InPrint Fall 2010

Cityworks

Fall 2010

InPrint

Empowering GIS for Asset Management, Permitting, and LicensingTM...and more!

GIS-Centric Enterprise Asset Management Solution Data and System Management – The Key to Asset Management Success Cityworks ROI Series Azteca Systems Becomes Esri Platinum Partner

GIS-Centric Asset Management

Fa l l 2 010

C ityworks

InPri n t

Azteca Systems, Inc. 11075 South State Street, Suite 24 Sandy, UT 84070 801-523-2751 www.cityworks.com

E m powering GIS for Ass e t M a n a g e m e n t, P e r m i t ti n g , and L i c e n s i n g T M ...and more!

Edit or in C hie f: Tom Paliz zi Edit or: Kaye Ryser C opy Edit ing: Karen Thomas C ont ribut or: Linds ay Ferguson Edit orial Inquirie s: Kaye Ryser,

k r yser@cit y work s.com Graphic De signe r: Shannan B agley Adve r t ising: Kaye Ryser

E xe c ut ive B oar d: Brian Haslam , Pre sident & C EO George Mast akas , E xe cutive Dire c tor, Enterpris e S olutions Wayne Hill , E xe cutive Dire c tor, Client & Information S er vice s C arl Hor ton, E xe cutive Dire c tor, S of t ware Development Tom Paliz zi , E xe cutive Dire c tor, S ale s & Marketing Steve Thomas , E xe cutive Manager, Cus tomer Supp or t

S u b s c r i p t i o n In q u i r i e s :

H ow t o Re a c h U s :

To c h a n g e yo u r a d d r e s s o r

w w w.c i t y wo r k s .c o m/m e d i a / In P r i n t . a s px

c a n c e l yo u r s u b s c r i p t i o n,

Te l: 8 01-52 3 -2751

p l e a s e c o n t a c t:

Em a i l: i n f o @ c i t y wo r k s .c o m

i n p r i nt @ c i t y wo r k s .c o m

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INPRINT

Inside this Issue

FOCUS 4

6

President’s Corner – Cityworks: GIS-

HANDS ON 15

Southern Region Spotlight –

Centric Enterprise Asset Management

Independence, Missouri; St. Louis,

Solution

Missouri; The Colony, Texas

Data and Systems Management – The

20

Key to Asset Management Success

Cityworks User-to-User Forum – Boost Cityworks Server With These Two Firefox Add-ons

FEATURES 8

9

the XML Files & Incorporating Universal

and Improves Communication

Custom Fields

Beneath the Friendly Skies – Chicago

SPECIAL FEATURE Cityworks ROI Series Part I: Utilizing a GIS-Centric AMS 10

Cityworks ROI at Waterford Township, Michigan, Saves Over $130,000 Annually

12

Cityworks ROI at the City of Fort Collins, Colorado

13

Tips & Tricks – Modifying a Site Form via

City of Surrey, BC, Streamlines Workflow

O’Hare International Airport

10

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Multiple Cityworks Users Detail Their ROI Using Cityworks

USER INFORMATION 24

Customer Support – Exceeding Expectations

26

Digital Documentation

27

Cityworks Campus

28

MyCityworks.com

CITYWORKS NEWS 16

Cityworks User Conference 2011

29

Partner Listing

29

Cityworks Becomes Esri Platinum Partner

30

Welcome New Employees

30

2010 Esri International User Conference

31

2010 Esri Presidential Award and SAG Awards

Copyright © Azteca Systems, Inc. 2010 All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

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.

Fall 2010

Azteca Systems, Cityworks, and Powered by Esri are registered trademarks; Cityworks Desktop, Cityworks Anywhere, Cityworks Server, GIS Empowered by Cityworks, and Empowering GIS for Asset Management, Permitting, and Licensing are trademarks of Azteca Systems, Inc.; and www.mycityworks.com, www.gocityworks.com, www.cityworks. com, www.azteca.com, @azteca.com, and @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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President’s Corner

Cityworks: GIS-Centric Asset Management Solution

By Brian L. Haslam, President & CEO, Azteca Systems, Inc.

Each municipality, public works, and utility has the responsibility to provide

for dispersed and networked assets (roads, signs, trees,

sustainable services to their citizens while maintaining their assets in a cost-

water and wastewater networks, etc.), but many Cityworks

effective manner. Organizations currently using Cityworks and Esri® ArcGIS®

clients are discovering that concentrated assets (treatment

are well on the way to developing an effective Enterprise Asset Management

plants, pumps, buildings, etc.) equally benefit from the

(EAM) program. Cityworks delivers a sensible and cost-effective GIS-centric

power of the geodatabase, including three-dimensional facilities modeling.

Asset Management Solution (AMS) useful as a critical part of the overall

The ability to build an asset registry based on feature locations with multiple

EAM plan.

levels of related objects assures all of an organization’s assets are maintained

Cityworks provides a complete foundation for a truly effective

EAM program that will improve asset utilization, extending asset life and

in one asset data management repository, easily accessible enterprise-wide.

performance while reducing capital costs and asset-related operating costs.

Over time, nearly all municipalities, public works, and utilities tend to become more GIS-centric in their thinking and approach. How much GIS functionality they employ, how it evolves, and how authentically GIS-centric their organization becomes is influenced by how they view their GIS. As organizations accept that assets are central to their business purpose, realize the importance of knowing location, and recognize ArcGIS as a superior tool for creating an inventory of assets, they readily view ArcGIS as more than a mapping system. They recognize the powerful geodatabase is the best and only needed asset data management repository, and they recognize the benefits ArcGIS provides to optimize their maintenance and operations. The ArcGIS advanced data structure and analytical functionality proves critical for asset management and other needs. Their goal is to move more and more from short-term reactive work to longer-term life-cycle asset management.

The logical and cost-effective conclusion is to use the geodatabase as the asset Cityworks and ArcGIS GIS-Centric Asset Management

data management repository and to leverage their investment in GIS for asset management. ArcGIS becomes a mission critical and authoritative system and the organization becomes GIS-centric.

Asset management programs can be defined as managing infrastructure capital assets to minimize the total cost of owning, operating, and maintaining assets

Because water, wastewater, solid waste, and storm drain utilities are some of

at acceptable levels of service. Enterprise Asset Management encompasses

the most capital-intensive assets to manage, the EPA, AWWA, and WEF have

the entire organization and recognizes the interdependencies of maintenance,

advocated the need to implement an effective EAM plan. An asset management

operations, asset performance, personnel productivity, life cycle costs, and

system includes two critical components: 1) a Computerized Maintenance

capital planning.

The first step in any EAM plan is for an organization to

Management System (CMMS) focused on maintenance and rehabilitation

conduct a needs assessment to understand what is needed to accomplish

work orders, and 2) inspection and monitoring of assets with regular periodic

their asset management goals. In the past, many organizations managed

condition assessments of selected assets. The asset management focus is to

their activities by capital and operating expenditures found in their accounting

maintain a desired level of service at the lowest life cycle cost. Cityworks as the

systems.

However, municipalities, public works, and utilities are a capital

“asset” intensive business, so they are “asset-centric” by definition because assets are central to their business purpose. One of the first tasks for any EAM plan is an inventory of existing assets with the creation of an asset registry and a commitment to maintain that asset registry. The asset registry is core to any EAM plan or strategy.

Because assets occupy a location, maps have always been a desirable method to catalog an organization’s assets. As every organization knows, assets are interconnected and in proximity with other assets and features, even if the location is not fixed. Modern “mapping systems” like ArcGIS are able to provide far more than graphical representations of data. The ArcGIS geodatabase is a database system with all the typical data assessment tools to categorize, classify, diagram, index, order, schematize, sort, and tabulate. In addition, it can render data as maps, analyze interconnectivity, proximity, and other complex spatial relationships; and model the physical world. The geodatabase as an advanced database structure is inherently location-aware, providing far more power for managing assets than traditional non-location-aware database

Foundational Core for GIS-Centric Asset Management

systems, including the ability for three-dimensional modeling. This is obvious

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INPRINT

proven and genuine GIS-centric CMMS (validated by the Esri Platinum Tier

require unacceptable increases in taxes and users’ rates. The “scary number”

Partnership designation and the National Association of GIS-Centric Solutions

should never be funded. Age-based condition assessment can be used along

certification) combined with the power of ArcGIS (asset data management

with other tools in an overall EAM plan or strategy. However, when used solely

repository) form the foundational core for a GIS-centric AMS, from which to

as the basis for an asset management plan, age-based condition assessment

perform intelligent and cost-effective asset management.

assumptions can result in misleading EAM projections to replace many perfectly good assets that have useful remaining life, thereby overstating operating and

Organizations can use maintenance history assessment, visual inspection,

capital cost used for financial planning and budgeting.

monitoring, and condition assessment to determine and gain insights regarding the level of asset deterioration to assess likelihood of asset failure. Generally, the cost to assess likelihood of asset failure increases from CMMS maintenance history inspection (clustering, frequency, and costs analysis of unplanned maintenance) and visual inspection (routine maintenance, SCADA interface, etc.), to non-destructive and destructive condition assessment.

The consequence of asset failure (or criticality) can be determined using subjective-based criteria such as usage (e.g., hospital) or determined by using GIS and other analytical tools (e.g., a water main servicing a large area without redundancy or located under major transportation routes) to rate the overall impact of the failure based on the impacts to local government, customers, and the community.

GIS-centric AMS is a cost-effective approach that helps decision makers balance risk and cost. Risk takes into consideration the likelihood and consequence of the asset failing. In fact, many assets are low-risk assets. Cityworks GIScentric AMS provides out-of-the-box inspection and monitoring tools (e.g., maintenance history and routine inspections) that are appropriate to assess likelihood of failure for many assets. Non-destructive testing and destructive testing can be expensive when used on a large number of assets, but can

Tailor Assessment Response to Risk

be very effective when focused on prioritized high-risk assets, where the consequence and/or likelihood of failure are high. Cityworks GIS-centric AMS

Cityworks GIS-centric AMS provides the foundation of a sensible and cost-

provides out-of-the-box condition assessment tools and interfaces to many

effective condition assessment approach. Robust asset maintenance history

third-party condition assessment tools, including age-based assessment tools,

built over time and stored in Cityworks provides a predictive standard for

useful for accomplishing all of the goals of an EAM plan.

when similar assets may fail and how assets typically fare in the given region, climate, and other important local factors. For many assets, the clustering,

Condition Ass e s s m e n t C u r v e

frequency, and costs of unplanned maintenance activities alone – analyzed and visualized using ArcGIS tools – provide enough evidence to make an intelligent investment decision of when, where, and how maintenance and rehabilitation should take place. Often, unique attributes (or characteristics) of the asset stored in the geodatabase (such as type and the contractor) contribute more insight than age or expected life as to likelihood of failure.

For high-risk

assets, maintenance history and ArcGIS analytical tools can provide insight and prioritization for where to utilize limited budgets for increased inspection, monitoring, and condition assessment.

