PUBLIC WORKS COMMISSION DATE: September 8, 2014 REPORT NO. PW2014-047 TO: FROM: Chair and Members Committee of the Whole Operations and Administration Geoff Rae, MBA, P.Eng. General Manager, Public Works Commission 1.0 TYPE OF REPORT CONSENT ITEM [ ] ITEM FOR CONSIDERATION [ X ] 2.0 TOPIC Investigation of an Integrated Asset Management Solution and Activity Tracking System for the Public Works Commission 3.0 RECOMMENDATION A. THAT Report No. PW2014-047, Investigation of an Integrated Asset Management Solution and Activity Tracking System (CMMS), BE RECEIVED for information, and B. THAT staff BE DIRECTED to introduce a capital budget item in the 2015 Capital Budget to acquire and install an asset management solution for Council s consideration. 4.0 PURPOSE The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the challenges that the Public Works Commission faces with respect to the collection, transfer, and management of infrastructure data, and to provide an overview of the opportunities for improvement that will result in operational efficiencies, improved capital decision-making and improved data analysis. This report aims to outline the business case for the purchase and implementation of an Asset Management Solution and activity tracking system, which will integrate with the City s current ESRI Geographic Information System (GIS) platform, support the City s progressive asset management program and revolutionize how the Commission utilizes data.
Date: September 8, 2014 Page 2 5.0 BACKGROUND The City of Brantford Public Works Commission is responsible for the management, operation, maintenance and renewal of a broad portfolio of infrastructure assets located across the City. These assets have a replacement value in excess of $3 billion. Over the years, many manual and automated processes have been implemented to facilitate the transfer, storage and access of information between internal and external stakeholders. Historically, the processes and information systems have been implemented on an as-needed basis, to address specific departmental requirements, or emerging priorities. The exception being the implementation of Avantis for fleet and plant operations. While the processes and applications have satisfactorily performed their functions, several opportunities for operational and informational efficiencies have emerged particularly around the linear infrastructure network (roads, watermains etc). Efficiencies would significantly improve information flow and reduce the time required by staff to collect and maintain information, improve the basis for infrastructure recommendations and budget forecasts, and make the information more accessible to the user-groups. This all will greatly support the City of Brantford s knowledge-centric approach to data analytics. The key challenges and opportunities to improve can be broadly summarized as follows: The Commission owns an array of software tools, databases and applications which have been implemented and utilized at various levels of sophistication depending on the department or user group. The varying levels of information, partly induced by the absence of data validation, field data entry tools, and varying data collection protocols, results in limitations in the level of analysis that can be conducted, as well as limiting the consistency and reliability of the data. The transfer of information between field personnel and data management staff is often manual (requiring the completion of paper forms, interpretation, digital data entry, and filing in the office), consuming a significant amount of staff time that takes away from completing other high priority activities. With the implementation of a new solution, these tasks could be automated, significantly increasing operational efficiency and allowing staff to focus on enhancing the processes versus simply maintaining data. Many of the applications do not currently integrate or interact with the other applications and databases, resulting in segmented or duplicated information, reducing accessibility, and increasing the labour required to manage the data. For example, while the data has been collected, it is currently not possible to track the as-built drawings, ongoing maintenance activities and costs, work orders, customer complaints or claims geographically for an individual asset without potentially hours of manual investigation.
