GIS-Centric Asset & Work Management Resources for Government and Utilities
Posts tagged Work Orders
GIS in Asset & Infrastructure Management: New LinkedIn Group
Jul 6th
We’ve started a new LinkedIn Group for utilities and governments to share resources and information related to GIS and technologies for:
- Asset & Infrastructure Management
- Facilities Management
- Work Orders
- Permits
- Licenses
- Inspections
- Other GIS technologies for utilities and government
So if you’re interested, join the group and help us promote industry news, software and hardware solutions, blogs, resources, and the like. Have fun!
You can join the new LinkedIn group, GIS in Asset & Infrastructure Management for Government and Utilities by clicking here.
Using HTML with Elements GIS-Based Asset & Work Management Software
Jun 25th
There’s something to be said about good old HTML. Nothing new, nothing fancy, just plain old coolness.
Elements harnesses the power of HTML in several areas – configuring record layouts, designing data input forms, setting up web submission forms, and rendering GIS maps.
Yes, that’s right – you can use HTML with your GIS map renderings in Elements. What I love about HTML is you can pretty much do whatever you want with it; it’s simple to learn, and adds an incredible amount of flexibility to any application.
So here’s a quick map I threw together using basic HTML to render labels on a GIS map showing Work Order locations. This map is nothing incredibly fancy or over-the-top… but it’s clean, simple, it displays the information I’m looking for, and it took about 2 minutes to put it together.
Basic GIS map showing Work Order locations; using HTML to render labels. (click to enlarge)
The neat thing about Elements is you can do the same thing I did here with Service Requests, Business Licenses, Permits, Inspections, and just about anything else you can think of.
GIS and Maintenance Management for Small Utilities
May 21st
Utilities and public works organizations often face a daunting task when it comes to efficiently managing maintenance schedules and routine activities that are required to properly maintain public infrastructure.
The video below demonstrates a simple way to integrate maintenance management with GIS to easily keep track of calendar events and scheduled maintenance. We put this short video together to show how smaller utilities can benefit from the built-in calendars and scheduling tools in Elements while leveraging their GIS investment.
New Video: GIS & Work Order Software for Small Utilities
May 12th
Perfect for small to medium-sized utilities, Elements Express Edition is a light-weight version of Elements Management Software. Features include full GIS integration, Service Requests, Work Orders, and other essentials.
Rubik’s Cube vs. GIS-Based Asset & Work Order Management Software
Apr 30th
Raise your hand if you can solve a Rubik’s Cube. Don’t worry, you’re reading this by yourself and nobody realized that you didn’t put your hand up. The truth is not many people can solve them (if you solved yours by peeling off and rearranging the last 2 stickers it doesn’t count).
The original 3 x 3 x 3 Rubik's Cube. Working with GIS-based asset and work management software can be a lot like solving a Rubik's Cube.
The original 3 x 3 x 3 Rubik’s Cube was first introduced in 1974 and has since caused hours of confusion and frustration for people all around the globe.
GIS-based asset management software was introduced about 15 years later and has caused equal amounts of confusion and frustration – especially for governments and utilities. In fact, given the opportunity to choose between figuring out a Rubik’s Cube and figuring out some fancy new GIS-based asset and work management software, I best most people would take the cube.
When properly executed, combining GIS with asset management and work order software provides huge returns on investment for governments and utilities around the world every day. However if not done properly, attempting to implement a GIS-centric asset and work order management system can quickly turn into the deepest money pit you’ve ever seen.
Here are a few quick tips to avoid potential disaster:
- Start with a 3 x 3 x 3 cube. Have you ever seen those crazy cubes that are odd shapes and have many sizes? Yes, they look fun and exciting – but the more sides and the more twists and turns on a Rubik’s Cube, the greater the challenge. Same goes for your software – the more bells and whistles you cram into your GIS-based work order software, the more complications you are likely to encounter. You can always expand as needed – remember to keep it simple (especially up front) and make sure you select something that fits the needs of your organization!
- Don’t peel off the stickers. I know, it’s tempting… Just peel off those last two stickers and be done with the stupid thing. The truth is the cube will never look the same once you start peeling off the stickers – and the more stickers you peel off, the more likely you’ll never get them back to their rightful places. With your GIS-based asset management software the same principle applies – don’t cut corners – the more you try to hack things together and make do with the wrong tools, the more likely you are to face complications. And just like the stickers, once you’ve peeled off enough of those things the only way to fix it is to buy a new cube. Luckily cubes are cheap, software is not.
- Don’t give up! Even the 3 x 3 x 3 cube can be a challenge at first. But remember, just like the Rubik’s Cube, if you read the instructions (and maybe get a little bit of training) you’ll be just fine (if your software didn’t come with instructions or training you’re in trouble).
As a side note, I’d be interested to see how many people who read this post can solve a 3 x 3 x 3 cube. If you can solve a cube, leave a comment and I’ll compare that to the number of hits this post receives over the coming weeks and I’ll post the results for anyone who’s interested!
Mobile Work Orders and GIS: Pros and Cons of Three Different Technologies
Mar 31st
At the end of the day there are basically 3 technologies available for field workers to access GIS and other asset management data while on the go.
