Category Archives: CitiTech News

Upcoming news regarding CitiTech Systems, Inc. and their software.

CitiTech Newsletter 2021

 

Note from the Editor

Hello CMS Users,

Read on to check the latest exciting CitiTech news, find out what’s new and what’s coming soon, and check out some frequently-asked questions in Guru’s Corner….

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CitiTech News

Webinars are back!  CitiTech is hosting online, one-hour sessions…

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What’s New?

Version 9.8!

CMS 9.8 is here.  CitiTech has released the new CMS, Version 9.8.  This exciting upgrade incorporates improvements in terms of the latest Microsoft and ESRI technologies

Read More

 

Coming Soon 

CitiTech Systems wants to keep the lines of communication with our customers open. Soon we will begin hosting…..

Read More

 

Guru’s Corner

Answered… More of Your Frequently-Asked Questions!….

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Features & Functionality

Planning Your Work Is Key To Performance Management.  As you are aware, any good CMMS contains a planning component…

Read More

  

Cool Stuff!

 

You may already know that CMS provides FEMA functionality to help you track activities…

Read More

 
 Editor’s Note

Hello CMS Users,

Read on to check the latest exciting CitiTech news, find out what’s new and what’s coming soon, and check out some frequently-asked questions in Guru’s Corner.  Find out more about Work Planning, get a glimpse into the world of performance management, and glean some helpful information on FEMA reimbursement. 

On an entirely unrelated note, below is Editor’s Choice for a good read…  for a great idea.  AASHTO article  

Iowa DOT grant will help Iowa State researchers improve snowplows | weareiowa.com

We are updating the look of the newsletter, so I want to mention the free icons site that made it possible – Free Vector Icons — Download 633,200 icons (SVG, PNG) (icons8.com)  Check them out!  We found the business icons especially useful – here:  

Business Icons – Free Vector Download, PNG, SVG, GIF (icons8.com)

Enjoy the newsletter, consider being featured in the next one, and keep the suggestions and feedback coming.  We’ll listen.

By Tari Muth 

CitiTech News

Webinars are back!

CitiTech is hosting online, one-hour sessions to illustrate various functionality in our software, using  Microsoft Teams.  We will offer them a few times a month.

You are encouraged to review the webinar schedule and email us to let us know which one(s) you’d like to attend, and how many people will attend….. and also please let us know what topic(s) you’re hoping to see covered in the future.

The current webinar schedule for January follows.  Though not intended to be a complete list, a range of future topics follows this schedule.

  • Tuesday, January 25th, 2022   12:00 noon MOUNTAIN TIME.  Reports & SQL – find out how to get exactly the information from reports that you need using SQL, and how to save that SQL so you never have to write it again
  • Tuesday, February 1st, 2022   12:00 noon MOUNTAIN TIME.  FEMA functionality – find out how to set up FEMA events and how to use CMS to capture the information you need for FEMA reimbursement
  • Tuesday, February 8th, 2022  12:00 noon MOUNTAIN TIME.  Work Planning & Budgeting – find out how to create, modify, and copy work plans to create your organization’s budget

Future webinar topics (in no particular order):

Work Orders, Work Scheduling,  Work Reporting, Billing & Invoicing, Fleet Operations, Personnel Management, Inventory Operations, Crews Kits and Other Shortcuts, Templates, Triggers, User-Defined Fields, Asset Categories & Assets, Asset Inspections, Find Functionality, GIS Functionality

By Tari Muth     

What’s New?  Version 9.8!

 CMS 9.8 is here.  CitiTech has released the new CMS, Version 9.8.  This exciting upgrade incorporates improvements in terms of the latest Microsoft and ESRI technologies, while keeping the same great look and feel.  Valued clients, call us to book a time slot to see it for yourself.   

You may decide to install CMS 9.8 in a test environment first, while continuing to use the current version (CMS 8).  This gives you a chance to look around in CMS 9.8, using either the demo data provided, or a copy of your current CMS 8 data (your I.T. department can do that).  Of course, once you decide you’re ready to “go live” and begin using CMS 9.8, your I.T. department will migrate a fresh (current) copy of your CMS 8 data for you.

Remember, we want to know what you love, don’t love, what needs improvement, or is missing.  We’ll listen!  Email us or give us a call if you have comments, questions, or need help at support@cititech.com.

By Tari Muth

Coming Soon 

CitiTech Systems wants to keep the lines of communication with our customers open.  Soon we will begin hosting a monthly forum called “The Road Ahead”, where we can discuss current trends, topics, and challenges, showcase our software functionality, demonstrate features, and discuss where CMS is headed.  Questions and suggestions are welcomed.  The monthly forum will take place midday and mid-week, to allow for as much participation as possible.

Announcement  of our monthly forum will come via email.  Users are encouraged to participate.  It’s YOUR chance to make your voice heard and learn about current and future CMS functionality.    

CitiTech also wants to know more about our customers; once a year we want to schedule a short time to connect with one customer at a time – including decision-makers and end-users.  What’s working for you?  What’s not working for you?  What challenges are you facing?  What’s changing for you?  What can we improve?  What’s on your mind?  This session will be set up in advance, and done when it’s convenient for you, our customer.

By Tari Muth

Guru’s Corner  –  Answered… More of Your Frequently-Asked Questions!

Q:  What’s the learning curve for the new version, CMS98? 

A:  There isn’t one.  The new version looks and behaves exactly the same!

Q:  Why convert to the new version?

A:  Underlying technologies are being upgraded to take advantage of the latest and greatest software advancements, from underlying .NET versions to updated GIS map versions.  These enhancements pave the way for the exciting new features we’ll be offering in upcoming CMS Version 11.  You won’t want to miss it.  Further, CitiTech is planning the new version.  Soon Version 8 won’t be supported anymore.

Q:  Will our tried-and-true reports continue to be available? 

A:  Yes.  All your reports (standard and custom) should continue to render in exactly the same way. 

Q:  What will change in terms of our reports?  And what does that mean for me?

A:  Your Crystal reports themselves are in Crystal Reports 13.  Therefore, if your organization wants to modify the Crystal reports themselves, they must own licenses for Crystal Reports 13 (available from SAP).  Note:  customizing the reports using SQL works exactly the same as before.

By Tari Muth

Features & Functionality 

Planning Your Work Is Key To Performance Management.  As you are aware, any good CMMS contains a planning component,  and our Work Plans are integrated with all the other functions in the software.  Users can:

Create work orders and work reports right from the plan (including assets, by priority). Access and use planned resources right from the operations screens.

Display real-time planned -vs- actual work and costs.

Adjust work plans to meet – but not exceed – target levels of service, based on past work and asset’s condition based on inspections.

Compare planned work and unplanned work.

Justify budgets.

The need to, and advantages of, planning your work is clear – and positions you to act, versus react.  The ability to adjust the plan based on real information puts you in control and optimizes performance management.

For those who want more information on performance management and/or work planning, I’m recommending a few articles I found online that helped expand my knowledge.  The Local Government Management Guide in particular is an interesting read.

Microsoft Word – Performance Management in Government CGG.doc (darpg.gov.in)

Performance Management: A Guide for City Leaders – National League of Cities (nlc.org)

What Government’s Broken Strategic Planning Needs: Evidence – Government Executive (govexec.com)

Local Government Management Guide – Strategic Planning (state.ny.us)

By Tari Muth

Cool Stuff!  FEMA REIMBURSEMENT GUIDANCE

You may already know that CMS provides FEMA functionality to help you track activities and costs related to disasters.  What else goes into a FEMA claim?  I wondered what organizations like yours must do in order to be reimbursed by FEMA for work related to disasters.

I turned to the internet – and learned a lot.  In the interest of passing on valuable knowledge, I’m sharing a few links that you may find useful.

How To Guide: Getting Reimbursed for DISASTER RECOVERY Work for Local Public Agencies (LPA) For Transportation Facilities and assets (lsu.edu)

femaq-a.pdf (fgfoa.org)

AASHTO Issues Bridge Guide for Tsunami Effects – AASHTO Journal

I hope your area is NEVER declared a disaster area; nevertheless, it’s good to know you’ll be able to furnish all information required to be reimbursed.

Call us or email us any time, if you need help or advice setting up your CMS for FEMA activities.

By Tari Muth

CitiTech Newsletter August 2019

 General Asset Management with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money.

Note from the Editor

Hello! 

Read on to find out What’s New!  Pop into Guru’s Corner to see if YOUR  …

Read More

 
Inspections with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money.

What’s New?

A Better Way To Create Contractors!

If you’ve ever created a Contractor, you found out you selected the menu item “Vendors”…  

Read More

 
General Asset Management with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money. increases performance and saves money.

Guru’s Corner

Answered… More of Your Frequently-Asked Questions!….

Read More

  
Fema Flames

Features & Functionality

Would your organization benefit from moving to the Cloud?

Have you ever wondered if there is a way for your organization to more effectively utilize tools in ‘the Cloud’? …  

Read More

 

 
Fema Flames

 

 

Cool Stuff!

Various Preventive Maintenance Approaches  …

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Editor’s Note

Hello!

