Q: What led to the implementation of Cityworks at the City of Omaha?
A: Cityworks was originally implemented in Douglas County during the spring of 2005. The County Engineer was looking for a tool to help with GASB (Government Accounting Standards Board) accounting standards. They started tracking all of their assets, equipment, labor, and materials using Cityworks. Having all of this data in one central location made it easy to retrieve information and analyze it using various reports.
The City of Omaha Public Works Department saw what the Douglas County Engineer was doing with Cityworks and liked the result. However, the City of Omaha was facing a little different scenario before deciding to utilize Cityworks. Various departments throughout the City were using different work order management systems, none of which used GIS to help track assets. In the spring of 2007, two divisions of Omaha Public Works, Street Maintenance and Sewer Maintenance, started using Cityworks to simply track work orders on City-owned assets. Both divisions were very pleased with the results of the system. Since then, Cityworks has really taken off to become an enterprise solution for both the City and the County.
Q: How is Cityworks utilized at the City?
A: Cityworks is used by many different departments and divisions throughout the City.
Omaha Public Works (OPW) Sewer Maintenance uses Cityworks for all sewer repairs. In 2010, they created over 1200 cyclical work orders for preventive maintenance.
OPW Street Maintenance originally implemented Cityworks to track work on roads. Most of the work orders created early on were simply for potholes. Street Maintenance now uses Cityworks to track all labor, equipment, and materials. Cityworks also plays a key role for the department when it comes to managing the various utility cuts on paved streets. Street Maintenance plans on migrating to Cityworks Server AMS in 2011.
OPW Construction Division uses Cityworks to track their sidewalk snow removal and driveway/sidewalk repair operations. Cityworks was the perfect solution for them as they rely heavily on GIS parcel data when creating work orders. Cityworks GIS-centric architecture made it a natural fit for the Construction Division.
OPW Stormwater Division was our first implementation of Cityworks Server AMS. They wanted to use Cityworks, but they needed a field solution. We considered using DataPump to enable the inspectors to view and create work orders in the field, but they really needed a real-time solution. Cityworks Server AMS was a great solution for their application. It was also appealing because end users could display the GIS data without needing a desktop version of ArcGIS software, thus saving money in the long run.
OPW Traffic Division is one of the newer Cityworks implementations for the City of Omaha. The Traffic Division will be tracking labor, equipment, and materials for all of their assets. Signs are their most intensive assets to track, with over 250,000 signs in the city alone. The Division will also be using Cityworks to help manage parking meters, traffic signals, and pavement markings.
Omaha Parks & Recreation Department utilizes Cityworks with an implementation and workflow very similar to that of OPW Construction to respond to trash, weed, and/or tree issues. The public calls the Parks Department with a complaint, which is logged as a service request. The Department then dispatches an inspector to assess the situation via Inspection work orders. The inspector determines if any work needs to be done, and if work is needed, he will create a work order.
Q: What benefits has the City experienced due to Cityworks?
A: Cityworks has benefited the City in numerous ways. The obvious benefit is with work order and asset management. Having multiple departments on a single work order management system makes communication easier and more effective. Productivity has increased with the use of Cityworks and GIS. Field inspectors can view the map with their assigned work orders, cutting down on driving time.
Some specific improvements we have seen include:
• Increased productivity
• Better use of available resources
• Providing management a “big picture” of what is going on in the city
• Tracking labor, material, and equipment costs
• Better communication between City and County departments
• Greatly enhanced reporting capabilities
Q: What benefits has the City experienced specifically due to Cityworks Server AMS?
A: Cityworks Server AMS affords us these benefits:
• No need for Desktop ArcGIS, resulting in money savings for the departments
• Ability to edit data through the interface
• All GIS edits and work orders are available to any Cityworks user in real time
• No need for DataPump
• Don’t have to be connected to the local network to access the data
Q: What are the future plans for Cityworks?
A: Cityworks has been growing every year for both the City of Omaha and Douglas County. We would really like to see a true mobile solution for Cityworks. Every year we have more inspectors ask us if they can have Cityworks on their smart phones. We really see Cityworks playing a bigger part in the day-to-day workflow for our field inspectors. We envision a mobile app that would allow a field inspector to capture the 3 or 4 pieces of information they need from the field and have it update the Cityworks database in real time.
With Steve Cacioppo, GIS Analyst, City of Omaha/Douglas County
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