Date: September 8, 2014 Page 3 The ability to quickly access all the aforementioned information through a single interface, in this case the City s GIS system, will significantly reduce staff time required to address information requests which are carried out by Public Works staff on a day-to-day basis. In addition, the ability to conduct analysis on such data at a macro-level across the City will significantly increase the comprehensiveness of available information to develop defensible and responsible capital budgets. There is currently no formal activity tracking or work management system for corporate administrative buildings and facilities. Emerging technologies offer the opportunity to overcome many of the above challenges, providing the ability to integrate systems, automate data transfer, and reduce many of the manual tasks that are carried out by data management and field staff across the City. This report therefore presents a case for further investigation into the purchase and implementation of an integrated Asset Management Solution and activity tracking system for linear infrastructure for the Public Works Commission. 6.0 CORPORATE POLICY CONTEXT The City s Community Strategic Plan identifies the following key goals and strategic actions that directly relate to the way in which the Public Works Commission manages the collection, transmittal and management of data between internal and external stakeholders. Managed Growth & Environmental Leadership 3.2. Maintain the Infrastructure Management Strategy including roads, sewers, water and municipal buildings. Excellence in Governance & Municipal Management 4.9 Re-establish a Customer Service Strategy to ensure excellence in service delivery. 4.9 Develop a communication plan to enhance internal and external communication. 7.0 INPUT FROM OTHER SOURCES Staff from Public Works and Technology Services have provided input into this report. 8.0 ANALYSIS The Public Works Commission is responsible for the management of a growing portfolio of infrastructure assets valued in excess of $3 billion that includes, but is not limited to transportation, water distribution, wastewater collection, bridges,
Date: September 8, 2014 Page 4 storm drainage, solid waste collection and disposal, fleet and transit, and corporate facilities. In recent years, the City has been progressively developing asset management plans and strategies, which are founded on advanced data analytics, risk-based planning, condition monitoring, long-range forecasting, and continuous improvement. This has resulted in an integrated 10-year capital budget, as well as optimum utilization of available funding streams to stretch budgets further. The significant shift in the way the City conducts asset management and data analytics brings with it fresh demands on the way in which data can be accessed, inter-related, and analyzed. Emerging needs require data from multiple sources and departments to be tracked against individual assets, providing the ability for analysts to incorporate a richer array of parameters into decision-making, providing more educated recommendations based on a holistic perspective of the asset condition and performance. As previously mentioned, over the years many processes and applications have been implemented to facilitate the transfer, storage and access of information between internal and external stakeholders. Historically, the processes and information systems have been implemented on an as-needed basis, to address specific departmental requirements, or emerging priorities. To this end, the Commission currently owns and maintains an array of software tools, databases and applications which often do not integrate with each other, and have been implemented and utilized at various levels of sophistication depending on the department or user group. A network diagram of the key data processes within the Public Works Commission is provided in Appendix A. The following provides an overview of some of the key systems, challenges and opportunities identified through the network analysis. Geographic Information Systems and Asset Data Repositories Linear infrastructure asset information is currently captured through several systems within the Public Works Commission: The Linear Asset Data Repository (LADR): This is the current database repository for water, wastewater and stormwater assets. There is currently a one-way linkage between LADR, GIS and the Avantis work order management system. However, this link is required to be bi-directional (meaning information can go from one system to the other) to capture changes to assets via the maintenance processes. For example, if a watermain diameter is inaccurate staff should be able to fix this in either the GIS system or work order system, with both getting updated. Today s process is manual.
Date: September 8, 2014 Page 5 ESRI GIS: The GIS system stores all geospatial information pertaining to the City s infrastructure networks. This database links to LADR, and geographically displays the information. The City is currently in the process of examining its data needs, storage and formatting as it relates to both the LADR data repository and the GIS system. A full geospatial database needs analysis, data architecture and database design is currently underway with expected completion in Q1 of 2015. With a newly enhanced geospatial database, the City will be better positioned to take advantage of some of the state of the art remote-field data collection and web mapping applications offered in the ESRI GIS suite of business tools. Avantis Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS): While described in the context of maintenance management later in this report, Avantis is currently implemented and fully utilized for vertical asset inventory management including fleet, water treatment and distribution facility assets. The fleet and transit inventories are also manually maintained in JD Edwards. These asset categories lend themselves very well to the functionality of Avantis and the City has a robust, well-functioning implementation. Excel spreadsheets and written inventory books are also used to maintain asset information such as traffic signals and facility inventories. From an asset inventory perspective for linear assets, there are the following challenges and opportunities to improve the current systems: Due to the fact there is currently no link with Avantis, there is no way to track work orders or activities to individual linear assets using the GIS or other systems. This has resulted in staff manually writing the activities in a Task text field, which has no data validation, and cannot be queried or linked to a particular work order. All data entry for new assets, activity tracking or field changes are manual. Environmental Services field staff are required to fill out paper forms by hand, these forms are then delivered to the GIS staff, each form has to be manually transcribed and entered into LADR, and then each paper form has to be manually filed. This process alone consumes 1 full-time equivalent person s time, which could be avoided with automated data capture tools. With the resulting time savings, routine data entry could be replaced by more advanced analysis and enhancement of the GIS system. There is also a significant backlog in the current GIS data entry that the gained efficiencies would allow staff to catch up on. There is often a lack of uniformity in the way that activity data is entered, and the level of detail of the data, across the various departments. This is due to the absence of data validation, as well as varying data management policies in each department. In order to fully utilize the data for planning purposes, it is essential that the data is consistent and reliable.