Read on to find out What’s New!  Pop into Guru’s Corner to see if YOUR question was answered, check out our Features and Functionality section, and discover different PM approaches in the “Cool Stuff!” section. 

Enjoy the newsletter, consider being featured in the next one, and keep the suggestions and feedback coming.  We’ll listen.

By Tari Muth

What’s New?  A Better Way to Create Contractors!

If you’ve ever created a Contractor, you found out you selected the menu item “Vendors” and then put a checkmark next to “Contractor” to signify it as one.  How confusing! 

Sometimes when you do something great, you’re so hyped that you forget some embarrassing detail.  I was glad to break Contractors out so users can easily find and create them – but I was so excited that I forgot to tell our users!

Those users who download updates but choose NOT to read the update notes won’t know about the new menu item.  They will try to create new Contractors (or find existing ones) using the Vendors screen (or it’s Find functionality).  However, now Contractors won’t be found or created using that screen!  There’s no “checkmark” to designate it a Contractor, and no place to tell CMS what it’s Resource Class is!  One user already found that out, and let us know (thanks, Bruce!).  Our next update will include a message box in the “Vendors” screen to remind you where to go if you’re creating a Contractor. (The update after that will remove the message box)

We hope you enjoy using the new Contractor screen, under “Resources” in the top-line menu.

By Tari Muth 

Guru’s Corner –  Answered… More of Your Frequently-Asked Questions!!

Q:  “Why is it important that I keep my software up to date?”

A:  In some cases, the things you notify us about or want improved already exist in the latest (and greatest) update!  In all cases, the update includes improvements/enhancements to make your job easier.  Win, win!

Q:  “How can I tell what new changes I’ll see when I update my software?”

A:  While doing a WebUpdate, answer “Yes” when asked if you want to see the changes.  The webpage with descriptions of the changes is displayed.

Q:  “What’s with the new green color for some reports in the Reports menu?”

A:  We’ve improved both the speed and accuracy of many of our reports, by using a “Data Reader” rather than building the report data programmatically and storing the result in a Data Set.  History reports have historically been slow and unwieldy but now they are so much faster!

Q:  “I need to be able to schedule my Work Orders to be periodic.  Is there a way to do this?”

A:  Yes!  There’s a button in the navigation bar of Work Orders.  It’s next to the “Quick Search” dropdown.  Hovering over it displays this tool tip:  “Recurring duplication of the current Record (weekly/monthly/annually)” and clicking on it will let you set a start and end date, with choices of weekly, monthly, and annually recurring.  Also you will be prompted for whether to include the same asset(s) and/or resource(s), if applicable.

By Tari Muth

Features & Functionality – Would Your Organization Benefit From Moving to the Cloud?

Have you ever wondered if there is a way for your organization to more effectively utilize tools in ‘the Cloud’?

Have you heard of Azure, Microsoft’s set of cloud solutions? (https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/)

Thanks to a question from one of customers, CitiTech has now done testing to see how well some of these Azure solutions could work for you.

“What are some of the advantages of moving anything to the Cloud?”

As long as your organization has a consistently stable Internet connection, there are several benefits to doing so.

                1) IT costs can be reduced for both new hardware setup as well as repairing existing hardware because the physical hardware is no longer maintained by your organization.

                2) In addition, since Azure has 54 regions, this increases access and prevents any down time which means your data is safe and secure with minimal effort.

                3) Automatic updates are provided if desired (for both Windows and Microsoft software like SQL Server).

                4) As your organization needs change, so can your Azure Database or Virtual Machine.

                Unlike physical hardware, modifying your Virtual Machine is practically as easy as a click to increase memory or CPU performance.  One example is discussed briefly here: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/resize-virtual-machines/

                5) Mobility is another benefit. Not connected to your organization’s network even though you have access to the Internet?

                You can still access CitiTech’s Database, or anything else hosted in the Cloud with your laptop, etc.

                6) Besides lower IT costs as mentioned earlier, because of using less hardware and increased flexibility with using the minimal resources needed, this can help the environment in the long run too.

These are just some of the benefits!

“What are options for CMS that can be utilized for CMS8 data?”

One option is to take your current SQL Server Database (residing on a physical or virtual machine within your organization) and host your SQL Server Database in Azure.

Another option, and what we recommend that prevents any possible future ‘bugs’ occurring, is to have a complete Virtual Machine hosted in Azure which has SQL Server installed on it with your CitiTech database.  Click here to find out about Azure pricing:  https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/

While we focused our testing on SQL Server, there are options for Oracle in Azure as well. (See https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/solutions/oracle/.)

As the need arises, Oracle would be tested further.  However, based on our testing so far, using an Azure hosted Virtual Machine with Oracle installed on it for CitiTech data would be the recommended way to go.

If you are interested in moving your CitiTech Database to the Cloud, shoot us an email or give us a call.   

By Ariell Vano

Cool Stuff!  Various Preventive Maintenance Approaches 

I learned a lot recently, while trying to find out more about Preventive Maintenance (a.k.a., Preventative Maintenance).  I saw an entirely different viewpoint on maintenance (there are other approaches…. who knew?!) – and I was struck by how well our software meets the need for various PM types – even MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul), which may be the natural evolution of PM. 

The technical meaning of maintenance involves functional checks, servicing, repairing or replacing of necessary devices, equipment, machinery, building infrastructure, and supporting utilities in industrial, business, governmental, and residential installations.  Over time, this has come to include multiple wordings that describe various cost-effective practices to keep equipment and other assets operational; these activities take place either before or after a failure. Together, these functions are referred to as Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO).   (Confusingly, MRO is also used as an acronym for Maintenance, Repair and Operations.)

MRO, as defined by the United States Department of Defense, is:

Any activity—such as tests, measurements, replacements, adjustments, and repairs—intended to retain or restore a functional unit in or to a specified state in which the unit can perform its required functions.

All action taken to retain material in a serviceable condition or to restore it to serviceability. It includes inspections, testing, servicing, classification as to serviceability, repair, rebuilding, and reclamation.

All supply and repair action taken to keep a force in condition to carry out its mission.

The routine recurring work required to keep a facility (plant, building, structure, ground facility, utility system, or other real property) in such condition that it may be continuously used, at its original or designed capacity and efficiency for its intended purpose.

Maintenance is strictly connected to the utilization stage of the product or technical system, in which the concept of maintainability must be included. In this scenario, maintainability is considered as the ability of an item, under stated conditions of use, to be retained in or restored to a state in which it can perform its required functions, using prescribed procedures and resources.

The basic types of maintenance falling under MRO include:

  • Preventive Maintenance, also known as PM, is a routine for periodically inspecting (noticing small problems and fixing them before major ones develop). Planned maintenance is preplanned, and can be date-based, based on equipment running hours, or on distance travelled.  Planned maintenance can occur on a regular schedule for other assets.
  • Corrective maintenance where equipment (or other asset) is repaired or replaced after wear, malfunction or break down.
  • Predictive maintenance, which uses sensor data to monitor a system, then continuously evaluates it against historical trends to predict failure before it occurs.
  • Architectural conservation employs MRO to preserve, rehabilitate, restore, or reconstruct historical structures with stone, brick, glass, metal, and wood which match the original constituent materials where possible, or with suitable polymer technologies when not.

Another approach to maintenance is called “Condition-based”.

Condition-based Maintenance

Condition-based maintenance (CBM) is maintenance when need arises. Albeit chronologically much older, it is considered one section or practice inside the broader and newer predictive maintenance field, where new AI technologies and connectivity abilities are put to action and where the acronym CBM is more often used to describe ‘Condition Based Monitoring’ rather than the maintenance itself. CBM maintenance is performed after one or more indicators show that equipment is going to fail or that equipment performance is deteriorating.

Condition-based maintenance was introduced to try to maintain the correct equipment at the right time. CBM is based on using real-time data to prioritize and optimize maintenance resources. Observing the state of the system is known as condition monitoring. Such a system will determine the equipment’s health and act only when maintenance is actually necessary.  Ideally, condition-based maintenance will allow the maintenance personnel to do only the right things, minimizing spare parts cost, system downtime and time spent on maintenance.

CBM’s advantages and disadvantages over planned maintenance:

Advantages:

  • Improved system reliability
  • Decreased maintenance costs
  • Decreased number of maintenance operations causes a reduction of human error influences

Disadvantages:

  • High installation costs, especially for minor equipment items which are often more than the value of the equipment
  • Unpredictable maintenance periods cause costs to be divided unequally
  • Increased number of parts (the CBM installation itself) that need maintenance and checking

Today, due to its costs, CBM is not used for less important parts of machinery despite obvious advantages. However, it can be found everywhere where increased reliability and safety is required, and in the future will be applied even more widely.

For myself and my personal vehicle, I use the CBM approach; the advantage is cost-effectiveness.  However, larger organizations should consider PM, and even MRO.  CMS software is how you get there.  It manages every kind of asset imaginable, their inspection schedules, their inspection factors (and activities for maintenance and repair), the assets’ inspections and resultant condition, the PM Activities and timeframes, and the alerts for PMs due.  PMs and inspections can be planned and scheduled. 

