InPrint Winter 2008

Cityworks

InPrint

DECEMBER 2008

Delivering Innovative GIS-Centric Management Tools for Your Enterprise

Cross-Compatibility — The Reality of Web-based Software, as We Now Know It

Lake Forest, Illinois — C o n t i nu e d E x p a n s i o n o f C i t y wo rks

b y Brian Haslam, Presid e n t / C E O , A z t e c a Sy s t e m s , I n c .

The City of Lake Forest, Illinois, was incorporated in 1861 and ranks among America’s most distinctive and picturesque communities. The city offers high-quality educational opportunities, values its rich heritage, and preserves its historic structures and natural open spaces.

Many notable persons have chosen to make their homes there; and over the years, the list of property owners in Lake Forest has read like a Who’s Who of the rich and famous in Chicago. Lake Forest is part of the Chicago metropolitan

In December 2001, I came across an article entitled “The End of Software as We Know it,” by Mike Drummond. The article described a world of web-based applications served to users via a thin client or browser (as in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer or Mozilla’s Firefox). Though it mainly focused on the Application Service Provider (ASP) concept, or softwareas-a-service, it predicted a world of business applications funded on a subscription basis. In other words, users would no longer license a software application, receive a CD, install it on their computer or server, and pay annual software maintenance. Instead, they would simply pay a subscription fee on a regular basis — monthly, quarterly, etc. — and access the application by logging in over the Internet.

Not long after this article appeared, we began to see more and more interest in web-enabled applications. Requests for Proposals began to include web-based options. Many major legacy system providers embarked on ambitious development efforts to web-enable their applications, including a few of our competitors. The world seemed determined to be webbased and at almost any cost.

As we moved through the next few years of the new century, we saw some of the first web-based applications emerge.

Curiously, I noticed a common practice among most of the legacy system providers. I’ll call it the all-or-nothing approach. I noticed nearly allcx of the new, web-based systems were rewritten in state-of-the-art programming languages and specifically built for browser/server deployment — where the software application is installed on a server and accessed by users via a browser. As the new releases were brought to market, existing customers had no choice but to upgrade to the new system as the provider proclaimed the previous versions had become obsolete and were incompatible with the new, web-based architecture.

by Mary Clement, GIS Manager, City of Lake Forest, IL

cont. on page 25

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Features Cross-Compatibility — The Reality of Web-based Software

1

Lake Forest, IL — Continued Expansion of Cityworks

1

Coon Rapids, MN, An Organization-Wide Implementation

3

Macon Water Authority — Implementing “Best Business Practices” Along with the Cityworks CMMS

4

President’s Corner — Get up to Speed with Cityworks Server!

2

Project Management — Redlands, CA, Remote Implementation

6

Midland, TX, Implements Cityworks Client Services Update

8 11

Training & Documentation

12

MyCityworks.com

14

Software — Cityworks 4.5

15

2009 Cityworks User Conference

16

Partner News — County of Essex, ON (ESRI Canada)

18

Central Arkansas Water (Woolpert)

20

Regional News

22

Get to Know — Client Services

30

cont. on page 24

F o r m o r e i n f o r m a t i o n o n C i t y w o r k s a n d A z t e c a Sy s t e m s , v i s i t u s o n l i n e a t w w w. c i t y w o r k s . c o m

President ’s Corner

InPrint Editor in Chief: Tom Palizzi Editor: Kaye Ryser Advertising: Kaye Ryser Azteca Systems, Inc. 11075 South State Street, Suite 24 Sandy, UT 84070 801-523-2751 www.cityworks.com

Get up to Speed with Cityworks Server!

by Brian Haslam, President/CEO

It is time for current Cityworks clients to consider how Cityworks Server may complement your existing Cityworks Desktop / Anywhere deployment. At Azteca Systems, we have wondered how best to get Cityworks users up to speed with Cityworks Server. Perhaps an eye-catching “concept ad” might help. I came up with this graphic.

To receive a subscription or to change your address, please send your contact information to: inprint@cityworks.com or call 801-523-2751 Founded in 1986, Azteca Systems, Inc. is the leading provider of GIScentric Enterprise Asset Maintenance Management Systems for Public Works and Utilities. Built exclusively on top of ESRI’s leading GIS technology, Cityworks is powerful, scalable, and affordable.

How to Reach Us: Tel: 801-523-2751 Email: info@cityworks.com InPrint is published by Azteca Systems, Inc. (Azteca), at 11075 South State, #24, Sandy, UT 84070. InPrint contains material of interest to utility and public works organizations.

Copyright © Azteca Systems, Inc. 2008 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.

Azteca Systems and Cityworks are registered trademarks; Cityworks Desktop, Cityworks Anywhere, and Cityworks Server are trademarks of Azteca Systems, Inc.; and www.mycityworks. com, www.gocityworks.com, @azteca.com, www.azteca.com, @cityworks.com, and www. cityworks.com are service marks of Azteca Systems, Inc. The names of other companies and products herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective trademark owners.

2

Get up to speed with Cityworks Ser ver!

Actually, I came up with the idea and my daughter, Cara, made the graphic. I really like it. The “concept ad” oozes high-tech, elegance, and tidiness. The Cityworks emblem added to the steering wheel is a nice touch. I shared the “concept ad” with several Azteca staff and their reaction surprised me. They did not make the connection. Those brave enough to tell the boss his idea stinks said things like: “What does a car have to do with Cityworks?” Or, “Get up to speed might imply that it will be a lot faster than Desktop.” And my favorite, “It is too dark.”

Duh!!!

High-tech, elegance, and tidiness are adjectives that describe Cityworks Server.

“Get up to speed” is an idiom. “If you are up to speed with a subject or an activity, you have all the latest information about it” (from TheFreeDictionary. com). Besides, Cityworks Server isn’t slow. Maybe it is just me but I see the connection and I still like the “concept ad.”

High-Tech Cityworks Server is designed using Visual Studio 2008, programming language C#, and Microsoft .NET 3.5 framework. Server is optimized (optimize: “to increase the computing speed and efficiency of a program, as by rewriting instructions”) and we are requiring Windows Server 2008 64-bit, IIS 7, 2 Processor (Xeno® or better), 8 GB RAM (or better), 40 GB Fast Hot-Swap disk,

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

President ’s Corner (cont.)

100 Mbit NIC, and Internet Explorer 7 (or higher), SQL Server 2005 or Oracle 10i, and, of course, ArcGIS Server 9.3. There is nothing outdated about Cityworks Server.

Elegance Cityworks Server has a tasteful richness of design that gives it a modern look without being intimidating. The browser environment is familiar and comfortable for most users. Simple elegance describes the overall look and feel.

Tidiness The Cityworks Server user interface is neat, clean, and in good order. It is easy to navigate through the software. The split screen eliminates the need to bounce back and forth between forms. If a part of the application like the map is not needed for a time, it can be easily hidden.

Speed Cityworks Server with ArcGIS 9.3 installed using the recommended hardware and software runs well. For the work management forms, where possible Ajax has been incorporated for retrieving data in the background to reduce redraws. Map redraws tax the data server and have been a concern. We are pleased that users have reported good satisfaction with the speed of 9.3.

Cityworks Server Inbox

You will not hurt my feelings if you, like many of the Azteca staff, do not like my “concept ad.” As long as you can now make the connection that Cityworks Server is high-tech, elegant, and tidy, and you now want to “get up to speed,” or learn more, then the “concept ad” worked. Contact your Cityworks Account Rep (see page 22 and 23) to learn how to “Get up to Speed with Cityworks Server!” J

Cityworks Server Work Order

City of Coon Rapids, Minnesota, An Organization-Wide Implementation of Cityworks

by Cindy Hintze, GIS Specialist, Coon Rapids, MN

The City of Coon Rapids is home to approximately 64,000 citizens, as well as many racoons, and has the great Mississippi River as one of its borders. Coon Rapids was incorporated as a city in 1959 and is a northern suburb of Minneapolis.

Prior to our Cityworks implementation, recordkeeping at the City of Coon Rapids was minimal at best. Without a

preexisting CMMS system, all maintenance paperwork was done by hand. Keeping track of work to be done may have included scribbling notes onto a loose napkin, on the corner of a post-it note, or simply not keeping track of a request at all. Boxes of these notes littered the office space. We needed a more efficient and orderly system. cont. on page 26

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

3

Macon Water Authority

Implementing “Best Business Practices” Along With the Cityworks™ CMMS How the Macon, Georgia, Water Authority Made the Connection

by Tony Rojas, Executive Director, Macon Water Authority, Macon, GA and Jim H. Davis, Director of Operations, Performance Consulting Associates, Atlanta, GA

Part I of this article, found in the Spring/Summer 2008 InPrint, describes the major components of Macon’s Asset Maintenance Management System (AMMS), what each component required, our search for a new Computer Maintenance Management System (CMMS), and why we chose Cityworks to complement our strategy. Part II of the Macon implementation story concludes this article and focuses on the actual details of the “care and feeding” (i.e., asset care maintenance) we worked on with our consultant to get our CMMS fully in place.

We identified these six basic components of a sound “maintenance” asset management strategy: • Work identification and control • Job planning • Work order scheduling • Scheduled outage/shutdown coordination • Preventive/predictive optimization • Materials coordination Work Identification & Control Work identification and control is the most important component since without this basic function in place, optimization of any of the others is virtually impossible. We applied these three “cardinal” rules (which affect and involve all of the other components as well).

1. No work order, no work.

2. No work order, no parts.

3. No parts, no work.

help us determine whether to repair, refurbish, or replace an asset.

There are many other useful indicators contained within our CMMS as a result of the work identification and control process, including how responsive our organization is in regards to completing work orders in the time requested and whether our maintenance organization was more proactive (the good), rather than reactive (the bad & the ugly.) We can query what our past workload looked like; what our future workload looks like; where/what our problem areas, processes, or equipment are (i.e., the bad actors); how many maintenance people we really need and with what skills, etc.

Job Planning Good job planning (or the lack thereof) will make (or break) a good maintenance program. It is an essential component of our AMMS strategy and for establishing an effective Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) effort. In order to improve efficiency in job planning, we wanted maintenance planners who were well trained on how to produce top-notch work order job packages.

For us, job planning involves: • Scoping and estimating the requirements for the job.

• Defining the actual job steps required to perform the work (where needed.)