Date: September 8, 2014 Page 6 The Public Works Commission is currently undertaking a Geospatial Database Conversion Project comprised of a detailed review and design for a new geospatial database model and establishment of a framework for support databases and data fields to replace the outdated LADR database platform. This new asset registry will be utilized as part of the City s asset management initiatives, moving forward. Finance and Accounting The City currently utilizes JD Edwards for the financial system and Tangible Capital Asset reporting, and CIS Infinity for rate-based customer billing for water and wastewater services. The following challenges and opportunities for improvement associated with the current systems have been identified: There is currently no two-way connection between Tangible Capital Asset (TCA) reporting systems and the inventory systems described in the above section. This increases the manual work required by staff to update inventories and maintain cost data. In addition, it increases the probability of data inconsistencies and limits the ability to cross reference financial data with the GIS data. Over the long term, a common system could potentially allow automated updates, having a single centralized data source, increasing the confidence in the data, accessibility and reducing the labour involved in data management. Work Management and Activity Tracking Work related activities are currently captured via Avantis for a number of areas that are well suited to the functionality of Avantis, including the water plant and fleet department. At the current level of implementation, the City faces the following challenges and opportunities of improvement: The Avantis CMMS, is fully used by many areas within the Public Works Commission to various levels of sophistication for storing work order information. Avantis does not currently link to GIS and visualize work orders or activities spatially without the acquisition or development or 3 rd party tools. While Avantis performs very well for industrial vertical assets such as the City s plants and fleet, it is not well suited for linear assets. In Avantis, the work activities are tagged against the road segment or streets which in some cases have inconsistent IDs with GIS and LADR. Often, work activities are specific to assets and locations, but information at a more
Date: September 8, 2014 Page 7 granular level is desired (i.e. activities against specific assets or specific locations). It is recommended that the City continue to use and enhance Avantis for the assets where it is already installed and well utilized. However, there is a need for a different scalable system for the tracking of activities for linear infrastructure for better integration with the GIS. An activity tracking system is required that will tie field related maintenance activities and costs directly to an asset, and have the capability to capture and map key information that can be used for asset management planning, data analytics and budgeting. Capital Budgeting and Prioritization The capital budgeting process utilizes all available data associated with the asset that is available from the numerous information systems including field information captured through activity tracking. In the development of capital budgets, due to the current configuration of information systems, the following challenges and opportunities for improvement have been identified: Operational data stored in Avantis is challenging to access and navigate even for staff highly proficient in databases; The data is inconsistent across asset classes, and work activities cannot be linked to individual assets due to: o Varying levels of use by each department; o Manual entry and no data validation for many of the work order fields, preventing the use of queries for valuable information; o Asset IDs in Avantis and JD Edwards, in many cases having no correlation with Asset IDs in GIS and LADR; o Varying naming conventions for streets, assets and other identifying information. There is a need to improve the data input, inter-dependencies and consistency of the information systems to facilitate cross examination of the various performance criteria for assets (i.e. economic, operational, social [customer calls], environmental and technical). Currently, the Capital Planning and Finance Departments utilize a stand-alone, in-house MS Access application to store capital project information and generate multi-year budget forecasts. The database currently has no connection with other database systems, and is not currently supported by IT Services. The creation of custom reports and forms, and maintenance of the database is limited to those with database design experience, and a more user-friendly process of creating customized reporting, spatial analysis, and overlaying data geographically would greatly benefit the user-groups.