What assets do you manage? Equipment (rolling stock and/or plant equipment), Roads, Bridges, Lights, Signs, Sidewalks, Signals, Railroad Crossings? What about Cemeteries, Golf Courses, Airports, Marinas, or Beaches?  Create a category, and start to manage it today by applying Preventive Maintenance and MRO, using CMS.

By Tari Muth

CitiTech Newsletter November 2018

 General Asset Management with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money.

Note from the Editor

Hello! 

Read on to meet our new Guru, check the news, and find out what’s new! …

Read More

 
General Asset Management with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money.

CitiTech News

As 2018 draws to a close, it’s a good time to reflect on what we’ve done this year and what we have planned for 2019.…

Read More

 
Inspections with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money.

What’s New?

MORE Report Changes!

The reporting module in CMS is undergoing EVEN MORE exciting revisions and improvements, thanks to input from you…. 

Read More

 
General Asset Management with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money. increases performance and saves money.

Guru’s Corner

New GURU!

We’re proud to introduce our new CitiTech team member to you, our Customers!….

Read More

  
Fema Flames

Features & Functionality

FEMA Functionality in CMS Makes FEMA Documentation Easy! 

In the U.S., likely natural disasters include hurricanes …  

Read More

 

 
Fema Flames

 

Cool Stuff!

Business Process Improvement (BPI) – what is it, and how can my organization achieve it? …

Read More

Editor’s Note

Hello!

 

Read on to meet our new Guru, check the news, and find out what’s new!  Learn more about CMS features, and find out about BPI in the “Cool Stuff!” section. 

Enjoy the newsletter, consider being featured in the next one, and keep the suggestions and feedback coming.  We’ll listen.

By Tari Muth

CitiTech News

As 2018 draws to a close, it’s a good time to reflect on what we’ve done this year and what we have planned for 2019.

Thanks in large measure to the Alabama Department of Transportation, we devoted a significant amount of time to improving CMS performance; both in terms of how we present data on the screen and how we report information. Our greatest strength has been our ability to collect huge amounts of information and use advanced tools and techniques to deliver mission-essential information. With these huge data sets, large users such as the Alabama and Mississippi Departments of Transportation were experiencing unacceptable delays in processing Daily Work Reports or generating complex reports for a year’s worth of data, such as the Work Report Transaction Detail Report.

We focused on improving data entry and reporting performance and are pleased to report that CMS now delivers comprehensive reports for extended date ranges in minutes, rather than hours. Collecting data in Daily Work Reports, a critical and required step, has improved as well.  Improving performance in data collection and reporting was an important effort that required several months to improve and is now available to all users. This improvement is an example of how users help us identify and resolve stress points and improve CMS functionality.

Since we’ve made significant performance improvements, we are now shifting our focus to bridging the gap by enhancing web and mobile functionality.  CMS has a proven track record as a desktop application.  We are currently researching the most effective methods of providing connectivity to remote users without sacrificing performance or functionality.  Our goal is to provide a consistent workflow across most prevalent operating systems without sacrificing productivity regardless of internet connectivity.

We’re excited about this future functionality in addition to our Desktop application. It will allow CMS users to use Work eOrders on tablets and/or cell phones in the field where they can be completed and saved. We’ve already developed at least one proof-of-concept prototype. As we get closer to having fully-developed applications, we’ll announce them and welcome CMS users to be beta testers.

And, finally… best wishes for the upcoming Holiday Season. We hope 2019 brings you good health and happiness.

By Brian McKiernan

What’s New?  MORE Report Changes!

The reporting module in CMS is undergoing EVEN MORE exciting revisions and improvements, thanks to input from you.  

Once you get the latest update, you’ll notice that the report screen has changed.  A few improvements we’ve made:  the Date Range prompt is now on the screen (rather than having to click on “View Report” to be prompted), you can now view the new Data Reader reports using many different file types (like crystal report, adobe pdf file, excel spreadsheet, text, or Microsoft word document), and buttons that clear, reset, or save the filter(s).   

The traditional reporting mechanism generates a memory Data Set containing data and is fed to a crystal report document.  When reporting requests cover multi-year date ranges or use wide-open selection criteria (or no selection criteria at all), these memory datasets would sometimes exceed the capacity of the .NET framework to hold such huge amounts of data. 

The new approach, which is being rolled out in increments, uses a Data Reader.  This sends a continuous stream of data that is fed by the database (instead of holding all the data at once).   The Data Reader will continuously provide information to the crystal report document (or other file type), thus lessening or eliminating the occurrence of Out-of-Memory exceptions.  Additionally, you can look forward to your reports being generated much faster!

Changes started with the large reports that have often caused users issues when trying to run huge date ranges.  We have revised the reports we initially released, to improve accuracy and also to fix several scenarios we didn’t originally take into account, all thanks to our customers’ feedback.  They are now faster and more accurate.

More reports that use the Data Reader are coming in future Web Updates… so stay tuned!   

By Tari Muth 

Guru’s Corner – New GURU!

We’re proud to introduce our new CitiTech team member to you, our Customers!  

Meet Todd Bagley, our new developer, who hails from Wisconsin.  Todd served in the Air Force as a Russian linguist and a Pararescueman after school. After completing his service he began working in the technology sector, focusing on AI and machine-learning using logistic regression.  This led him to developing aircraft systems for the military, where he developed autonomous systems for the Predator and Reaper, also serving as a pilot on overseas assignments. In his spare time, Todd still pursues his love of flying along with the creative endeavors of music and photography.

Todd has been developing process-centric applications for 20 years and is looking forward to bringing this experience to CitiTech.  

Welcome to the CitiTech team!

By Tari Muth

Features & Functionality

FEMA Functionality in CMS Makes FEMA Documentation Easy! 

In the U.S., likely natural disasters include hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, heat waves, droughts, cold waves, snowstorms, blizzards, landslides/mudslides, wildfires, famine, earthquakes, and tsunamis.  Or, earthquakes FOLLOWED by tsunamis (1964). And last – but not least – volcanoes!

No one needs to tell you, none of them are fun.  Chances are you know someone affected, or have been affected yourself.  Deaths, injuries, and damage paralyze communities, and it will take months – or years – to recover.

Flooding across the Midwest in June 2008 affected more than 11 million people, the most people affected by a natural disaster in U.S. history.  Wildfires cost lives and acreage.  More than 10 MILLION acres were lost in 2015!

Unfortunately, natural disasters will happen.  However, if the disaster is documented, FEMA will reimburse some of the costs for emergency operations and disaster cleanup. 

CMS allows you to set up a disaster record, and tie FEMA rates to YOUR rates (so rates match what FEMA will reimburse, regardless of what you usually charge for equipment).  When you specify the disaster in a Work Report, CMS captures those “alternate” rates for the reports you’ll need, making it easy to submit paperwork to FEMA for reimbursement.  Check it out!

Here’s where I got my facts about natural disasters:

https://www.statista.com/topics/1714/natural-disasters/

By Tari Muth

Cool Stuff!

Business Process Improvement (BPI) – what is it, and how can my organization achieve it?  Business Process Improvement (BPI) is an approach designed to help organizations redesign their existing business operations to accomplish significant improvement in production. Effective BPI helps to generate promising results in operational efficiency and customer focus.

BPI, when implemented by means of a structured methodology, helps organizations to reduce their operational costs and cycle time, enhance customer service and improve the quality of their services.

The significance of BPI is remarkable in today’s competitive market as work processes are extensively affected by technology. An effective way to achieve a successful Business Process Improvement is to concentrate more on the business requirement than on the technology used to achieve the solution. 

BPI aims to reduce waste and/or variation in processes to achieve the desired outcome by using existing resources in a better way. The ultimate goal of BPI is to bring out a drastic change in an organization’s performance, rather than bringing out the changes in incremental steps.

Because BPI implementation is a project, all project management principles apply. This ensures well-organized improvement processes without any conflicts.

In a simplistic view, these steps can be defined like this: 

  1. Define the existing processes and structure in the organization.
  2. Identify the outcomes that would add value in achieving the organization’s objectives and the best ways to align the organization’s processes to achieve these outcomes.
  3. Reorganize the workforce in the organization based on the desired outcomes by means of the various tools available in the BPI process.

More than one approach exists.  For example, I found one website that uses information developed by researching methodologies employed by institutions of higher learning called “RAPID Process Improvement Methodology”.  It’s a customized way to assess business processes and make recommendations for improvement.  If you ever wonder how to get started, this website contains checklists, how-to guides, samples, and templates!

Their steps are:  Review the Problem, Assess the Current State, Plan for Change, Implement Changes, and Determine Success.

CMS can help you improve the process!  Work smarter, not harder.  One great example of using CMS to improve processes is Mississippi Department of Transportation.  They analyzed one activity (mowing) and found one district was more cost-efficient than the rest.  By standardizing that district’s processes state-wide, they were able to do the same amount of work more efficiently state-wide, and saved $2.4 million – annually – for one activity! 

Find out for yourself how improving the process of doing work can save time and money. 