“No work order, no work” (i.e., “No tickee, no washee”) simply means that NO work should be performed on any asset (by our people or a contractor) without a properly generated and approved work order. Period. The only way we can determine the true cost of operating and maintaining any given asset is to record each incident where labor and material resources are applied to that asset. The best way to capture this information is through a work order system that identifies the specific asset, who worked on it, for how long, what they did, and what parts/materials were used to complete the job.

Work orders collected through our newly installed Cityworks CMMS system will become our primary source for accurate and relevant information with regards to the condition and cost of maintaining each of our assets. Work history will

4

Brian Austin - Top Side at Mayflower

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

Macon Water Authority

(cont.)

While jobs in the near future typically provide a little more time to plan and schedule the work, the most desirable scheduling for our job effectiveness and efficiency is in the distant future. Under these conditions, we have the time to effectively plan all aspects of the job to minimize the time, materials, and downtime requirements necessary to get the right work done, the right way, for the right cost, at the right time.

Fresh Water Intake Area off the Ocmulgee River

• Identifying any/all preparatory work required.

• Determining what job permits and other pre-work authorizations are required.

• Estimating the labor required (time and type).

• Determining all parts, materials, and supplies needed.

• Identifying all equipment/tooling needs.

We found that an effective job planning process provides the following benefits: • Quicker repairs on scheduled work, projects, and other tasks • Higher quality work • More efficient “wrench time” from technicians and maintenance workers • Improved parts and materials costs and usage • Increased on-the-job safety • Less DOWNTIME, more UPTIME of systems and equipment

At a minimum, we wanted the following schedules (aka calendars) in place: • 5-10+ years • 1-2 years • 12 months • 6-8 weeks • 2 weeks • One week/daily Typically, the farther out the calendar extends, the fewer details we have. However, it would be possible to know, for example, that in 2010 we have to replace a major piping run, add additional monitoring equipment, refurbish or replace a pump, tank, or other vessel, etc. At best, we may even be able to assign it to a particular month. The closer we get in weeks to a job the more details we need, such as exact dates, tasks list, resources required, shutoff notifications, etc.

— all part of a good “planning and scheduling” program.

Preventive/Predictive Optimization Although preventive and predictive maintenance activities are “the right thing to do” with the underlying focus on promoting more proactive (planned and scheduled) maintenance, too much of a good thing, we found out, is not effective either.

Our preventive/predictive activities needed to be balanced cont. on page 28

Work Order Scheduling Once we knew “what we needed to do” (work identification) and we knew “how to do it” (job planning), our next task was to decide “when we wanted to do the work” (job scheduling).

Obviously, the more planned work we can do the better we can schedule that work somewhere out in the future.

In reality, our scheduling falls in three major groupings; jobs that need to be done: 1. Right now — emergencies, unplanned outages or other systems off-line, environmental or safety hazards, etc.

2. Near future — sometime within the next few hours or days 3. Distant future — more than a week out Quite obviously, “true” emergencies resulting in lost services, sudden outages, safety, or environmental conditions need to be addressed as soon as we can get someone out to rectify the situation, either temporarily or more permanently.

Unfortunately, these types of jobs “schedule themselves” and allow little, if any, time for effective planning. Therefore, we prefer this to be only a small percentage of the work that we do. An effective preventive/predictive maintenance in combination with other RCM tools (condition-based monitoring, etc.) could significantly reduce these reactivetype situations.

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

F. Evans Reviewing PPM’s

5

Project Management Update

Remote Implementation of Cityworks at the City of Redlands, California

by Phil Mielke, Redlands GIS Administrator, and Matt Harman, Project Manager, Azteca Systems, Inc.

Azteca Systems provides two implementation methods to assist clients with their deployment of Cityworks — standard implementation and Remote Implementation Support (RIS).

A brief description of both methods follows. Both involve an Azteca Project Manager (PM) assigned to manage the effort and deliver the tasks from beginning to end. Several of Azteca’s customers have experienced great success (and cost savings since the bulk of the work is performed in-house) with RIS. Most recently the City of Redlands, CA, chose RIS to deploy Cityworks.

Standard Implementation In a standard implementation, the Azteca PM is responsible for a larger portion of the workload and configuration. The tasks typically include a kickoff meeting, configuration/ implementation of workflows, review and installation of the configured database/system, administrative training, end user training, and rollout support. This method averages about three months from start to finish, depending on the number of departments being implemented and the number of users being trained.

Remote Implementation Support In this approach, the Azteca PM meets with the organization’s representative through a series of webcast meetings to implement the Cityworks software. (Meetings average 2-3 hours and are billed incrementally.) RIS is made up of two primary tasks — implementation and training.

Implementation provides hands-on instruction for the installation of the software and database, and all the necessary configuration in Designer. (Designer is the Cityworks administration tool used to define workflows and related elements.) At the end of each meeting, the client’s “homework” is to complete what was covered. When the work is completed, a meeting takes place for the next lesson and the process is repeated until the implementation is complete. There is a standard list of lessons/topics covered but, similar to the standard implementation, the content can be tailored to the needs/goals of the organization.

California. Since May of 2008, Azteca has been working with Phil Mielke (Interim GIS Administrator) and Marc Rolle (Database Analyst) to configure Cityworks for the Quality of Life and Municipal Utilities & Engineering departments. Redlands has a variety of land uses and levels of development, so providing service to the people and businesses presents unique challenges. Like many cities, Redlands has a growing need to reduce spending and take measures to increase efficiency of work crews. Central to that need is a work order system that utilizes a Geographic Information System (GIS) to process work orders from call to assignment through to completion.

The Redlands Information Technology Service Department has incorporated GIS into nearly every aspect of City operation. The Redlands Police Department has been a long-time user of ESRI products and practices efficient community policing through the sharing of information and mapping through GIS. Citizen COMPASS, a tool developed to share crime data with the public, is accessible through gis.cityofredlands.org/compass. Redlands GIS Department utilizes ESRI’s enterprise GIS licensing and supports 20 individual deployments, including instances of ArcGIS Server, ArcSDE, and ArcIMS. Part of the philosophy of the enterprise deployment allows users to take ownership of their use of GIS. People with the domain knowledge take responsibility for the quality of their data and become more knowledgeable about the way their data can interact with other City information.

Phil summarizes the City’s approach to maintaining their operation. “Cityworks is the perfect solution for us to incorporate GIS users from customer service to supervisors to line-level operators. 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 where work is being done, what materials are used, and how much money is being

Once the database and system configuration is complete, training can be provided onsite or remotely via webcast. Or, in some instances the client has been able to conduct their own internal training as a result of the education gleaned through RIS. Delivery time is subjective and moves at the pace the organization sets.

Redlands GIS Redlands is a city of approximately 70,000 nestled in the San Bernardino Mountains in the Inland Empire of Southern

6

Old City Hall

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

Redlands, California

(cont.)

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.”

as needed. They plan to move forward with work orders and include additional departments as time permits over the coming months. At a later date, on-site training will be conducted for the remaining end users.

Redlands RIS At the beginning of the project, the project outline was provided covering the steps required to complete the implementation. Each week thereafter, web meetings were held to train Phil and Marc on how to configure the Cityworks topic for that week. These meetings are hosted by Azteca Systems via the GoToMeeting software produced by Citrix Systems. GoToMeeting allows both the Azteca PM and the new client to view and control each other’s computers via the internet. This web meeting interaction allows for more effective training as both the trainer and trainee can actually view what is being described during the conference call.

RIS is an excellent option for those municipalities looking for a more cost-effective and hands-on implementation of Cityworks.

GoToMeeting provides a virtual office environment in which the Azteca PM can interact effectively with the City staff to demonstrate, train, assist, and oversee the configuration of the Cityworks software. J

Marc says, “The web meetings via GoToMeeting were so convenient and very helpful during the implementation process of Cityworks. There was no lag in connectivity whatsoever! Having the capability to view each other’s computer screen makes it much easier to learn the system remotely. It seemed as if Matt was sitting next to me showing me what to do. Also, we were able to record the meetings (both audio and visual). So if we need a refresher of how to do things, we simply go back to the recordings and follow the step-by-step solutions that Matt illustrated to us.“ The outline of the project progresses through each component of Cityworks, building upon each other until the software is ready to be used. Meeting durations were typically 2 hours, during which the week’s topic was demonstrated on a completed Cityworks database (running on Matt’s machine) and then Phil and Marc added the information and configured the week’s topic for their database. The goal of the weekly meetings was to provide sufficient training so both Phil and Marc could add to the database throughout the week, circling back with follow-up questions as needed. Cityworks administrators gain valuable knowledge by actually performing these tasks themselves.

In addition, the RIS approach also allows for training end users on Cityworks via GoToMeeting. In Redlands, once the database was ready to use for service requests, a web meeting was set up to train some of the call takers on the software. They received basic training on creating service requests. The training sessions were recorded so they can be used at a later time to train other users or as a refresher for existing users.

As the project progressed, both Phil and Marc gained the knowledge necessary to perform the remaining tasks to complete the configuration of the software. At this time, they are currently running live with service requests. As for future use of the software, Phil and Marc dictate the pace of the project themselves, asking for assistance

Contact: Phil Mielke — pmielke@redlandspolice.org ID 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54

Task Name Database Creation Install RDBMS on Server (if necessary) Install Cityworks on Server Create New Cityworks Database Create User Azteca Create PWDP USER Role Create ODBC Connection Run DB Manager Cityworks Domains Add Super User Login Add Domain Names Add Domain Administrators Designer Preferences per Domain Domain Groups Create Employee/Security Domain Groups Add Employees to Groups Employees Import Employees with Rates Create Logins on Server Add Employee Custom Fields Add Skills Set Employee Relates ArcGIS Setup Review Geodatabase Model Add Required Attribute Fields Define Asset Groups Assign Assets Define Relationships Create .mxd(s) Import/Enter Data Contractors Equipment Materials Customer Accounts Street Codes Request Templates Define Problem Codes Add to Hierarchy Questions/Answers Security Custom Field Templates Work Order Templates Define Work Order Activities Import Work Order Descriptions Tasks Custom Field Templates Security Print Templates Service Request Work Order Codes Add All Codes (Priority, Status, etc.)

Final Review and Rollout Review Database

Project Outline

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

7

Project Management Update

(cont.)

