The Littleton/Englewood Wastewater Treatment Plant Knowledge Management Initiative Using an On-Line Manual to Capture Knowledge Cindy Goodburn, Littleton/Englewood Wastewater Treatment Plant Greg Farmer, Littleton/Englewood Wastewater Treatment Plant Mike Rousey, Brown and Caldwell Littleton/Englewood Wastewater Treatment Plant 2900 South Platte River Drive Englewood, CO 80110 ABSTRACT For the past several years, Utilities across the United States have recognized significant common challenges facing the industry. These challenges include aging and retiring workforce, aging and deteriorating infrastructure, increased regulatory requirements and associated new technology and the increased cost of managing the utility while addressing these challenges. The Littleton/Englewood Wastewater Treatment Plant (L/E WWTP) faces all of these challenges and for the past ten years has been planning and implementing programs to methodically address these challenges and position the facility for long-term success. The L/E WWTP is the third largest wastewater treatment facility in Colorado, serving a population of more than 300,000 residents in the cities of Englewood and Littleton and 18 sanitation districts in the southwest Denver metro area. Recently the plant completed a $114 million Phase 2 construction project which addressed infrastructure improvements, capacity expansion needs, and added a new process; denitrification, to address new regulatory requirements. While some of the regulatory and infrastructure issues were addressed as part of the Phase 2 project, workforce challenges were exacerbated. With 25% of the L/E WWTP staff becoming eligible for retirement over the next 2 to 6 years, plant management recognized the opportunity to develop and implement an action plan to establish outstanding operational programs to ensure long-term facility success and meet the plant vision: We will be recognized as an outstanding staff working on outstanding programs at an outstanding facility. A four part initiative was launched to address performance management, career development, succession planning, and knowledge management. This presentation will provide an overview of the L/E WWTP initiative to capture the knowledge of its workforce, develop new Standard Operating Procedures for operating the new facility, and support on-going training programs to ensure knowledge transfer and long-term operational success. The focus will be on the development and use of an on-line operations manual to capture and store this information and demonstrate the system. 112
KEYWORDS Knowledge management, knowledge transfer, On-Line Manual, Knowledge Management Plan, icentive pogram, InfoNet, retirement, Littleton/Englewood Wastewater Treatment Plant, Standard Operating Procedures, SOP, SOP development, content development, knowledge transfer, Brown and Caldwell, in-house certification INTRODUCTION For the past several years, Utilities across the United States have recognized significant common challenges facing the industry. These challenges include aging and retiring workforce, aging and deteriorating infrastructure, increased regulatory requirements and associated new technology and the increased cost of managing the utility while addressing these challenges. The Littleton/Englewood Wastewater Treatment Plant (L/E WWTP) faces all of these challenges and for the past ten years has been planning and implementing programs to methodically address these challenges and position the facility for long-term success. The L/E WWTP is the third largest wastewater treatment facility in Colorado, serving a population of more than 300,000 residents in the cities of Englewood and Littleton and 18 sanitation districts in the southwest Denver metro area. Recently the plant completed a $114 million Phase 2 construction project which addressed infrastructure improvements, capacity expansion needs, and added a new process; denitrification, to address newly imposed regulatory requirements. While some of the regulatory and infrastructure issues were addressed as part of the Phase 2 project, workforce challenges were exacerbated. The Phase 2 project had leveled the playing field for plant operations knowledge. With the addition of the denitrification process, a new SCADA system and the replacement and upgrade of 70% of all plant operations equipment, there were no relevant Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to rely on and even the most seasoned operators were on an extreme learning curve. The Phase 2 expansion, coupled with impending retirement eligibility over the next 2 to 6 years of 25% of the L/E WWTP staff, plant management recognized the opportunity to develop and implement an action plan to establish outstanding operational programs to ensure long-term facility success and meet the plant vision: We will be recognized as an outstanding staff working on outstanding programs at an outstanding facility. As part of the Phase 2 Project completion requirements, the design engineer, Brown and Caldwell, was required to submit Operations and Maintenance Manuals (O&M Manuals). These manuals typically live in three ring binders that require tedious paper updating. In lieu of the outdated, and time consuming paper O&M manuals, Brown and Caldwell proposed an On-Line Manual that would provide web-based access to O&M Manuals, as well as replace the L/E WWTP Infonet, a one stop shopping intranet site, housing everything from plant SOPs, to policies and forms. 113