Source:

https://www.uillinois.edu/cio/services/bpi/business_process_improvement_methodology_toolkit/

By Tari Muth

CitiTech Newsletter Spring 2018

 General Asset Management with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money.

Note from the Editor

Hello! 

Read on to learn the latest exciting CitiTech news, and find out what’s new now!  See what sage advice the Gurus impart, and learn about a CMS feature you may not even know exists! …

Read More

 
General Asset Management with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money.

CitiTech News

Smartphones and tablets have changed how people use computers…

Read More

 
Inspections with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money.

What’s New?

Report Changes!

The reporting module in CMS is undergoing an exciting…

Read More

 
General Asset Management with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money. increases performance and saves money.

Guru’s Corner

Speed up your software!

Want CMS to run faster and more efficiently?    You can speed up everything from screen loading, to lookups, saving, reporting, and more – while also saving keystrokes, paper, and time! ….

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Fema Flames

Features & Functionality

CMS Has Automated That!  Now it takes minutes instead of days.

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Fema Flames

Cool Stuff!

“Asset Management” –vs – “Asset Maintenance Management”…. What’s the Difference?  And Which Do I Want To Do? …

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Hello!

Read on to learn the latest exciting CitiTech News, and find out What’s New Now!  See what sage advice the Gurus impart, and learn about a Feature you may not even know exists!

Does your organization do Asset Management or Asset Maintenance Management?  What’s the difference?  And, which one should you be doing?  Find out in the article “Cool Stuff!

Enjoy the newsletter, consider being featured in the next one, and keep the suggestions and feedback coming.  We’ll listen.

By Tari Muth

CitiTech News

MobileCMS

Smartphones and tablets have changed how people use computers, allowing greater freedom and mobility.  Mobile application development has quickly grown to rival that of traditional PC applications.  More than just their convenient size, smartphones boast features such as flexible access to data networks, location services, biometrics, and voice and camera features that go beyond the traditional definition of a personal computer.

To take advantage of this potential and complement its CMS product, CitiTech is developing a responsive web application that will allow users to access core CMS functionality from a smartphone or tablet.  The 1.0 release (dubbed “CitiWeb”) will include modules for Work Orders, Work Reports, Inspections, and Assets.  It will operate seamlessly alongside existing Windows client installations and will support all major browsers.  We are far enough along in the CitiWeb development cycle to begin communicating to our customers what we have in store.  

The responsive UI in CitiWeb means that it will adjust to the user’s device.  CitiWeb will provide compact and touch-friendly controls on smart phones while on desktop computers its UI will expand to fill the browser screen, showing more at a single glance.  Because CitiWeb is browser-based, it runs identically on all modern smart phones and has no installation footprint, easing deployment and allowing development to take advantage of the latest web technologies.

We’ll be showcasing some of the features of CitiWeb in the coming months.  Our team is excited to be bringing the biggest features of CMS to the web!

By Brian McKiernan

What’s New?  Report Changes!

The reporting module in CMS is undergoing an exciting revision. 

The traditional reporting mechanism generates a memory dataset containing data to be fed to a Crystal Report document.  When reporting requests cover multi-year date ranges, or use open selection criteria (or no selection criteria at all), these memory datasets would sometimes exceed the capacity of the base framework to hold such huge amounts of data. 

The new approach – currently in the works and being rolled out in increments – is use of a “data reader”.  The data reader uses a continuous stream of data being fed by the database, instead of attempting to hold all the data at once.   The data reader will continuously provide data to the crystal report document, thus lessening or eliminating the occurrence of Out-of-memory exceptions.  Additionally, you can look forward to your reports being generated much faster! 

What is the schedule of roll-outs of report changes?  We are concentrating on the reports that use huge amounts of data, like Asset History and Transaction Detail reports.  Some report changes have already been released (such as the Work Report Transaction Detail) and more will be released with upcoming Web Updates.

By Bimende Malik

Guru’s Corner – Speed Up Your Software!

Want CMS to run faster and more efficiently?  You can speed up everything from screen loading, to lookups, saving, reporting, and more – while also saving keystrokes, paper, and time!  How?  By cleaning up your data! 

Here are some of the options in CMS that YOU can run at your convenience: 

  • Yearpost all years up to the current year
  • Lower the “Load Days” number in your System Preferences to gain loading speed for operations modules like Work Orders, Work Reports, and Purchase Orders
  • Turn off Auditlog (unless you need to track all changes)
  • Perform Auditlog maintenance – delete old entries from way back (don’t worry; if your Auditlog is on, it will immediately begin tracking changes again, or if not, you can turn it on any time and it will start there)
  • Analyze and fix Work Reports with Asset/Activity duplication problems
  • Close old overdue Work Orders
  • Close old Purchase Orders
  • Archive Employees no longer employed
  • Archive all sold Equipment
  • Do Address Maintenance – and then Address Cleanup 
  • Check / Repair Inventory Orphans
  • Check / Repair Duplicate Inventory Sites
  • Check / Repair Inventory Counts
  • Check / Repair Matlog records
  • Check / Repair Matlog record rates
  • Consider using the Inventory Anchor table
  • Consider creating Templates, if you don’t already use them
  • Specifically look at Alert Reminders and clean up the alerted items; examples include entering “Life In Years” values in the Equipment Records, entering positive budget amounts in Projects, doing citizen follow-up for closed Work Orders, ordering Inventory that is below minimum quantity, inspecting Assets that are overdue, updating Employee record dates with the NEW dates (once the expired CDL has been renewed or employees have done their annual performance review, as examples)

Most items are available through a menu item.  Just click on it – how easy is that? 

A few items need fixed one-by-one (such as Alert Reminder items).

Outdated alert items make Alert Reminders useless, orphan records and accidental record duplication bloat your datasets.  Outdated fiscal years skew “Year-To-Date” throughout CMS.  ALL are worth checking into, to streamline your data, to make record loading and lookups faster, as well as making record saving AND reports faster. 

Where can you do data cleanup?

By Tari Muth

Features & Functionality

CMS Has Automated That!  Now it takes minutes instead of days. 

Hi, it’s Tari!  As you may know, I’m first-line tech support here at CitiTech Systems, Inc. 

I love helping our customers!  So when I hear horror stories, I am glad when I’m able to recommend something to fix it.  One example follows, in case you find yourself in her shoes and weren’t aware…. Sometimes, we can help with that!

Recently, I heard how long it takes to record one process… equipment fueling.  Your Equipment is an asset, so in order to maintain accurate history (and keep track of fuel quantities), you have to record WHICH days fueling happened, WHICH department and WHICH program to use, WHICH activity was done, HOW MUCH of the activity was accomplished, WHICH equipment items were fueled, WHICH fuel was used, from WHICH site, HOW MUCH fuel was used, and WHAT the equipment readings were at the time.  I heard it took DAYS to enter all that.  Days per month!

I asked her, “What if you could periodically just process those records automatically?” and we went from there.  You see, we have a Fuel System module that you can tailor to read YOUR automated fuel system, and create Work Reports for fueling equipment at the touch of a button (the “Fuel System Process” button, actually)!   Fueling reports, as well as exception reports, are also included.  Additionally, the fueling activity and costs become part of the Equipment’s history.

She didn’t know that the Fuel System module existed – and couldn’t believe how inexpensive it was – so I sent her a quote in writing.  She discussed it with her boss, and shortly her city provided a Purchase Order number.  We enabled the module the same day, and set up her profile. 

Fuel System can read lots of different formats – but, this user only gets a monthly spreadsheet, and it needed some TLC in terms of formatting.  We helped by writing a macro she can run to create a file with correct formatting and relevant fields. 

When we followed up to see how she liked pressing “Process Fuel” instead of entering tons of fueling work reports, we discovered that even though she no longer has to create those records, she still had to access each one – just to enter the Program!  So we enhanced our module by adding the Program field; now it can read and input that automatically.  Her predicament led to our enhancement… to everyone’s benefit!

Now, it takes her a few keystrokes instead of a few days.  In fact, she estimates it saves her at least 12 hours per month!  Here’s what she had to say:

“The fuel system in CMS has cut hours of data entry off my time each month.  What took me about 3 days of 4 hours of data entry is now only a few clicks with my mouse and I’m done with 100% accuracy.  The setup process did not take long at all.  With Tari’s help and the use of “GoToMeeting” it was done in no time.  The best thing is, CMS can customize the program to fit your needs. Have a question or problem? Tari is just a phone call away. She is soooo helpful and has always answered my questions and educated me on how to use the program efficiently.”

JoAnn Dickman, City of Alma

Several of our other customers also own the Fuel System module; in fact, some have had it for years!  Here’s what one had to say:

“Prior to the Fuel System module, the employees had to write down all the information for that piece of equipment on a fuel card for the month.  Those fuel cards were entered in CMS individually, which took 1.5 days of steady input!  Now, I feel that we are more accurate on the information and amount of fuel used plus it saves so much time for shop employees and office staff.  Shop employees no longer have to remember to write down date, mileage, type of fuel and gallons for that piece of equipment on a fuel card.  Everything we need is entered prior to fueling.  The office staff no longer has to ask questions to fill in the missing blanks.  With a few clicks of a button, the software transfers the information daily.  In doing so, we are up to date for any report that we may need.  When we started with the Fuel System module, we were using Gasboy.  In 2015 we converted to the FuelMaster system.  This [CMS] module works with both without any problems.  Set up and conversion were smooth.  This module is such a great time saver!”