M i d l a n d , Te x a s, I m p l e m e n t s C i t y w o rks

by Steve Thomas, Project Manager, Azteca Systems, Inc.

The Transportation Division responds to many emergency situations, including all types of street repairs, flooding, traffic signal malfunctions, and missing signs. It maintains alleys, curbs and gutters, drainage channels, storm sewers, approximately 24,000 signs, 255 signal devices, 26 early warning sirens, markings, and over 1500 road miles. They also beautify the city by providing street sweeping as well as debris and litter removal services.

Introduction to the City of Midland Midland is situated on Interstate 20, midway between Dallas/ Fort Worth and El Paso. Midland’s population is now over 103,000 and nearly a quarter of a million people reside in the Midland/Odessa metropolitan area. Population growth has varied from 205% in 1930 to minus 5% in 1970. It grew by 27% in the 80’s but has since slowed to around 7% growth.

Midland serves as the hub of the oil and gas industry in the West Texas region known as the Permian Basin, where about 20% of America’s oil and gas reserves are located. Besides the moderate climate, including low humidity and warm temperatures, the city is also known as the childhood home of George W. Bush, current president of the United States.

Midland’s low crime rate; clean, wide streets; and abundant water supply provide residents a high quality of life.

Traffic Engineering technicians check for sight-line obstructions to signals and signs; conduct studies of pedestrian and vehicle flow patterns; install and maintain all traffic control devices, including signs, signals, pavement markings, and school-zone equipment; and study, approve, and authorize the installation of all City traffic-control devices.

The City’s master plan has established goals to “ensure that local water and wastewater service will accommodate the projected growth; and ensure that the City is prepared for the implementation of Stormwater Prevention Phase II, as mandated by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.” Other goals include “a cost-effective and adequate” City roadway system “to meet the needs of the current and projected population; and ensure that environmental factors, such as topography, soils, playas, and draws, are considered in the context of roadway decisions.”

The City’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Division also played a significant role in selecting the new asset management system. They provide timely and accurate geographic data with over 270 feature classes and more than 50 tables to City employees. Much of this data is also available to the public. The GIS Division stood out from more than 300,000 organizations worldwide that use GIS software to make a difference in the world and in 2007, they received the Special Achievement in GIS Award at the 27th Annual ESRI International User Conference. The support of the GIS Division was instrumental in the successful implementation of the Cityworks asset management system.

The Utilities, Transportation, and Traffic Engineering divisions pooled their budgets to purchase the Cityworks software and implementation services from Azteca Systems and Dallasbased NTB Associates, Inc. in August 2007.

The Utilities Division services over 35,000 customers. The existing water distribution system includes about 700 miles of pipelines, 3196 fire hydrants, 10 enclosed storage facilities, 3 pump stations, 1 treatment plant, and over 40 production wells. The existing wastewater collection system includes over 500 miles of pipes, 7 lift stations, and over 9800 manholes.

8

Past Asset Management Efforts In the late 1980’s, the Engineering Department selected a GIS system called System 9. System 9 ran on the Empress database engine. The decision was made to use Empress for all in-house database applications so they would be compatible with the GIS system. Eventually the City created a GIS Division and partnered with ESRI to bring ArcGIS to the City of Midland.

Initially the Streets Division and the Water & Wastewater Division used the Empress database for work and asset management. Later an application was written for the Traffic Division as well.

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

M i d l a n d , Te x a s

(cont.)

from simple to complex depending on the desired level of separation and integration between City divisions, the amount of detail entered by City employees, and the types of reports that are required. The City of Midland has limited interaction between the Utilities and the Transportation/Traffic Engineering divisions. Consequently, it was determined that the data for those two organizations should be configured into two separate security domains. This decision also took into account the plan to expand the use of Cityworks into other City divisions over the next few years.

When that occurs, the City plans to add more domains to the configuration.

Traffic and Streets merged to form the Transportation Division in 2006. Each division was already using the CarteGraph modules SIGNview and SIGNALview for asset management, but also continued to use the Empress database in one way or another. Spreadsheets were used to combine the information for all crews, from all methods, on a monthly basis. The Water & Wastewater Division continued to solely use Empress until the conversion to Cityworks.

Selecting Cityworks In 2001 the GIS Division, Transportation Division, Utilities Department, and Communications & Information Systems Department (CISD) began looking for a new asset and work management system that would integrate with GIS and replace the Empress database.

The first demonstration of Cityworks took place in late 2001.

Brent Wilson from Azteca held another demonstration on November 10, 2005. On June 29, 2006, four City employees toured the City of Pasadena, Texas, to observe their use of Cityworks, including Peggy Reyes, Transportation Operations Planner; Todd Alvis Smith, GIS Administrator; Bobby Garcia, Transportation Superintendent; and Mark Barns, Transportation Superintendent.

The idea of a different asset and work management system was new to the City and was eventually approved in the 2006-2007 budget. GIS, Transportation, Water & Wastewater, and CISD joined efforts to put the request for proposal together for a GIS-based work and asset management system. The RFP was available to all vendors on January 26, 2007 and proposals were accepted through March 28, 2007.

The actual configuration took longer than usual because of the dual domains and the decision to use tasks and service request questions/answers. City staff diligently collected the necessary data. Even though that led to an extended configuration phase, it will pay big dividends in the long run because of the request and work assignment details that are available both to work crews and office staff.

Implementation The City contracted with Azteca and NTB Associates, Inc. to provide the usual implementation services, including database configuration, software installation, training, coaching, and rollout support. One set of training days took place immediately following the configuration of a test and training database and initial installation of the software.

Because the City did not have the necessary training facilities available at the time, they arranged to hold the training at the Midland College Advanced Technology Center (ATC).

All of the software was already installed on their training computers with the exception of an RDBMS and Cityworks.

In preparation for the training, City, ATC, and Azteca staff all worked together installing Cityworks software, copying the necessary files to the training computers, which included the personal geodatabase and the azteca.mdb file that was used for the Cityworks database, and performing the final computer configurations. Each potential Cityworks user attended 1 1/2 days of training to introduce them to the software so that they could spend the next month testing the configuration and identifying questions about software usage.

The City received three proposals and began an in-depth review of each. After presentations from all three, the selection team agreed that Cityworks was the best value.

Cityworks had the expandability they were looking for and is truly GIS-centric. The selection team took their recommendation to the City Council and in August 2007 awarded a contract for the implementation of Cityworks to NTB Associates, Inc and Azteca Systems, Inc. Configuration Phase 14 configuration and implementations can range Cityworks

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

9

M i d l a n d , Te x a s

(cont. from pg. 9)

During that time period, it was apparent that the current hardware and network configuration was not going to meet the needs of the majority of users. Consequently, Eric Johnson, the Assistant Manager of the Transportation Division, arranged with the Communication & Information Systems Division (CISD) to temporarily configure a new server that had been purchased for their Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) with the Cityworks database.

Although the GIS data continues to be served from an Oracle server at the Police Department, this decision significantly improved performance.

Following a day of some additional database configuration, final training was provided at the ATC for each of the users that participated in the original training. This time around the focus was on practicing data entry and searching for requests and work orders. Many questions were discussed to help the users address their specific needs.

Training participants included end users from Water & Wastewater, Traffic Signals, Traffic Signs, Pavement, Pavement Markings, Right of Ways, Administration, GIS, and CISD support staff. One of the aspects that led to a successful Cityworks implementation at Midland was the amount of support provided by the GIS and CISD divisions.

They not only provided support during the kickoff and configuration phases, but were also present at many of the training sessions to learn the system and answer questions only they could answer.

The Transportation and Water & Wastewater divisions have been using the Cityworks software since September 8, 2008.

There has been a steep learning curve for all involved as they adjust to using this new system. However, after a few weeks of identifying mistakes in data entry and reinforcing the proper methods, use of the software is going much smoother.

Future Plans The City has submitted software enhancement requests to make their use of the software more efficient and is looking forward to upgrading to version 4.5. They are working towards implementing the ATMS during the final quarter of

2008, including a Citywide wireless network that will allow the signal technicians to monitor signal problems throughout the city.

When that network is in place, the City anticipates moving the Cityworks database back to CISD so it can be monitored and managed more efficiently by CISD staff. The wireless network will allow supervisors to take Cityworks out into the field with them via laptops, allowing them to create and update work orders on-site.

The City is also looking into setting up a central call center to take calls from outside sources and use Cityworks to record service requests for each City department. When that happens, CISD staff anticipates adding new request codes to the current Cityworks configuration, saving them from having to contract for configuration services.

The Code Enforcement Division has looked into purchasing Cityworks Permitting software that will allow them to use Cityworks efficiently. The airport, Police Department, and garage have also expressed an interest in the implementation of Cityworks. Other initiatives the City is looking at include the implementation of Cityworks Server and contracting for the collection of the pavement condition data for all of their roads. J Contact: Eric Johnson — ejohnson@midlandtexas.gov

W E LC O M E N E W C I T Y W O R K S U S E R S !

Alexandria Lake Area Sanitary District, MN

Opelika Utilities, AL

Alexandria, VA

Oxford County, ON

Cameron, MO

Phenix City, AL

Citrus Heights City, CA

Philadelphia Water Dept., PA

Coal Creek Utility District, WA

Sanford, FL

Dakota Electric Association, MN

Southgate Water & Sanitation District, CO

District of Columbia, OITI

St. Johns County Utility Dept., FL

Easton Suburban Water Authority, PA

St. Louis ITSA, MO

Kannapolis, NC

West Melbourne, FL

Lac La Biche County, AB

Windham, ME

Lebanon, OH

10

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

Client Services Update

Client Services Update

by Wayne Hill, Client Services Director, Azteca Systems, Inc.

As you can see from our regional support map, we have made several changes to our different regions. Kyle Boyd has moved from supporting the Northeast to handling the western part of the U.S., which now includes Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. Greg Walters is covering the Northeast, including Wisconsin and Illinois. Reed Hayes is still covering the Southeast, with the addition of Mississippi and Tennessee.

Chris Bracht’s region has expanded north all the way to North Dakota and Minnesota.

So you ask, “Where’s Bryan Chadwick in this mix of things?”

Don’t worry, Bryan hasn’t disappeared. He’s just taken on a new role here at Azteca as our Technology Support Manager.

Bryan’s new focus is on GIS project work, software development testing, and serving as a roaming technical support person for those “really hard” issues.

