Villarraga, Andres

Andres Villarraga is a graduate from George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, with a bachelors degree in Civil Engineering and a masters degree in Environmental Engineering. He's worked with WSSC Water for 11 years and is currently working on I/I Program Management in the Engineering and Construction Group. Andres serves as I/I subject matter expert within the collection system. Prior to WSSC, He worked for Gannett Fleming engineering consulting firm for 5 years, specializing in water resources. Andres was born and raised in Colombia and loves soccer as well as traveling the world.

Titles from this speaker

Automation and Analysis: Data-Driven Strategies Improve Utility Processes and Analyze Performance at WSSC Water

Abstract

Our world is driven by data across all industries, and the water sector is no exception. This ranges from enterprise systems that have been in place for decades to smart systems that are generating data at an exponential rate. It is increasingly important to incorporate practices to make sound decisions from these systems and implement controls to ensure trusted data. WSSC Water completed efforts to identify processes to improve their data-driven decision-making, and this abstract will present two strategies used to improve their performance across many departments through automation, standardization, and visualization of data. Strategy 1: Enterprise Data Warehousing: A large portion of the data used by decision makers resides in systems of record that are operated by their functional teams. While this data is usually accurate and up to date, it requires an expert from the team to extract it from the system or understand the data that is produced. It is also more granular than decision makers require, and the teams reporting on it consistently aggregate it to produce the intended results. To address these issues, WSSC Water automated the creation of datasets in these functional groups, all of which were a part of their Enterprise Data Warehouse. In the use case for this strategy, they will show the automated Commission Performance Report and Human Resources Dashboards. These items reduced the time spent developing recurring reports, leveraging Power Bi for automated and interactive reporting. Strategy 2: Non-Enterprise Data Management and Application Development: Unlike the enterprise data, WSSC Water identified many users who are managing critical data in their own spreadsheets or other tools. To standardize and automate some of the processes, they worked with these users to provide low-code platforms to manage data in their existing IT infrastructure. These tools included the development of SharePoint data-structures, Applications and Workflows to allow users to edit and maintain datasets in a collaborative environment, with the increased auditability that these tools provide. In the use cases for this strategy, they will show the Transition Plan Tracking Application and Community Investment/Engagement Application. These converted existing series of over ten spreadsheets into a single data source, provided a low-code application for the teams to enter data, and Power Bi Dashboards for reporting. The combination of these two strategies allows groups to take small steps into the world of data-driven decision making. Teams are beginning the process with Strategy 2 by standardizing their reporting, with the intent to be automated into an enterprise solution under Strategy 1 in the future. In the past, tools such as the ones outlined in these strategies were limited to IT Departments and professional programmers. With the advent of modern data management strategies, they are much simpler to implement and maintain, but still in line with IT standards and supported by their department once they are in production. In the end, WSSC Water identified significant time savings, data quality, and visualization capabilities as a result of taking a data-driven approach to managing some of their manual efforts.

Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC Water) looked to improve their data-driven decision-making through the use of automation and visualization of existing data sources, both enterprise and non-enterprise. They identified 10 processes that were seen as tedious and manual, and set forth to leverage modern, low-code technology for improvement. We'll discuss the initiatives that were reviewed and documented, with a future-state developed using one of two strategies.

SpeakerScrutchfield, Daniel

Presentation time

13:30:00

14:00:00

Session time

13:30:00

15:00:00

SessionAutomation and Analysis: Data-Driven Strategies Improve Utility Processes

Session number610

Session locationRoom 349

TopicAsset Management, Business Organization and Technology Transformation, Intelligent Water, Intermediate Level

Author(s)

Scrutchfield, Daniel, Villarraga, Andres

Author(s)D.R. Scrutchfield1, A. Villarraga2

Author affiliation(s)1Arcadis, VA, 2WSSC Water, MD

SourceProceedings of the Water Environment Federation

Document typeConference Paper

PublisherWater Environment Federation

Print publication date Oct 2024

DOI10.2175/193864718825159513

Volume / Issue

Content sourceWEFTEC

Word count15

Reimagining Capital Delivery to Accelerate Infrastructure Rehabilitation

Abstract

The Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC Water) is an industry leader in developing and adopting new business practices that improve the value delivered to their customers. As part of this drive for excellence, WSSC Water evaluated the potential benefit of leveraging expedited sewer rehabilitation to reduce capital costs and increase the benefit of the Sewer and Trunk Sewer Rehabilitation Programs especially with regard to infiltration and inflow (I&I) reduction. As part of this evaluation, WSSC Water partnered with Arcadis to identify and assess existing costs, effectiveness, advantages and weaknesses of the current and other potential sewer rehabilitation approaches. Four parameters were used to define potential approaches including extent (e.g., find and fix vs. holistic), implementation (e.g., traditional vs. expedited), technology (e.g., lining-centric vs. grout-centric), and contract method (e.g., plan-design-bid-build vs. plan-CMAR). An alternatives analysis was conducted demonstrating a cost comparison, benefits to the scheduled, program effectiveness, and market capacity to deliver this work for select number of the possible approaches. Additionally, to provide a benchmark against potential changes outlined in the alternatives analysis, WSSC Water engaged key stakeholders in the sewer rehabilitation process from project initiation to delivery to streamline the process to address key pain points. This was done, by first, accurately capturing the core end-to-end process and relevant workstreams. A combination of data review, interviews, and collaborative work sessions were executed to identify process stakeholders, activities, technology, pain points, and improvement opportunities. Over 25 staff members were engaged in interviews and work sessions to map the current business process and identify and prioritize pain points experienced. After leadership confirmation, these stakeholders then engaged in additional work sessions to develop solutions for the leading pain points identified. These solutions were then incorporated into a to-be business process map. Stakeholders also discussed a timeline for process development and categorized building blocks into implementation horizons to create an implementation plan for the to-be business process. By combining a deep knowledge of various techniques and technologies associated with expedited sewer rehabilitation as well as an understanding of current and potential business processes, WSSC Water executed a collaborative approach in achieving their objectives of optimizing the sewer rehabilitation process that was fit for the utility. This presentation will take participants through WSSC Water's journey of evaluating the various approaches to sewer rehabilitation, documenting their current process, and addressing key pain points as well as the outcomes and decisions made by the utility.

This paper was presented at the WEF Collection Systems Conference, June 27-30, 2023.

SpeakerVillarraga, Andres

Presentation time

10:45:00

11:15:00

Session time

08:30:00

11:45:00

SessionSession 16: Integrated Planning

Session number16

Session locationKansas City Convention Center

TopicClimate Change Resilience, Integrated Planning