GIS, the Utilities Collections branch field crews are assigned work orders with GIS-related quality-control tasks, including data collection and redlining or sketching updates. Crews perform data-collection tasks by updating GIS data layers for the assets they are working on while in the field. These crews also take advantage of GO! Sync Mapbook’s redline capabilities by sketching dataquality updates (e.g., manhole asset on the map is not in the correct location), new installations, and general field notes. All this information is automatically kept updated with GIS and shared with other field crews. “GO! Sync is the key application that allows updating the City’s utility layers by submitting redlines and attribute changes in near real-time to me for corrections and updates,” states Robert Thomas. “The next step is to have direct integration with Cityworks to streamline the process even further.”
Conclusion The productivity gains by field crews through the use of GIScentric technologies proved these tools to be superior for ensuring work completion, improving the accuracy of their asset information stored in the GIS, and increasing knowledge about the assets and their maintenance histories in an open, accessible, centralized database. Further, valuable time is saved by the field crews due to less repeat visits. All these factors have allowed the Public Works Department to shift to a more proactive maintenance cycle allowing the City to be more productive and efficient. Software Used: Cityworks Desktop ESRI ArcGIS Desktop GO! Sync Mobile GIS J
Results The result of the GIS-based asset maintenance management and mobile solution for the Public Works Department has led to increased productivity and improved efficiency of field workers through work orders, service requests, and placing GIS data and tools in the hands of the field crews. Customer satisfaction has improved because City personnel are able to reference work history as well as customer calls. GO! Sync Mobile GIS allows field workers to replace paper maps with easy-to-use mobile GIS that supports data collection and sketching while Cityworks provides City staff an efficient and straightforward way to track data associated with their assets in the GIS.
Waterford
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There are two groups of sanitary mains in the Waterford area with different cleaning schedules. The problem pipe was set to be jetted once, twice, or three times per year. All the rest of the pipe in the system was targeted to be cleaned in a three-year cycle. The challenge was how to prioritize the cleaning of the entire pipe inventory while still maintaining the regular cleaning of the problem pipe? Enter the RIVA Online application, which allows direct access to Cityworks maintenance data, ESRI geodatabase attributes,
and any other information in any accessible data source, and uses that data to generate maintenance strategies, performance measures, and long-term strategic plans. The plan was for RIVA Online to read maintenance data from the Cityworks application, to determine two factors: is the pipe one of the “problem” pipes, and if so, how often is it set to be jetted, and, secondly, when the last time was the pipe had been jetted. Using this information, a maintenance strategy was defined in the RIVA application to schedule and prioritize the cleaning of the entire pipe inventory. Before the maintenance data could be read, the first step was to create an inventory of the pipe in RIVA Online, using the source data from the ESRI geodatabase. By using a common identifier between the three systems, the RIVA application could easily pull updated information from both Cityworks and the geodatabase at any time. At the end of the load process, a hierarchical view of all of the sanitary pipe inventory existed in the RIVA application.
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Then, several measures were defined within the RIVA application to provide raw data for the prioritization and scheduling. Length, material type, and date of installation were read into RIVA from ESRI. Then, additional measures were defined to determine when the pipe had been cleaned last using maintenance data from the Cityworks database.
INPRINT /FALL 2007
Waterford Finally, the prioritization measures were set to move all pipes that had never been cleaned to the top of the pile, while maintaining the scheduled jetting strategy. This resulted in four cleaning cycles: 4-month, 6-month, 12-month and 36month. Then, RIVA was set to calculate the jetting strategy for the entire pipe inventory.
(cont.)
Using the GIS interface tools in RIVA, a project can be defined to include all jetting events within a specified area.
Once the initial calculation was done, RIVA had generated a complete set of cleaning events for all of the pipes in the system. But, as most of the pipe had never been jetted, the first month of the cleaning cycle had most of the pipe cleaning events. Using the smoothing tools in RIVA, the cleaning events were smoothed to average 65,000 feet of jetting per month.
Figure 3: All jetting events in the area
This project can then be committed to Cityworks as a set of proposed work orders from within the RIVA Application.
Figure 1: Smoothing out the jetting events to fit
By integrating the GIS views of the pipes into the RIVA Online interface, the “Hot Spots� could be easily identified.