We made this change to streamline our technical support service a little more. So when you have an issue that is taking awhile to resolve, we can tap into Bryan’s expertise and resolve the matter at a faster pace. Here at Azteca we are always looking for ways to improve the support of our greatest asset—you, our client! J

Going Green: Like many companies, Azteca Systems has shifted efforts to conserve our natural resources. New with Cityworks 4.5, PDF versions of all documents will be shipped on a CD with the software and will also be available to download online from the Resource Center. Users can download the file(s) to their computers and if desired, print their own copy of any manual.

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

11

Client Services Update

(cont.)

Cityworks Training / Documentation Update

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

It was a full house at the last Cityworks Administration training which was held August 25-29, 2008, at Azteca Systems’ training facility at the company headquarters in Sandy, UT.

Back Row (left to right) Sharad Garg (KCI – Hunt Valley, MD), Ken Cushing (West Valley City, UT), Tylor Hardy (Midland GIS Solutions – Kansas City, MO), Brandon Hatcher (Montgomery County, OH), Steve McCarthy (Psomas – Riverside, CA), Jonas Svoboda (Woolpert – Denver, CO), Marius Jakimavicius (HNIT-BALTIC – Vilnius, Lithuania) Middle Row (left to right) Amanda O’Shea (KCI – Hunt Valley, MD), Ellen Prendergast (Palm Bay, FL), Jeni Siebeneck (West Valley City, UT), Dan McMahon (Irving, TX), Nick Olson (Alexandria Lake Area Sanitary District – Alexandria, MN) Front Row (left to right) Azteca Systems’ staff: John Jarnagin (Educational Services Manager), Dave Bramwell (Account Executive), Chris Bracht (Client Support), Ryan Harris (Client Support Trainer/Document Analyst)

Many benefits come from attending Cityworks Administration training. Not only do attendees become more familiar with Cityworks, they also have the opportunity to talk with other Cityworks users to find out how they use Cityworks within their organization. It is helpful talking with seasoned Cityworks users who have “blazed a trail forward” in certain areas of functionality before trying it within your own organization.

The next Cityworks Administration training is scheduled for December 8th – 12th and seats are still available. For more information and to register for this upcoming training course, please visit http://www.mycityworks.com/cityworkscampus under the training section. Or contact John Jarnagin directly (801) 523-2751 or jjarnagin@cityworks.com.

We will be tweaking existing training courses and adding new ones over the next several months. So please visit the Cityworks Campus often to keep updated on the latest training classes being offered.

I also have the opportunity of working with our fine

12

documentation staff on training guides, user manuals, etc.

You may not know it, but there are five Azteca Systems’ staff members working on documentation. Four of the five staff members work solely on documentation, nothing else. The fifth person not only works on training documentation but assists me in training our clients and business partners on our software products. I’m grateful to have another person assist with training as the demand for training continues to grow.

As you can imagine, it is challenging to stay on top of keeping documents current with each new release of software, let alone creating documentation for new software products such as Cityworks Server. The Azteca documentation staff does this, while at the same time making the document better with each revision. I know this to be the case because I review every document before it is released. It seems like every time I turn around there is another document to review.

There is an internal joke between the documentation staff regarding revisions and “job security” as the functionality of the software and product line is constantly expanding.

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

Client Services Update In addition, a document can almost always be improved in some way, whether it’s formatting, content, examples, or screenshots. One of the goals of our documentation staff is for a brand-new Cityworks user to pick up one of our documents and be up and running with the software in a very short amount of time. I want to assure you that the documentation staff works incredibly hard to constantly perfect the documentation and, from what I’ve seen, mission accomplished.

Part of Azteca Systems’ efforts to go green include putting all documentation in .pdf form on a CD in tandem with the Cityworks 4.5 software CD which will be shipped to each user. Future releases of Cityworks Desktop/Anywhere documentation will be migrated to an online format.

(cont.)

This help system will be fully integrated into Cityworks Server. This means that when an end user is on the “Work Orders” page, for example, he/she can click a link that will take them to the appropriate help system topic (Figure 1) and guide them to the related information (Figure 2.)

This year has been very busy for the Azteca training and documentation staff and we see no rest in sight for what needs to be accomplished in the future. We are all very happy to have that kind of “job security.” I look forward to working with you in training whether you attend the Cityworks Administration training or attend Cityworks pre-conference training or register for one of our Remote Interactive Training (RIT) courses over the web. J Contact: John Jarnagin — jjarnagin@cityworks.com

It used to be standard operating procedure to print and ship manuals for clients with the full release of a new Cityworks version. The amount of paper used in this process was staggering. At the same time, there was no guarantee the end user would use the documentation that we printed and shipped to them. With this method, Cityworks end users can print out the manuals they need as they are needed. This approach is more efficient and environmentally friendly.

One exciting thing regarding documentation is the online help which will be released with Cityworks Server. There will be no printed document for this software product. All documentation will be embedded in the software in HyperText Markup Language (HTML) format and contain links that can be pointed to many things (documents inside the HTML help system, external websites such as mycityworks.com, Word files, PDF files, and other pages within Cityworks Server.)

Figure 1

Figure 2

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

13

Client Services Update

(cont.)

MYCITYW ORKS.com — Resource Center: The Resource Center at mycityworks.com gives access to information like documentation, service packs, white papers, and User Conference presentations. New items include help videos and downloadable Crystal and SQL Reports.

We also encourage you to check out the “Cityworks Support Forum” under “Need To Know” to discuss the topics listed below.

We look forward to it getting a lot of use.

We’re working to improve the content and usefulness of our “Knowledge Base” as well.

Let us know if you have any suggestions.

Cityworks Support Forum

Many of our users have designed brilliant custom reports. We now have an area in our Resource Center to highlight these reports so other sites can benefit from sharing this knowledge. Please share your reports with other Cityworks users by logging into mycityworks.com. and check the “Reports” link to view those that have been submitted. So far we have a 7-day service request report showing turn-around times for closing requests and a curbstop report for Utility Billing showing which curbstops Public Works turned on/off.

14

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

Software News!

Azteca Systems, Inc. is proud to announce the release of Cityworks 4.5 which provides new functionality to our users, further solidifying Cityworks as the leading GIS-centric Asset Maintenance Management System (AMMS). Cityworks 4.5 is the most comprehensive Cityworks release yet with over 50 enhancements added to Cityworks desktop alone. It supports ESRI’s ArcGIS 9.3 and Microsoft Windows Vista.

Additional tools have been added to Cityworks Anywhere to access more map functionality and to display the vehicle location when connected to a GPS device. Add-on products have also been modified. Cityworks Storeroom now has the ability to save and open searches. CCTV Reader has been expanded to include an exporting function to export work order information to the PACP data exchange database and was therefore renamed CCTV Interface for PACP. Administrators can now set up custom inspection templates using a linear model (where inspectors view the list of questions/observations and input data in the applicable fields) in addition to the branched question-and-answer series (where an answer determines the next question). The number of system IDs assigned to DataPump users is now customizable as well.

Request searches can be added to existing search results. Search result lists auto size to the content and sorting (ascending/descending) can be done on any of the columns.

Inspection searches have been added to the Cityworks menu with tabs for predefined and custom inspections and are similar to work order searches. The work history tab of the asset identify form now lists inspections, any one of which can be opened by double-clicking on it in the list.

Announcing the Release of Cityworks 4.5

Any user who can close a request or work order can now reopen it. All changes are noted in the audit log. For more information on how to open a closed work order, please check out our new help video.

A proximity search (Figure 1) can list other assets within a specified radius and is opened using the “Get From Theme” button on the entities tab when no features are selected. A diagram or blueprint can now be added to an asset image form displaying a tree structure of features and related objects which can be opened in Standalone and used to create work orders on the selected assets. Multiple assets can also be

selected from the asset identify form to create a work order.

A separate work order can be created for each selected feature for a single asset type using the Cityworks dropdown option in ArcMap; checking the box on the asset identify form, inventory editor form, or the inventory search results; or using the tool in Cityworks Anywhere. The work orders are automatically saved with IDs as soon as they are created and are all listed in the number field on the work order.

The date is now listed on the print tab of a work order for the first time a work order is printed. Printing directly from a work order removes that work order from the print queue. New checkboxes for both printed and not printed have been added to work order searches as well as a labor tab. When work order search results are printed, the five daterelated fields do not print.

Multiple tasks, materials, equipment, and contractors may be selected from different folders in their respective hierarchy. Task dates are no longer required to fall within the projected start and finish dates of the work order.

For all the enhancements and technical details, watch for the What’s New in Cityworks 4.5 document to be posted in the Resource Center. J

Multiple requests or work orders can be opened from an event layer. Cityworks domain administrators can also create event layers to share with other users and copy existing layers from one user to another.

Figure 1

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

15

O ctober 2 1 — 2 3, 2009 St. Geor ge, Utah Dixie Center

S t. G e o r g e , U ta h Di x i e C en t er The Dixie Center is located in beautiful St. George, Utah — also known as Utah’s Dixie.

Located in the southwest corner of Utah, St. George is easily accessed through Las Vegas (just 120 miles — airport shuttle available at very competitive rates) or Salt Lake City (305 miles).

The mild climate makes St. George a popular location for conventions with year-round outdoor activities including golf on one of nine championship golf courses, and exploring nearby national parks and monuments including: Zion, Bryce Canyon, the Grand Canyon, and Lake Powell.

A c c o m od at ion s Azteca Systems has arranged for rooms with three different hotels within walking distance of the conference center.

Zion National Park

Hilton Garden Inn Fairfield Inn Comfort Inn Additional accomodations are also available throughout the city.

Event Overview

Conference Sessions Technical breakout sessions are the focal point of our conference, offering you an exclusive opportunity to sit in on classes dedicated to providing in-depth knowledge about Cityworks and providing examples of an organization’s specific uses of the software. The 2009 conference will offer the following five technical session tracks designed to enchance your expertise of Cityworks: Using Cityworks, Cityworks Technology Review, Cityworks Server, Cityworks Implementations, and Cityworks Case Studies.

The Cityworks User Conference is the premier event for Cityworks users, business partners, and potential users.

Complete with Cityworks technical courses, user and partner presentations, a Cityworks doctor’s office, an exhibit hall, networking, and evening socials, the conference provides an educational and enjoyable atmosphere, benefitting all who attend.