This paper will detail the development of the on-line manual content, development of the L/E WWTP knowledge management program and SOP development. DEVELOPMENT OF THE ON-LINE MANUAL CONTENT Brown and Caldwell developed much of the content for the On-Line Manual,excluding the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), Emergency Procedures and the Info-Net areas. Staff from Brown and Caldwell consisted of a Senior Operations Specialist, IT Technician, Project Administrator and a Project Manager. This was completed as part of the Phase 2 Construction project. The manual was finalized in June of 2009 and turned over to Littleton-Englewood Staff in July. The on-line manual content developed by Brown and Caldwell was only for processes that were affected by the Phase 2 Construction project. Older content is to be developed by L/E WWTP Staff at a later date. The process of completing the manual consisted of the following steps: 1. Develop process overviews for each plant process. 2. Develop sub-chapters where appropriate to break apart complex processes. 3. Develop lists of equipment and instrumentation under each process area. a. Add in information for each piece of equipment and instrumentation where available. 4. Include final plant design data information. 5. Final deployment of the system to L/E WWTP intranet. PROCESS OVERVIEWS The process overviews consisted of a brief discussion of the individual process. The overview was kept in simple language, so that the most junior operator would be able to understand the process with a quick reading. Hyperlinks were added to each process to allow linking to other process areas as well as equipment in the facility. A digital image of the process area was taken and uploaded into the document. In addition to this the process area SCADA screen was uploaded and hyperlinks were added to the SCADA screen shot to allow operators to jump from area to area. The entire process was maintained in a way to ensure that the site looked and felt like a website. This ensured that all staff would be able to easily and quickly use the system and access from PC s in each process throughout the plant, as well as wireless, is available. Some areas of the plant were broken up into sub-chapters. These areas included the plant headworks, secondary treatment, denitrification, and solids handling. A main cover detailing the 114
overall process was set up. Then each individual process area, (IE grit removal, screening, pumping etc) was also set up with its own individual process cover and description. Each area has its own image and SCADA screen, where available. EQUIPMENT AND INSTRUMENTATION TEMPLATES Within each process area each individual piece of equipment and instrumentation was assigned an individual template. The Tag numbers were taken directly from the plant P&ID s and added into the template to identify the equipment. A brief summary of the specifications were added into the template to show items such as pump capacity, voltages etc. And finally, photographs of all accessible equipment, manufacture model numbers and addresses, along with local manufacturer representative information were included in the templates. A discussion of function and affect of failure of each piece of equipment was included, so that operators would understand what the equipment did and what needed to happen in the event of a failure. Finally, local control boxes and panels were added in to show the location and type of on/off switch that the equipment operated with. ADDITION OF PROCESS DESIGN DATA INFORMATION From the plant s final design drawings, the design data for each process area was input. This included data such as tank dimensions and capacities among other information. FINAL DEPLOYMENT AND TESTING OF THE OMS The system was deployed by Brown and Caldwell IT staff to the plants servers in June 2008. After deployment, Brown and Caldwell IT staff tested the system to ensure that it was complete. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT TEAM While Brown and Caldwell was developing content for the O&M manual, plant staff was provided access to the software as well as the Brown and Caldwell database, so that Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) could be developed concurrently. In this effort, a Knowledge Management Team (KMT) was formed. The team initially consisted of the Process Specialist, who serves as the Knowledge Management leader, the Database Administrator, two high seniority plant operators each with >20 years experience and two plant operators with <5 years experience. The intent was to have input from both experienced operators and newer operators to get all points of view. All members of the team received training on using the software. 115
PARTICIPATION The expectation was that members of the KMT would mentor other operators who would then write SOPs and contribute to the KM (Knowledge Management) effort. A program known as Points for Progress was developed, where points would be awarded for participation in the KM program. At the end of the year the participants would select a gift from a catalog based upon the points they had earned. For several reasons, some obvious and some not, the program failed to attract participants. The main reason for the demise of the program was that this effort was initiated during a $110 million plant expansion project. With daily demands from contractors, numerous equipment shut-downs and start-ups, and all the additional work required during a project of this size, the operators had very little time available to dedicate to KM. Other contributing factors for the failure of this program include: Some operators are not as computer savvy as others and feared this would prohibit them from participating. Mixed signals from management. While the Operations Manager and Supervisors voiced their support for the program, their actions did not demonstrate support. Any Operator available free time was typically utilized for more Operations-specific tasks. Also, participation was not encouraged or made a goal in the annual Career Development Assessment (CDA) program. CONTENT DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES AND PRIORITIZATION When the online-manual was initially conceived, the emphasis was to capture the knowledge of the senior operators that are eligible for retirement. As the Phase 2 project progressed it became clear that, while there is valuable information and knowledge to be retained from senior operators, what we would be operating was essentially a new facility: the entire controls systems, (SCADA) was new and much more advanced; a majority of the pumps and related equipment had been replaced; and an incredible amount of process information was being brought in from all areas of the plant. One of the first tasks the team undertook was conducting a survey to determine the preferred learning style of members of the Operations Division. The survey revealed that 57% preferred a highly visual style of learning while 23% preferred auditory, and 14% preferred kinesthetic. With that information the team determined that the content should include photos, drawings and video whenever possible. The team then broadly prioritized which SOPs should be developed first. The highest priority was placed on anything that had to do with safety. For example, the Phase 2 construction project included the installation of deep-bed denitrification filters that use methanol as a supplemental carbon source. An SOP for unloading methanol to the storage tanks was one of the first SOPs developed, along with SOPs for the operation of all chemical pumps. Older, existing SOPs were reviewed and where applicable were transferred to the new system. Many required some degree of change, due to Phase 2 construction. 116
