Applied Project Management Strategies Upholding Public Transparency & Accountability

Editor's Notes

• #2: Extend our appreciationAsk co-presenters to introduce themselves and the scope of their operations.Transition (Chris): Our Novi team appreciates the opportunity to tell our story with you this morning. We will discuss history of selecting Cityworks as our asset management solution, describe our implementation process, and share some great examples of how we are leveraging Cityworks today!
• #4: Each speaker will discuss their operational areasNovi IT – 5 Full Time (2 – SA’s / Technicians, 1 Manager of Network Services, 1 Manager of GIS, 1 CIO) - 3 Part-Time (1 – SA / Technician, 2 Part-Time GIS)W&S Staff – 8 Full Time (1 W&S Manager, 1 W&S Technician, 6 W&S Operators)Overall Hierarchy – City Council > City Manager > Directors > Managers – (Assessor & Clerk Answer to City Council)Transition: The business drivers for our project included…
• #5: Chris – Addresses the first two points Without an asset management system we were facing increasing responsibility and with greater accountability demands (Novi population grew by 8,000 people or 16.3% in ten years). – Today we are 55,000 residents and 3,000 businesses in 31 square miles. – About 30 fewer FTE’s today than in 2008 – Staff are assuming greater responsibility and roles in order to discharge responsibilities.Our operation spans two physical locations and six-operational divisions – we are growing beyond single points of responsibility (don’t let someone go on vacation or allow an early retirement – we needed staff to possess equal access to the requests and assignments).Bob – Points 3 – 4 – 5 - 6Chris – If we expected to protect our funding streams we needed to present a stronger case for representing the work we perform and the actual costs involved. The public’s service expectations continue to escalate regardless of our final decision to proceed with an asset management system.Transition: With a key DPS reorganization over the past three years, we adopted a new proactive mindset and wanted to adopt a robust asset management solution.
• #6: Bob’s slide:Bob’s points – At a basic level calls for service tracking, monitoring, preventive maintenance (Valve Turning, Hydrant Flushing), rehabilitation programs (CMOM) smoke testing. High water bill investigations. Transition: We knew what we wanted to accomplish operationally and we needed to align our goals with City Council’s in order to build a convincing business case. This begins with our annual capital improvement budgeting process.
• #7: Chris - City of Novi’s Investment in Cityworks – Capital Improvement Program Item FY 2011-12 – Software, Hardware, Solution Integration Services, Temporary Staff Augmentation. Project budget for services, equipment, labor was $200,000The competition for limited resources begins as we demonstrated the alignment based upon some key objectives.Bob – Represent true cost of delivering services (water main break example, what is true operational lifecycle cost – including time)Chris – Generate performance metrics to establish service level baselines – “what gets measured, gets improved” – Peter DruckerBob – Preventive maintenance tracking programsTransition: Once our Cityworks implementation goals were properly aligned with our Council’s we selected the asset groups to incorporate into CWS using a multi-phase approach. Rome was not built in a day…
• #8: Chris – Explain initial deployment in May 2012City of Novi maintains – 23 User Logins – 9 Managers, 1 Director, 7 CSR’s, 4 Work Leaders, 1 GIS Technician, 1 Sign TechnicianGrowing population at 55,000 with build-out at 70,000 expected in 2030.Phase I Asset Groups Include: Water – Sewer – Roads – Signs Phase II Asset Groups Include: Storm Water – Non-Motorized InfrastructurePhase III Asset Groups: Tree Maintenance & ManagementTransition: How do we keep over 30 stakeholders and our co-workers properly engaged and on-course during each phase? A commitment to adopting some proven, project management tools and methods.
• #9: Bob – Implementing change in any organization, especially the magnitude of Cityworks, is going to create differences in expected outcomes.Without project management we would have experienced unnecessary obstacles and challenges which risked a negative outcome.Chris - How can everyone appreciate what the goal line actually looks like? This project had 435 lines of communication existed just among the 30 stakeholders. Consider the number of people outside the project who had external influence we could not measure, the magnitude of this change was immense?Transition: Stakeholder engagement became a critical mission focus to keep our stakeholders engaged while maintaining healthy lines of communication.
• #10: Chris – Project Charter formalizes the organization’s commitment to the project by:Documenting support from senior management & assigns the PMDefines the high level project purpose & description, requirements, budget, initial risks, key milestones, acceptance criteria, schedule, change control for resource management, and escalation paths for authority limitations (everyone knew how conflict was going to be resolved before it happened).Public sector organizations can speak with their peers whereas private sector does not engage their competitors for knowledge exchangeScope Statement: Each team member formerly signed a team member scope statement Commitment to the projectAcknowledging the major project deliverables and outcomesRecognized exclusions, constraints, and acceptancecritieria were known in advance. The most frequent comment I received following the project was there was too much information available.Bob - Client demonstration sites visited included the City’s of Troy, Ann Arbor, and Waterford Township – Peer-To-Peer Communication – Get stakeholders together who are responsible for fulfilling the same business needs.The RFP Design was easier to manage because of this firsthand knowledgeTransition: Let’s discuss some of the collaboration tools and resources we used to keep our team on course!