Online registration begins March 1, 2009 at www.cityworks.com

C i t y w o r k s D o c t o r ’s O f f i c e The Citywork’s doctor’s office is equipped with Azteca Systems’ personnel ready to spend one-on-one time with you to answer Cityworks questions, give demonstrations, and address other details you may need or want to discuss.

Pre-Conference Training October 19 — 20 in St. George, Utah Our training courses provide a way to learn more about the Cityworks application you own and use. Courses are conducted by Azteca staff members who are eager to help you increase your knowledge and understanding of the software. In these sessions, you will see and participate in real-life examples of Cityworks in action. Courses will be held at the Dixie Center two days prior to the regular conference.

17

Par tner News B u s i n ess Development M a n a ger Becky Tamashasky 574-231-8029 btamashasky@cityworks.com

Greetings from South Bend, Indiana, where winter is definitely on its way! This is my first InPrint as Azteca’s Business Relations Manager.

In this new position, I’ve been working as the manager for the Business Partner Program, assisting domestic and international partners with sales and marketing efforts, and supporting Azteca’s sales team.

One of the first goals we’ve set is to update the resources available on the business partner website. This will include an updated Cityworks PowerPoint, demonstration script, demonstration videos, and proposal documents. Please be sure to check the site regularly as it is being updated! Also, if there are suggestions from Business Partners for resources or webinars that would be helpful, please send those to me.

Last, I’d also like to welcome Azteca’s newest partners and suggest that everyone take a quick look at the companies on the Partners page on our website and review their services.

Have a good winter and stay warm!

C o u n t y o f E s s ex — I m p rov i n g Access to Information and S e rv i c e D e l i ve r y Th ro u g h Web Mapping Overview The County of Essex is located in southern Ontario and has a GIS Department that is responsible for coordinating various GIS activities for seven local municipalities. The Department helps determine GIS software and hardware needs, establishes spatial data and technology standards, and provides direction for the management of regional spatial datasets. Their main goal is to reduce duplication of effort and increase communication through shared technology and data standards.

To better coordinate public works asset management, Essex implemented Cityworks, a centralized work order management system, in 2004. Using Cityworks, each Municipality connects to their own data and is able to control access and edit rights to their information, which is located in a geodatabase residing on servers at the County of Essex. Cityworks quickly proved to be a valuable work order management system to process Municipal work orders.

The Challenge Since Cityworks ran off the County’s server, it was accessed by Municipalities through an application (Citrix) that integrates Municipal networks with County enterprise systems and software. Although the enterprise model is an efficient one, loading the integrating software, Citrix, could be time-consuming. This meant when citizens called a Municipality with a service request, they were required to wait on the phone until the application had loaded to allow staff to enter the information relating to the issue into the Cityworks software and generate a work order. The time delay not only affected the quality of service constituents received, but was also an inefficient use of employees’ time.

The Solution To reduce these procedural inefficiencies and improve citizen satisfaction, the County of Essex developed a map-based service request system using Latitude Geocortex Internet Mapping Framework (IMF) to receive citizen information and send this information directly to Cityworks via the Internet. Web-based mapping was viewed as the common application pulling all County applications together.

The benefits of online administration provide convenience, while the capabilities to visualize assets on a map improve communication and workflow efficiencies.

“Not only was this a user-friendly solution to implement and use, it seamlessly

J

Civic Center

18

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

County of Essex, ON integrates with our work management software, Cityworks, that runs in conjunction with ArcGIS,” said Wendy St. Amour, Essex County, Manager of Information Technology.

The County’s plan is to roll out the web service request system in two phases.

Phase One Phase one, launched May 2007, made the web application available internally. During this phase, municipal employees receive service requests from citizens by phone and then enter this information into the front-end web interface, using Geocortex, on behalf of citizens. Once the request is submitted, this information automatically populates the Essex Cityworks database and generates a work order.

When submitting a service request through the web interface, the user (the employee in this phase) must first locate the problem on the map either by clicking a location on the map, locating by address, or locating by place name (e.g., a school, park, etc.) These coordinates are attached to the service request along with problem type and customer information.

Each problem may also have questions and answers associated with it and further instructions if action is required. In addition, once the problem is submitted, the system returns an incident number that can be used to check the future status of the request. An email with the incident number and the problem details is then sent to the employee who is responsible for the specified problem that is assigned in the Cityworks database. This email contains the problem description, problem location, and caller’s information and comments. The user can also add and attach further comments to the request, such as updates to the problem.

Phase Two: Future Plans For this phase, the same website and service request frontend interface will be made publicly available for citizens to directly enter their information regarding a service request.

The website will allow citizens to check on the status of their request using the email and incident number received when the request is submitted. Information such as status pending, in progress, or completed can be viewed for updates on service progress. The launch of Phase Two will not necessarily be the same for each Municipality. Each Municipality will decide when to allow the public to enter their own requests; this depends on the need and readiness of internal staff to handle public requests.

Results Through a web-based enterprise approach, shared resources have meant significant cost savings as well as the ability to provide more applications for employees’ internal and citizens’ external use. Phase One has been highly successful, due to a user-friendly website and noticeable efficiencies gained in processing times. It is anticipated that Phase Two will be equally successful and well received by constituents.

Municipalities expect the service to drastically cut down on the number of calls received at local offices, which will result in significant savings in time, cost, and effort. J

(cont.)

Problem: The County of Essex needed to reduce wait times for municipal staff in logging citizens’ service requests through Citrix to make more efficient use of municipal employees’ time and improve the quality of service to constituents.

Goals: • Reduce time-consuming procedures and processes followed in the past (logging into Citrix, municipal employees receive and log citizen requests.)

• Create an easy-to-use, accurate, and efficient workflow to record and track citizen service requests.

• Improve municipal governments’ response to their citizens.

• Reduce costs associated with manually receiving calls from constituents.

• Improve citizens perception of municipal service delivery.

Results: • Phase One, internal rollout was extremely successful, resulting in significant savings in time and effort to log citizen service requests.

• System integration between web mapping service request application embedded in Geocortex and centralized Cityworks work management application is smooth and seamless.

ESRI Software Used: ArcGIS ArcIMS Other Software Used: Cityworks (Azteca) Geocortex (Latitude)

Essex — Asset Management

Contact: Wendy St. Amour — wstamour@countyofessex.on.ca

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

19

Pa r t n e r N ew s

(cont . )

E n t e r p r i s e Wo rk M a n a ge m e n t S y s t e m I m p l e m e n t at i o n a n d M o b i l e D e p l o y m e n t at C e n t ra l A rka n s a s Wat e r

by Buck Lewis, CAW, Project Manager; Vince Guillet, CAW, GIS Coordinator; Steven P. Sushka, Woolpert, Project Manager

About CAW Central Arkansas Water (CAW) is a metropolitan water system serving a population of approximately 398,000 in the Greater Little Rock-North Little Rock area. They have 121,500 residential, commercial, industrial, retail, and master-metered customers in Pulaski, Saline, and Grant counties. CAW is also a core partner in a regional initiative to secure a future source for the entirety of Central Arkansas, an urban area with a population of more than 750,000 people. Their direct service boundaries encompass the cities and communities of Little Rock, North Little Rock, Alexander, Brushy Island, Cammack Village, College Station, Sherwood, Gravel Ridge, Wrightsville, and unincorporated Pulaski County.

CAW’s Distribution Division consists of approximately 137 personnel responsible for water treatment and distribution.

Over 25,000 work orders per year are generated on 140,000 services, 2300 miles of water mains, 14,000 fire hydrants, 27,000 valves, 2 treatment plants, 23 water tanks, and 25 pumping stations. CAW currently maintains approximately 48 inventory types/categories with over 1000 stock numbers at two separate warehouses and in their fleet of 93 vehicles.

A Distribution Supervisor has added individual layers to his ArcMap document. Each work order is shown as a point on the map with a symbol and color that identifies which crew it has been assigned to. Each point is also labeled with the type of work being done.

Need for a GIS-Centric WMS CAW was using another Work Management System (WMS) which did not allow them to efficiently track and manage assets, track work against those assets, or easily integrate with CAW’s GIS and other business systems. It was essential that the WMS package chosen by CAW be easily integrated within the current operating environment while allowing the flexibility to streamline and improve processes where needed. CAW was already managing the water distribution system asset inventory in an enterprise ArcSDE geodatabase and then pushing the data out to a personal geodatabase for 61 disconnected laptop users in the field using an automated routine. The field workers interact with the GIS-based asset data using either ArcView desktop or CAW’s custom ArcEngine application while users who are connected to the network use ArcView desktop with a connection to ArcSDE. Cityworks — The Best Solution for CAW’s Needs CAW began their search for a new WMS in September 2007 with a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a consultant to provide assistance in meeting their goal to procure and implement a highly-mobile, paperless WMS fully integrated with their ESRI ArcGIS family of products. Woolpert was chosen by CAW to implement Cityworks GIS-centric maintenance management software system, which was deemed best suited to meet CAW’s needs.

20

A distribution field worker is using Cityworks Anywhere on a laptop to look up information about the asset he is getting ready to repair and about what tasks are required by the work order.

The project kicked off on April 2, 2008, and on September 15, 2008, CAW went live with Cityworks. Cityworks Desktop and Storeroom are used within CAW’s main enterprise while Cityworks Anywhere and DataPump are deployed in a disconnected environment across 61 laptops in the field that are synchronized daily with the main enterprise system.

Choosing Cityworks allowed CAW to leverage their existing asset inventory data and customized ESRI applications seamlessly along with the Cityworks tools in ArcGIS.

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

C e n t ra l A rka n s a s Wat e r

(cont.)

Cityworks made it simple to tag existing GIS features with the work history without requiring the GIS data to be periodically exported to a duplicate database used solely by the WMS. Field workers can quickly visualize where work is assigned to them while managers are able to get a highlevel overview and spatial context of problem areas and type of work being performed. The CAW GIS staff was surprised to see how easy Cityworks was to implement and allow end users to add their own custom event layers to the map.

The final result is a WMS that is tightly integrated with the existing GIS asset data in an interface that allows non-GIS experts the ability to create, edit, and interact with locationbased data.

Next Steps Moving forward, CAW will continue to work with Woolpert to provide the geodatabase design and data migration for plant maintenance operations and the deployment of Cityworks Server MMS, Azteca’s ArcGIS Server-based web application.

