Sound Methodology is the Key to a Successful Maintenance Management System

Automation and software are not magic cure-alls for a successful application of a maintenance management system (MMS). But with appropriate methodology and proper implementation, an MMS can accomplish the goals and objectives of controlling, planning, directing and organizing an effective maintenance program, as well as help public agencies such as water utilities or wastewater authorities improve maintenance operations. In fact, following the capital outlay for additional computer equipment that often accompanies setting up a new maintenance management system, less efficient operations may actually occur, due to redundant data collection, unnecessary processing of information, and un-enthused staff.

Several public entities have avoided these pitfalls, and garnered considerable success including documented savings up to $1 million annually. What have they done to achieve it?

Some practical aspects of implementation can be illustrated by the experiences of three different government agencies that were successful. While the sizes and settings of these varied considerably—the first a suburban road department in a subtropical area, the second an urban flood control and road maintenance operation, and the third a high desert public works department—similar threads run through their successful approaches.

MMS Experiences Provide Valuable Examples
Three senior public officials in California, Florida and Nevada addressed these and other important issues. Each provided valuable advice based on their experience in implementing an MMS.

Rick Ruiz is deputy director of public works for Alameda County, CA. The County is one of the most populous in the state. Major municipalities include the Cities of Oakland, Berkeley and Hayward. Alameda County's system tracks reactive and proactive road and traffic initiatives, flood and drainage control operations, and bridge maintenance work. The agency now uses the data collected in a benchmarking program to improve maintenance operations.

Craig McConnell, P.E., is public works director for Charlotte County, FL, located about 100 miles south of Tampa. This county has over 2,080 road miles to maintain and a population of 130,000. The system implemented in the County freed up $750,000 annually, and more work is being done with fewer maintenance employees. McConnell utilized these savings to initiate long deferred road and drainage infrastructure rehabilitation.

Steve Varela is Director of Public Works/City Engineer for the City of Reno, NV. With a population of 162,000, this is one of the fastest growing urban areas in the western United States. Along with the City of Sparks, Reno is situated at the foot of the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains. Varela's implementation of a system for roads, sewers, buildings, traffic control and environmental protection resulted in efficiency improvements of about 10%. One of the results was de-privatizing, or taking back the task of sewer cleaning.

What Lessons Did They Learn?
All three of these officials maintain that before automating any maintenance functions and/or purchasing any software and hardware, public agencies must clearly determine exactly what they want to accomplish. Then they must establish a structured plan to get there. It's crucial to map the maintenance system that may already be in place, and then analyze the existing processes for accomplishing maintenance tasks.

At the outset, one of the biggest challenges public agencies face in implementing an MMS comes from internal and/or external resistance and skepticism.

"If there are parts of an MMS already in place, the internal comment might be, ‘we've already got this; why do we need a new one?'" McConnell said. "There could be a similar external comment, often associated with the ‘cost' of a new system." He added that "it took a year to gain approval to proceed with our project in Charlotte County and to convince those in the decision making process that it was a necessary investment and the most effective means of reforming drainage system and road maintenance management. We also needed to demonstrate how the investment would recoup recurring future benefits in terms of cost efficiency and quality service."

The City of Reno faced other challenges. Varela said the biggest hurdle was getting employees to "buy in" and understand the benefits, i.e., that an MMS wasn't a threat or just a simple tracking tool, but a comprehensive program that has now helped the City improve efficiency and competitiveness. He said, "Maintenance accounts for a major portion of the $12 million spent in Reno on infrastructure each year. These dollars are now better spent by using automated systems to help the right people, materials and equipment on the right job at the right time following the right methods."

Varela described how before any equipment was purchased, a thorough analysis was conducted to understand the related maintenance processes. The City was then able to determine automation and software requirements based on these findings. Reno was using an old computer system that would tell employees what sewer lines were scheduled for maintenance based on a 24-month service schedule. The system would immediately produce a list of sewer lines to service, but it didn't tell them how or when to do the work.

Varela said they figured out how to resolve the problem, then purchase the equipment needed to automate these functions. Now they start from an upstream point in the wastewater collection system and work their way down, a measure that reduces set up time. He added, "By initially focusing on the process, we were able to accurately assess equipment needs and ultimately implement better scheduling methods while improving the way we organize the work."

All three men added that re-engineering the processes that need improving is paramount to having an effective MMS. It is important to first determine the most effective balance of in-house capabilities and manpower availability, versus external support and process facilitation.

Alameda County's Rick Ruiz, for example, said that "benchmarking" his department's top 10 activities, two being street sweeping and tree trimming, will be invaluable in determining what functions to target and improve. The County's MMS provides the basis for the benchmarking process that helps the assessment of performance and progress, and the establishment of standards and goals.

Once the organization has evaluated the maintenance management processes and set in place a methodology for re-engineering those areas in need of improvement, then automation requirements can be determined.

McConnell maintains that public agencies must look at the MMS system outputs, what attributes they have, and how they are to be used. They should assess the scale of the public agency's operations for the purpose of evaluating the needed information, work accomplishment, reporting, and determining how complex the automated system should be. "There must be improved performance of work visible to the community, whether it's doing work which was not done before, or doing it more effectively and efficiently," he said. "Elected officials and their top appointed managers want to see demonstrated performance."

