Since 2015, GUC has been utilizing Oracle’s Work & Asset Management (WAM) software as its primary system for managing long-cycle work. This includes installation and maintenance of electric, gas, and water infrastructure. During that same time, GUC has also utilized Oracle’s Mobile Workforce Management (MWM) for short-cycle activities like meter work, appointments, and field activities. WAM and MWM are coming to end-of-life, and while the systems have served GUC well, they are due for replacement. The project kicked off in December 2022 and will take approximately 13 months. 

After a careful review of industry leading software, a cross functional team of GUC subject matter experts selected Cityworks as the system of choice to replace both WAM and MWM. Cityworks is unique among its competitors in that it is Geographic Information System (GIS)-centric and therefore enables GUC to achieve greater return on investment with our existing GIS software and database of assets.

Moving to Cityworks will enable GUC to:
•  see cost savings,
•  build a foundation for Advanced Meter Infrastructure (AMI),
•  enhance asset management processes,
•  integrate and achieve synergies with GIS,
•  properly align technology with GUC business processes and volume of both long- and short-cycle work, and
•  Leverage a cloud model for more consistent updates providing up-to-date features in a timelier manner.

Project Highlights 

It’s important to point out that this project will not affect customers. All project work will happen behind the scenes and will run in parallel with the Oracle Customer Cloud Service (CCS) project in which Customer Care & Billing (CC&B) is undergoing a major upgrade to CCS.

During this project, we will be working with Cityworks and Woolpert Consulting. Cityworks provides the product while Woolpert assists with implementation. 

This project will run in four big phases or “Task Orders” (TOs) over a 13-month period. The first phase, which kicked off at the end of December 2022, includes short-cycle work decisions, mission-critical integrations shared by all operating areas, and central configurations. The remaining three phases will include implementation and launch for each operating department, starting with Water Resources, then Gas, and ending with Electric.

The following employees from IT and GDS (GIS Data Services) are serving as the overall core team members throughout the entirety of the project: John Bartolotti, Todd Cannon, Amber Garris, Sean Hawley, Kelly Mayo, and Tyler Reynolds. Each of the department phases will have additional core team members.

Asset Management Policy Strategy

To ensure GUC is prepared to support future technologies and services, such as AMI, an Information Technology roadmap was developed in 2021, and out of this came the need for an asset management assessment. Woolpert conducted that assessment and recommended that GUC develop an Asset Management (AM) Policy Strategy.

An AM Oversight Committee was created, and GUC’s first AM Policy Strategy was approved by the Management Team in the fall of 2022. Serving on the Committee is Jonathan Britt (Finance), Scott Farmer (Water Resources), Chad Flannagan (WTP), Tony Godwin (IT), Jason Manning (WWTP), Kelly Mayo (IT), Carl Smith (Gas), Jacob Swink (Electric), and Ken Wade (Electric, AM Committee Chair).

“I’d like to thank the AM Oversight Committee as well as all the subject matter experts who assisted in the AM strategy development process and in helping with critical decisions that led to moving forward with the WAM and MWM replacement project,” said IT Director Andy Anderson. “Everyone involved in this project, as well as the CCS project, brings certain areas of expertise that will assist with smooth transitions as we move forward.”

Be on the lookout for more details of the Cityworks project as it transitions into the next phase (Water Resources) this spring.