CAW is beginning to work with assets associated with their water treatment plants, tanks/towers, and pump stations, including the grounds, structures, and assets within the structures. Creating these new layers and tables in their enterprise GIS geodatabase will allow CAW to fully utilize Cityworks for all of their water maintenance activities.

Besides working with their water distribution and treatment assets, CAW will also begin managing their fleet maintenance and safety training within Cityworks. Future plans include looking at live, wireless deployment options for their field crews to replace the disconnected environment in which

All open work orders and service requests in ArcMap for the entire CAW service area.

they currently operate. Finally, the web application will allow CAW customers to interact with the WMS to further enhance the efficiency of customer relations by providing information directly to their customers based on work status and priorities. J Contact: Buck Lewis — buck.lewis@CArkW.com Steven Sushka — steven.sushka@woolpert.com

Business Par tners A u th o rized B u s i n ess Partners

Associate Business Pa r t n e r s

I n t e r n a ti o n a l D i s t r i b u ti o n Partners

• Burns & McDonnell • Chester Engineers • Civic Engineering and Information Technologies, Inc. • Civil Solutions • Collier Engineering • IT Nexus • Jones, Edmunds and Associates • Motorola • North Arrow Technologies • NTB Associates • OneGIS, Inc. • Schneider Corporation • Short Elliott Hendrickson (SEH) • Timmons Group • Velocitie Integration, Inc. • VESTRA Resources, Inc. • Wade Trim Associates • Westin Engineering • Weston Solutions • Woolpert

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

• • • • • • • •

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

Anderson, Eckstein & Westrick, Inc. Bowne Management Systems BP Barber & Associates Burk-Kleinpeter, Inc. CH2M Hill, Inc. Clark-Nexen EMH&T geographIT Jones & Demille Engineering KCI Technologies Malcolm Pirnie, Inc. Michael Baker Jr., Inc. Midland GIS OHM, Inc. Pace Engineering PSOMAS Quartic Solutions Razavi Application Development Resource Data, Inc. Stantec Consulting Strand Associates, Inc. Tetra Tech Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc. (VHB)

ESRI Canada ESRI Costa Rica (Geotecnologias SA) ESRI Israel (Systematics) ESRI S-Group, Sweden GIS-Centric Civil Systems Pty (Ltd), South Africa gViz Pty Limited, Australia OneGIS, Carribbean Rolta Middle East FZI-LLC

S tr a te g i c A l l i a n c e P a r t n e r s • • • • • • • • • • • •

Actsoft CIPPlanner Corporation Cobra Technologies CompassCom Coulter Mapping Solutions DataBank IMX Data Transfer Solutions Dig-Smart ESRI iWater Laurel Hill GIS Marshall GIS

• • • • • • • • • • •

MWH Soft Onbase (Hyland Software) Orion Technology Inc. Pipelogix RIVA Online Route Smart Spatial Wave TC Technologies Televent Miner & Miner TRANSMAP WinCan America

21

Regional News Executive, Director of Sales & Marketing Tom Palizzi 303-467-2738 tpalizzi@cityworks.com

As 2008 comes to a close, we are pleased to have added 45 new clients this year along with the significant expansion of several sites. Now with the national election behind us, we look forward to a bright future in 2009. While some see uncertainty and economic stress, we realize you still depend on technology to do more with fewer resources. Cityworks has always been designed with that idea in mind and continues to deliver value with performance. As is the case with the new Cityworks Server MMS, we will be celebrating its arrival in a series of roll out events in early 2009.

We experienced more growth in our Sales & Marketing team over the year.

I’m pleased to introduce you all to Dave Bramwell, our newest regional account manager who manages our Southeast Region. You will notice other changes on the regional map — the new Western and Northern Regions being created to better serve your needs. For details and to find your regional Account Manager, visit www.cityworks.com.

On the marketing front, watch for a Cityworks Server MMS roll out event coming to a city near you this Spring.

J

If you are interested in submitting an article for InPrint, please contact Kaye Ryser (801) 523-2751 or kryser@cityworks.com

22

National Sales Manager — Southern Region Brent Wilson 214-507-0579 bwilson@cityworks.com

Ho ho ho — looks like Santa’s coming!

Once again another year winds to a close, a year that saw a lot of changes at Azteca. Our continued growth constantly challenges us to make adjustments in order to keep providing you the level of service you’ve become accustomed to. In 2008, we hired new account managers and created smaller regions resulting in a new Southern Region. (However, those of you who have been around for a while may recall the Southern Region has existed before and has seen many iterations.)

This new Southern Region was created out of growing customer demands. As reported in the last issue of InPrint, the Southeast Region was getting close to 100 Cityworks clients. Splitting the old region into two, affords myself and Dave Bramwell — our new Southeast Regional account manager — far more opportunity to adequately address our growth in the region.

As well, many of you may know I was promoted to National Sales Manager.

This is truly an exciting challenge for me as I attempt to balance my Account Manager responsibilities while supporting our team of national Account Managers.

As always, we appreciate the loyalty of our client base and if there is ever anything I can do to help you, please do let me know. J

Northern Region Josh Stroessner 920-254-1112 jstroessner@cityworks.com

Hello from Wisconsin!

There has been a lot of activity in the Northern Region where the last couple of months have been both busy and exciting. Azteca welcomes Lebanon, Ohio, to the user community. Lebanon will be implementing Cityworks throughout the City using Remote Implementation Support. The implementation effort includes integrating Cityworks with MicroPAVER through the use of the Cityworks Pavement Management Interface, and interfacing Cityworks with their CCTV software using the Cityworks CCTV Interface for PACP. Welcome aboard!

I would also like to thank everybody who came out to the ESRI Water Seminar Series in Dayton, Deerfield, Naperville, and Brookfield. The events were not only educational and enlightening, but a good opportunity to see everyone. Thanks again!

With summer now behind us and the holidays fast approaching, another year will be in the history books. I hope to think that I am finally getting my feet underneath me having had the opportunity to visit with many of you to see your Cityworks in action. For those of you I have not yet met, I look forward to doing so before the year slips away.

Let’s keep in touch, and if I can help you in any way, please let me know.

J

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

Regional News

(cont.)

Western Region

Northeast Region

Southeast Region

William Lang

Phil Mogavero

Dave Bramwell

970-471-5666

716-667-6987

919-339-8642

wlang@cityworks.com

pmogavero@cityworks.com

dbramwell@cityworks.com

Greetings Everyone!

Is 2008 really coming to an end? It’s been another exciting year in the Western Region and I would like to welcome the following cities and organizations to the Azteca User Community: St. Louis, Missouri; Cameron, Missouri; Mesa, Arizona; Hutchinson, Minnesota; Alexandria Lake Sanitation District, Minnesota; and Southgate Water & Sewer Districts, Colorado. Congratulations! I’m looking forward to watching you all grow into successful Cityworks sites.

As another busy summer fades away and we look down the road towards winter, we welcome our new users in the Northeast region to the Azteca family.

Kearny, New Jersey; Windham, Maine; Alexandria, Virginia; and Philadelphia Water Department all look to go live soon. Congratulations and we look forward to a long-standing relationship.

I’ve been a fan of Cityworks and Azteca Systems for many years and am now thrilled to be part of Azteca Systems.

It’s truly a pleasure! As I have worked in many areas of the country — Pacific Northwest, Southwest, Hawaii, and Japan — working with the communities and people of the Southeast is a gratifying experience.

I would also like to acknowledge Washington DC Department of Transportation (DDOT) for becoming a targeted release site for Cityworks Server Permitting. After careful consideration, DDOT decided that Cityworks Server Permitting would meet their needs and take them the direction they wanted to go. The system is being implemented in Public Space Management Branch (PSMB) within the Transportation Policy and Planning Administration (TPPA).

Reviewing agencies within DDOT will all have access to the system. If you are interested in Cityworks Server Permitting, please feel free to contact me or your Regional Account Manager.

It has been an exciting few months getting my feet on the ground and meeting so many Cityworks customers.

It’s become evident to me how and why the Cityworks community continues to grow. Though scalable and cost-effective for very small to very large organizations, I believe it’s the hundreds of medium-sized organizations in the Southeast that quickly notice how Cityworks offers full maintenance management capability that integrates seamlessly with your GIS without customization or coding, and is easily configured and maintained. This simply means lower cost of entry and lower cost of maintenance.

Special congratulations to Jon Henderson at the City of Bozeman, Montana! Bozeman was a recipient of ESRI’s Special Achievements in GIS (SAG) Awards for 2008. It’s truly an honor to be recognized for all of your hard work.

Thanks to everyone that stopped by the Cityworks booth at the ESRI User Conference in San Diego, California, and the APWA Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana! As well, I would especially like to thank everyone that made it out to the Cityworks User Conference at Snowbird, Utah. Of course, we all look forward to seeing you at the 2009 Cityworks User Conference in St. George, Utah, next October!

Finally, I would like to welcome Midland GIS Solutions to the Cityworks Business Partner Program. Matt Sorenson and Tyler Hardy are working with the City of Cameron, Missouri, on their Cityworks implementation.

Thanks everyone and I’ll look forward to seeing you in 2009! J

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

Our Enterprise License Agreement (ELA) was introduced earlier this year to provide smaller local governments the opportunity to obtain unlimited deployments of Cityworks at a low annual cost. Several organizations have already taken advantage of the ELA and I encourage you to contact me or your Regional Account Manager for more information on this great option program.

Quote of the day: “The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”

— Bill Gates, Microsoft Corporation J

It certainly seems like all of our existing customers are shining demonstrations of Cityworks and I’m always impressed with how easy it is to expand the software’s use with other assets. As your Account Manager, one of my responsibilities is to share ideas and successes between our users. If you have a unique application with Cityworks or have other successes, please let me know. If you want to know how you can do more with Cityworks, give me a call.

As I make the rounds visiting our existing customers, I look forward to meeting each one of you and learning more about you and your organization and how Azteca Systems can continue to provide you with support and tools to make your jobs easier and our communities better. J

23

Web-based Software

( c o n t . f ro m p age 1 )

Web-based Software (cont. from page 1) As our practice has always been to continually enhance Cityworks over time, we strive to minimize the upgrade impact on clients. It is not only uncomfortable for clients, but difficult for companies like Azteca Systems to manage major upgrades as well. Through our close relationship with ESRI, we learned of their plans to pursue a more robust, webenabled platform for their GIS offerings — one that would replace their first-generation ArcIMS product. The ArcGIS Server idea began to solidify, providing us a web-based, GIS-centric platform upon which to deploy Cityworks in a browser/server environment.

