Tohopekaliga Water Authority
Tohopekaliga, Florida
Strategic planning is a key to being an effective utility, as described in the Effective Utility Attributes (U.S. EPA, 2007). When the City of Kissimmee divested its water department to form the Toho Water Authority, it was recognized that a strategic plan was needed to guide and align the organization to address its challenges and realize its opportunities. Five carefully and collaboratively selected key strategies were developed in the areas of customer service, water supply, workforce, infrastructure, and financial health. These strategies are also helping Toho to address the Attributes of an Effective Utility developed by the water sector in 2007 and 2008. Employing the Scan, Plan, Do approach has resulted in a viable Strategic Plan for Toho that is designed to accommodate continuous improvement. Toho used a proven process to develop a strong Strategic Plan that will serve to realize its vision for the future, consistent with the Ten Attributes of Effective Utilities. This Strategic Plan is proving to be a key to their success, now and in the future. Source: WEFTEC 2009 Proceedings
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Posted: July 6th, 2010 | Filed under: 100K-500K, Sanitary Sewer, Stormwater, Waste Water Treatment, Water Treatment | Tags: Improved Customer Service, Optimizing Organization, Strategic Planning | No Comments »
With today’s current focus on strategies to improve asset management and equipment reliability, it is critical performance measures using Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) data be used to analyze and prevent failures. By applying the basics of performance management, developing useful performance measures, and using a Balanced Scorecard, utilities can be more effective in managing their O&M processes. Following the steps set forth below and explained in detail within this paper can help organizations mitigate the complaints and concerns most often associated with their CMMS:
1. Performance Measures must align with an organization’s business strategy and vision.
2. A Balanced Scorecard approach provides guidance and enables Financial, Internal Processes,
Customer, and Employee Development measures to be balanced within an organizational
unit.
3. Employee buy-in and empowerment drive a successful performance measures program.
4. Basic data, process, and quality control must be in place to enable valid analysis and reports.
5. Performance measures based on failure analysis and prevention focus resources and help to
reduce costs by reducing reactive maintenance.
6. Building a utility-wide Performance Measurement Program drives implementation. Source: WEFTEC 2009 Proceedings
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Posted: July 6th, 2010 | Filed under: Sanitary Sewer, Stormwater, Waste Water Treatment, Water Treatment | Tags: Improved Customer Service, Optimizing Organization, Strategic Planning | No Comments »
City of Topeka
Topeka, Kansas
In 2004, the city initiated the development of a strategic Information Management Master Plan (IMMP) to guide their vision of implementing a more holistic and integrated enterprise-wide management and decision support system. Together, city staff defined the operational objectives and key performance indicators (KPI) for each division and mapped the work processes to achieve these objectives and KPIs. A gap analysis was then performed and recommendation developed for minimizing organizational constraints and improving the processes, data and information systems involved. This resulted in a five-year strategic IMMP for the department to adopt and implement. The strategic IMMP provides Topeka’s Public Works Department with a detailed, prioritized set of projects that the department move forward with. Through the recommendations implemented to date, Topeka can now access, analyze and report on information critical to managing the city more easily, which has resulted in increased efficiencies in data collection and retrieval, improved operations management and field execution, cost savings in annual software maintenance and updates fees, improved customer service and increased revenue from more accurate maintenance cost tracking. Source: WEFTEC 2009 Proceedings
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Posted: July 6th, 2010 | Filed under: Sanitary Sewer, Stormwater, Waste Water Treatment, Water Treatment | Tags: Cost Savings, Improved Customer Service, Optimizing Organization | No Comments »
City of Quincy
Quincy, Massachusetts
Facing a $4 million combined account deficit in its water and sewer departments, the City of Quincy, Massachusetts performed an end-to-end audit of all systems, procedures, and personnel assignments from financial, managerial, organizational, and technical standpoints. The audits started with the review of the master water meters receiving water from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and ended with a revised abatement policy. Quincy executed a programmatic approach to modifying the manner in which it conducted business as sewer and water service providers, and increased the level of service to their customers; streamlined formerly cumbersome meter reading, data entry, and billing processes; and reduced its unaccounted-for water percentage and peak I/I flows. As a result, Quincy erased the projected deficit in one fiscal year, anticipating a surplus of $1 million. This situation is very common in municipalities across the country. Time constraints and budgetary concerns rarely allow for an overhaul of systems and processes. In this way, issues that may seem small when they first appear are allowed to snowball and become systemic problems across many of the utilities functions. The results achieved by Quincy in performing this audit and implementing changes based on the findings demonstrate the power of investing in comprehensive review of these processes and using a proactive and programmatic approach to bringing success to the municipally run utility. Source: WEFTEC 2009 Proceedings
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Posted: July 6th, 2010 | Filed under: 50k-100k, Sanitary Sewer, Stormwater, Waste Water Treatment, Water Treatment | Tags: Cost Savings, Optimizing Organization | No Comments »