Municipalities, public works, and utilities need to set a clear vision, decide what is central to their purpose, and invest wisely as they develop an Enterprise Asset Management plan. While considering their asset management goals, organizations need to consider the importance of asset maintenance history and an asset data management repository. Cityworks is robust, mature, solid, and proven, and has always been coupled with Esri’s ArcGIS. Since the beginning, Cost to Assess Likelihood of Asset Failure

Cityworks pioneered the GIS-centric approach to managing an organization’s assets and is a staunch advocate of the benefits of an organization being GIS-centric. The reliable and enduring GIS-centric approach enables better

Some organizations may be tempted to take an “easy button” approach to

cost reduction decision making for short- and long-term capital planning and

asset management and rely heavily on simple age-based condition assessment,

resource allocation. To support meeting these challenging issues, Cityworks

from which an asset replacement program and cost projections are derived.

GIS-centric Asset Management Solution will be there (with ArcGIS) as a proven

Condition assessment based solely on age provides the “scary number,” which

and critical component of the overall sensible and cost-effective Enterprise Asset Management plan. cw

can be useful to build support for an overall EAM plan but if funded could

Fall 2010

5

Focus

Data and Systems Management—The Key to Asset Management Success

By John M. Przybyla, PE, GISP, Senior Vice President, Woolpert

Utility and public works managers today are faced with the predicament of aging infrastructure (such as water, sewer, roads, bridges, etc.), budgets and staffing that are stretched to capacity, and increased regulatory requirements.

Over the past few years, a new paradigm has arisen to manage these issues: asset management. However, asset management is often no more than a concept. Even those organizations that commit to this concept often struggle with implementation. Any such implementation must also focus on practical data and systems management strategies to provide the foundation for success in implementing asset management.

Before defining a solution, it’s helpful to understand where we are with respect to asset data and how we got here. In many organizations, infrastructure data is scattered in multiple datasets, and there is no single, authoritative version of reality. How did this happen? With the best of intentions, individual departments selected applications or built databases to manage the information they needed.

This grew over time, so that a typical organization had separate financial, customer information (billing), permitting, maintenance, and geographic information systems, along with separate databases for as-built drawings, construction photographs, inspection records, and so on.

The problem isn’t a lack of data – it’s an overabundance of data about the same features. So when we ask simple questions, like how many valves do we have in each district, how many feet of cast-iron water main are in service, or how many signals did we install last year, we get different answers depending on which source we use. More importantly, there is a tremendous duplication of effort as the same data is entered and maintained (inconsistently) in multiple places. And because these applications do not easily share information, handoffs between them are typically cumbersome, slow, and manual.

S tr a te g y 2 : G I S - C e n tr i c S o f tw a r e P r o d u c ts The second asset management strategy is to adopt GIS-centric software products.

To be GIS-centric, a product has to use the geodatabase as the repository for its asset data. This means the investment in the geodatabase discussed earlier is leveraged by the tools used to manage the assets. The value of this concept is well understood by Cityworks users. Because they have only one authoritative source in which their asset data is stored, they can put all their energy into keeping it current and accurate.

Contrast that with users of other, non-GIS-centric asset management products.

They, of course, are using GIS and have all their assets stored in the GIS. But each of those assets is also stored again in their asset management product’s own database. No matter how hard they try to keep these systems synchronized, they still have two sources of reality, leading to complex data maintenance processes and inconsistencies.

There are other GIS-centric solutions that address other asset-managementrelated needs, including hydraulic modeling, call-before-you-dig compliance, vehicle routing, as well as others. A number of GIS-centric software vendors (including Azteca) have banded together to create an organization called the National Association of GIS-Centric Software (NAGCS). More information about NAGCS can be found at www.nagcs.com.

Successful data management isn’t automatic – it requires planning, standardization, and updating or replacing existing solutions that don’t fit. Along the way, change will be needed. Although change is often painful and difficult, the rewards of an environment in which information can be easily shared between all users is more than ample payback for the investment.

S tr ategy 1: GIS-Centric A s s e t D a ta M a n a g e m e n t Many of the readers of this article have already adopted the first strategy – use GIS to centralize the management of all the data about the physical assets themselves. The Esri GIS product family is the most popular GIS product in today’s market. The power lies in the Esri geodatabase, which provides the means to develop an abstraction of the real-world infrastructure, including connectivity, relationships, and rule-based behaviors in the software. It’s important to create data structures in your GIS that mimic your real-world assets to the extent that is practical. GIS can be extended beyond the typical uses in utilities and public works to incorporate features within facilities, including pump stations and treatment plants, at a high degree of detail. This means that GIS can be used as the repository for all of the core data that describes any real-world asset.

Because it can become the unifying core to which all other asset-related data elements (digital photographs, record drawings, permit forms, etc.) are attached, a GIS-centric data structure provides the foundational element for any asset management system. But GIS-centric data only addresses static asset data, not activities. Additional solutions must be added to address the activities an organization performs to maintain its assets.

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Figure 1 – Numerous, Unmanageable Point-to-Point Interfaces

When possible, selecting products that use a GIS-centric approach can leverage the investment in the geodatabase and provide a ready-made environment for integration. But this only addresses a portion of the problem.

S tr a te g y 3 : S e r v i c e - O r i e n te d A r c h i te c t u r e Many of the solutions an organization requires – such as customer service, permitting, finance, HR, project management, and SCADA, to name a few –

INPRINT

are not available as GIS-centric solutions. Therefore another strategy must be employed to integrate these applications. Many such strategies have been employed over time, starting with file transfers and progressing to point-to-point automated data transfer-style interfaces. Eventually, the number of connections and the complexity of managing change becomes overwhelming. Figure 1 shows an example of an organization with numerous point-to-point application interfaces that became unmanageable.

But because these solutions are based on importing files or directly updating databases, they are fraught with challenges. Such solutions can break down for no apparent reason, and if any of the integrating applications changes due to an upgrade, these pointto-point connections often have to be reconstructed.

A better approach is available – based on the ServiceOriented Architecture (SOA) concept. With SOA,

Figure 2 – Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) Framework

services talk directly to other services and exchange data based on a loosely coupled concept. A set of orchestration tools connect the services and monitor the data exchanges. There are many advantages to the SOA approach. The use of standards maximizes the ease of integrating off-the-shelf products, and orchestration services allow for easy monitoring and recovery if problems occur. Because the services are typically built into newer applications, they shield the data exchanges from changes in the underlying data structures or changes due to upgrades. And once the framework is built, incremental applications can be easily added. Figure 2 illustrates an example of SOA framework.

This framework shows how the multiple tiers work together. The end-user applications are on the top tier. They call orchestration services that in turn call upon specific spatial services, which are the only ones directly interacting with the data repositories. So, if an application change is made at the lowest level, the only required changes are in the spatial service or services that interface with that application. Likewise, an end-user application can be updated (possibly

Figure 3 – Middleware Integration Approach

from Web ADF to Silverlight interface) without having to rebuild any of the underlying logic.

Using the SOA approach, Woolpert has developed a middleware “product” to standardize communication between Cityworks and external applications using a lightweight Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) as shown in Figure 3.

This framework greatly simplifies the effort needed to build interfaces to customer information systems, financial systems, public access portals, etc. The result of the SOA-middleware approach is application integration that is affordable, adaptable, robust, and secure.

Fall 2010

A T e m p l a te f o r S u c c e s s To summarize, the data and systems management strategies that make asset management successful include the following steps: 1.

2.

3.

4.

Determine an integration architecture appropriate for your organization.

Develop a GIS-centric asset database structure.

Select GIS-centric applications where available.

Select non-GIS-centric applications with open architecture and web services.

5. Use Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) to integrate using loosely coupled concepts. cw

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Features

City of Surrey, British Columbia, Streamlines Workflow and Improves Communication

By Karen Stewart, Industry Manager, Public Works, Business Development, ESRI Canada

Geographically, Surrey is the largest non-amalgamated city in Canada. With its fast-growing population of 500,000, it is currently the second largest city in British Columbia and projected to surpass Vancouver’s population by the year 2020. To manage this growth effectively, Surrey’s Engineering Operations Division (responsible for the maintenance of the water, sewer, drainage, roads, and pump station assets) recognized that efficient data sharing with other City departments must be seen as a critical objective. In response, they replaced their work order and asset management systems and have since saved time, resources, and improved compliance with legislative maintenance requirements.

Previously, the City had been using a proprietary Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) that did not communicate information effectively with other departments. For example, staff would track work and service requests based on a municipal address to establish an approximate location of infrastructure-related issues. This information would then be exported into a table and plotted onto maps on an annual basis. Due to this slow and inefficient process, newly printed maps were already out-of-date and did not reflect “realtime” information.

can now easily access work orders, create maps, perform asset analysis, and check the status of any work order or service request. Information is delivered on a timely basis without delays, as data no longer needs to be manually extracted and shipped off to another department for map plotting. This has vastly improved workflow efficiency, communication between departments, and customer service.

Cityworks supports asset management utilizing an integrated IT infrastructure plan. The single platform approach provides immediate access to accurate data, including historical information about an asset, to ensure compliance with increasingly stringent legislative requirements. All of the tools needed to manage the City’s growing infrastructure are accessible at the touch of a button, saving the City time and money. The solution also provides an important link between the City’s Engineering Department and the internal departments it assists, including Sanitary Sewer Operations, Water Operations, and Roads Operations. cw

Additionally, a number of standalone applications were already in place that had not been integrated. Asset information was stored using ESRI’s ArcGIS technology and could only be accessed from the office, while field crews relied on printed “book maps” that were updated every one to two years. Preventative Maintenance (PM) Program work was stored and maintained in Excel spreadsheets while service requests were recorded in an aging custom database application.

As these systems were not integrated, users were required to access multiple applications and datasets in order to compile a complete picture of any situation.

The City of Surrey selected Azteca’s Cityworks, a GIS-based facility/work management solution, as their asset and work management solution. Cityworks integrates into the existing IT environment and eliminates the need to convert GIS data. The system also interfaces with existing City applications such as the financial system, human resources application, payroll, taxation, and existing warehouse applications. By leveraging Cityworks, the City can compile service requests and instantly plot them on maps to analyze patterns. Work orders also generate a map view to provide asset deficiency information and work history quickly and in multiple scenarios, including program work effectiveness.

This centralized system enables better management of Surrey’s engineering infrastructure, providing the City with tools to create and track maintenancerelated activities, analyze asset data in greater detail, (e.g., by material or make for comparison with other assets), track work history against individual assets, and provide in-depth analysis of asset costs for replacement considerations.

Service requests are plotted on a map to display issues, such as potholes.

“The positive results from Cityworks include a significant savings in resource time and a much faster turn-around for service-related issues,” said Rob Costanzo, Deputy Manager, Operations, City of Surrey.

Through access to more accurate asset-associated costs and maintenance information, Cityworks places Surrey in a strong position to comply with PSAB (Public Sector Accounting Board) Tangible Capital Asset (TCA) reporting requirements. Surrey is also able to meet additional legislative requirements such as the BC Waste Management Act that requires municipalities to report on sanitary sewer condition assessment, work accomplishments, and various financial analyses. A spatial approach to asset management provides the employees with a simplified user interface for work order creation and work history access. Users

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About ESRI Canada Founded in 1984, ESRI Canada provides enterprise GIS solutions that empower businesses, governments, and educational institutions to make timely, informed, and mission critical decisions by leveraging the power of geography. The company distributes the world’s leading GIS software from Esri, Telvent Miner & Miner, Azteca Systems, and other technology partners. Headquartered in Toronto, the company serves over 10,000 customers from 16 regional offices across Canada. Information about ESRI Canada can be found at www.esricanada.com.