He added, "The public agency also should obtain the services of an independent technical evaluator or facilitator—not someone with just an expertise in cost accounting, but an expert who really knows how to assess, for instance, a road or drainage maintenance system, and conclude how it relates to the institutional structure."

McConnell believes access to the MMS should be available to everyone since it is public information. "The access interfaces are important and there should be user friendly reports and data, from which they are compiled," he said. "The needs, look and content of the reports have to be carefully considered as to use, and designed accordingly. In the next phase of Charlotte County's system development, map location and work scheduling information is to be made available to the public via the Internet."

A final point is that once new MMS software is utilized, it should be as transparent as possible relative to associated software applications, e.g., it should be able to interface with widely used programs and be upgradeable if necessary.

The Key Elements Leading to Success
A number of basic elements are needed to implement a system that will assist, rather than hinder a public agency in providing services to meet its customers' needs effectively. An extensive nationwide survey conducted by Lorick Associates Consulting highlighted some of these elements:

• Establishment of goals for the system. Successful agencies understood the intent of the system and knew what it would be doing. The system goals were a subset of the goals for the department. If the intent is to improve response time, then response time must be a goal. For example, one maintenance department surveyed wanted to improve the budget work tracking process, yet software purchased through engineering and the management information systems (MIS) group was an asset management and work order system. This had no ability to budget or track against a budget.
• Commitment of management and supervisors. The desire to have a systems approach and to improve the operations must be agreed to and "bought in" at the highest levels. The system "champion" should be a senior management staff member, for example director of public works, water or wastewater superintendent, city engineer, or maintenance manager. In addition, this proponent must have the support of the elected officials. Without a high level of commitment, key changes will be difficult to make. The three agencies discussed above all had a senior manager driving the process.
• Involvement of maintenance staff and supervisors. The individuals assigned to actually make the changes in the way of doing business must be made a part of the process. Many ideas and basic improvements can be obtained by including those closest to the work. In Reno, all maintenance supervisors and workers were involved and received training over a nine-month period.
• Reengineering, not overlaying the existing process. Many unsuccessful systems simply add new ones on top of existing operating manuals to automate ways of conducting business. New systems should seek to streamline, improve and reengineer existing planning, tracking and scheduling tools using the latest technology. Often, other data that has been collected can be combined with MMS data requirements. For example, eight existing databases were combined into one at Charlotte County, reducing data collection.
• Establishment of a continuous improvement process. Many systems being used today are standard setups that do not change, and then become unusable because they are not adjustable to the changing conditions that affect all public agencies. An orderly mechanism to update and reevaluate systems and processes and the work being managed must be part of implementation. The system must change just as technology, customer demands, and the environment change.
• Well-defined methodologies to collect, store, summarize and distribute information. If agency employees are to use the MMS then the information collected must be readily available. A streamlined way to prepare a plan that can provide specific performance measures, generate schedules, track requests for service, record and summarize effort and expenditures and compile and analyze data is required. If the information is stored in a retrievable database and the statistics compiled, the data will be readily available for all decision-makers to use in taking action. Also, guidance on how to interpret and use the information should be developed and provided.
• Implementing a complete system to manage maintenance activities. An asset management system incorporating all work inventory features, for instance pipes and their dimensions, is a requirement. The ability to produce work orders based on requests and/or repetitive work also is also important.

More fundamentally, however, annual work programs consisting of specific activities that roll up a budget are needed. The work programs and associated activities enable determination of the resources that will be needed to deliver the services. Further, the ability to track cost, productivity, unit cost and resources expended versus a plan is critical for improvement. An agency must have both asset and work management tools in its MMS to be truly effective.

The three agencies named earlier applied these concepts and their maintenance management systems work! They enable determination of true costs, unit costs, productivity, service responsiveness, and accomplishments relative to defined goals.

Implementing an MMS Takes Effort—But It's Worth It
The implementation of an MMS system is like training for a first time marathon. You have to know where you are going. The time to get to that point varies, but in the case of a typical maintenance management system need not be more than two years to achieve a dramatic effect. You must learn from your efforts and keep working to move in the most efficient way possible. There is no quick fix (e.g.,via software), just hard work that will help your staff be smarter and perform more efficiently and productively. Receiving help or coaching from those who have done it before can shorten the learning curve, yet you must realize that you are the one running the race. For an MMS to work, your organization must continually update it to meet an ever-changing environment.

Implementing an MMS and determining the associated hardware and software requirements is a daunting task. You must understand and define what you want the MMS to accomplish. You must decide how this approach is going to be carried out to manage your operation better. Then once you have set down these needs and have a clear blueprint for planning and evaluating maintenance operations, you can select the tool that will get you there. A system that incorporates not only an asset management and work order module, but also includes a complete work management planning and tracking module, is necessary for a successful solution.

A new and improved MMS with appropriate features can provide your public agency with the critical maintenance management tools that track, analyze and streamline departmental performance, and as a result improve service to the community.

Other procedures referred to in typical management journals, such as activity based costing; benchmarking, and continuous improvement, then can be readily applied to help improve operational performance. Then, and only then, you will know where you are, and can make the best choices for your organization. Other public entities have implemented successful maintenance management systems. You can too!

About the Author: Harry C. Lorick is principal of Lorick Associates Consulting, Inc., based in El Segundo, CA.