Abstract

Paving the way for a Mobile Workforce solution
Track: Mobile GIS
Authors: Michael Bishopp

Resource reductions in a tough economic climate encouraged the City of Bellevue's Utilities Operations staff to explore innovative approaches to add efficiencies in field operations such as inspection, condition assessment and maintenance of assets. A deficiency with the existing business process was the storage of unreliable "text-based" locations in the City's Asset Management System, Maximo. This resource intensive approach was also a safety concern for staff collecting these tape measurements in populous urban areas. In conjunction with City's GIS team, the Operations staff conducted a pilot study using a high-accuracy GIS mobile workflow to collect 14,000 street signs with fewer field staff. The process improvement promised significant cost savings for the department, but more importantly, improved the safety of their field staff. This success story prompted the City's management to fund a map-driven mobile workforce as large as 150-300 staff for various field operational functions by the end of 2014.