Note: As many of you know, Esri changed its name and logo in July of this year. ESRI Canada has decided to make the formal switch to the new Esri name and logo in January 2012.

INPRINT

Beneath the Friendly Skies— Motorola and Cityworks Bring Inventory Management in for a Smooth Landing at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport

By Jeff Cegielski, CMMS Product Manager, and Anatoly Delm, Product Marketing Manager, Motorola

On a crisp October morning, you pass through a tollbooth and merge onto I-190. Almost immediately, familiar green signage of the interstate gives way to the blue wayfinders of O’Hare International Airport. Slowing down as you drive over rumble strips on the roadway, you make your way to the main parking facility. As you retrieve your parking ticket from the spitter, the gate opens smoothly, letting you into the covered garage. From here, you will take an elevator, escalators, and walk through a series of clean, brightly-lit hallways to get to the terminal. Boarding pass in hand, you’ll walk to your gate, guided by the lighted wayfinder signs, perhaps enjoying the beautiful morning view through the airport’s floor-to-ceiling windows.

Making this possible at O’Hare – one of the world’s busiest airports, handling over 200,000 passengers and over 2400 flights a day – is a small army of tradespeople: electricians, plumbers, technicians, and maintenance personnel, keeping in working order the airport’s parking gates, escalators, signage lights, and thousands of other hardware installations.

From its automated interterminal trains to bathroom faucets, tradespeople at O’Hare perform over a thousand work orders every week. Keeping an inventory of specialized spare parts and materials for all this work is challenging and labor-intensive. With pen and paper, inventory is time-consuming and up-to-the-minute accuracy impossible.

But lack of accuracy and real-time visibility carries its own costs: inaccurate records result in lost staff productivity searching for items that are misplaced – or gone. If materials are unavailable, repairs are delayed, resulting in inconvenience to passengers and a bad impression on travelers. Too much inventory, on the other hand, increases storage costs and restricts cash flow.

Chicago O’Hare Airport Corridor

To help steer clear of this problem, O’Hare turned to Motorola and Azteca Systems, bringing real-time inventory management to its materials warehouse with the help of Motorola’s rugged handheld computers running INVision software from Miles Technologies, with Azteca’s Cityworks and Storeroom software on the back end. Now, when a tradesperson comes to the materials warehouse, the Cityworks software knows what materials will be necessary to complete the task and ensures that they are available. Using the warehouse’s Wi-Fi network, the picklist of necessary materials is sent to Motorola’s MC9090 handheld computer, where INVision software connects directly with Cityworks Storeroom. As an item is picked, its bar code is scanned, instantly confirming the right selection and updating the warehouse inventory. Every item can be traced to a specific work order and tradesperson, allowing real-time visibility and verification of material use – and reducing loss through shrinkage.

“Using Storeroom in a wireless environment makes inventory almost automatic,” says Kevin Faul, Manager of Warehouse Operations. “Knowing that we won’t run short lets us keep smaller quantities on hand, freeing up cash. Budgets have been cut back, so that really helps.” Warehouse staff also like the new system, which reduces paperwork and complaints.

High-tech devices always face challenges in a warehouse environment: dust, humidity, and the occasional drop to a concrete floor. Here, too, Motorola devices prove worthy. Dust-tight and protected against water, the MC9090 can survive multiple falls to concrete from a height of six feet.

EMS Warehouse

Fall 2010

The integration of Motorola’s mobile technology with the power and versatility of Cityworks and Storeroom has allowed O’Hare Airport’s Maintenance and Operations crew to focus on the job, instead of worrying about inventory. A traveler may never think twice about the well-lit hallways and smoothly operating amenities they see on their way through or the warehouse of materials required to keep them running. But that’s just fine with Kevin Faul and his crew. cw

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Special Feature

Cityworks ROI Series Part I

Cityworks ROI Series Part I: Utilizing a GIS-Centric AMS

Cityworks ROI at Waterford Township, Michigan, Saves Over $130,000 Annually

By Lindsay Ferguson, Public Relations, Azteca Systems, Inc.

By Frank Fisher, Department of Public Works Information Systems Administrator, Waterford Township, and Lindsay Ferguson, Public Relations, Azteca Systems, Inc.

The cost benefit of using information technology systems is clear and evident today. Public works, utilities, and government agencies continue to discover and deploy technologies to manage the growing need to maintain their assets with shrinking budgets and staff. Many agencies are experiencing the benefits of a location-based Geographic Information System (GIS), and a considerable number of these are realizing returns from GIS-centric management programs. Cityworks provides clients a solid return on their investment in both GIS and asset management.

When an organization implements new software, they expect the results to improve their business processes and provide measurable benefits. Utilizing Cityworks as a GIS-centric Asset Management System (AMS) has provided substantial return on investment (ROI) to many of our users and has proven to be an extremely effective system. Cityworks integrates with Esri’s GIS to provide a unique and powerful set of tools to manage assets and the work associated with maintaining them. CMMS, inspection, monitoring condition assessment, and GIS all offer significant ROI, but together they provide an even greater return by leveraging their capabilities as a single integrated asset management solution.

Utilizing both the asset data in the GIS and the maintenance data in Cityworks provides organizations a number of benefits, many of which are realized through better work management. Cityworks allows users to issue, track, and manage work associated to the assets they care for.

With the assets stored in the geodatabase, no redundant databases are needed (eliminating costly duplication and maintenance of disparate databases), and this data is available to support other enterprise uses.

Using a GIS-centric AMS provides the flexibility to include any type of asset through the use of data models. Cityworks also integrates with a variety of other GIS-enabled applications. A significant ROI is often achieved through improved data accuracy, faster conflict resolution, more responsive customer service, and improved workload and workflow management. Measurable time savings result when capabilities such as real-time access to data and more efficient dispatch and scheduling are achieved. The ability to enter data in the field saves time by eliminating return trips, illegible handwriting, and lost records – and the information is available in real-time or upon check-in enterprise-wide.

This series focuses on clients that are experiencing both tangible and intangible cost benefits through the use of Cityworks. Recognizing your investment in Cityworks regardless of the size of your organization and in light of the current economy, we want to share these experiences to illustrate the ROI Cityworks provides. To share ways your organization is benefitting, email lferguson@ cityworks.com. cw

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Waterford Township, Michigan, has utilized Cityworks as their GIS-centric AMS since 1998 with numerous positive results and measurable, documented financial savings. Considering that in 1996 the only computer application Waterford had was their billing system, they are extremely pleased with their investment in GIS, Cityworks, and other GIS-centric applications. Cityworks is used to manage just about everything for the Township, indoors and out. The Department of Public Works (DPW) uses Cityworks in the Water & Sewer Division (electrical, sewer, service, treatment, and distribution) and Facilities & Operations Division (buildings like the library and town hall, grounds, cemeteries, welding, and mechanics). Cityworks is also used for tasks and servicing in other departments such as Community Planning, Development, Police, etc.

Taking advantage of the flexible nature of Cityworks, Waterford has completed many Cityworks customizations for individual groups within its departments and integrated Cityworks into all of their major applications such as document management, SCADA, and their utilities staking software. Using Cityworks as a GIS-centric application has given Waterford a maintenance management system that truly utilizes their GIS. In addition, GIS-centricity has provided Waterford the advantage of being able to utilize Cityworks with other GIS-centric applications.

U ti l i ty L o c a ti n g In 2009, Waterford documented cost savings of $12,416 per year due to decreased processing time of utility location requests.

Before utilizing Cityworks, the average time to process a request was about ten minutes to search for the location, determine if staking was needed, and print a map and other information needed to follow up on the request. Since Waterford’s implementation of Cityworks and its seamless integration to Dig-Smart, another GIS-centric certified application, the time it takes to process a request has been reduced to an average of two minutes – an 80% time reduction! They can now complete five locates in the time it took to do one.

The combination of the ticket processing ability of Dig-Smart to integrate with Cityworks for work order generation has resulted in a transparent operation of the two programs on the user end.

The integration provided the City with a better operational view of the resources used in the utility location process as well as streamlining initiation, workflow processing, and work order completion for each request. This data, along with a decrease in the total number of requests due to the general downturn in construction, made it possible for the City to determine their staffing needs and not backfill a vacant position without affecting productivity. The results – an approximate savings of $65,000 per year just by decreasing the number of utility locating staff from two full-time employees to one.

C e m e te r i e s Leveraging the flexibility of Cityworks, Waterford developed a data model for cemetery maintenance/ management, saving them from having to purchase a specialized program. In addition to cost savings associated with being able to leverage their existing CMMS for this need, once they had

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the system up and running for a while and were tracking costs, they realized they were losing money on the average burial and, therefore, losing money on the entire burial process.

Using this information, they created a detailed analysis of costs and revenues from work order data in Cityworks and other sources, which showed that in total they were losing approximately $52,000 a year in cemetery operations. In light of this new knowledge, they conducted a survey of neighboring cemeteries to determine if charges and costs were similar. From the information collected between the analysis and the survey, they developed a proposal that reflected actual costs and projected the appropriate price increases necessary to cover these costs. The proposal was presented to the Township Board of Trustees for their approval and accepted. Cityworks was instrumental in gathering this data and showing that they were operating in the deficit and that rate changes were necessary in order to operate the cemeteries in a fiscally sound manner to recover the annual losses of $52,000.

Frank Fisher, DPW Information Systems Administrator, states, “The cemetery data model has allowed us to save a considerable amount of money using a plain database and leveraging the power of Cityworks and GIS. We have taken cemetery management to the next level and have been able to really track our costs and use the program as a full maintenance management system.”

P l a nts & Facilities Waterford eliminated the use of another CMMS for plants and facilities by migrating the management of those assets to Cityworks, saving $2200 per year in annual maintenance fees alone. Because Cityworks is flexible (unlike many other systems), it can be used to manage any type of asset.

Besides maintenance costs, there are additional costs incurred in maintaining two CMMS programs. By consolidating to one software application, Waterford realizes added savings through bypassing the additional upgrade costs, consulting costs for providing operational expertise, and the costs of additional staff required to run the system. In addition to the financial benefits of using a single system, there are operational benefits such as a user base already familiar with the application and only having to search a single app for work history.

M u ltiple Needs The flexibility of Cityworks working with any geodatabase model provides Waterford the ability to consolidate many applications and operations into Cityworks.

The ability to work off data models is key as the City can model their entire infrastructure and use Cityworks to track work against it. In addition, Cityworks

can also track items not limited to infrastructure like litigation documentation and sending out invoices for damaged assets. Waterford also invests a considerable amount into training and licensing employees. By leveraging the flexibility of Cityworks, they created an employee geodatabase for Cityworks to interact with to track employee training and education. Using work order templates and custom fields, the City tracks and reports on the money they spend on training and education as well as the status of employee licensing. While it’s difficult to estimate the cost savings of being able to meet multiple needs through a single application, it has eliminated the need to purchase additional systems which in turn decreases the amount of effort and training to support multiple systems.

