Where Do We Go from Here? A Technology Master Plan for St. Paul Regional Water Services

Introduction Saint Paul Regional Water Services (SPRWS) is the second largest drinking water utility in the state of Minnesota. Through a complex system of water supply, treatment, and distribution infrastructure, SPRWS provides more than 40 million gallons of drinking water each day to approximately 450,000 customers in the City of Saint Paul and many surrounding communities. SPRWS is completing a Technology Master Plan to guide SPRWS to more effectively apply technology to support its engineering and operations business requirements over the next several years. SPRWS worked with HDR to assess the extent to which current technology resources are supporting existing and emerging business requirements; to develop a vision of technology's support for future needs; to define specific activities to deliver that support; and to integrate the recommended activities into a practical master plan that aligns with SPRWS strategic and operational goals. The approach to the Technology Master Plan was designed to meet the following objectives: - Aligned with the utility's business direction - Practical and implementable - Flexible to support future needs - Address emerging and most current proven technologies - Include short-term implantation items, or 'Quick Wins' - Focused on more effective utility services To be successful, the Technology Master Plan was developed collaboratively with SPRWS staff. It included staff interviews and workshops (conducted via remote sessions in 2021) to obtain direct input from engineering and operations staff, as well as the utility's executive leadership group. The master plan project is being completed in three phases and will be completed in December 2021. Project Description The goal the first phase of the Technology Master Plan project was to evaluate the current business environment, assess technology resources, and define a vision for SPRWS to apply technology throughout its organization. This phase of work was focused on the extent to which existing technology applications and data supports SPRWS' engineering and operations business strategies, functional requirements, and anticipated future needs. The project team identified business process-driven requirements for additional and/or enhanced technology applications, data, integration, decision/analytical systems, and technology infrastructure. Solutions and improvement opportunities not addressed in SPRWS' current technology initiatives or with the existing systems were identified. Training needs were ascertained, along with organizational and resource requirements. The HDR team helped to evaluate SPRWS' engineering and operations business environment by conducting interviews, focus groups, high-level business process analyses, and benchmark comparisons with industry best practices. Key SPRWS business processes were assessed at a high level, and opportunities for improvement — including improvements from applying technology — were identified. HDR also reviewed background information, such as SPRWS' business plans and strategies, current technology systems, prior technology-oriented plans, and plans for growth to help define SPRWS' business objectives and existing resources. Interviews were held with ten individual focus groups including the executive team, and the engineering, water production, facilities, water quality, distribution, inventory, fleet, administration, and IT resources. The interviews were useful in documenting existing technology resources that support the utility's operations (including staff assignments, training, hardware, networks, applications, integration, and data), the extent to which SPRWS engineering and operations users' technology needs are being fulfilled, and requirements for applying technology in the future to achieve the organization's business objectives. Following the staff interviews, a technology resources assessment was completed to evaluate current SPRWS technology resources with the objective of extending the functionality and accessibility of existing technology to better support current and future business needs. Technology resources that were assessed included staff, training, hardware (including mobile devices), networks, applications, integration, governance, data, and information management processes. This information provided a foundation for identifying gaps between the existing technology capabilities and the requirements for supporting the utility's business requirements. A gap analysis was completed that compared existing technology resources with the technology resources needed to support current and future SPRWS business plans and strategies to achieve SPRWS' vision for applying technology. The differences, or 'gaps', included multiple dimensions under the broad headings of technology (including networks, hardware, mobile access, and system software), applications, data, human resources (including skills, training, and organizational issues), integration, and processes. Each gap represents an opportunity for improvement, which were addressed in subsequent Phases. A visioning workshop with SPRWS staff was conducted to develop a clearly defined vision for applying technology across the utility's functional programs. The session used information on industry technology trends and knowledge obtained from the interviews and business evaluation tasks. The result was a vision statement to guide the application of technology in support of SPRWS's business objectives. This goal of the second phase of work involves scoping and describing the technology projects required to address the technology opportunities identified during Phase 1 and prioritizing those opportunities to realize the vision for applying technology. The resulting set of specific, practical projects form the building blocks of an achievable master plan and help set expectations for organizational commitment. During this phase HDR is working with the SPRWS project team to create scopes and descriptions for several technology projects designed to address identified gaps/opportunities. These are likely to be projects to improve or implement applications, data, technology, and/or information management. Collaboration among staff will ensure a high level of stakeholder buy-in and understanding throughout the process, resulting in broad support for the master plan. In addition to the creation of specific projects in this phase of work, HDR is working with SPRWS to develop a strategic framework that will help with the execution of the recommended technology projects aligned with its vision for applying technology. This framework will reflect the goals and priorities defined by SPRWS project team members and will inform the master plan development. HDR will facilitate this collaborative process, and will quantify the resulting resource needs (e.g., people with necessary skills, funding) and a sustainable pace for absorbing new and enhanced technology. Prioritization of projects will occur in a stakeholder workshop with SPRWS engineering, operations, and management staff. The group will specify immediate actions for addressing opportunities and select goals and metrics for evaluating progress as the master plan is executed. The final phase of work is the creation of the Technology Master Plan. The plan will present a set of interrelated, prioritized projects that are designed to support current SPRWS engineering and operations business requirements, emerging and future needs and opportunities, and SPRWS' Vision for applying technology. The Master Plan final report will contain the Project Definitions, budget estimates, and expected outcomes. A master schedule will reflect the priorities, goals, and metrics identified during the strategy formulation. It will also consider prerequisites and dependencies among projects, resource needs and availability, and the rate at which SPRWS' staff is capable of absorbing new technology. Conclusion SPRWS prides itself on being a regional and national water industry leader emphasizing water quality, service, and cost containment. Having a clear vision and plan to advance the use of technology to support business needs will be an important factor in the utility's ability to maintain and advance its level of service. The Technology Master Plan document will serve as the road map for SPRWS' managers and stakeholders as they take advantage of the most current, proven, and emerging technologies to achieve the organization's strategic business objectives and improve performance.