Jane Hatch, Butler County, KS 

Like Butler County, other users started with one fuel program, and then seamlessly switched to another – like 18-year user Tulsa County, OK.  During most of that time, they used Gasboy with Fuel Systems.  Four years ago, they switched to Fuel Master.  A representative had this to say:  “CitiTech has worked perfectly with the data – whichever fuel system we have used. “

Barbara Pursell, Tulsa County, OK

We have one customer who has just recently requested and received approval for CMS Fuel System, and is looking forward to getting it set up and running.  They are quoted as saying, “We use Voyager for our fuel supplier. The reason we [purchased] the fuel module is to enter equipment mileage automatically – in order to alert us to upcoming preventive maintenance schedules. We have close to 700 City owned units (vehicles and equipment). When we do our annual evaluations it takes close to a week to prepare and enter all the data from the different suppliers. [Fuel Systems] should streamline the process to just a day or two. It should pay for itself by cutting down on the [unexpected] maintenance cost of vehicles and equipment repairs that could have been corrected during the scheduled preventive maintenance, had it been done when it was due.”   

Paulette Cornell, Gulf Shores, AL

It’s clear that this module pays for itself many times over, saves time, AND increases accuracy.  Give us a call if YOUR organization wants to track fuel usage (and optionally equipment readings) automatically.  We’re happy to demo it for you; you’ll be amazed at how easy it is to use AND how inexpensive it is.

By Tari Muth

Cool Stuff!

“Asset Management” –vs – “Asset Maintenance Management”…. What’s the Difference?  And Which Do I Want To Do?

Asset Management is a strategically focused approach to make meaningful decisions related to the development, use, maintenance, repair, rehabilitation, and preservation of an agency’s infrastructure. 

Asset Management can be defined as “the combination of management, financial, economic, engineering, and other practices applied to physical assets with the objective of providing the required level of service in the most cost effective manner. It includes the management of the whole life cycle (design, construction, commissioning, operating, maintaining, repairing, modifying, replacing and decommissioning/disposal) of physical and infrastructure assets.”

The process of Asset Management requires managers to identify what they own or have jurisdiction over, determine what the level of service for those assets are, discover the current condition of them, and decide which to fix or maintain first.

Asset Maintenance Management is defined as “a continuous process improvement strategy for improving the availability, safety, reliability and longevity of physical assets”.  This not only includes tracking work to the asset and resource usage, it requires managers to use this collected historical data to make meaningful business decisions in terms of providing maintenance and repairs most effectively.

Physical assets include – but are not limited to – equipment, plants, facilities, vehicles, utility systems, and infrastructure (such as roads, bridges, tunnels, railroad crossings, marinas, golf courses, parks, and sidewalks).  

Ideally, you want to do both – manage your assets and manage the maintenance of your assets.

The ideal Maintenance Management process is based on four primary fundamentals:  planning, organizing, scheduling, and controlling.  Planning entails establishing the desired frequency of maintenance for your activities, determining the best methods to accomplish the work, matching your available labor and equipment resources to assets, and projecting how much you can accomplish.  Organizing your planned available resources and applying them to your inventory of assets to achieve the desired service levels is next.  Scheduling work, including planned, routine, and backlogged work, helps you see what work is in the future, and keeps you proactive.   Managers and supervisors control the process by using collected data from work accomplishment to benchmark against other similar entities to raise the bar and strive for the highest level of quality service at the lowest cost, and improve future planning efforts.

Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) is software that helps organizations keep track of all assets that they are responsible for, helps them schedule and track maintenance tasks, and keep a historical record of work they perform.

CMMS should:

Generate a report detailing all maintenance and other work carried out on an asset over any specified period.

Record customer requests, and optionally program an asset inspection and/or maintenance in response to them.

Record the maintenance carried out on asset components.

Program a range of maintenance activities against an asset or asset component.

Schedule maintenance after a fixed period of time has elapsed since maintenance was last carried out.

CitiTech Management Software does all the above – and more!  CMS can record inspection results, use those results to adjust assets’ condition or level of service, and goes further – it can analyze work and inspection results to modify future plans to accomplish target levels of service!  

Anyone can do Asset Management using software – or even a spreadsheet!  Anyone can accomplish Asset Maintenance Management using software.  Smart users use software that can do both, analyze the results, and improve the process – and CMS is that complete package.

By Tari Muth

CitiTech Newsletter 2016

 General Asset Management with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money.

Note from the Editor

Hello!  We here at CitiTech Systems are still working diligently on the next awesome evolution of our software, “CitiCore”, but we’ve also decided to tackle …

Read More

 
General Asset Management with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money.

CitiTech News

CitiTech has dramatically improved performance ….

Read More

 
Inspections with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money.

What’s New?

New enhancements to our current version of CMS!…

Read More

 
GIS with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money.

Coming In The Future…

Version 9! We are further along in our quest to produce easy to use, knock-your-socks-off software with …

Read More

 
General Asset Management with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money. increases performance and saves money.

Guru’s Corner

Frequently Asked Questions

Read More

 
Fema Flames

Features & Functionality

Templates!

The good news:  You can make your CMS screens look and behave the way you want them to!

The better news:  You can…

Read More

 
Fema Flames

Cool Stuff!

Sound asset maintenance will allow your organization to …

Read More

Note from the Editor

Hello!  We here at CitiTech Systems are still working diligently on the next awesome evolution of our software, “CitiCore”, but we’ve also decided to tackle some user requests for enhancements to our current version, CMS 8.5.  See the “What’s New?” topic to check out some of the improvements that are making our software better.

To our amazing Beta Testers:  don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten you.  I have a list of you, and will contact you once we release our “Beta” version of CitiCore, Version 9.  Promise.

Enjoy the newsletter, and keep the suggestions and feedback coming.  We’ll listen.

By Tari Muth

CitiTech News

CitiTech has dramatically improved performance relating to how CMS queries data to deliver information based on user requests. Because CMS is highly-normalized and relational, data queries sent to the database engine had to account for multi-level “relationships” with specific arguments or parameters set by the user or from within CMS’s business logic. For example, a query to show all the work orders or work reports relating to pothole repair on a certain road within a certain management unit during a specified period of time could result in a very lengthy SQL query statement and heavy network traffic. Occasionally, the query (which could literally be pages long) would exceed the database engine’s ability to parse and execute the query, resulting in a “time out”, “no data” or other error message. These queries also caused significant post-processing on the client machine to fine-tune the results and only deliver the desired results.

CMS’s data manager has been improved to optimize the statements sent to the server to improve performance and resolve this issue. As a result, users can send search requests using Advanced Find or the Data Browser that mine data held by child records several layers/generations deeper than the main record. In the past, the query would return all the parent records and their child records that had to be post-processed. This change resulted in shorter SQL statements and data mining occurring on the data engine (server), rather than the client machine. There are still some limitations on the amount of data that can be held in a memory dataset (cache) resulting from these queries, but this limitation will be eased when CMS moves to later versions of the .NET Framework. Moving from its current .NET platform to the latest version would cause users to make changes to their computers using CMS and CitiTech decided not to inconvenience users until Version 9 is released. In any case, even with this restriction, performance and user queries are improved with this new approach to how data is delivered to the user.

By Bimende Malik

Coming In The Future…  Version 9!

Version9We are further along in our quest to produce easy to use, knock-your-socks-off software with fast reporting.

Our new version will be called “CitiCore” software, and will have all the features you love – only better.  Some modules have expanded accessibility, some have expanded functionality, some have improved performance, and some will be new to CitiCore!  Watch for our announcement of release.

By Tari Muth

Version 9….   A.k.a. “CitiCore Software”
What’s New?  New enhancements to our current version of CMS!

Workflow

Our users frequently suggest great ideas for improvements, and sometimes even new functionality – and we listen.  Our latest post contains so many enhancements that I can’t list them all – but, here are a few:  we have added a new tab to the Startup Screen, called “Workflow”.  For reports, new fields exist in Work Order reports (like the Work Order List report and the Work Order History reports), and several new reports exist (like a new Work Order History report with details, a new Signs Plus alert report, a new Blank Crew Time Card report, and new reports that show both Alternate rates and Actual rates, allowing for comparison).  Additionally, we’ve “rebuilt” the Reports menu to ensure all our users have all our reports – so, you may see new reports – or whole new sections of reports!   “Cost By Activity” and “Cost Trend” buttons will now prompt you for a date range (instead of giving you “the last year” automatically).  Key combinations include a new one for Windows 7 users to help them move from Tab to Tab, and new key combinations inside the Report Viewer.  A new “Save” button exists in Preferences.  For Work Orders, users can now see the “Work Order Completion Date” on the screen, and the Work Order number is shown on the “Request” tab.  Additionally, new fields exist in QBE controls (on the “Advanced” find tab of Work Orders) – AND, re-sizing the controls/sections is easier!  We also “remember” the new Work Order, while users have a choice between it and a possible match to an existing one.  Other general improvements include remembering which tab you were on last, in the “Find” functionality, a new “Select All” checkbox for Activities using Templates, and alphabetical order for Roles in Templates for ease of use with “Groups”.  Our users can now archive LRS information.  We have also expanded some fields in Triggers.  In some cases, we’ve expanded choices in the “Quick Search” dropdown.  We made improvements to the “Inspections” screen, to “CitiSmart” (work order dispatcher) functionality, and also made aesthetic changes to the handheld screen.