As we began work on Cityworks Server MMS, a key concept was to ensure it would not only share the user’s common geodatabase, but also the Cityworks maintenance database.

This was a fundamental principle in keeping with our upgrade strategy. We envisioned an offering that would be built on a new platform and with new technology, yet would simply “drop in” to a client’s environment. It became our goal and one we adhered to with significant effort.

It wasn’t until late 2007, we stumbled upon a name for this approach — “cross-compatibility.” The name emerged as we introduced the concept of Cityworks Server MMS through system prototypes, beta software, and prerelease versions.

In essence, we implemented Cityworks Server MMS in a few test environments and a couple of key customer sites in tandem with our flagship client/server application, Cityworks Desktop. As the development process progressed, it became more and more apparent we had made a very wise choice in cross-compatibility.

The benefits of cross-compatibility were evident from the start.

• Minimizes the risk of losing critical functionality. As legacy systems are redeveloped in newer, state-of-theart technologies, it is difficult to maintain a one-to-one functionality comparison. Some functionality is either delayed or, in many cases, rendered obsolete by virtue of the new platform. So, if a certain piece of functionality is not yet, or no longer, available in the new product, it is still in the legacy application. For Cityworks customers, this is a significant benefit of cross-compatibility.

• Avoids costly data conversion. In designing the Cityworks upgrade path around cross-compatibility, users will not be

24

tasked with any data conversion. Both Cityworks Server MMS and Cityworks Desktop/Anywhere read/write to the same Cityworks database.

• Minimizes costly retraining. In keeping the new, web-based application similar to its companion client/ server, legacy product, there is very little — if any — retraining required.

• Avoids costly downtime. Since many of the early adopters of the newer application are existing customers, there is, in essence, no downtime whatsoever. In most cases, Cityworks Server MMS is implemented to replace most desktop users, while the legacy applications are simply redistributed to other areas — field users, remote sites, disconnected networks, etc. Cross-compatibility still enables a single, unified database shared across the enterprise via browser/server and client/server applications — Cityworks Server MMS and Cityworks Desktop/Anywhere, respectively.

• Completely mitigates any risk associated with relying solely on a new application that, even with the best of engineering, will no doubt have unexpected technical challenges. It’s good to have the “old reliable” as a backup when engineering and implementation have exposed serious challenges along the way. Likely the most compelling benefit, cross-compatibility has helped us navigate the cutting edge without significant loss of time, effort, or funding. And while the name may seem new, the concept of cross-compatibility is a wellestablished precedence and expectation of technologists as ESRI, for example, has long practiced a similar approach.

Looking back on the article, Mr. Drummond foresaw a world of web-based applications whirling along at speeds and reliability we’ve become accustomed to on our desktop computers. What it didn’t mention were the challenges in making this world happen. Having committed to this approach — and we do believe this to be the future of software applications — we are excited about the future of Cityworks and look forward to it maturing among other leading applications, including ArcGIS. Like so many times before, patience will be virtuous as we methodically pursue the continued development of our new flagship offering — Cityworks Server MMS. J

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

L a ke Fo re s t

( cont. from page 1)

Lake Forest (cont. from page 1) area and the affluent North Shore, with a population of about 21,000 and an area of more than 17 square miles.

Prior to investigating Cityworks in 2001, Lake Forest’s Public Works Department attempted to utilize the City’s existing finance system to track service requests and work orders.

This application wasn’t the best match for their needs, however, and resulted in staff defaulting back to paper and verbal tracking of maintenance projects, approximating the location of the work from time cards. Moreover, each department had evolved a unique method of tracking their own work, leading to inconsistent and often overlapping activities. It was clear they needed a single, unified system designed specifically for public works and utilities.

With no means to visually track work activities or associate work to specific to locations, Lake Forest staff sought a system that would utilize the mapping capabilities of their Geographic Information System (GIS) as well as manage the maintenance process. After researching various CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) programs, they determined that Cityworks would best fit the City’s need for an efficient maintenance management system. In October of 2003, the City purchased a Cityworks site license and implemented the software with the assistance of Varion Systems.

Cityworks was first deployed in Water & Sewer, and soon after expanded to include Streets, Forestry, and Parks. Work crews are responsible for the complete work order life cycle, from creation to completion. Time, materials, and equipment use are entered daily by staff from desktop computers located in or around work areas.

With more than 50,000 work orders now entered, the City has built an extensive database which serves in several capacities to support management’s decision-making process. Of increasing importance, given the relatively large spatial extent of the City’s corporate boundaries and

Lake Forest staff using Cityworks

rising costs of fuel, is tracking the location component of maintenance work performed on City facilities. This, coupled with a maintenance history for each City facility, continues to provide a solid information base for annual budget preparation, program planning and evaluation, and mid-year program changes to increase efficiency of operations.

Cityworks and GIS synergy have also enabled supervisory staff to provide more timely and focused responses to resident requests and inquiries. Use of the database has been valuable in reducing impromptu response time to impairment of City resources by natural events — heavy rainfall, high winds, heavy snowfall, and extreme cold or hot spells.

The City uses service requests, integrated with Illinois’ one-call digging notice system called JULIE (Joint Utility Locating Information for Excavators), to facilitate and track the locating and flagging of its water, sewer, electric, and fiber lines. Using this information base of more than 21,000 JULIE service requests in the last 4 years to evaluate options for gaining efficiency, the City has been successful in streamlining JULIE operations.

Lake Forest sees expanded use of Cityworks in its future, with the following desired features added over the next several years as City technology continues to mature.

• Online service requests • Wireless (field) access (Cityworks Anywhere) • Integration with other City application software (financial, pavement management, sewer line videos) • Dashboard-like Cityworks management and reporting J Contact: Mary Clement — clementm@cityoflakeforest.com

Astronaut James Lovell (Gemini 7, 12, Apollo 8, 13), serving as the Grand Marshall for the 2008 Lake Forest Day parade. The building in the background is Lake Forest City Hall.

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

25

Coon Rapids

(cont. f ro m p age 3 )

Coon Rapids (cont. from page 3) In 1993, the City purchased ESRI’s ArcInfo. Implementation of the GIS database was completed over time by one fulltime person, one part-time person, and an occasional intern.

Although it took time, once the GIS was up and running the City quickly realized its benefits. In 2000, we began looking for a program to improve our recordkeeping, desiring something that could integrate with ESRI’s system to prevent duplication of work, and that could show the entire story of our infrastructure.

At the time, both the GIS Analyst and Utility Supervisor at the City were searching for a program that would help manage infrastructure maintenance. Realizing the benefits of GIS, they wanted something that had strong integration to the ESRI geodatabase. Tracking sanitary sewer cleaning was especially critical to the City’s needs as some severe sewer backups nearly caused our insurance provider to no longer insure the City. Recordkeeping at this time was so minimal that department personnel relied on “older-timer” staff members’ memories for historic information, while the newer staff didn’t know that history and had to flip through piles and piles of paper to find it.

After extensive researching for a solution that best fit the City’s needs, we selected Cityworks with the plan that supervisors would use service requests and work orders to manage the schedules for daily work and preventative maintenance. However, in our situation, that did not work. In 2006, a dedicated Cityworks part-time position was added and the momentum began. Then in 2008, the position became full-time. Cityworks was implemented in the Sanitary Sewer Department, along with Water, Streets, Stormwater, and Forestry.

In our Sanitary Sewer Department, it was critical that we had easy access to historical information regarding cleaning of the sewer mains. Once that information was gathered and entered, we were able to create a 3-year rotation plan for jetting all sewer mains. We also entered information regarding sewer backups and could create an event layer to visually show where the problem areas were so we could address them. We are now televising the clay tile sewer mains in the old neighborhoods where we have tree root issues. When plugged service is found, letters are sent to those residents along with a photo of their sewer service to inform them of the potential for a backup. After the resident has their service cleaned out, our crew can check the main for any roots that may have been pushed out to prevent a backup in the main line. This is all tracked with service requests and work orders.

In our Water Department, we entered all the historical information regarding water main breaks. This year, when streets were reconstructed in an old part of town, the water main was also replaced. Based on the information we had in Cityworks, we could show that the water main in that area needed to be replaced because it had numerous breaks in the past. We also create work orders on all fire hydrants regarding spring flushing and any issues found so we can go back to repair the hydrants.

With our Streets and Stormwater departments, we are able to track the pothole complaints and get them repaired as quickly as possible. We also track the amount of salt used by each truck route during the snow removal process.

Cleaning and repairing of the stormwater mains is tracked as well, which makes reporting to the various environmental agencies at the end of the year very easy.

Before Cityworks

26

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

Coon Rapids

( c o nt. from page 26 )

Public Works Building

Our City Forester tracks all calls relating to trees with service requests and work orders. He tracks the number of trees planted and removed, along with letters sent to residents regarding oak wilt and Dutch elm disease. In cases of severe weather, we use Cityworks to get a good idea of which areas were impacted most and dispatch crews to help in those neighborhoods.

In the spring of 2008, the Code Enforcement division began using Cityworks. This was the first cross-departmental use of Cityworks for us. We are now able to easily share information regarding water shutoffs to vacant homes. Due to the high number of foreclosures and vacant properties, our City Council approved mandatory water turnoff to vacant homes. We were able to provide the information to support that change due to the number of emergency water shutoffs that were performed last winter when water pipes froze in vacant homes. Code Enforcement is able to more easily identify those properties where excessive use charges apply by using Cityworks instead of looking at a paper file, which may have not been up-to-date if someone didn’t get all the filing done!

Crystal Reports has become an integral part of our use of Cityworks. We’ve been able to create numerous reports

that are updated with a click of the mouse. For example, we provide updates to our City Council regarding issues they’ve submitted to staff. Our Public Works departments receive a monthly report showing any service requests or work orders that haven’t been closed out and the number of days each has been open. We also monitor the vacant homes on a weekly basis to be sure any newly vacated homes are inspected. This is also done with a Crystal Report.