C o r e B u s i n e s s A p p l i c a ti o n At the Township, Cityworks has the reputation of being a successful and valuable application, making it easier for potential users across the organization to see how the system could work for their needs. The Township can focus the development of integrations around Cityworks as a core application. Leveraging their existing experience and familiarity with Cityworks, personnel continue to find new ways to use the application to meet needs throughout the departments where it’s already in use as well as expanding throughout the entire organization.

In addition to the specific examples above, Cityworks functions in many ways as one of Waterford’s core business applications and is integrated with many of their other core applications. Perhaps most notable is the Cityworks integration with their document management system, allowing staff to quickly retrieve and store documents into their document management system through seamless integration. This integration provides major time savings for the department as users can quickly search for relevant documents and save documents directly to the document management system from a work order, allowing staff to be more productive and providing users a simple interface for storing supporting documents for work orders.

“The ROI of Cityworks as a whole is difficult to fully quantify,” explains Fisher. “In some instances we can directly calculate the financial benefits gained by using Cityworks; however, the real ROI for us is in the overall operational functions and efficiencies we gain by leveraging the flexibility of Cityworks to meet our needs. It is difficult to place a value on the amount of time saved, but it is even more difficult to place a value on good information. I think the return of our investment using Cityworks has been absolutely fantastic.”

To find out more about Waterford Township’s Cityworks usage, view their Cityworks user spotlight video on the Cityworks website at http://www.cityworks.com/media/spotlight.aspx. cw

Fall 2010

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C i t y w o r k s R O I ( C o n t .)

Cityworks ROI at the City of Fort Collins, Colorado

By Stan Welsch, Financial Coordinator for Streets, and Sandy Aragon, Financial Coordinator for Traffic Operations, Fort Collins; and Lindsay Ferguson, Public Relations, Azteca Systems, Inc.

The City of Fort Collins, Colorado, purchased Cityworks in 2004. Cityworks was first deployed and utilized in the Streets & Traffic Department for the management of traffic signs and signals, traffic control, pavement management, road construction and repair, snow removal, sweeping, and neighborhood traffic mitigation. In 2009, the Natural Areas (parks and trails) and Engineering Departments also implemented Cityworks.

Fort Collins has realized many benefits from Cityworks as a direct result of its GIScentric nature and mapping capabilities. Cityworks provides some major aspects of ROI, saving them time and money, improving project tracking and completion, and scheduling work. The ability to track costs and work accomplishment has been key to the City’s ROI by improving workflows and efficiency. From time tracking to reporting, these benefits are resulting in cost savings and a significant ROI. D e tailed Tracking/Repo r ti n g Cityworks has significantly contributed to saving the City a substantial amount of money over the last five years. One of the more visible examples is with street patching in the Streets & Traffic Department. In 2010, street patching costs are a dollar less per ton than they were in 2009 and nearly ten dollars less per ton than in 2008. While these numbers may not sound significant at first, savings of just a few dollars per ton add up quickly when the City patches between 8000 and 12,000 tons a year – a very significant savings when compared to costs in 2008.

Cityworks’ ability to track units of work accomplished and costs associated with the work has been very powerful for the City. Fort Collins tracks cost and accomplishments for everything they can record, including cost of patching per ton, snowplowing per mile, sweeping per mile, filling a pothole, and so on. The ability to track these activity costs is very useful in analyzing changes in work production practices. The City is now aware of the money they are spending and how they can find ways to save in other areas. In addition, Cityworks provides them a tool to compare costs with private contractors ensuring they are working as efficiently as possible.

“Prior to Cityworks, we knew that we were not recovering all of our costs of materials, equipment, and time,” explains Sandy Aragon, Financial Coordinator at Fort Collins. “With Cityworks, we now have a system that allows us to charge down to the bolts – therefore recovering all of our costs. We have seen an increase in revenue and are better able to track inventory and costs. We are also able to provide itemized invoices to our customers. And now that we have good history, we can accurately prepare estimates for our customers which helps them in budgeting for their projects.”

City of Fort Collins – Paving

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The City has also seen time and cost savings from Cityworks’ reporting capabilities. The Streets & Traffic Department is required to report their work completed for the year to City management.

Utilizing Cityworks and Crystal Reports, they are able to compile the information quickly and

accurately in very detailed annual reports. The time to gather this information with Cityworks is much less than it used to be. Even the ease of reporting saves the City working dollars by utilizing the software to quickly and efficiently perform a task that would have otherwise been time-consuming and complicated.

In addition, the City also tracks all employee hours in Cityworks. Using an automated transfer into their PeopleSoft accounting system, employees save time by only having to enter their time once. The information is shared between the systems through an interface. With Cityworks, Fort Collins is able to accurately account for all employee work activities.

I m p r o v e d P r o j e c t C o m p l e ti o n Crew leaders use Cityworks to streamline operations, schedule projects, and manage crews more efficiently. Improved management of projects and the time invested in them results in savings for the City as they are able to more efficiently schedule, complete, and manage their work.

Scheduling projects is much more organized and clear-cut.

For example, a signal construction project has many phases. With Cityworks, one work order is created for the project and tasks are used City of Fort Collins – Signal Construction to track the phases of construction.

Supervisors and crew leaders assign work and monitor the progress of projects while holding staff accountable for their assignments.

Field crews interact with work orders daily while on the job through Cityworks DataPump. PDAs are utilized to dispatch service requests and work orders.

Cityworks Storeroom is used to track and order materials for signs and signals, and inspections are used for the signal preventive maintenance program.

G I S - C e n t r i c B e n e f i ts The Streets Department uses Cityworks in many different ways. Utilizing the GIScentric abilities of Cityworks, mapping service requests for potholes has made it much easier for the pothole crew to schedule work and create routes. Service request maps are used for street sweeping along with AVL (Automated Vehicle Location) to analyze response time and ensure requests have been completed.

The City more fully understands how much time is required to complete a request and how they can improve response time, saving them time and money as workflow becomes more efficient.

Fort Collins has all their signs, signals, and pavement markings in the GIS which is helpful in setting up scheduled maintenance and replacement. Recent changes to the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) requires the City to replace many street signs including street names, warnings, and regulatory signs.

Aragon explains, “Cityworks has been a great tool in getting the sign replacement accomplished in the time allotted by the MUTCD. We were able to identify all the signs that need to be replaced, map and set up work schedules for the crews, determine and order the materials needed, and track the progress.”

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In early 2010, Fort Collins had a major problem with ice buildup on city streets which resulted in over 900 calls for ice removal. Utilizing Cityworks and the GIS, the department mapped ice removal requests and the work performed on the requests, giving managers a City of Fort Collins – Striper visual representation of the areas where work was completed versus areas where work was still needed. Stan Welsch, Financial Coordinator at Fort Collins, recounts: “There were eight crews working throughout the city to complete the ice removal. Without Cityworks and its maps, it would have been very difficult for managers to schedule work.

The manner in which the work was completed because of Cityworks and its

GIS mapping capabilities resulted in the City performing the work much more efficiently than we ever could have done had we not had the system. This saved us valuable time and, therefore, money in being able to perform the ice removal in an orderly, productive manner.”

Street patching crews started utilizing Cityworks this past summer to schedule and map patches. To date, there have been 388 street patching work orders already this season. Doug Groves, the supervisor over scheduling the patch crew, told Mr. Welsch that Cityworks along with its mapping capabilities “is the best tool I could have to help manage the operation.”

“Cityworks is very adaptable and we’ve found we can reduce the time and money associated with many of our processes,” concluded Aragon. “Our crew chiefs love it and retrieving information for billing and reports is a snap. We’ve been very pleased with Cityworks and, I think we at the City all agree, it has provided us a great return of investment.” cw

Multiple Cityworks Users Detail Their Cityworks ROI

By Lindsay Ferguson, Public Relations, Azteca Systems, Inc.

Brief highlights from seven of our client sites demonstrate how some basic and innovative uses of Cityworks are yielding ROI for their organizations.

Ann Arbor, Michigan The City of Ann Arbor has been a Cityworks user since 2000. Over time, the City has grown into a full, enterprise-wide implementation. In 2007 they implemented the software for their sidewalk inspections, experiencing fast, tangible results.

Every five years, Ann Arbor’s sidewalk inspection staff inspects more than 27,000 sidewalk segments. Before Cityworks, inspections were done on paper and cost the City $100,000 per year. Utilizing Cityworks on tablet PCs, field inspectors assess the condition for each property with all phases of the inspection tracked through Cityworks. A study conducted to measure economic benefits from using Cityworks showed that inspection time was minimized, resulting in a cost savings of $500 per week per team, with an annual cost savings of $52,000. By eliminating handwritten notes, no follow-up was required when the notes couldn’t be deciphered or vital information was missing, and results of the inspections were available immediately. These are documented savings realized by the sidewalk inspection staff and there’s no telling how much other units are saving as well. Watch the video on our YouTube channel, AztecaCityworks.

of paper to find out. With rising fuel and labor costs, Cityworks allows us to schedule work orders in similar areas of the city rather than ‘bouncing’ all over the city throughout the day, especially for work like the Curb Box Program, fire hydrant and sewer flushing, and our water valve exercise program, to name a few. I feel the Cityworks system has helped take our maintenance program up to a higher level of organization and allow us to quickly access asset history at the touch of a mouse.”

Bridger Mountains near Bozeman

Coon Rapids, Minnesota Bozeman, Montana The City of Bozeman implemented Cityworks in early 2008 in four of the City’s divisions including Water & Sewer, Forestry, Streets, and Signs. Employees at Bozeman have felt the positive effect Cityworks has on their operations, saving time, money, and maximizing resources, as well as taking full advantage of their GIS investment.

“Since our Cityworks implementation, the amount of paper I handle has been cut by 90%,” states John Alston, Superintendant of the Water and Sewer Division at Bozeman. “I like being able to look at the map at any time throughout the day and quickly see what outstanding work orders and service requests there are and their location without having to ask someone or go through a vast amount

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At the City of Coon Rapids, Cityworks was initially implemented in the Sanitary Sewer Department and then in Water, Streets, Stormwater, and Forestry. The City experienced substantial results entering historical information and tracking customer service requests, work orders, resource scheduling, and rotation plans.

In the spring of 2008, the City expanded the use of Cityworks to include the Code Enforcement Division and are now able to easily share information regarding water shutoffs to vacant homes in the community. Code Enforcement is able to more easily identify properties where excessive use charges apply by using Cityworks instead of looking at a paper file, making it easier for the City to follow up with these properties and collect fees where needed. Coon Rapids reports on the cost-effective nature of Cityworks and how it can be uniquely tailored to fit the needs of an organization.

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C i t y w o r k s R O I ( C o n t .)

“Adapting Cityworks to fill the City’s unique needs is proving to be a cost-effective, innovative solution for Coon Rapids,” comments Cindy Hintze, GIS Specialist at the City of Coon Rapids. “Creative work order templates, tasks, custom fields, and custom inspections in Cityworks provide the City the information we need in a format that can be easily retrieved, viewed, and shared.”

Grand Rapids, Minnesota “We are reaping the benefits of Cityworks and feel that we have only begun to scratch the surface,” claims Michael LeClaire, GIS/CAD Technician at the City of Grand Rapids, Minnesota. “After seeing the demonstration of Cityworks and visiting a few other cities actively using the software, we knew that Cityworks would easily be able to solve our stormwater reporting issue. But the great thing about the software was that we could see where Cityworks would benefit other aspects of the Public Works Department, and it most certainly has.”

