ENTERPRISE ASSET MANAGEMENT PRACTICES DRIVE IMPROVEMENTS IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY

Over many years the County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County (the Districts) developed a mainframe-based, enterprise asset management (EAM) system to meet various procedural and integration needs. However, when they needed to improve business efficiency, they recognized that their legacy systems did not support best practices for technology or business procedures. Making a change, they believed, would save money and help them comply with regulations such as GASB-34 and CMOM.The Sanitation Districts provide environmentally sound, cost-effective, wastewater and solid waste management for 5.4 million people in Los Angeles County. The Districts' service area covers approximately 800 square miles including 78 cities and unincorporated territory.In an effort to become a world-class, asset management organization, the Sanitation Districts analyzed their existing EAM program from three angles: business processes, organization and technology. This analysis was compared to industry best practices. System requirements and a conceptual design were developed to help procure an EAM system (including CMMS). The EAM solution addresses a variety of functions including maintenance, inventory and materials, procurement, fleet and resource management. In addition, the EAM solution integrates with financials, GIS, process control and other business systems to support life cycle asset management and financial reporting on assets.The project began by identifying business objectives and metrics. A comprehensive analysis identified asset management and maintenance processes, issues, and alternatives for improvement. The resulting Asset Management Strategic Plan included business requirements and software specifications based on industry best practices. Through this effort, the Sanitation Districts were able to:Define a strategic plan for EAM business and technology requirementsIdentify opportunities for business process and organization improvementsBenchmark expectations and identify Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to measure the value of the investment on people, materials, asset reliability and technologyAlign technical specifications with business requirements to streamline the application selection and procurementDefine an implementation plan considering business process improvement, technical issues, and organizational change managementAchieve a faster return on investment and receipt of benefitsThe EAM system is the foundation for planning future asset rehabilitation and repair, capital asset planning, maintenance planning and scheduling, and resource and materials management.