If you’re not seeing these changes, I encourage you to update CMS, or request that your I.T. department do so, as appropriate.

Thanks for your input, and keep those suggestions coming!

By Tari Muth

Guru’s Corner – Frequently Asked Questions

Q:  “I need to change so many records!  Is there a way to affect multiple records at once?”

A:  “Yes, for many items, you can change groups of them, or all of them.

For example, “Bulk Pay Rates Update” and “Bulk Equipment Rates Update” will change some (or all) Employee Pay rates or Equipment Rates.   “Update Vacation / Sick Time” will add whatever should be accrued to the “Accrued” columns of ALL employees.  “Inventory Post” will update average cost for one (or all) inventory items.

Verify Data” will check and correct orphan inventory records, inventory usage records, incorrect work report records, and more.

Did you know?  An interface to your data exists that allows you to directly affect records!  It’s called “Batch Update”.  You must be in a Role that permits access to it, and some knowledge of SQL is required, so we recommend you call us; we’ll help you write the SQL that will meet your needs – but it will save you LOTS of time.  It works best for many records that should be affected using one SQL statement, not for individual records that each need to change – unless you want them all to change to contain the same value.

Here’s an example (but only an example – don’t try this at home):  You recently discovered that several of your employees don’t have a pay rate (it’s 0).  You could access each employee record and enter a pay rate.  OR, you could issue SQL in Batch Update to update ALL employees whose pay rate is 0, at one time, like this:  “UPDATE Persmast SET Pay_rate = 10.50 WHERE Pay_rate=0”.  This SQL statement will update ALL of the employees pay rate to $10.50 whose current pay rate is $0.00.  Notice that they ALL got the same new pay rate.  And as you can see, the WHERE part is important!  Without it, ALL employee records would be changed to have a pay rate of $10.50!  So, we urge you to call and request assistance writing your SQL statements.

Obviously, “Batch Update” can’t be used for EVERY change – it depends on the nature of the change – but is very handy for making changes to multiple records at once.”

By Tari Muth

Features & Functionality

Templates!

The good news:  You can make your CMS screens look and behave the way you want them to!

The better news:  You can create multiple templates for each screen; and, each can have its own group of users.

The best news:  You already own this functionality!  There is no separate charge for it, and it applies to most modules.

As one example of taking advantage of Templates, you could create different Work Order screens.  One could be for the mechanics to use for equipment PMs – and you could DEFAULT the department to “FLEET” (and optionally DISABLE that field), get rid of the “Citizen” section on the Request tab, and limit it to only FLEET activities (such as Brake Repair, Preventative Maintenance, Equipment Inspection, and Change Oil) and only to the “Mechanics” group. Another Work Order could be for the Road Department – and you could DEFAULT the department to “ROAD” and you could limit to only ROAD activities (such as Grade, Pave, Patch Pothole, Resurface, and Striping) and to only “Road Maintenance Workers”.  A third Work Order template could be for the Park Department Work Orders, and so on.

Templates let you specify REQUIRED FIELDS (fields that are required to be filled out before you can save the record).

You can also allow or deny access to the DEFAULT (original) screen for these groups, and also print reports for “only items in Template X”.

Learn more about Templates by reading the HELP file “user-defined forms”.

By Tari Muth

Cool Stuff!

Sound asset maintenance will allow your organization to reduce maintenance costs, minimize unscheduled downtime, improve service reliability, and extend the lifecycle of your assets.

An example of a sound Asset Maintenance Management Strategy:

Know exactly what assets you have and/or maintain.  You can do a physical inventory and hand-enter them, or (for users with GIS systems or other electronic media) import them.

Know precisely where those assets are located.  If you are driving around creating a list of assets, use a laptop with a dongle to get exact GPS coordinates – or note LRS information such as Route Type, County, Route, and mile markers.

Know what condition your assets are in at any given time.  Use the Inspections module to quantify condition.

Understand the design criteria of your assets, and how they are to be properly operated and under what conditions.

Develop an asset care/maintenance program that assures that each asset performs reliably (“reliability”) when it is needed (“availability”).  Being “proactive” instead of “reactive” generally costs less – up to half or a third of the cost (in terms of labor, parts & materials, and loss of service).  Regular inspections, effective preventative maintenance, and other predictive technologies find problems before they occur, but takes some structure and continuous monitoring.

Acknowledge and perform all of the above activities to optimize the costs of operating your assets and to extend their useful life at least to, if not beyond, what the initial design and installation specified.  In order to optimize operation costs, two points are suggested.  First, establish key performance indicators (KPIs) for the asset care processes.  This allows you to monitor and determine things like jobs in backlog, jobs scheduled, emergency jobs completed, percentage of emergency jobs, scheduled jobs completed, and schedule compliance.  Second, collect the right kinds of data, at the right time, in a consistent format that allows management staff to make data-informed decisions versus best guesses.  In order to know where and how asset care (maintenance) dollars are being spent, your CMS needs enough information in sufficient detail to decide whether to repair, refurbish, or replace a given asset.  Use Annual Work Plans to plan and schedule work on the assets, Inspections to create Work Orders, and Work Scheduling to schedule work.

 Maintenance asset management strategies include:

Work identification and control – your own cardinal rules.  Although Work Orders are not required in CMS to report work, some users would choose to institute rules such as “No Work Order, No Work”, “No Work Order, No Parts”, and “No Parts, No Work”.

Job planning – provides benefits such as quicker repairs on prescheduled work, projects, and other tasks – and less downtime, more uptime of systems and equipment.

Work order scheduling – schedule work to be performed.  Consider scheduling work according to three general categories:  “Right Now” (for emergencies, unplanned outages, environmental or safety hazards, etc.), “Near Future” (sometime in the next few hours or days), and “Distant Future” (more than a week out).  The last category allows more effective planning to minimize the time, materials, and downtime requirements necessary to get the right work done right, at the right cost, and at the right time.

Preventative/predictive optimization – balance and optimize priorities, providing “value” for the time and effort they require.

Materials coordination – having the right parts and materials on-hand saves time.  Having enough (but not too much) on-hand helps you avoid unnecessary storage and handling costs, spot buying, overnight freight charges, and downtime.  Being proactive can help you determine which parts to keep in stock and which can be ordered later.

Scheduled outage/shutdown coordination – knowing in advance which asset(s) you will be working on allows you to coordinate system shutdown and notify the public well in advance of the scheduled work.

Using a sound asset maintenance management strategy makes sense from an organization standpoint, making the goal of extending the lifecycle of assets while reducing maintenance costs achievable.  It makes sense from a management standpoint, as well, since unscheduled downtime is minimized.  Citizens will also appreciate the improved service reliability and advance notice for outages.  Everyone wins!

By Tari Muth

CitiTech Newsletter May 2015

 General Asset Management with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money.

Note from the Editor

Hello!  All of us here at CitiTech Systems are working diligently on the next awesome evolution of our software, Version 9, due for release….

Read More

General Asset Management with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money.

MDOT Gets Sneak Peek At CMS Version 9

Approximately 400 Mississippi Department of Transportation staff ….

Read More

Inspections with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money.

What’s New?

A new user!  We’re thrilled to welcome…

Read More

GIS with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money.

Coming Soon…

Version 9!  What does it take to create a whole new version…

Read More

General Asset Management with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money.

ESRI’s Evolution Drives Changes in CMS

For many years Dynamic Segmentation has been ESRI’s module ….

Read More

General Asset Management with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money. increases performance and saves money.

Guru’s Corner

Meet our newest developers!  We are lucky to have two smart, talented developers join the CitiTech team, just in time to ….

Read More

Fema Flames

Features & Functionality

Accomplishments… your way!  Now you get to decide…

Read More

Fema Flames

Cool Stuff!

Version 9 is on the horizon…

Read More

 

Note from the Editor

Hello! All of us here at CitiTech Systems are working diligently on the next awesome evolution of our software, Version 9, due for release later this year.  Read on to learn more about how we’re upgrading CMS functionality to keep up with new trends, and taking it to the next level with the help of amazing new additions to our developer staff, our partner (Microsoft), cool new features and technologies, and you – our users.

Enjoy the newsletter, and keep the suggestions and feedback coming.  We’ll listen.