The City of Grand Rapids self-implemented Cityworks in 2006 and has greatly benefited from its use. Using Cityworks, Public Works has moved to a completely paperless system, utilizing the software for budget analyses, payroll, and invoice reporting, along with traditional asset maintenance management needs. Budget cost analyses were improved as administration began accurately creating reports to provide to the City Council through Cityworks. Using data from Cityworks, the City developed an automated time sheet and invoice reporting system that now saves valuable hours for field crew members from having to accurately describe and report their time each two-week pay period. It has also greatly increased work efficiency for administration staff in producing invoice reports and being responsible for accurate accounting of time reporting.

where work is being done, what materials are used, and how much money is being spent for work orders grouped by any date interval required. Cityworks saves the City of Redlands money and is a great way to make the power of GIS accessible to a broader group of users.”

South San Francisco, California At the City of South San Francisco, Cityworks has been running for close to two years in the Public Works Department. The software has provided measureable results and exceeded staff expectations. South San Francisco has realized significant cost savings as a direct result of their Cityworks/ GIS implementation. So much so that last year, a group of City employees gave a presentation to the San Francisco Bay Area Regional GIS Council about the significant fiscal savings the City has realized because of their new system. More importantly, the City met its original goal in providing internal and statewide reporting. The state of California was pleasantly surprised by the City surpassing its mandates.

South San Francisco, CA, Crew in the Field

“This is a great story of how our City departments came together, funded a project, and provided support with everyone embracing its use,” explains Doug Hollis, Director of IT at South San Francisco. “Cityworks and Esri’s GIS working together have accelerated the quality of work performed within the City immensely. Most of the City went from paper to electronics in just one year. We are all completely ecstatic about our use of Cityworks and GIS. Having a vision for the organization and being able to leapfrog two jumps ahead of where we were is awesome. We are very pleased, no question about it.”

St. Johns County, Florida

Grand Rapids, MN: Old Central School

Redlands, California In May of 2008, Azteca Systems began a Remote Implementation Support (RIS) of Cityworks at the City of Redlands for the Quality of Life and Municipal Utilities & Engineering Departments. In the RIS approach, an Azteca Systems Project Manager meets with the organization’s representative through a series of webcast meetings to implement the Cityworks software. Redlands selected Cityworks to assist in reduced spending and increased efficiency of work crews.

With an already mature and developed GIS, the City realized the benefits that only Cityworks, being GIS-centric, could provide.

“Cityworks is the perfect solution for us to incorporate GIS users from customer service to supervisors to line-level operators,” affirms Phil Mielke, Interim GIS Administrator at the City of Redlands. “Information is easily accessible and delivered through a clear and easy-to-use interface. Reports give decision makers the information they need to be able make informed decisions about

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St. Johns County went live with Cityworks in their Public Works Department in October 2006. The County has experienced significant cost savings as three of the four Public Works Divisions are now using a single, unified system. The County realized cost savings in not having to upgrade their outdated fleet management application with a completely new system. Because the Public Works Department utilizes the Cityworks ELA (Enterprise License Agreement for organizations of 100,000 or less), using Cityworks was the most economical choice. In addition, a performance-based budgeting tool was successfully designed for the County and now operates within Cityworks allowing the County’s users to track costs associated with asset types and work order activities. St. Johns County has been very pleased with the results they have experienced utilizing Cityworks.

Gail Oliver, St. Johns County Surveyor, states: “Our implementation of Cityworks went well and the results of the system have exceeded our expectations. Our use of Cityworks has brought high technology into job duties that previously did not involve technology, greatly improving the accuracy and efficiency of our Public Works Department. GIS technicians, Public Works staff, supervisors, and field crews are able to get on the same level and use and embrace the same technology. Many of us here at the County thought this would be the biggest challenge of the project, but it became the easiest. Now that we can use the planning and performance-based budgeting tool to manage our finances more effectively, it makes the software even better.” cw

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Southern Region Spotlight

Independence, Missouri, User Spotlight Water Pollution Control Department—Q&A With Tamara Bennetzen, Administrative Specialist II of WPC, Storm Water Division, and Emily Brazeal, Administrative Specialist II of WPC, Sewer Maintenance Division, Independence, Missouri; and Jim Trimble, the City’s CMMS Consultant from Burns & McDonnell, Inc.

Q: What challenges led Independence to implement Cityworks?

A: The Water Pollution Control (WPC) Department previously operated multiple software systems to store information. This made data management (entry, analysis, and extraction for reporting purposes) very difficult, time-consuming, and prone to errors and oversight. These multiple software systems lacked capabilities to efficiently and extensively search data.

Work efforts were duplicated as vast amounts of daily work activity and customer service data had to be entered in various systems to satisfy multiple needs. Maintenance supervisors lacked access to the various software systems, prohibiting them from having real hands-on exposure to their own workloads. At times, this caused unnecessary delays in responding to customer service requests. Furthermore, it was difficult to ensure that customer service records weren’t “falling through the cracks” as there was no way to track the connection between service requests and work responses.

Q: How is Cityworks utilized at the City?

A: Cityworks is used in the Sanitary Sewer & Storm Water Maintenance Divisions of the Water Pollution Control (WPC) Department at the City of Independence, Missouri. The software is used

by WPC to more efficiently respond to citizen calls and requests and to spatially plan, manage, and complete preventative maintenance activities as well as to more efficiently address reactive maintenance needs. Cityworks Storeroom is used by WPC to track materials and report inventory for financial accountability.

Q: How has Cityworks benefited WPC? A: Cityworks provides call takers with the ability to better communicate with citizens regarding requests as they relate to the sanitary and storm assets located in the field. The flexibility of Cityworks allows WPC to refine business processes and workflows as business demands evolve.

WPC compiles multiple reports for various stakeholder entities and Cityworks provides reporting flexibility allowing us to satisfy all their reporting requirements.

Because of Cityworks, WPC is able to keep a better handle on our inventory of materials and reporting is more accurate. Cityworks has enabled us to keep better records of labor, materials, and equipment for damage claims and cost recovery. We are also able to track and keep an inventory of our assets for Sanitary & Storm Water.

Storm Vac

In addition, WPC was previously challenged by the fact that maintenance activities were not easily related to the spatial location of assets in the field. Increasing regulatory requirements led to the need for more infrastructure analysis and reporting.

As with other municipal entities, succession management is an issue that WPC will struggle with over the next several years. A large majority of the institutional knowledge within the organization exists with key management personnel and staff. As they retire from service, valuable institutional knowledge will also be lost unless there is a good way to capture, store, and leverage that information for future business activities.

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Q: What future plans does Independence have for Cityworks?

A: WPC is currently deploying Cityworks Anywhere to allow maintenance workers to directly interact with Cityworks while in the field to increase efficiency and reduce paper-based workflows.

Turning the workload to the crews to document while they are on-site should increase accuracy and allow the supervisors to organize their workload better, making the most of their crew’s time on the job. In addition, WPC is encouraging other departments within the City to consider migrating to Cityworks so that we may be able to cooperatively implement Cityworks Server.

Q: What is your overall take on Cityworks and what it has done for your organization?

A: “Cityworks has modernized the way WPC performs maintenance activities and responds to customer service requests,” said Jim Trimble, Senior Project

Courthouse

Manager of Business and Technology Services at Burns & McDonnell (CMMS Consultant for Independence), “setting the stage for future innovations and better ways to serve the citizens of Independence, Missouri.”

Emily Brazeal, Administrative Specialist II of the WPC’s Sewer Maintenance Division at Independence, commented, “WPC has a better customer service program now that we are able to track and monitor the status of service requests/work orders and the knowledge of where our assets are located with all their valuable facts.”

“As we further implement and refine our use of Cityworks,” added Tamara Bennetzen, Administrative Specialist II of the WPC’s Storm Water Division, “we are realizing the many benefits of this comprehensive data management system and it is proving to be an invaluable asset.” cw

Pressure Crew

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S o u t h e r n R e g i o n S p o t l i g h t ( c o n t .)

S t . L o u i s , M i s s o u r i , U s e r S p o t l i g h t —Q&A With Cindy Riordan, Customer Service Manager, St. Louis, Missouri

Q: What led St. Louis to implement Cityworks?

A: The City of St. Louis has a centralized call center – the Citizens’ Service Bureau (CSB) – which was established in 1985. The CSB takes citizen service requests for all City operating departments, such as Parks & Forestry, Streets & Refuse, Building Division, Health Department, and Animal Control. Prior to implementing Cityworks, all of these requests (120,000/year on average) were entered into a DOS-based system. The system was bulky and difficult to run at offices outside of City Hall. Since most operating departments are not in City Hall, this made sharing data between the call center and the departments very cumbersome. As a result, many departments developed their own in-house databases (usually in MS Access) to keep track of the data that was important to them.

St. Louis City Hall – Architecturally, St. Louis’ City Hall is representative of the French Renaissance Revival style, similar to the Paris Hotel de Ville, the City Hall of Paris, France. The building was officially completed in 1904, the year St. Louis hosted the World’s Fair.

The old system had very limited functionality such as a single entry screen, regardless of the problem type. Because it had no Q&A scripting, it took a long time to train our Customer Service Representatives. They had to memorize what information to ask callers about each problem code. Also, CSRs could only search the records by either service request number or address.

Because the system was not GIS-based, the address could be entered any number of ways, further complicating a search. In spite of the searching difficulties, CSRs were required to manually search for an existing request before entering a new request while on the call with a citizen. This was the only way to prevent duplicates from being sent to the operating departments.

The old system also presented many challenges for managers. Because the data was difficult to retrieve, very few managers were able to look

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at trends in their request data. With Cityworks’ robust search screen, managers can now drill down into their data for any given time frame, for any given ward, etc. Managers can also now create reports on the fly with the Export to Excel function. In the past, they had to ask the IT Department to create a new report for them or be limited to the standardized reports already created by IT. Q: How is Cityworks being utilized at the City?

A: Since January 1, 2009, the City of St. Louis has been using Cityworks to track all citizen service requests. Most of the requests begin at the call center where a CSR takes the citizen call and codes their request so that it will be routed to the proper City agency. Our requests get routed to approximately 55 agencies (granted some of those get only a handful of requests each year).

The following seven agencies receive 80% of the requests: Refuse Division Traffic Division Forestry Building Division Animal Care & Control Street Department Operation Brightside (graffiti removal) Q: What benefits have been realized at the City because of Cityworks?

A: The most immediate benefit was the ability to have CSB staff and the Traffic Dispatchers working directly in the same system. Prior to Cityworks, dispatchers logged all of the service calls they answered on handwritten sheets. This meant CSRs at CSB had no way of knowing if they were entering a request that a dispatcher had already responded to. Dispatchers and CSB staff all trained on Cityworks at the same time and began using it in sync, thus eliminating the paper process and allowing staff at each location to be aware of what the other had reported.

If one citizen reported a streetlight out to the dispatcher at midnight and another citizen reported the same light out to CSB the next morning, but in the meantime the dispatchers had a shift change, they frequently dispatched a second truck to fix a light that had already been repaired, costing the City time and money.