• #11: Bob – An online, subscription based project collaboration resource (SaaS – Software as a Service)Four slide animations:Slide #1: Tracking recent activity – who is actively contributing materialSlide #2: Messaging was centralized allowing team and stakeholders to benefit from the information exchanged (bypassing email)Slide #3: Assignments (To-Dos) – Identified single points of accountabilitySlide #4: Shared calendaring – Will the team be available when project execution activities are scheduledSlide #5: File sharing – Having the most recent version of files and access to the immediately upon postingTransition: We successfully went live with Cityworks in May of 2012 and so we would like to share how we are currently leveraging our Cityworks investment four months after deployment.
• #12: Chris - Knowing what outcomes are produced for a given project is essential– but they need to be made known! Deliverables for our Cityworks Server implementation are represented above and represent progress markers / incremental accomplishments we can advertise to stakeholders as they are completed.CW Configuration document was the guide for gathering the information to implement CWS – all possible solution components. It also represents an account of the decisions made throughout the project as both a working and final document.Software installation and configuration pointsReporting and print template deliverables Solution integration team on-site visits and activities – maximize the availability, readiness of City staff members to participate as travel costs quickly consume budget work.
• #13: Chris - Risk exists is every project and avoiding it entirely is impossible. Managing risk begins with realizing where it can originate and how it can be avoided, mitigated, transferred, or accepted.Internal Risk: City staff availability presented the greatest risk on our project – everyone has their day job to attend to along with their asset management system! Technical Risk: The City deployed CWS 2012 with Window’s authentication and was one of Azteca’s first clients to prove the robustness of this new capability in accordance with the City’s IT auditing practices for application and network security. When designing the RFP, the City required assumptions, client responsibilities, and possible risks to be identified in the vendor’s proposal response. Vendor resource availability can vary dynamically as demand cycles for services changes. Assumptions in scope, schedule, or resources (budget) present degrees of risk that need to be appreciated by the project manager. – Impacts to the triple constraint.
• #14: Chris - Very traditional view of change management through containing change to the greatest degree possible as the project moves into the later stages. CWS has extensive configuration options and tools which may not always require excessive resource allocations. BS&A Utility Billing data integration directly into service requests.Establishment of service request categories for non-City service areas.UI flexible modifications were performed using existing CWS tools and functions without extensive customization.Several work order types were realized and requested by staff as they received training late in the project. These additional types were easily accommodated (stop box bond inspections, sewer lead inspections, user defined fields for GIS staff follow-up).Change review board consisting of 5 members defined at the outset of the project for all changes involving scope, schedule, and budget (cost). Four (4) requests involved in our project.
• #15: Chris – Tying your deliverables to the payment schedule was successful for our project. Procurement processes are different in every organization. Be adept at navigating the process efficiently.Retainage is not intended to question a vendor’s trust but to ensure their full engagement until the contractual obligations are entirely fulfilled. Transition: Let’s assume a citizen-centric perspective of our W&S operations in action!
• #18: Bob – Explain how we service our community on an operational map reflecting calls for service throughout the community – business or residential
• #19: Bob – Personally configured his inbox to manage his daily operations activities.
• #20: Bob – These metrics are transparent throughout the organization and can be consistently represented throughout community.
• #21: Bob’s historic representation of work completed based upon a saved search.Transition: Cityworks can also aggregate our project costs across several categories of work orders.
• #22: Chris – Discusses projects by category and accumulated cost summaries.Transition: Bob will demonstrate a unique case of work order relationships that can exist with more involved activities.
• #23: Chris - The deployment of Cityworks Server represents an investment in delivering a service! Cityworks today will evolve significantly over its lifespan (nascent early adoption, mainstream, legacy, retirement).At the heart is Service Strategy: Determines which services are best suited to fulfill our City’s strategic goals which are subject to change.Service strategy feeds service design – design leads to transition – transition leads to service operation – and continuous service improvement is all about improving the value proposition.
• #24: Experienced integrators represent both the current and future potential of Cityworks. They can help address naysayers and detractors who are critical of the project with plenty of use cases and facts. They can also connect you with their other clients who are successful so you can continue the learning process.Project management is an opportunity to translate a vision into measurable results and outcomes so you team fully appreciates when we cross the finish line.Project management is an opportunity to translate a vision into measurable results and outcomes. It is not only the PM’s responsibility but everyone’s responsibility to achieve project success. GET INVOLVED! - PMI Chapter are available throughout the country (PMI.org) - $129 for a professional membership provides access to an online resource center, communities of practice, peer networks, great publications, and local chapter events.Visit client sites – several timesLet your stakeholders know when opportunities to learn more are available (user group meetings, MyCityworksknowledge base articles, InPrint publication).
• #25: Reduce the formality and emphasize the purpose of why adhering to PM tools and resources adds value:Promotes meaningful communication and understandingReinforces purpose and organization as tools for achievementOpportunity to demonstrate a pathway to success which can be refined, improved, and repeatedEnsures your project team can build credibility in your organization Reporting metrics provide a great baseline! - What gets measured gets improved.
• #26: Thanks for your time this morning! We look forward to hearing from you.