Figure 4: Proposed work orders
Conclusion: The successful integration of all three systems to create priorities, strategies, and long-range plans has helped the RIVA Online developers to enhance the smoothness of communication between the systems. This successful integration now opens the way to more strategic planning by being able to manage entire asset hierarchies from within the RIVA Online application. The next step for Waterford is to examine the potential for a full RIVA implementation to develop long-term plans for all of their major asset groups, leveraging the work history contained within their Cityworks system, and the physical attributes housed within the ESRI geodatabase. J
Figure 2: Problem hot spots are shown in red and yellow
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Regional News Director of Sales & Marketing Tom Palizzi 303-467-2738 tpalizzi@cityworks.com
Each year summer seems to go by faster and faster! No exceptions this year as our kids go back to school and cooler days loom. The Azteca sales and marketing team is working harder than ever to keep up with existing clients and new and potential customers. With that, I’m pleased to introduce you all to Darin Loucks, our newest regional account manager covering the Pacific Region! Darin takes care of all the Pacific states and Nevada. In the future, watch for us in a city near you, teamed with ESRI in a nationwide GIS for Public Works Seminar. These events are aimed exclusively at local government and utility districts and are sponsored by ESRI, Azteca Systems, Topcon, and Public Works magazine. J
Great Lakes Region
Becky Tamashasky 574-231-8029 btamashasky@cityworks. com
Since the last InPrint things have been crazy in the Great Lakes Region! We’ve hosted the first user group meetings in Wisconsin and Ohio. Both the inaugural user groups happened to be hosted by 2007 SAG recipient sites – West Bend, WI, and Hamilton, OH. Both sites did a great job sharing their experiences with their implementations and ongoing usage of Cityworks. Congratulations to Waterford Township, MI, also a 2007 SAG recipient. Be sure to check out the list of upcoming seminars and register to attend the ESRI Public Works Seminar in your region. I look forward to seeing you there! J
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Mountain/Plains Region William Lang
970-471-5666 wlang@cityworks.com
Greetings from the Mountains and Plains Region! I have been with Azteca for almost a year now and what a year it has been. I would first like to thank everyone who attended the 2007 Cityworks User Conference in Park City. It was great getting to meet all of you. A special thanks to our amazing Cityworks clients that presented. Your time and efforts are greatly appreciated! To those that were not able to attend in 2007, I look forward to seeing you at the 2008 Cityworks User Conference in Snowbird! In this my first year at Azteca, I have had the opportunity to travel all over the Mountains and Plains region from Idaho to Arizona and Minnesota plus numerous sites in between. For those of you I have not been able to visit yet, please know that I hope to visit you soon. Special congratulations to Chad Olson at the City of Clive, Iowa, for winning one of the ESRI awards for Special Achievements in GIS. Way to go Chad! In other Mountains and Plains Regional news, Minnesota held its first annual local user group meeting. A huge thanks to Tami Maddio and the City of Eagan for hosting and presenting. A special thanks to Rebecca Foster at the
City of Edina and Becky Blue at SEH for presenting as well. We had a great turnout and I am looking forward to many more Minnesota Cityworks User Group meetings to come. I hope everyone had a great summer!J
Pacific Region Darin Loucks
206-225-7429 dloucks@cityworks.com
Since starting with Azteca in June, I’ve had a chance to meet many Cityworks users across California, Oregon, and Washington. I look forward to meeting those of you in the area whom I haven’t yet had the opportunity to visit. My job is to make sure you are having success using Cityworks and that you are up-to-date with what we are doing and where our products are headed. If you have questions or concerns, please contact me. Before I started with Azteca, I worked for Latitude Geographics for 2 years, helping GIS users with Internet mapping. Before that I spent 4 years at ESRI in the California Regional office as a Technical Marketing Rep. and Account Manager. Earlier in my career, I worked for a county in California and at the City of Seattle, both in GIS roles. I’m located near Green Lake in Seattle, Washington, where the sun is always shining and skiing is only 40 minutes away. Feel free to contact me with any Cityworks-related issues. J
INPRINT /FALL 2007
Regional News
Southeast Region Brent Wilson 214-507-0579 bwilson@cityworks.com
The Southeast region of the U.S. is busy, busy, busy… We’ve had an influx of new clients select Cityworks for their CMMS. Many of our seasoned clients are increasing the number of Cityworks users as well as expanding the software into other departments of their organization. I contribute our success to the awesome network of clients and your success with the solution. Many times Public Works and Utilities aren’t thought of by the public until a main breaks or a stop sign is missing or they have a problem. At that point, citizens realize just how important your jobs are to our daily way of life. In the last Inprint, I alluded to Christmas being around the corner even though it was April, but look here we are. The holidays are upon us and Azteca is completing 2007 with a bang. I’ve seen clients at the Cityworks and ESRI user conferences, as well as TopCon Public Works Series across
(cont.)
the country. I’ve met with many of you while out and about in the region. Frankly, I’m amazed at what all of you are doing with our software. And I hope to hear more stories on how you use our software. Please send me an email and let me know what your organization is doing.
Submissions are due February 1, 2008. The Northeast has two new clients that came on board this summer—the City of Suffolk and the Town of Herndon, both located in the beautiful state of Virginia. Congratulations and welcome to the Azteca family. I look forward to seeing both go live in the near future.
Many of these unique ways to use Cityworks were shown at our User Conference this year. I encourage you to submit your application for our Conference to showcase your organization and how you use the Cityworks product line. J
Congratulations also to Allegheny County for being highlighted at the ESRI Public Works Seminars. The video featured their advanced use of GIS and Cityworks for use in Public Works. Way to represent the Northeast! Others also highlighted were St. Johns County, FL, and the City of Encinitas, CA. Great work!