By Tari Muth

MDOT Gets Sneak Peek At CMS Version 9

ATMDOTApproximately 400 Mississippi Department of Transportation staff attended the 2015 MDOT Maintenance Management Conference May 12-14 in Jackson, MS where they discussed maintenance issues and got a sneak peak at new Version 9 software being developed by CitiTech Systems. Brian McKiernan, CitiTech president, and Cassidy Keyser, CitiTech’s senior software engineer, outlined CMS’s move from a desktop application to a web-based services oriented solution. The shift will greatly enhance CMS’s ability to deliver real-time data to desktop computers, laptops, tablets and smart devices using Android or iOS operating systems.

CitiTech unveiled a new set of web apps that will streamline how data flows from the office to the field. The new Dispatcher, a web app that notifies users of pending work orders, will send either emails or text messages to Smart Phones and other devices alerting them of new and existing work orders. Field workers can then log into the Internet, view the work order, add comments, resource usage and work accomplishments, complete the work order and automatically complete the work report without having to enter data in disconnected mode or tracking work on paper. “This new enhancement demonstrates CitiTech’s commitment to new technology tools that are expanding information flow between devices,” said McKiernan. New web apps are being developed for work orders, work scheduling, work reporting and asset creation/viewing. Over time, these new applications will augment CMS’s integrated work and asset management system and leverage the Internet using the latest techniques available.

CitiTech is also developing a series of Web APIs that expose CMS data for external uses. These tools can be used to develop new data entry forms, reports and data extracts by user IT personnel. Version 9 will also see a marked improvement in performance, especially with large data sets. Because CMS can store gigabytes of data, large complex reports could take a significant amount of time to gather and present data. Using new stored procedures that use powerful servers to process the request and a new technique that delivers only the results of a query has shown a performance improvement that surpasses SSRS report benchmarks.

Despite its move toward the Internet, CMS will retain its ability to operate disconnect from a network, including an Internet network. Using HTML5 tools and caching, users will continue to be able to work in areas where no wireless or data networks exist and upload data when a network becomes available.

“We are committed to delivering state-of-the-art tools to our users,” Keyser said, “and are focused on improving the user experience. User screens are being re-designed to be more intuitive, logical and simple-to-use. Our new Version 9 software will be a collaborative effort between CitiTech and our diverse user base.” MDOT and ALDOT, the Alabama Department of Transportation, have both expressed interest in serving as beta test sites to offer input, suggestions and other possible enhancements. Version 9 is scheduled for release by fourth quarter 2015.

By Brian McKiernan

Coming Soon…  Version 9!

What does it take to create a whole new version of software?  Smart ideas include involving current users, improving existing functionality and performance, and adding new dimensions to CMS’ capabilities.  That sounds like Version 9 to us!

We began by surveying our users – what are your priorities; what’s important to you?  We reviewed “Requests for Enhancement” Tickets – how would you, our users, like to see CMS improved or enhanced?   We reviewed RFPs – what do our future customers want in their software?  We researched exciting new technologies – how can we leverage them to improve functionality, performance, and speed?  We explored options with our partner, Microsoft – what is available, and what are some distributable options?  We looked at other software programs – what are their great features, and how can we incorporate them into ours? We held meetings and discussed what our new software would do and how we could do it.  In some cases, we went back to our users to discuss feasibility.  We talked about what we had to add, what we had to change, and what we could leverage to make it happen.  We even voted on how it would look.

Now we’re making that vision happen!  Version 9 is on the horizon – as you’ll see in “Cool Stuff“, below.

Our goal for Version 9: to provide you with easy to use, knock-your-socks-off software and fast reporting.  Your job:  tell us how we did.  Luckily, several users have volunteered to be first; they’ll tell us what they love, what they don’t love, and what’s missing – and help us improve CMS for everyone.  Thanks, beta testers!

Our new version will have all the great features you’ve come to expect – only better, and faster.  Some modules have expanded accessibility, some have expanded functionality, some have improved performance, and some, like Component Control, will be new to Version 9!

Watch for our announcement of release in coming months.

By Tari Muth

Version 9
What’s New?

AtRankinCoA new user!  We’re thrilled to welcome Rankin County, MS, to our CMS family.

Rankin County is the fourth-largest county and one of the fastest-growing counties in Mississippi. An urban/rural county, it is a suburb of Jackson, MS, the state capitol, and home to several government officials. It has over 900 miles of roads, plus bridges, and helps maintain roads in several communities.

Dale Westbrooks, the road manager, receives thousands of work requests per year and needed a system that would track the work order and the costs associated with doing the work order. But, he wanted a solution that did more than just track work orders. He wanted something that would help him track where he did work and what it cost, and evaluate efficiency and effectiveness. The objective was to provide the best possible service at the lowest cost and improve the level of service to the county.

Rankin County used a Mississippi Department of Transportation contract to purchase CMS at a very favorable license cost and plans on using the software to better track work requests and the actual cost of doing the work, as well as tracking those costs to individual assets.

Rankin County is the sixth Mississippi county to implement CMS software – joining Warren, Lee, Tunica, Harrison and Oktibbeha counties.

By Brian McKiernan

ESRI’s Evolution Drives Changes In CMS

For many years Dynamic Segmentation GISMaphas been ESRI’s module to help manage data (data entry, search, mapping) on linear features without going through a process of splitting and merging.  It was – and still is – heavily used in transportation/utility related industries.

ESRI has evolved.  The new extension – ESRI Roads and Highways – is a linear referencing system solution that allows for multiple linear referencing methods – and it can handle the temporal aspect of the data.

It is gaining momentum in implementations at large organizations like state Departments of Transportation and others involved in transportation planning and road maintenance.

CitiTech Systems is changing to meet the needs of ESRI Roads & Highways users.  We are taking our bi-directional GIS module to the next level, to allow for Roads and Highways functionality within our CMS solution!

Just another example of how CitiTech is constantly improving our software.

To learn more about the ESRI extension itself, click here.

On another note, ESRI has stopped supporting ARCGIS Version 9.  CMS will continue to work with ARCGIS Versions 9 and 10 both.  However, if your ESRI license runs year-to-year, you will not be able to “renew” version 9 when it expires.  If you have a perpetual ESRI license, you won’t necessarily need to upgrade it to Version 10; but note that ESRI won’t be able to help you if you have problems with your map, and CitiTech Systems won’t be able to add or change any map functionality.  Your bi-directional GIS functionality will be effectively “frozen in time”.

By Bimende Malik

Guru’s Corner – Featuring Stacie and Jay!

Meet our newest developers!  We are lucky to have two smart, talented developers join the CitiTech team, just in time to be in on Version 9 at the beginning!  Their fresh perspectives, ideas and talents during CMS’s evolution can only serve to make it even better.

Stacie Straub started working for CitiTech Systems in December 2014.  She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, from South Dakota School of Mines And Technology. “My favorite part of the job is that every day is different, no two problems I work on are exactly the same. It keeps things interesting.” When asked what she’s looking forward to in the future, she replied “I’m looking forward to learning more and growing as a developer.”

Jay Pearson started with CitiTech in mid-November 2014.  He has an Associate of Applied Science degree in Programming and Application Design, from Western Dakota Technical Institute. He says, “My favorite part of my job is working with all the new technologies we’ll be using in Version 9.” He’s looking forward to growing, both personally and professionally as a developer.

Welcome to the CitiTech team, developers!

By Tari Muth

Features & Functionality

Accomplishments… your way! Now you get to decide how your Work Order’s and Work Report’s work accomplishments behave.

We listen to our users. So when they said, “I wish my activity’s accomplishment could default to 1”, we heard them; but, other users said, “I wish MY accomplishments would default to 0″… and still OTHER users said, “I want them to default to my activity’s ADP!” And – you guessed it – some users said, “I want to force MY users to enter a value! Please don’t default it at all!”

And we listened! It inspired a new system preference – so you can have it your way. With the “flick of a switch” (system preference), you can decide how your Work Accomplishments default (0, 1, your activity’s ADP, or a negative value, which forces users to enter a valid value).

Just another way your input improves our software – for all versions.

By Tari Muth

Cool Stuff!

Version9Version 9 is on the Horizon

The CitiTech development team has been hard at work bringing you a better experience in Version 9 – but to create something truly amazing we need you. In the near future we will be releasing our Beta version to our users for their input on the user interface for CMS, now that we are wrapping up the code behind it.

What should we expect in Version 9 and the upgrade process?

Our goal with the Beta release of Version 9 is to deliver a seamless process that copies an existing CMS 8.5 database and converts the schema with data intact. (Schema structure is the same; table and column names have been changed for consistency and readability.)

Faster Reports

We are proud to introduce our new approach for displaying reports using Stored Procedures. In Version 9 you will see a new report interface, user-modifiable queries (before the query is sent to the server, to reduce the amount of data being sent over the network), the ability to view the SQL of any data set CMS produces for reports, data readers, and more!

Updated User Interface

CMS has had a face lift, and is taking a new name – CitiCore. We are working hard on improving its look and your user experience. This is where your feedback will matter most so we can provide you with a tool that works for you, and is easy to use.