Date: September 8, 2014 Page 8 Recommendations and Next Steps Based on the identified challenges and opportunities for improvement, it is recommended that the City implement an integrated solution that will provide the following core benefits and functionalities to address the above outlined challenges, specifically related to linear infrastructure management: Asset Inventory Management and Integration with the ESRI GIS and Local Government Data Model. Condition Assessment Data Management: o Direct links and interrelations between condition data, and GIS entities through a single interface; and o Condition Monitoring and Reporting Capabilities. Level of Service Monitoring and Key Performance Indicators; Performance Reporting; Risk and Priority Analysis; Asset Lifecycle Planning and Forecasting; Asset Valuation and Lifecycle Cost Management: o Construction and upgrade costs; o Work order costs against an asset or group of assets; and o TCA register management and reporting. Capital Planning and Budgeting: o Development and visualization of custom queries utilizing economic, condition, performance and work order histories. Work Management: o Generation, visualization, and data entry for work orders. Field data collection tools; GIS, Dashboards and Visualization for all applicable user groups; Customer Service and Service Request Management; Permit Tracking; and Business Licensing. The City has conducted a high level functional review of various software systems, as well as establishing the required capability of the solution(s). User groups from various departments within the Public Works Commission and IT
Date: September 8, 2014 Page 9 Services have been engaged throughout the process to ensure buy-in and support for the new solution. Upon completion of the detailed review a capital project will be incorporated into the 10-year capital forecast for the purchase, integration and implementation of the required hardware and software. Staff investigated various software systems including those shown on Figure 1. A number of these systems vendors also provided demonstrations of their products, specifically focused on the activities desired by the City. Figure 1. Overview of Potential Solutions and Functionalities Functional Area Cityworks Asset Management Server Oracle Enterprise Asset Management* Accela Asset Management Cartegraph Asset Inventory Management Condition Assessment Data Management Levels of Service Monitoring and Key Performance Indicators Performance Reporting Risk and Priority Analysis Asset Lifecycle Planning and Forecasting Asset Valuation and Lifecycle Cost Management Capital Improvement Planning and Budgeting Work Management Field data collection tools GIS, Dashboards and Visualization Customer Service and Service Request Management Permit Tracking Business Licensing Notes * GIS and visualization functionality provided through a secondary application. ** Identified functionalities are based on an initial review, and therefore the solutions may offer a functionality that is not checked in the table. A detailed review of functionalities and functional requirements should be conducted to further clarify.
Date: September 8, 2014 Page 10 Based on the feedback received, market research, demos and functionality, there are a number of software tools on the market that could be suitable and cost-effective solutions. Public Work s staff, in conjunction with the various City departments would develop a terms of reference for a software acquisition that would seamlessly integrate with the City s GIS software and database. The software tool selected through a competitive bid process would improve maintenance, tracking, and management of the department s work activities. 9.0 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS There are no current financial implications related to this report. Public Works staff will prioritize and introduce a new capital item for Council s consideration within the 2015 Capital Budget. A review of the available or appropriate funding sources will be completed during development of the capital budget and forecast including utilizing rate and tax supported capital envelopes. At this time, the estimated costs to purchase, install, provide training and deploy an asset management software solution is estimated to be $350,000. 10.0 CONCLUSION This report provides a summary of some of the challenges that the Public Works Commission faces with respect to the collection, transfer, and management of linear infrastructure data, and provided an overview of the opportunities for improvement that can result in operational efficiencies and improved data analytics. Through the implementation of a new system, direct benefits can be achieved through the reduction in staff time required for processing data, as well as significantly improving the quality and accessibility of data for internal and external stakeholders. In summary, the benefits of implementing a new activity tracking and data management toolkit specifically for the linear infrastructure include: Improvements in the City s strategic financial investment planning capabilities: o Increased accuracy and consistency of financial information; o Provision of more timely and accurate financial information; o Reduction of errors and removal of complexities from financial allocation; o Improved financial decision making; o Development of automated asset life cycle costing; o Development of accurate long-term funding strategies; and o Automated and accurate valuation of assets