THE SOP DEVELOPMENT PROCESS The development process begins when the need for a Standard Operating Procedure is identified. All suggestions are considered for development. Suggested topics are discussed with or emailed to the KMT team leader, who then assesses the need for the SOP. If a need exists, the development of the SOP moves forward; if the need does not exist, the requester is informed. Nearly all SOP suggestions have been accepted. Once accepted, the following actions occur: An SOP design template is created and named within InfoNet. A work request is created within Infor EAM asset management system for tracking purposes. All activities and time required are recorded within this system. The KM leader may assign a volunteer author to the SOP or defer for future development based upon need. The authors develop SOPs after completing their regular duties. The SOP author writes the SOP and produces visual aids. Assistance from other KMT members is available to help with research, graphics, editing, etc. Whatever procedure is described by the SOP is tested by performing the procedure exactly as described in the SOP. Any required editing is completed. The author will mark the SOP work order as completed in the Infor EAM system. Completion by the author places the SOP on the KMT review list. The KMT meets regularly to review all completed SOPs. The SOP authors are invited to the meeting. The SOP is reviewed by all and either approved or sent back to the author for revisions. Once approved, the SOP is entered into the Infor EAM system for annual review. A work request is automatically issued to the SOP author one year from the date of KMT approval. If no changes or updates are required, the author notes on the work order that no further action is required. If changes are required they are made by the author and the SOP goes before the KMT for review once again. This procedure assures that the SOP remains accurate. If changes in an SOP are unlikely to occur, the review date can be expanded to two or three years after the first annual review. THE EVOLUTION KMT members are rotated every twelve months. Past members are encouraged to remain involved and attend KMT meetings when possible. The content and functionality of InfoNet is always expanding. Hundreds of manufacturer equipment manuals are now available, training programs and troubleshooting guides are being added, and a plant-wide event calendar contains all meetings, birthdays and training date information. Recently, a section has been added for all division and plant policies and meeting minutes to enhance communication and all as-built prints are being uploaded to the system so they are available to everyone. KMT members are limited in the time they can devote to content development. As mentioned earlier, team members worked on SOPs in their free ready time. It became clear that critical SOP development was falling behind. This was addressed by assigning one KMT member to full time InfoNet content development. 117
WHAT S NEXT InfoNet will be utilized for long sought-after In-House Process Certification. The InfoNet user will be guided to a series of documents within InfoNet, which will include key sections of the Brown and Caldwell O&M manual, key SOPs, policies, etc. that pertain to a certain process area. The user will then be tested on this material. Upon passing the test the user will be issued a certificate of completion. This should be of great value for newly hired operators and will provide a means of documenting the progress and understanding a new hire is achieving. The focus has been on developing SOPs for the Operations division. Other divisions including Maintenance, Laboratory, Business Services, and Pretreatment have expressed interest in adding information to the system. This will expand the role of the KMT in managing this process. CONCLUSION The process of developing content for, and managing, the InfoNet continues to evolve. Roles and responsibilities of those involved continue to change as they look for their niche. One example of this is of a high-seniority KMT member that was reluctant to research and write new SOPs. This person instead suggested his strengths would be better suited for reviewing SOPs. He proactively reviews all SOPs due for annual review and, using a unique notes feature in the software program, he makes recommendations for changes and clarifications in the SOPs. Creating a position dedicated solely to SOP generation has worked better than utilizing many people in a part-time manner. This position does the majority of the research and writing of the SOPs, and then presents them to the KMT for review and acceptance. Everyone s involvement in the program is still encouraged, whether it be suggesting topics for SOPs, photographing procedures, or merely researching and reviewing content. These tasks fit in better with the Operators normal workload, leading to greater participation with less stress. Integrating the content of the Brown and Caldwell O&M Manual with the InfoNet has created a central repository of plant information, available to all plant employees, that includes everything from safety procedures to manuals for equipment and instrumentation, and standard operating procedures for numerous plant procedures. New content is continually added, and Operators are utilizing the program with greater frequency. Perhaps the greatest benefit of the InfoNet is the ability to capture the priceless knowledge of long-time Operators and record this information in a usable format that will ensure the continued optimal performance of the treatment plant through the years to come. 118