Northeast Region
Thought of the day: You know, working with GIS and public works quite a bit, I have seen many, many maps of different street designs and plans. And what I have come to wonder is why are parkways used to drive on, and driveways used to park on?
Phil Mogavero 716-882-1786 pmogavero@cityworks.com
Ahhh! Fall is upon us and it’s time to prepare for the winter. The year is quickly coming to an end and soon enough, our User Conference will be upon us. I encourage everyone to consider presenting at this year’s conference. We would love to hear what you are doing with Cityworks.
Enjoy the rest of the year!
J
Azteca News Welcome to Three New Employees! Darin Loucks joins Azteca as our Pacific Region Account Manager. (Darin sent this picture to us in an effort to regain his youth. But alas, we all have to face the truth sometime. See his current picture on page 26.) Darin most recently
worked in sales, product development, and account management at Latitude Geographics in Seattle, WA. Previous to Latitude Geographics, Darin held a unique position at ESRI as an Account Manager and Technical Marketing Representative within ESRI’s California Regional Office. His background also includes leading GIS- and ITrelated efforts for local governments in California. He graduated with a BA in geography from the University of Washington with an area of emphasis in Geographic Information Systems. J
INPRINT / FALL 2007
Greg Walters joined Azteca Systems in October as the Central Region Client Services Manager. Before working for Azteca, Greg was at the City of West Bend, Wisconsin, since 1999. He managed the City’s GIS and all of their Cityworks activities. Greg graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in 1999 with a BS in geography and an emphasis in cartography/GIS. He and his wife, Teneil, have a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter and another child on the way.
J
Randall Sutton adds his expertise to the Azteca staff as a programmer. Prior to coming to Azteca in October, Randall worked as a consultant for about 3 years for various companies on many diverse projects — everything from infrastructure design, email servers, remote monitoring software, to billing systems. He is currently attending Utah Valley State College working on his bachelor’s degree in computer science. He has been married for almost two years and has a 3-month-old baby boy named Jaron. J
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Other News Cityworks Clients’ Clive (IA), Hamilton (OH), Waterford (MI), and West Bend (WI), Receive ESRI Award for Special Achievement in GIS by Lindsay Ferguson, Azteca Systems
Azteca Systems congratulates the 2007 recipients of the ESRI Special Achievement in GIS (SAG) awards at the recent ESRI International User Conference in San Diego, CA, and is pleased to honor these Cityworks users for this outstanding accomplishment — West Bend (WI), Waterford Township (MI), Hamilton (OH), and Clive (IA). The ESRI SAG award recognizes ESRI customers that demonstrate outstanding use of GIS within their organization. ESRI selected the City of Clive, IA, for the award because of their citywide goal to create and maintain a centralized Geographic Information System for the city. Each of the City’s departments use GIS, in conjunction with Cityworks, as a tool for problem solving and decision making. The City of Hamilton, OH, was awarded the SAG award for their enterprise-wide implementation of GIS. During the time the City completed their migration to ESRI’s ArcGIS, they also implemented both Cityworks and a permitting system. The implementation of each of these new systems at one time in all of the City’s departments was a huge undertaking and Hamilton was able to successfully accomplish the task, now having the City up and running with GIS, Cityworks, and their permitting system. Waterford Township, MI, received the award for their vision in utilizing the GIS to leverage spatial data to provide a central interface for users to perform daily operations. ESRI’s geodatabase serves as the focal point for operational integration for Cityworks CMMS, water/sewer modeling, document management, and utility staking.
Chad Olsen, City of Clive and Jack Dangermond, ESRI President
The City of West Bend, WI, was selected as an award recipient for spreading the use of GIS across their entire organization. The City uses Cityworks to streamline data access, update asset data, and track maintenance work on these assets. “We are excited that four of our outstanding clients were recognized by ESRI for their use of GIS,” said Brian Haslam, President of Azteca Systems. “We would like to congratulate all who received the award, but are particularly pleased that the cities of Clive, Hamilton, Waterford Township, and West Bend have each achieved such remarkable use of GIS within their organizations. These organization’s success in using GIS proves the endless benefits a GIS-based approach can provide and demonstrates how organizations can utilize GIS to fit their individual needs.” J
Dawn Wiebelhaus , Peter Miller, West Bend GIS Coordinator and Jack Dangermond
Azteca Systems Sponsors Oakland Plus Clean Water Fundraiser
Azteca System’s Becky Tamashasky along with Tom Coburn (L) and Frank Fisher (R) of Waterford Township found a “sister” company!
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Becky and Eric Tamashasky; Dawn Siegel, Oakland County Michigan IT; and Terry Biederman, Waterford Township, MI, participated in the Oakland Plus Clean Water Effort fundraiser, of which Azteca Systems was a sponsor. The fundraiser is an effort to help clean up the open water sources (streams, rivers, etc.) A large turn out helped make the day a huge success. For more information, visit their website at www.oaklandplus.org. J
INPRINT /FALL 2007