To meet planning, forecasting, and maintenance responsibilities, utilities must track and
manage their physical resources and assets efficiently and cost-effectively. Regulatory
requirements such as GASB-34 and CMOM also drive the need for improved work and asset
management.
Integrating Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Computerized Maintenance
Management Systems (CMMS) leverages assets' inherent spatial dimensions, providing a
location-based context for studying how assets change. Combining CMMS and GIS data allows
spatially defining and targeting problems. Pulling data from multiple sources, GIS applications
dramatically increase specialized analysis possibilities.
The graphical application provides a customer response management tool for dispatchers and
customer service representatives to initiate work and communicate its status and progress to
customers as soon as it is updated in the CMMS.
The graphical interface is usable only if data is shared between the CMMS and GIS, and must
be two-way because the initial asset insert is generally from as-built drawings or new customer
billing services, with updates and change-outs from work performance within the CMMS.
This paper presents a case study for integrating the City of Albuquerque Water Utility Division's
GIS and CMMS. This paper addresses the project's technical and human aspects, and examines the
business benefits of a completely integrated system. The benefits to integrating an enterprise system with GIS and CMMS are many and include:
obtaining a single common asset database that can be used by many business systems
throughout the organization, mapping interface to the CMMS creates a more efficient and
effective means for dispatchers to create work orders, providing real-time access to geographic
information about work activities, and providing a more efficient means for GIS data
maintenance. Includes 2 references.