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Oracle has announced that the City of Clearwater has successfully implemented OracleÒ Utilities Work and Asset Management to gain a comprehensive view of its infrastructure assets to help enhance planning, streamline operations and contain costs.

· The City of Clearwater's gas department is the city's fourth department to deploy Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management, joining the city's Public Utilities, Solid Waste/General Services and Police Departments on the Oracle system.

· The City of Clearwater ? located in the Pinellas peninsula midway on Florida's West Coast, and home to more than 110,000 permanent residents and 20,000 additional winter residents ? required a single asset management solution that would provide a cohesive view of citywide capital resources while also supporting tailored requirements for multiple departments. The city was migrating from a legacy system that did not provide visibility across multiple departments or the applications required to enhance asset management processes.

· To maintain high levels of service to its citizens and complete field maintenance to prepare for Florida's tropical storm season, the City of Clearwater is using Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management to improve budgeting and planning throughout the asset lifecycle, and to optimize its field maintenance workforce and manage costs effectively.

· Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management provides city managers with an enhanced understanding of field asset maintenance costs, which is essential to budget effectively for significant equipment repairs and replacements. The application allows the City to take a proactive approach to asset maintenance ? resulting in fewer unplanned system outages due to faulty equipment. City managers also use the information from the Oracle application to provide elected officials and residents with quantifiable information and increased visibility into the City's asset management operations. Further, the Oracle system supports enhanced recordkeeping that is available to any authorized user.

Phasing In Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management

· The City's leaders directed a phased, department-by-department rollout for the Oracle Work and Asset Management application. The City initially implemented the Oracle application in 2004 at its Public Utilities department, which included the Water, Wastewater and Reclaimed Water divisions. In 2006, the City rolled out the application at the Solid Waste/General Services department, which is responsible for citywide building and fleet maintenance. This rollout also addressed users in the Police department responsible for asset and property management.

· The City's gas department, Clearwater Gas System, also went live with the Oracle application in summer 2007. Clearwater Gas System provides natural and propane gas equipment installation and services to 19,000 customers across a 330-square-mile service territory. The department's 90 employees use Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management to proactively maintain assets, as well as more effectively align the workforce to department priorities and develop accurate budget forecasts.

Increasing Efficiencies Across City Government

· Currently 200 city employees use the Oracle application. The City of Clearwater will continue to implement Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management for additional asset-centric departments, including the Parks and Recreation Department. The City will also enable mobile asset management updates by deploying the application on laptops for field maintenance and repairs, which will help the City make immediate updates to the system and simplify the administration process for employees.

Supporting Quotes

· "Establishing visibility across multiple departments is essential to optimizing equipment and associated staffing resources, while also closely tracking costs. We look forward to continuing to work with the City of Clearwater to help it maintain its highly efficient operations," said Quentin Grady, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Utilities.

· "We continue to focus on expanding our services while increasing employee efficiency. Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management provides us with a clearer understanding of the maintenance status of our diverse field assets. We are using this information to schedule service proactively and map priorities to staff resources, which enables us to increase productivity and service to our residents. In the past, much of our valuable data resided with key employees. The Oracle system provides a central source of accurate, up-to-date data, allowing us to share information citywide and better serve our citizens," said Dan Mayer, director of IT, Information Technology Department, City of Clearwater.

Supporting Resources

http://www.oracle.com/industries/utilities/index.html

http://www.oracle.com/industries/utilities/oracle-utilities-work-asset-management.html http://www.myclearwater.com/

Mon Mar 17 10:26:00 CDT 2008

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