By using Cityworks, we have a much better picture of what is going on in our City departments. Morale improved when the maintenance crews could visually see what has been completed. When our insurance provider needs information from us, we are now able to provide that information on the spot. When Public Works turns water on or off at a home, we can immediately update the Code Enforcement work order which provides a better picture of the housing issues.

Monitoring open service requests and work orders through to completion using Cityworks is easily done to ensure that nothing is getting overlooked or forgotten.

In winter of 2008-09, we will begin implementing Cityworks with our Parks Department. We expect to experience the same great results we have had using Cityworks in our other departments. J Contact: Cindy Hintze — chintze@ci.coon-rapids.mn.us

Best Wishes for a Happy Holiday and Wonderful New Year!

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

27

Macon Water Authority

( c o n t . f ro m p age 5 )

Macon Water (cont. from page 5) and optimized and, therefore, providing “value” for the time and effort they require. This is not an easy task and requires a lot of resources to accomplish since we typically failed to perform any such “balancing and optimizing” efforts for months on end, or even years.

Materials Coordination One of the biggest cost contributors to any work we do is the parts and materials required to do the job. What is even more costly is maintaining these items in inventory in our storerooms with the associated storage and handling costs, e.g., carrying more than what we need, not carrying the critical items we do need, spot buying, overnight freight charges, etc.

Obviously there is a cost for carrying “too much inventory,” and in some cases, lost revenues for carrying “too little inventory.” In a reactive maintenance environment, it is very difficult to know what to stock in the storeroom/warehouse until something breaks or goes down and someone says, “I need it—now.” In this environment, we could not blame the storeroom/warehouse folks, or the purchasing department, for not having what we needed because they depended mostly on the maintenance and engineering folks to tell them what to carry in inventory. Identifying our critical (real) equipment as part of our Cityworks equipment/asset hierarchy setup has helped us better determine what parts to carry as well as items we know have a long lead-time condition associated with them.

Conclusion A sound AMMS has to be viewed as belonging to and involving the entire organization, not just the Maintenance Department. We at Macon Water Authority have successfully started our journey towards a sound, effective, and efficient AMMS by putting in place “best business practices” with regards to our asset maintenance. We are now incorporating these “best business practices” in the configuration and setup of our new Cityworks™ CMMS. • Identify exactly what assets you are responsible for operating, monitoring, and/or maintaining.

• Assess and access asset condition at any given time.

• Understand the design criteria of your assets and how to properly operate them.

• Develop an asset care (maintenance) program that assures that each asset performs reliably (reliability) when it is needed (availability).

• Perform all of the above activities to optimize the costs of operating your assets, and extend their useful life to at least, if not beyond, what the initial design and installation recommended.

These documented “best business practices,” coupled with our new Cityworks system, will allow us to reduce maintenance costs, minimize unscheduled downtime, improve service reliability, and extend the lifecycle of our assets. J Contact: Tony Rojas — tonyrojas@maconwater.org

In a more proactive work environment, it is easier to predict what parts/materials we need for what work when we have that extra lead-time as a result of effective planning and scheduling. Obviously, this was the most effective and efficient route for us to go. Operations, Maintenance, and Engineering now work together as partners with the stores and purchasing functions to optimize our materials coordination.

Water Main

Brain Break Movie Trivia—Below are movie quotes. How many do you know? (answers on page 29) (A) - “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

(C) - “The Force can have a strong influence on a weak mind.”

(B) D-Day: War’s over, man. Wormer dropped the big one.

Bluto: Over? Did you say “over?” Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!

Otter: Germans?

Boon: Forget it, he’s rolling.

Bluto: And it ain’t over now. ‘Cause when the goin’ gets tough... [thinks hard] Bluto: the tough get goin’! Who’s with me? Let’s go!

(D) - “I do not accept excuses. I’m just going to have to find myself a new giant, that’s all.”

28

(E) - “Gentlemen, congratulations. You’re everything we’ve come to expect from years of government training.”

(F) - “Bates Motel... 12 rooms, 12 vacancies.”

(G) - “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

This & That!

were able to find the Azteca Mexican Restaurant in St. Cloud, Florida.







Cara Haslam noticed an Azteca Taco on a menu at a local restaurant here in Sandy, Utah.

  

David Hansen and Ryan Miller

Movie Trivia Answers: (A) - Ferris Buehler’s Day Off (B) - Animal House (C) - Star Wars (D) - Princess Bride (E) - Men in Black (F) - Psycho (G) - Jaws

E S R I U s e r C o n fe re n c e — S a n D i ego, C a l i fo r n i a — A u g u s t 2 0 0 8 Thank you to all who stopped by our booth!

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

29

G e t t o K n o w. . . . .

Our C l i e n t S e rv i c e s D ep a r t m ent Meet out great Client Services department. These are the “go to” guys if you have any support questions or issues. At Azteca, our goal is to have the very best customer support in the industry.

We recognize that if a user cannot use the software to their fullest expectation, then it doesn’t matter how great the software might be. We answer all questions immediately. If a question is due to a software problem that causes the software to not function as designed, the programming staff’s number one priority becomes the resolution of the problem.

Reed Ha y e s — S r . C l i e n t S u p p or t Manage r , S ou t h e a s t R e g i on • Born in Utah.

• Has lived in Utah and New York.

• Enjoys working on cars, Dutch oven cooking, working in the garden, and camping.

• Graduated from the University of Utah.

• Documented over 950 calls in 2007.

Wayne Hill — Executive Director, Client & Information Services • • • • • •

Born in Texas.

Has lived in Texas, Idaho, Alaska, Utah, and Missouri.

Enjoys sports — bicycling, football — and photography.

Graduated from the University of Utah.

Has visited all but 6 states in the U.S. Could use some tips on updating his wardrobe J .

Bryan Chadwick — Technology Support Manager, Business Partners

Kyle B o y d — C l i e n t S u p p o r t M a n a g e r , Weste r n R e g i o n & I n te r n a t i on a l • Born in Germany.

• Has lived in Germany, Iowa, Alabama, Colorado, Oklahoma, Alaska, Canada, Arizona, and Utah.

• Enjoys baseball, racquetball, chess, computers, video games, and foreign languages (studied 7 different languages).

• Graduated from Brigham Young University, Utah.

• One of the most exciting events this year was the announcement of the new iPhone.

• Born in Virginia.

• Has lived in Virginia, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Utah.

• Enjoys basketball, golf, Civil War history, and cartography.

• Graduated from Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA. • Gets excited when he hears such words as ArcSDE, F-table, and geolocator.

Greg Walters — Client Support Manager, Northeast Region • • • •

Born in Wisconsin.

Has lived in Wisconsin.

Enjoys hunting, fishing, and fantasy football.

Graduated from University of Wisconsin — Steven’s Point.

• His daughter, Nicole, likes to play in his office and be like Daddy. She’s reading the Cityworks Inspections & Tests guide.

30

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

G e t t o K n o w. . .

(cont.)

Chris Bracht — Client Support Manager, Central Region • • • •

Born in Ohio.

Has lived in Ohio, Kansas, and Texas.

Graduated from University of Akron, Ohio.

Enjoys watching football & movies, playing video games, considers himself a bit of a sci-fi nerd (not a geek)*, but doesn’t care for Star Trek.

• Working remotely from home has its benefits. Is that a bathrobe??? *Know the difference between a sci-fi nerd and a geek? A nerd stands in line for days for the new Star Wars film...... a geek stands in line for days for the new Star Wars film dressed as Luke Skywalker.

Andrew Briggs — Client Support Rep • • • • • •

Born in Idaho.

Has lived in Idaho, Utah, and Germany.

Enjoys weightlifting, guitar, and football.

Attending Utah Valley University.

Plays a mean game of foosball!

Also single and dating!

Eric Has l a m — C l i e n t S u p p o r t Rep • Born in Utah.

• Has lived in Utah and Massachusetts.

• Enjoys basketball, wakeboarding, snowboarding, and guitar.

• Attending Utah Valley University.

• Single and dating!!

Fo u r N ew E m p l oye e s J o i n A z t e c a !

Dave Bramwell joins Azteca Systems’ Sales and Marketing team as the representative for the Southeast Region.

For more than 20 years, Dave has been in municipal GIS doing database development, application development, and information management consulting. With a passion for applying GIS to public works and utilities, joining the Cityworks team was a natural fit. Before joining Azteca, Dave worked as Business Development Manager at CH2M HILL in Hawaii and North Carolina. Prior to this, he had founded Integrated Information Solutions, a GIS consulting practice in Honolulu, Hawaii. His personal interests are with his family, surfing, kiteboarding, fly-fishing, and tennis. J

INPRINT — DECEMBER 2008

If you’ve noticed a new friendly voice answering phones in the afternoons at Azteca Systems, it’s Kelsey Hill, our newest parttime receptionist. (Yes, she’s related to Wayne Hill — his daughter.) Kelsey is a senior at Riverton High School and is currently enrolled in a work-release program. After graduation she plans to attend college and possibly major in journalism. J

Chris Bracht joins Azteca Systems as a Client Support Manager for the South Central Region. Before joining Azteca, Mr. Bracht was employed at the City of Burleson, TX (Cityworks User) as an Infrastructure Software Technician where he was both the Cityworks Administrator and the GIS Technician. Chris holds a BS in geology from the University of Akron, Ohio. He is the father of three children, most recently a son born at the beginning of October. He and his wife, Dori, reside in Fort Worth, Texas. J

Andrew Briggs joined Azteca as a part-time Client Support Rep in May. He is currently attending Utah Valley University, studying Business Management. Previously Andrew served a two-year LDS mission to Frankfurt, Germany. J

31

Time for anothe r software update ?

It ’s time fo r

C ITYWORKS S ERVER MMS Cityworks Server MMS - the world’s first GIS-centric, browser-based Maintenance Management System.

From the trusted leader in GIS-centric management systems

comes

the

next

generation

of

asset

maintenance management built exclusively on ESRI’s state-of-the-art ArcGIS Server platform and delivering a world-class, full-featured CMMS for Public Works, Utilities, and Municipal Agencies. When it’s time to update, think Cityworks Server MMS. Install Cityworks Server MMS on your intranet server and distribute to your entire enterprise — fast and efficient.

Azteca Systems,Inc. | 801.523.2751 | www.cityworks.com

Azteca Systems, Inc. 11075 South State, #24 Sandy, UT 84070