A similar success story comes from the Forestry Division. They used to maintain three separate Access databases for tracking tree, weed, and debris violations. They would print out the requests from CSB system and then reenter them into their database. Now they can work

Cindy Riordan working on Cityworks

entirely within Cityworks. And because we are all in the same system, CSB can answer citizen follow-up calls without having to call Forestry for an update.

Even prior to Cityworks being implemented, our citizens were asking for a way to submit their requests online. We created an online form for this, but it was again a generic form with no scripted questions and answers. After citizens submitted the form, the data was dumped into a .csv file which we then had to upload into our DOS system each morning in order to pull a request number. We then manually emailed each citizen back to give them that request number. Because of Cityworks’ open back-end table structure, we were able to create a citizen online interface that mirrors the Q&A used at CSB, immediately inserts the record into the Cityworks tables, and instantly provides the citizen with a request number.

Q: What are your future plans for Cityworks?

A: We currently have one department (Forestry) utilizing the work order side of Cityworks to track tasks related to service delivery. We will soon be adding work orders for the Refuse Division.

Now that Cityworks Server is available, we’ll be implementing this web application so that field employees can also be connected to our live data. Slowly, we also hope more departments will start using Cityworks’ asset management features – to keep track of tree maintenance, traffic signal maintenance, etc.

Q: What is your overall take on Cityworks?

A: Thinking back, it is hard to imagine how we ever functioned without Cityworks. The amount of time spent maintaining numerous silos of data and the duplicate data entry required in doing so was really slowing down our ability to deliver services. As a result of implementing Cityworks, operating departments are starting to realize what a gold mine of data they have at their fingertips and are now discovering ways to use that data to manage their operations more efficiently. cw

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T h e C o l o n y , T e x a s , U s e r S p o t l i g h t —Q&A With Beth Velasco, Public Works/Utilities at The Colony, Texas

Q: What led The Colony to implement Cityworks?

A: Before Cityworks, the City had no reliable method of tracking the cost, labor, or materials used for any given job. The work orders – which ranged from alley, street, sidewalk, and curb repair to main breaks and sewer stoppages – were tracked electronically but the actual work was not. The Public Works & Utilities crews used their own method of tracking (e.g., pen, paper, notepad). This information would then be transferred to administrative staff via email or handwritten notes to include in an end-of-month report. On occasion information would get lost in translation.

This method of tracking, or lack thereof, also posed a problem when residents would call to check on the status of their work order. Staff would have to gather the contact information from the resident, try to get in touch with the crews to see what work was done, and attempt to get back in touch with the resident.

Depending on availability of the crews, it could take an entire day to answer a question, which did not always make the resident happy. The City needed a one-stop shop for providing good customer service by giving as much information as possible to residents as quickly as possible.

Efficiency and productivity were also in question and needed to be addressed.

become much more efficient. When staff takes calls from residents, most of the information they need is right in front of them. The residents appreciate that and have complimented us on our response times.

For Public Works, tracking repairs has never been easier. Staff can look up any work order and determine what work was done, when it was completed, and the cost and labor involved as well as the equipment and material used. This was exactly what we needed. As for the Utilities Department, they are now able to effectively track each and every one of their assets. There is no longer an issue with communication between the crews, administrative staff, and the residents. Monthly reporting is also easier and less time-consuming since using Cityworks. All the information we need is at our fingertips.

The Colony, Texas, City Hall

Q: What future plans does The Colony have for Cityworks?

A: The next step for us is to utilize more functions in Cityworks such as the inspections and task features. Our Parks & Recreation Department is also planning to start using Cityworks as well.

These adaptations will be happening within the next year.

Q: What is your overall take on Cityworks and what it has done for your organization?

A: Our staff has longed for a good method to keep track of materials and work assignments.

Cityworks has provided a platform that our front-line employees can use while also being an effective management tool. The tracking of cost and production is much more efficient because of our Cityworks’ use. cw

Q: How is Cityworks utilized at the City?

A: When the City saw what Cityworks could do, there was no doubt that it was the system for us. Our Public Works Department was the first to start using Cityworks and uses it for tracking alley, street, sidewalk, and curb repair. Following the Public Works Department, the Utilities Department started using Cityworks for tracking every water and sewer line, manhole, drain, and pump in the city. We also utilize Cityworks for monthly reporting.

Q: How has Cityworks benefited the departments in which it is utilized?

A: Since we started using Cityworks a year ago, the Public Works and Utilities Departments have

Fall 2010

19

Cityworks User-to-User Forum NEW! –

This issue we are adding a new feature. We know many times our Cityworks users are our best resources for ideas and tips on how to better use our software. This section will be devoted to those discoveries and ideas that you’ve found work for your organization. If you have something you’d like to pass along, please submit it to Kaye Ryser at kryser@cityworks.com.

Boost Cityworks Server With These Two Firefox Add-ons

By Thomas Bulone, CMMS/GIS Analyst, City of St. Cloud, Florida

In March 2009, the City of St. Cloud Public Services Division became one of the first early adopters of Cityworks Server. Our users immediately found Cityworks Server to be an enormously powerful and easy-to-use application. It wasn’t long after we began getting acquainted with Cityworks Server that we also realized its web nature could be further improved by tweaking the browser in which it runs.

When we made the decision to deploy Cityworks Server, we also chose to adopt Mozilla Firefox as the browser. In recent years, Firefox has gained significant popularity due to its support of web standards, increased security, improved performance, and extensible architecture through the use of add-ons. With over 5000 free add-ons, Firefox can easily be tailored and enhanced to improve one’s browsing experience.

As is the case with any application used to capture and manage authoritative data, success can really only be achieved when the software is used consistently. We knew that by deploying Cityworks Server we would have opportunities to track more information than ever before – detailed information that is vital to our City so we can continue to improve our services. It goes without saying then that data entry became paramount. This was an area we zeroed in on early and aimed to sharpen to the maximum extent possible. So in addition to the core functions Cityworks Server provides, we augmented our data entry in two other ways: 1) Ensuring that screen entries could be recovered in the event of a forgotten save or network hiccup. 2) Persisting (or remembering) values for workflows that call for the same information to be entered multiple times. The solution to these needs came by installing two Firefox add-ons – Lazarus Form Recovery and iMacros for Firefox.

Lazarus Form Recovery Screenshot Before Recovery

Lazarus Form Recovery quickly and easily restores “lost” form data due to browser crashes, server/network failure, forgotten saves, etc. As a user enters data, Lazarus automatically stores it locally on the user’s computer. Should the session get interrupted, one would simply go back into the screen they were working in, right-click in the field to restore, and select “Recover Form” from the menu. A list of recently entered data is presented from which the user simply selects, and the entry is placed into the field. If you’ve ever had the experience of entering large amounts of data into a service request, work order, or inspection, only to have a failure of some kind that wipes it away, you’ll like this add-on. Try it and it may never happen to you again. iMacros for Firefox records repetitious data entry so that it can be replayed and applied later. In some of our work orders, it is not uncommon for the same data to be entered multiple times. In one workflow, the installation of water meters at several individual addresses on the same block calls for the same information to be entered into each work order (only the address differs). The iMacros for Firefox add-on handles this by creating a macro of the user’s actions, which one then simply replays. Absolutely no programming knowledge is required…. Just click the record button, perform the actions once, and stop the recording. More complex tasks are supported as well. For example, carrying specific information from a parent work order to a child, such as comments, instructions, and/or custom field data, iMacros is able to do. Virtually anything that can be done in the Firefox browser may be recorded and automated with this handy tool – the possibilities are truly endless!

These two Firefox add-ons are only the tip of the iceberg. There are many more that can be incorporated into an organization’s day-to-day operations such as spell check and lockdown. With a little research into these and other available Firefox add-ons and a minimal amount of work, any deployment can be tweaked to increase the efficiency of data entry. Based on our experience, your users will be happier, fewer mistakes will occur, and work will get done faster. cw

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Lazarus Form Recovery Screenshot After Recovery

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iMacros for Firefox Record Tab

iMacros for Firefox

iMacros for Firefox Edit Tab

Play Tab About the City of St. Cloud

St. Cloud, a midsize, family-oriented city near Orlando, was founded on April 16, 1909, as a retirement community for Civil War Union veterans – hence St. Cloud is known as iMacros for Firefox

the Soldier City. The City was incorporated on January 3, 1911.

Sidebar and Button St. Cloud is located in the northern portion of Osceola County in the central portion of the state of Florida. It is located approximately 26 miles southeast of the City of Orlando.

The city’s population grew 36% between 1990 and 1998 and now numbers more than 33,800. Since the year 2000, the city’s land area has grown from 9.74 square miles to about 19 square miles.

Cityworks is used primarily by Public Services to manage the following: • Environmental Utilities Department assets – these include the City’s sanitary,

potable, and reclaimed water mains, manholes, valves, meters, lift stations, structures, fittings, services, and lateral lines.

• Public Works Department

assets – including streets, sidewalks, signals, driveways, signs, stormwater pipes and structures, ditches, retention ponds, trees, and City right-of-ways.

In the near future, Public Services is planning on using Cityworks to manage assets for the City’s Vehicle Maintenance and Solid Waste Departments.

Number of active users in Environmental Utilities: 40 Number of active users in Public Works: 25 iMacros for Firefox Screenshot of iMacros Editor

The Environmental Utilities Department provides service to customers both inside and outside the City limits. Currently the City provides sanitary sewer service for over 13,500 customer accounts; potable water service for over 16,300 customer accounts; and reclaim water service for over 3100 customer accounts. cw

Fall 2010

21

Tips & Tricks

Modifying a Site Form via the XML Files & Incorporating Universal Custom Fields

By Bryan Chadwick, GIS Support Manager, Azteca Systems, Inc.

One of the main differences between Cityworks Server 2010 and earlier versions is the further enhanced ability to modify the UI (user interface) via a number of XML files. Cityworks Server 2010 looks first at the location specified as the Server default layout folder value in Designer Preferences to get the site layout and then the XML folder located under <install_drive>\inetpub\ wwwroot\<site_alias>\Website. The default value corresponds to <install_drive>\inetpub\wwwroot\<site_alias>\WebSite\Xml\ Default.

If customization is necessary, modify the WOGeneral, SRGeneral, and Global XML files or make a copy of one of the example files provided (WOGeneral.xml or SRGeneral.xml) and rename it to match the base file without ‘Base’ in the filename (e.g., GenInspectionEditBase.xml as GenInspectionEdit.xml for custom inspections). Important: Do not modify the base files contained in the XML folder. Additionally, you can create a copy of the default folder – making sure to rename it and place it in the same location (<install_drive>\inetpub\ wwwroot\<site_alias>\Website). You must now specify this folder as the Server default layout folder field in Preferences. (This is item 57 of the Default Order column which can be opened by placing the cursor on the right margin of the Value field until it changes to a double arrow and dragging it to the right.)

C r e a te a U n i v e r s a l C u s to m F i e l d 4. Log in to Cityworks Server and click on your new tab to access the Universal Custom Field Configuration panel.

5. Populate the following: • Table Name field dropdown to WORKORDER • Field Name field dropdown to Text1 • Field Alias field with True Status (type in) • Code Type field dropdown to WOSTATUS • Display field dropdown to DESC • Default field dropdown to OPEN

6. Click the Save button (disk icon). Remember the WORKORDER, REQUEST, and INSPECTION tables each allow for 10 custom value text fields as well as 5 fields each for numeric and data fields.