Date: September 8, 2014 Page 11 Facilitation of infrastructure risk management: o Quantification of risk exposure, priority and hot spots; o Utilization of performance metrics and work history during planning to maximize asset life; and o Reduction of legal exposure through accurate logs and history records. Improvements in scheduling and regular maintenance activities: o Improve staff productivity for work orders, data collection and data processing; o Improve communication and information flow among departments; and o Improve efficiencies by removing existing paper processes and replacing it with more streamlined digital versions. Centralized and supported data management systems, with minimized duplication and increases in accuracy and performance; Seamless data integration capabilities to avoid duplicate data entry and duplicate databases; and Provide archived records of citizen complaint and work order requests. It is recommended that the City continue to use the Avantis solution for Fleet and Water plant operations, where it is fully adopted and well utilized. Due to the multi-disciplinary nature of the solution, the user groups from each department will be engaged throughout the process to ensure buy-in and support for the new solution. A capital project shall be incorporated into the 10 year capital forecast for the conversion and implementation of the required hardware and software. Geoff Linschoten, C.E.T., Geoff Rae, MBA, P.Eng., Director, Facilities & Asset Management General Manager, Public Works Commission. Tara Gudgeon, HBSc Manager, Capital Planning Attachments: Appendix A. Network Diagram of Public Works Commission Information Systems In adopting this report, is a by-law or agreement required? If so, it should be referenced in the recommendation section. By-law required [ ] yes [ x ] no Agreement(s) or other documents to be signed by Mayor and/or City Clerk [ ] yes [ x ] no Is the necessary by-law or agreement being sent concurrently to Council? [ ] yes [ x ] no
Date: September 8, 2014 Page 12 Attachment A: Network Diagram of Asset Management Systems Finance and Accounting Customer Service LEGEND Financial Statements and Reports Customer Billing Description One-Way/Manual Data Connection Symbol Two-way connection between Infinity and JD Edwards Customer Call Centre and Help Desk No Data Connection Document One-Way Data Connection Geographic Information Systems and Asset Data Repositories Tangible Capital Asset Register Manual Invoice Entry Accounts Receivable Accounts Payable Payroll Equipment Revenue and Charge Backs Public Complaints and Claims Electronic Database Data Storage (Electronic or Physical) Data Store Asset Registry Asset Inventory Data (Location, Physical Attributes, Age) Manual Entry into LADR Task Field or Manual Processing of Paper Field Records Manual Transfer of Invoices and Bills Manual Transfer of Invoices and Bills for materials and Contracted Services One-Way Data Updates to TAPS JD Edwards and Avantis No Data Connection Process Area Tagged Process Process Step Maintenance and Repair Records Work Management Analysis Process No Data Connection Work Order History Valuation, Condition and Lifecycle Information No Data Connection Asset Maintenance & Repair Records, Field Observations Activity Based Work Orders & Resource Utilization / Costs On-Demand Repairs & Minor Installations Service Requests Inspection Records Drawing Registry Asset Financial Expenditures History (Operations, Maintenance and Repairs) Data Management In Avantis Work Order Management System Asset Inspection Records Usage and Environmental Information Manual One-Way Upload to LADR and SAWS One-Way Data Updates to Avantis Asset Inventory and Location References Maintenance Programs Inspection Programs Seasonal O&M Activities Internal Requests & Follow-Up Work Manual Import Shape files and Data One-Way Manual Data Transfer Engineering Services Design & As-Built Drawings Prints, Scans and PDFs External Data (County, GRCA etc.) Site Development Plan (Adaptive Re-Use & In-Fill) One-Way Manual Data Transfer Demand Modelling Capital Budgeting Subdivision Development Plans Master Planning and Hydraulic Capacity Models One-Way Manual Export/Link to MS Excel and Access Maintenance Candidates Maintenance and Spot Repair Programs Capital Budget Documents Development Support Projects Manual Data Cross Referencing Asset Condition & Performance Analysis Renewal, Maintenance and Replacement Needs Corridor Analysis and Optimization Assets Requiring Monitoring or Inspection Inspection Programs One-Way Manual Data Transfer Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Project Delivery Current and Future Capacity Requirements Replacement and Rehab Candidates Integrated Capital Programs Capital Project Database Coordinated Projects with External Organizations (Brant County, Laurier etc.)