Data Check-In / Check-Out
Overview: Using this method a mobile device grabs a file from the server and checks it out – just like you check out a book at the library. The file is then locked and no changes can be made to that file until it is checked back in by the mobile device.
Pros: Data remains accurate because only one person at a time can make changes to a file.
Cons: Current data is not available for files that are currently “checked-out” and current versions of the files are not available until they are checked back in.
Best For: Systems with multiple mobile devices that do not have internet access in the field.
Data Synchronization
Overview: Similar to synchronizing an iPhone or other handheld device, a user will synchronize his mobile device with the server while on the local network. Changes are detected and new data from the mobile device is transferred to the server and new data from the server is transferred back to the mobile device.
Pros: Simple concept, easy to use, great for a single mobile device.
Cons: Difficult to manage with more than a single mobile device. The nature of this method means somebody will always be out of sync – the guy who synchronizes first will not have the changes from the guy that synchronizes after him.
Best For: Systems with no more than 1 mobile device that do not have internet access in the field.
Real-Time Connectivity via Web
Overview: The most accurate (and reliable) method of transferring data, Real-Time Connectivity means that when a customer service rep creates or updates a file in the office, the updates are instantly transmitted to the field worker’s mobile device. The same holds true for the opposite situation – when a mobile operator creates a work order, the data is instantly available to the office staff.
Pros: Everyone is always up-to-date and data is always accurate.
Cons: Requires an internet connection (obviously), and some remote areas may not have access to mobile broadband technology.
Best For: Anyone with internet access in the field.
So, if you’ve got decent mobile broadband coverage in your service area we strongly recommend Real-Time Connectivity. Yes, you’ll pay a small monthly fee for the mobile broadband access, but the time and money savings make the investment worth every penny!
Elements Internet Server is a product designed specifically to address this issue – to learn more check out this video:
GIS, Work Orders, and Asset Management
Feb 2nd
First, a few thoughts on GIS in general.
In the United States, the words GIS and ESRI are often times used in the same sentence. Why? Because according to Wikipedia, ESRI products (particularly ArcGIS Desktop) have one-third of the global market share, and are used by nearly 80 percent of GIS users worldwide from all professions.
However, GIS and ESRI are not the same thing. ESRI provides GIS software, and there are multiple other vendors who do the same (MapInfo, TatukGIS, and Manifold to name a few). While we are huge fans of ESRI, we are also huge fans of other GIS vendors and applications for various reasons.
With that in mind, we have built Elements Management Software to be 100% compatible not only with ESRI products, but with other GIS applications as well.
Part of our thinking is that not everybody uses ESRI – a lot of people do, but some don’t. The other part of our thinking is that some day you may want to (gulp) switch from your existing GIS software to something else. I know, it’s a stretch – not likely, right? Well the good news is it really doesn’t matter to us what you use for your GIS – whatever it is you use, Elements will work for you.
Another reason we did not build Elements exclusively on one particular GIS platform, is because we’ve seen a lot of problems with asset management (and other) vendors trying to keep their software up to par with the GIS vendors. For example – let’s say we were built exclusively on “Platform A“ when “Platform A” makes a change we have to make that change in our software, like it or not. And that ultimately means that “Platform A” is now controlling our software – which is a strange concept to think about.
On Asset Management
I wish I could count how many times I’ve asked a municipal authority if they had some sort of asset management in place and their answer was “Yes, we’ve already got that – it’s uhh.. Arc-something”
“ESRI you mean? For your GIS?”
“Yes, that’s it!”
Earlier in this post I mentioned that GIS is not ESRI. Well GIS is not asset management either. Although GIS helps with asset management, and we use GIS together with asset management data, GIS in and of itself is not asset management. GIS specifically relates to geographic information. Asset management consists detailed information such as repair history, work orders, maintenance schedules, inventory control, asset lifecycle evaluation, cost information, and much more. The key is to combine your GIS data with a solid asset management package for a powerful combination of GIS-centric asset management.
In conclusion, a few thoughts on work orders.
A common data management method we’ve found among smaller utilities and municipalities is the good old “write it, stack it, can it” method. What’s that? That’s when you write something down on a sticky note or napkin, put it in a stack on the desk, and when the stack gets big enough, you move it to the can.
Another common practice is to use spreadsheets and Microsoft Word to keep track of work history information. While this is certainly a step up from the “write it, stack it, can it” method, there is still room for improvement.
After all – with Microsoft Excel, Google Docs, Open Office, and everything else that’s out there you should be able to come up with something to manage your work orders at pretty much no cost, right? The short answer is yes, you can probably use some combination of these programs to come up with something that will appear to do the job. The question is, when you need to find work orders that relate to a specific asset (a section of pipe, or valve, for example) will you find yourself searching through folders, opening and closing spreadsheets trying to find what you’re looking for? Or when you need to determine the expected lifecycle of an asset (based on repair history) can you do it? When you need to see the locations of all work orders that were completed last year, can you find the data?
The fact is you can light your house with candles and cook with a brick oven if you don’t want to pay your utility bill, but I’d rather pay the bill and use a light switch!