7. Go to the Work Order tab and create a new work order or open an existing one. Notice the standard layout present in the Work Order panel, as the universal custom field has been created but the corresponding XML file has not been modified to make it visible and fully accessible.

A d d the Universal Custo m F i e l d T a b 1. Log in to Cityworks Server and navigate to the Admin page. Highlight the Root in the Site Map and click on the Add new item button. (As always, you can nest the page wherever you desire.)

2. Name the tab something like UCF, set access for the Authorized Roles, and select Universal Custom Fields – Manager from the Defined Pages dropdown.

3. Click the Save button, the Return button, and then click on the Refresh icon to show the newly created tab. (You can also click on the Move selected page up /down in list icon to control where the tab will ultimately reside – just make sure to click on the Refresh button after clicking the up/down button.)

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Modify the Default XML to Enable the Universal Custom Field 8. Navigate to <install_drive>\inetpub\wwwroot\<site_alias>\ WebSite\XML\Default, right-click the WOGeneral.xml, and open it with Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Applications 2.0. (Any text editor is fine. There are also many free XML editors. Although not necessarily free, Visual Studio provides a nice advantage given it contains intellisense.)

9. Create a new line between <controls> and </controls> entries (understanding with XML that the opening tag is formatted <…> and the closing tag is formatted </…>) and paste the following syntax in the newly created space: <control id=” Text1” visible=”true”></control> 10. Create a new line between <layout> and </layout> entries and paste the following in the space created:

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<panel id =”General”> <row index =”2”> <label id=”label_Text1”> <text>True Status:</text> <linkedControls> <control id=” Text1”/> </linkedControls> </label> <controlContainer> <linkedControls> <control id=” Text1”/> </linkedControls> </controlContainer> </row> </panel>

11. Save and close the WOGeneral.xml.

12. Log in to Cityworks Server again and create a new work order or open an existing one. Notice the now modified layout present in the Work Order panel. The universal custom field (Text1 in this example) with a label of True Status containing descriptions from the WOSTATUS code via a dropdown is now available.

Please Note: A separate panel for Universal Custom Fields (UCFs) already exists in the General XMLs (Panel id = UniversalCustomFieldsPanel) that will get used by default once the control ids for the various UCF fields are made visible. However, the UCFs can also be incorporated onto other panels within the XML as well as this article demonstrates. <panel id =”UniversalCustomFieldsPanel” width “482px float “left”> <PanelTitle> <text>Universal Custom Fields</text> </PanelTitle> <row> <label id “label_Text1”> <text>Text1:</text> <linkedControls> <control id=” Text1”/> </linkedControls> </label> <controlContainer> <linkedControls> <control id=” Text1”/> </linkedControls> </controlContainer>

The key is that any edits made be done against XMLs residing in the Default folder as previously discussed. The Cityworks Server installer for each new build removes all base XMLs from <install_drive>\ inetpub\wwwroot\<site_alias>\WebSite\Xml and re-creates them – incorporating any new corresponding changes for the build, such as field types being modified. Additionally, the software first looks to the Default folder and then logically next to the Xml folder. cw

Fall 2010

23

User Information

Customer Support – Exceeding Expectations

By Steve Thomas, Executive Manager, Customer Support, Azteca Systems, Inc.

A few weeks ago, we received an email from one of our clients expressing their satisfaction with the support they had received. They compared their experience with their Cityworks Customer Support representative to other companies explaining how great he was at explaining and working through their concerns.

The email stated, “I don’t think I have ever written any other company about their support staff but I felt I needed to because I felt that I learned more and also was spoken to in a clear and concise manner in the few hours that I spent on the phone with him than I have at some training classes I attended.” Because our goal is to provide the best possible support, we are pleased when we receive emails from clients sharing their feedback. I encourage you to share your experience with our support staff. You can reach me via email at sthomas@cityworks.com or by phone at 801-523-2751.

F u l l-time Programmer In May, we brought on a full-time programmer, Alan Thomas, as part of our Customer Support Team. Alan is readily available to assist our Customer Support Representatives, researching code and/or debugging against client databases to replicate and pinpoint specific issues. Immediate accessibility to Alan allows us to find resolutions quicker without diverting our core development staff.

Alan also develops various support tools for our clients, such as the Project 2010 Update Tool, which converts the existing Desktop project hierarchy to the new method of managing projects in Cityworks 2010 (highlighted on page 25).

Three other tools are being developed to help clients prepare additional domain configurations and move from a test environment to the production environment, give new clients a method to quickly create a Cityworks configuration against their GIS database, and make changes to their work order and service request template descriptions.

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Enhancement Requests In our Cityworks customer support database, we track all reported software bugs, problems, and, since June, all enhancement requests. We closely evaluate these enhancement requests to understand their viability and determine how best to incorporate them into our Cityworks development roadmap. More complex suggestions often require changes to long-established protocols, requiring thorough vetting before proceeding with the development. At the same time, our development roadmap must weave in support for new Esri software releases, database releases, operating system and browser upgrades, and other changes to peripheral software and processes. Above all, our primary goal is to provide a stable software platform. With over 400 licensed organizations, we receive many great ideas for enhancements. Since June 2010, we have entered 136 enhancement requests into our system. We appreciate our clients and value your input, and hope it shows through our responsiveness to your requests. cw

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Project 2010 Upgrade Tool The Project 2010 Upgrade Tool was developed to convert the project hierarchy in Cityworks Desktop and Anywhere to the format of projects and subprojects found in Cityworks Server AMS. All are listed in the project selections.

Administrators need to modify the hierarchy structure to ensure project names are unique and remove any folders they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to convert to projects. Existing projects cannot be deleted from the database using this tool.

The top left pane contains the Current Project Hierarchy for comparison and a list of Orphan Projects in the lower left pane.

Drag-and-drop functionality supports moving orphaned projects to the Projected Project Hierarchy in the main work area on the center pane. Here the new hierarchy can be viewed and modifications made to convert duplicate names with different system IDs or projects listed in multiple places with the same system ID. The right pane lists some of the key fields in the Selected Project frame, tools for making changes, brief instructions about the selection, and a Legend. Once everything is rectified, Apply Changes saves the new hierarchy, creates new projects from the remaining folders, and renames projects changed by the user in all applicable Cityworks tables. cw

S u pp o r t R e g ions

Customer Support Direct Phone #

801.990.1888 Fall 2010

25

U s e r I n f o r m a t i o n ( c o n t .)

Digital Documentation

By Ryan Harris, Documentation Supervisor, Azteca Systems, Inc.

With the release of Cityworks 2010, and in the spirit of Azteca’s commitment to going green, Cityworks documentation has now gone digital.

All product documentation is now packaged with the software, whereas it had previously only been available on MyCityworks.com.

The documentation for Cityworks Server is embedded in the Server build and accessed from the title bar. Click on the question mark in the blue circle on the right next to the record search field – Figure 1. An example of what you’ll see is in Figure 2.

To access the documentation for Cityworks Desktop and Anywhere, click on the Start menu, navigate to All Programs and then Cityworks. Click on Cityworks to list the contents, and then click to open the Help folder. The Designer Guide is currently provided in a PDF format, but the User Guide, Add-ons Guide, and Inspections and Tests documentation are provided in a net-help format. Designer will soon be provided in the net-help format – Figure 3. An example of Inspections and Tests net help is shown in Figure 4.

Cityworks documentation will continue to grow as the products mature. Our documentation team is committed to providing product documentation that is easily accessible and as helpful as possible. cw

Figure 1 – Server AMS Documentation Access

Figure 2 – Server AMS Documentation Example

Figure 4 – Inspections and Tests Net Help

Figure 3 – Net Help Format

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INPRINT

By John Jarnagin, Educational Services Manager, Azteca Systems, Inc.

Our September 13-16, 2010, Cityworks Server Administration Training was held at our corporate training facility in Sandy, Utah. Attendees consisted of Cityworks users and business partners including GHD (Cazenovia, NY); SEH (St. Paul MN); RJN Group Inc. (Wheaton, IL); City of San Mateo (San Mateo, CA); Berkeley County Water & Sanitation (Moncks Corner, SC); and InfoGraph (Amman, Jordan). There was another Cityworks Server Administration Training held October 11-14, 2010. Attendees were from NTB Associates (Dallas, TX) and AMEC (Albuquerque, NM).

• 3000: Cityworks Server Administration is a 4-day training course which begins by creating a SQL Server 2008 relational database and adding in the necessary roles, logins, and users. It proceeds step-by-stepin standing up a Cityworks Server website and completing all tasks required within Cityworks Designer and wraps up by covering basic end-user functionality in the Cityworks Server interface. The cost is $2400/person.

• 3001: Cityworks Desktop to Cityworks Migration training is a 2-day training course covering the workflow required to convert a Cityworks Desktop relational database into a Cityworks Server database, stand up the Cityworks Server website, add the necessary configuration within Cityworks Designer, and interact with Cityworks Server as an end user. The cost is $1200/person.

• Remote Interactive Training (RIT) 501 & 502: Introduction to Cityworks Server covers all aspects of end-user functionality including an overview, the map, and service requests (501). Work orders and inspections are discussed in the second module (502). These two 4-hour trainings are offered for $500 each course per person and includes access to all training materials which can be downloaded from the Cityworks Campus website.

Check out the Remote Interactive section for all web trainings.

U p c o m i n g C i ty w o rk s T r a i n i n g Held at the corporate training facility in Sandy, Utah.

Cityworks Desktop Administration December 6–10, 2010 February 7–11, 2011 Cityworks Server AMS Administration January 10–13, 2011 Cityworks Desktop to Cityworks Server Migration January 24–25, 2011 February 21–21, 2011

Cityworks Server Administration Trainings at Azteca’s Corporate Training Facility

Ne w Training Courses We are offering several new Cityworks training courses which have been added to the Cityworks Campus. The first two courses are offered at our corporate headquarters in Sandy, Utah, and include the use of a computer and all related training documents.

Fall 2010

Pre-Conference Training Courses We are hard at work finalizing training courses to offer at the upcoming Cityworks User Conference 2011. Below is a preliminary list: • Advanced Cityworks Server Topics • Cityworks Server Administration Training • Cityworks Desktop to Cityworks Server Migration • Cityworks Reporting (Options using the Cityworks Report Engine, Crystal Reports, & SQL Server Reporting) For any information related to training, feel free to contact me directly at jjarnagin@cityworks.com or visit the Cityworks Campus website at www.mycityworks.com/cityworscampus. cw

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U s e r I n f o r m a t i o n ( c o n t .)

MyCityworks.com

By Greg Walters, Customer Support Representative, Azteca Systems, Inc.

Ne w Clients and Busine s s P a r t n e r s MyCityworks provides an array of resources essential for effectively using the Cityworks software.

The MyCityworks.com website includes the following key resources: • Software downloads • User manuals • White papers • Knowledge base articles • User forums for Cityworks Desktop, Server AMS, and Server PLL • Access to the Cityworks Campus – Cityworks software training site

kn

? w o

s ha se ks ba or e w r dg ity ve e r l C Se ow 00 d n 2 k an es. d p l ur un o O ic o t t r k a ar es D

D

id

u o y

Check out the What’s New sidebar (see below) on the home page for a quick glimpse of recently added resources.

In order to access MyCityworks, you must obtain a login. If you don’t have a login, please contact your Customer Support Representative by phone at (801) 990-1888 or email at cwsupport@cityworks.com.

R e c e n tl y A d d e d R e s o u r c e s The videos section has expanded to include user spotlight videos and updated help videos enhanced with voice recordings. In addition, the following items have been added: • Cityworks Server Installation Process white paper • How to Enable Custom Image Symbology for Event Layers in Cityworks Server knowledge base article #10523 • New Cityworks Server AMS training courses under Cityworks Campus Please take a look at the Cityworks 2010 system specifications. The commercial release of Cityworks 2010 does not support ArcGIS 9.3.1 SP2 or ArcGIS 10.

MyCityworks.com is for you! Let us know if you have any suggestions to improve our site. cw

Supported RDBMS and Esri Platforms C i t y w o r ks D e s kto p 2 0 1 0

C i t y w o r ks A n y w h ere 2010

ArcGIS Desktop 9.3.1 SP1

ArcGIS ArcEngine 9.3.1 SP1

Oracle 10g R2

Oracle 10g R2

Oracle 11g R1

Oracle 11g R1

SQL Server 2005

SQL Server 2005

SQL Server 2008

SQL Server 2008

SQL Server Express 2005 (4GB limit)

SQL Server Express 2005 (4GB limit)

SQL Server Express 2008 (4GB limit)

SQL Server Express 2008 (4GB limit)

Windows Vista Business 32-bit

Windows Vista Business 32-bit

Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit

Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit

Windows 7 Professional 32-bit

Windows 7 Professional 32-bit

C i t y w o r ks S e r v e r 2 0 1 0 AM S / P L L

C i t y w o r ks S e r v e r 2010 AMS/PLL

E n te r p r i s e

W o r k g ro u p

ArcGIS Server 9.3.1 SP1 (Standard or

ArcGIS Server 9.3.1 SP1 (Standard or

Advanced Enterprise)

Advanced Workgroup)

Oracle 10g R2

SQL Server Express 2005 (4GB limit)

Oracle 11g R1

SQL Server Express 2008 (4GB limit)

SQL Server 2005

Windows Server 2008 64-bit

SQL Server 2008 Windows Server 2008 64-bit

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Cityworks News

Implementation Partners PLATINUM • POWER Engineers

• Woolpert

SILVER

GOLD • Short Elliott Hendrickson (SEH)

• Jones Edmunds & Associates

• Timmons Group

• Motorola • Rolta US

BRONZE • Burns & McDonnell

• North Arrow Technologies

• CH2M Hill, Inc.

• NTB Associates

• Civic Engineering and Information

• PACE Engineers, Inc. • Strand Associates, Inc.

Technologies • Civil Solutions

• VESTRA Resources, Inc.

• IT Nexus

• Westin Engineering

• Midland GIS

• Weston Solutions

For a complete list of Implementation Member Partners, see www.cityworks.com.

International Distribution Partners • ESRI Canada • ESRI Costa Rica (Geotecnologias) • ESRI Israel (Systematics) • ESRI S-GROUP Sverige AB, Sweden

Great Lakes Guardians Golf Classic Hosted by Oakland County, MI – August 23, 2010 A b out Gre at Lakes Guar d i a n s Great Lakes Guardians was established to protect and preserve these natural resources by promoting water resource stewardship. The lakes, rivers, and streams that we enjoy in Southeast Michigan are important to the vitality and quality of life in our region.

Great Lakes Guardians accomplishes this through grant programming, scholarships, and educational programs to ensure that these resources are protected far into the future.

Azteca Systems Becomes Esri Platinum Partner Azteca Systems recently received Platinum Tier Partnership level with industry renowned GIS developer Esri. The partnership recognizes Azteca’s presence as a worldwide industry leader and solidifies the Cityworks line of products as the leading GIS-centric solution for asset management, work order, permitting, and licensing.

Platinum Tier Esri Partnership distinguishes Azteca as an industry-leading firm with a global customer base providing progressive GIS solutions built upon the Esri software platform. Aligned in vision and strategy, Azteca and Esri continue to work collaboratively on projects on a worldwide scope. Cityworks is built to leverage the GIS data created by organizations using Esri’s products and is built on top of Esri’s leading ArcGIS software. The tools inherent to ArcGIS enable Cityworks with unique and powerful capabilities for asset management and other management solutions for organizations.

“We are pleased to have Azteca Systems among our group of Platinum Partners,” said Josh Lewis, Director of the Esri Partner Network. “Azteca has been a loyal and dedicated partner for several years with Cityworks, their unique, GIS-centric approach to asset maintenance management and permitting. Public works, utilities, and government represent strong markets with great growth potential for us. Cityworks helps these clients leverage the power of the geodatabase, empowering ArcGIS with the day-to-day solutions to manage the critical work they do.”

“Becoming Platinum Partners with Esri is an exciting collaboration for us,” commented Brian Haslam, President of Azteca Systems. “Throughout the years, Azteca has consistently maintained a strong, dependable, and successful relationship with Esri through hard work and dedication, and this new level of partnership solidifies our working with Esri in the past and future. Cityworks and ArcGIS are seamlessly woven together providing customers a GIS-centric solution unmatched by any other. We look forward to continued efforts with Esri as together we continue to expand our projects across the U.S. as well as internationally.” cw

WELCOME NEW CITYWORKS USERS! C i n c i n n a ti M S D I T D i v i s i o n , O h i o E a g l e R i v e r W a te r & S a n i ta ti o n D i s t ri c t, C o l o r a d o H e l e n a , M o n ta n a Hudson, Ohio No r th g l e n n , C o l o r a d o

(l-to-r) Kevin Larsen, Chief Deputy Water Resources Commissioner, Oakland County; Dave Wilburn, Ann Arbor, MI; Dawn Siegel, Chief Oakland County Department of Information Technology; Phil Mogavero, Azteca Systems; Dave Maurice, Canton Township, MI; and John P. McCulloch, Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner

Fall 2010

Y o r b a L i n d a W a te r D i s t ri c t , C a l i f o r n i a Y o r k C o u n t y , S o u th C a r o l i n a 29

C i t y w o r k s N e w s ( c o n t .)

Welcome Three New Employees!

J e r emy White Replacing Brent Wilson as the Account Manager over the Southern Region is Missouri resident, Jeremy White. He began working for Azteca on August 13, 2010. Jeremy was born in Stuttgart, Germany, and raised in Georgia, New Hampshire, and Nebraska.

He was – as you may have guessed – an Army brat.

Most of his family still lives in NH – and he doesn’t blame them at all!

Jeremy graduated in 1999 from Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri, with a BS in Geography with an emphasis in GIS and Geology. He has held several GIS positions throughout his career (all but one in Missouri), starting with GIS Manager at the Platte County Assessor’s Office, GIS Specialist at Midland GIS Solutions in Maryville, Account Manager at Esri (in Kansas), and GIS Manager at the City of Saint Joseph.

He and his wife, Shannen, will be celebrating 4 years of marriage in February of 2011. They have two children – a daughter, Paige, who is 10, and a son, Desmond, who will be 3 in November. He loves spending time playing with his children, and is an avid New England Patriots and Boston Red Sox fan.

Recently while in Boston for the APWA Conference, he met Dustin Pedrioa (starting 2nd baseman for the Sox).

Interesting sidelight: Jeremy loves the stage. In the last year, he was involved with the local theater group in Saint Joseph and was cast in three productions – Of Mice and Men, Fiddler on the Roof, and The Lion in Winter. cw

Chris Brussow Chris joined the Azteca team on August 23rd as Azteca’s Customer Relations Representative. Chris is a three-time graduate from the University of Utah in Emergency Management, Geography, and GIS. He worked as a mortgage professional (broker and later retail rep) and GIS Analyst Intern for Salt Lake County prior to coming to Azteca. He is excited to be part of the Azteca family and looks forward to a long career here.

While Chris was born in Salt Lake City, his family moved to Lansing, Michigan, when he was 2. After 10 years there, they spent 2 years in Phoenix, Arizona, and a year in St. George. He and his wife, Jen, and two children, Hailee (age 9) and Xander (age 4), live in Sandy. In August 2005, when his daughter was 3, they were vacationing on a sailboat for 2 weeks in the British Virgin Islands and spent the first couple of days in the turbulence of Tropical Depression Ten and the last 3 days in really rough water courtesy of Hurricane Katrina.

He is an avid swimmer and skier so both his children were on skis before age 2. When he can, he participates in the Utah Summer Games. He’s the current state record holder for the 50-m and 100m breaststroke and 100-m freestyle. (A former teammate broke his 50-m freestyle and 100-m backstroke records this summer as he wasn’t there to defend them.) He also enjoys scuba diving. cw

Spencer Ryser Spencer joined Azteca as a part-time intern on August 9, 2010. Currently he attends LDS Business College where he’s working on an associate’s degree in General Studies. He plans to transfer to the University of Utah to study industrial-organizational psychology, so he can work to increase productivity. He is engaged to be married in the spring. Spencer enjoys wake boarding, snowboarding, and is a true University of Utah football fan!

While he was born and raised in Sandy, Utah, he served a two-year LDS mission in Novosibirsk, Russia, located on the Asian continent in the middle of Russia. Novosibirsk is the third largest city in Russia (after Moscow and Saint Petersburg) and the largest city of Siberia. He spent a year in eastern Russia near the Mongolian border in an area with a strong Asian culture, not the stereotypical Russian culture that comes to mind. He endured two Siberian winters with temperatures hitting as low as -43 degrees Fahrenheit. Something you may not know about Siberia is that residents there enjoy all four seasons – to the extreme – so summer temperatures are in the 90s for at least a few weeks of the year.

Previously he worked in the call center as a 2010 Census agent/enumerator (because he could speak Russian) until the census was completed. cw

Mitch Palizzi Mitch Palizzi is a Marketing Intern in the Sales & Marketing Department. Currently enrolled at the University of Colorado, he is working towards a degree in business marketing. He was born in Denver, Colorado, and spends most of his free time on his snowboard or wake board. cw

2010 Esri International User Conference Thank you to those who stopped by our booth!

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INPRINT

Congratulations to the 2010 Esri SAG Award Winners!

St. Johns County, FL

Rocky Agbunag, GIS Coordinator; Jack Dangermond, Esri; Corey Bowens, GIS

Co n g r a tu l a ti o n s City of Frisco, Texas

Coordinator, and Tom Tibbitts,

Esri Presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Award Recipient

Johns County, FL

GIS Assistant Manager, St.

Staff honored in front of thousands at the Esri Conference

City of Frisco, TX

City of Raleigh, NC

City of Troy, MI

Brian Macke, Public Safety GIS Analyst; Jack Dangermond,

Justin Greco, GIS Programmer/Analyst; Jack

Tara Russell-Weir, GIS Analyst; Jack

Esri; Susan Olson, Information Services & GIS Manager,

Dangermond, Esri; and Colleen Sharpe, GIS Manager,

Dangermond, Esri; and Alex Bellak,

and John Morley, Sr GIS Analyst, City of Frisco, TX

City of Raleigh, NC

GIS Administrator, City of Troy, MI

Fall 2010

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11075 S. State Street, Ste. 24 Sandy, UT 84070

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