CitiSmart [Dispatcher Module] – iOS & Android Application

New technology is constantly evolving and we are excited to bring you CitiTech’s first step into our new future with CitiSmart – the Dispatcher module. This is only one of the many steps you will see as Version 9 evolves over its life cycle and beyond.

With the CitiSmart app, users will be able to dispatch work orders via email or text to users in the field. The user can edit work order information, start and stop work with NEW timesheet functionality, and complete the work order by creating a work report from said work order.

The good news:  the Dispatcher module is just the first of many modules in our vision to bring parts of our software to the field. The even better news: it will also be available in Version 8.5! The next update will include this functionality… look for it in the near future.  The best news of all:  if you currently own the Work Order module, the Dispatcher module is yours at no charge!

Software APIs

Over the development cycle of Version 9 we will be releasing Web APIs for our various modules that will reproduce all their functionality. Initially, the Work Orders module will be available, and additional modules will be released as we develop them.

This is what we have been up to, and we hope you’ll provide feedback… join us in creating something truly amazing!

By Cassidy Keyser

3rd Quarter 2014 Newsletter

 General Asset Management with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money.

 

Note from the Editor

Hello! Time for another fact-filled edition of our newsletter, and I’m excited to tell you what’s happening now (and also what’s coming very soon) here at CitiTech Systems, Inc.

It’s not every newsletter edition that lets me welcome our newest partner and also our newest user… and I must say, this feeling rocks!  Please join us in welcoming …

Read More

General Asset Management with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money.

CitiTech News

Software For Rent!?

Read More

GIS with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money.

Coming Soon…

Version 9 Reports!

Read More

General Asset Management with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money.

 

New CitiTech Partner!

CitiTech Systems has partnered with …

Read More

General Asset Management with CitiTech Management Software (CMS) increases performance and saves money. increases performance and saves money.

Guru’s Corner

Answered… More of YOUR Frequently-Asked Questions!

Read More

Fema Flames

 

Maintenance Management Nuggets

Multifarious approaches to maintenance exist, but it seems the best results are achieved …

Read More


Note from the Editor

Hello!  Time for another fact-filled edition of our newsletter, and I’m excited to tell you what’s happening now (and also what’s coming very soon) here at CitiTech Systems, Inc.

It’s not every newsletter edition that lets me welcome our newest partner and also our newest user… and I must say, this feeling rocks!  Please join us in welcoming our newest user, Oktibbeha County, Mississippi.

They’re taking advantage of CitiTech’s knowledge and tradition of caring to entrust us with importing their data into CMS – in its various forms, including spreadsheets and GIS-based asset data.  They’re also getting on-site training soon, so they can “go live” ASAP.  Welcome, Oktibbeha County!

Our newest partner is introduced by our president in “More CitiTech News”.  Click here to find out who it is – or simply read on!

Speaking of new things, we now have a blog!  CitiTech Systems will now be providing more up-to-date, relevant news articles – directly from our blog! No more waiting for the newsletter to get the latest news; just visit www.CitiTech.com to keep up with current news and informative articles from CitiTech.

We would love to hear from YOU on topics you would like to see discussed in our upcoming blog posts.

As you know, our software is living, breathing, and evolving to meet the needs of our user base… it’s a dynamic program whose users help shape its current and future functionality. It’s currently evolving into Version 9, and it will look better, be even easier to use (if that’s possible), and contain faster reports, I can’t WAIT until you get to use it! Until then, see the Coming Soon section for a “sneak peek”.

Putting together articles for Maintenance Management Nuggets, I’ve learned a lot about the management of maintenance. For example, a quick, one-shot solution to all our maintenance effectiveness problems doesn’t exist. Maintenance problems are best solved in two stages:  (1) changing the way people think, and (2) getting them to apply their changed thought processes to technical/process problems, one step at a time. Recently, I’ve discovered that the best approach to maintenance management may be… a combination of approaches! Here’s hoping you find a “nugget” – or two.

Version 7 users, make this the year you  upgrade to Version 8.5!  Conversion is straightforward, fast, and free – and the functionality will knock your socks off – yet it’s so similar to Version 7 that training isn’t needed (although webinars are offered, free of charge, for “how-to” sessions – did you know?).

We’re working hard on perfecting Version 9 – it’ll be released soon.  Don’t be left behind – convert to 8.5 before we release 9.  Call me; I can show you what you’re missing in 8.5 and arrange conversion. What do you have to lose?  The better question is, what do you have to gain? More and better functionality and reports. What’s not to love? 1 (800) 738-9892  x7624

We are almost as proud of our newsletter as we are our software, but are always open to feedback and suggestions.  What do you like best about it?  What would you like to see that isn’t there? Is there a topic or series of topics you’d like to see us cover?  Just as we listen to YOU, our users, when designing and enhancing our software, we’re interested in input and ideas from YOU for our newsletter.  Please continue to let us know how we’re doing and how we can make it even better!

CitiTech News

Software – For Rent?

ForRentsignThere’s a new approach in how people use software. In the old days, they bought a perpetual license for a one-time fee. Sophisticated systems, such as financial, equipment or management software like CMS, cost tens of thousands of dollars for a perpetual software license. It’s a big investment and requires a lot of thought and due diligence.

Well, times have changed. Rent, don’t buy software. Bill Gates of Microsoft advocated software rentals for years. It’s now here and a new approach called “Software as a Service” or “SaaS” has become commonplace. Similar to paying a monthly phone bill, software can be rented for a period of time. Quit paying the subscription fee and the software doesn’t work.

This change is evolutionary and changes how software can be used. CitiTech now offers a SaaS alternative. This will benefit potential users more than existing users because they already have a fully-paid perpetual license. But, occasionally, existing users may need a few extra user licenses. Renting them for a few months is significantly less expensive than buying perpetual licenses. The cost savings can be huge. Rather than spending thousands of dollars for a perpetual license, the software can be rented for as little as a few hundred dollars per user per month (depending on the modules).

New users, however, can see significant benefit. It eliminates the costly up-front investment, lowers software costs and changes software from a capital to a low-cost operational cost. It’s a “pay-as-you-go” approach that minimizes risk. The only disadvantage to SaaS is that it is not cost-effective for long-term users. Statistics show a perpetual license is more cost-effective for systems that have been in service for 3-5 years. Many of our users have been using CMS for ten years or more.

CitiTech has an answer for that. For users that want to rent CMS software and later decide to convert to a perpetual license, CitiTech will apply 50% of SaaS fees toward the perpetual license fee. This is an exciting new enhancement. If you are interested in learning more about renting CMS software, please call us at 1 (800) 738-9892.

By Brian McKiernan

Coming Soon…

Version 9 Reports!

Same great reports, only faster – and even easier to use. Although our previous approach to reports worked fine, processing the data using code and putting the results into an .xml file proved cumbersome.  So, our new approach leverages the power of the server by creating SQL statements directly against the data – for better and faster results!

Of course, our easy-to-use functionality for modifying existing reports and creating custom reports will still exist; just brace yourself for the Mach 1 report results! Although still in development, a “snapshot in time” picture of the Reports interface currently looks like this:

V9ReportScreen

By Tari Muth

Sneak Peek
More CitiTech News

New CitiTech Partner!

APWA 2014 Conference, Toronto, Canada – August 2014

 CitiTech Systems has partnered with Infrastructure  Solutions, a Canadian-based consultant that  specializes in asset management and capital planning. ISI has developed long-term asset capital improvement plans for over 60 communities in Canada and provides a priority-based optimization approach to asset management.   “Where CMS manages assets and suggest the best  work effort to maintain those assets, ISI takes it to  the next level”, said Brian McKiernan, CitiTech president.

Asset management is the objective because it is cheaper to maintain existing assets than replace them. CitiTech effectively manages assets to extend asset life and lower life cycle costs. But, prioritization and optimization adds a new dimension to maintenance management. It prioritizes work, by activity, to ensure the right focus on work effort. It prioritizes assets that need work to occur. It maximizes the work effort to deliver the right solution at the right time. And, it goes beyond work prioritization to incorporate optimization.

When is the best time to make these improvements based on higher-level analysis? Infrastructure Solutions will be CitiTech’s Canadian provider. We will work closely with them to implement a complete solution to the Canadian market. We are pleased, and privileged, to welcome Infrastructure Solutions to the CMS family.

By Brian McKiernan

Guru’s Corner

Answered… More of YOUR Frequently-Asked Questions!

Q: “I’ve had some employee turnover. How can I get a few new people up to speed?”

A: CitiTech Systems offers “webinars” (web-based training sessions) – at no charge!  Pick a topic, and give us a call to schedule it for a day and time that work for you. Best done after initial training, when a few users are being trained or as “refresher” training on one topic for one hour.

Q: “We’re new; all of us need trained – here. Do you offer on-site training?”

A: Yes! You can receive the Basic Training course for CMS at your location, using your data, for any and all modules purchased.  Best for initial software training or follow-up training, for small groups and multiple topics. Call us for a price quote; it’s surprisingly affordable.

Q: “Our organization has so many users, it would be impossible to get them in one room at the same time! Now what?”

A: CitiTech Systems offers a “Train the Trainers” program to train Trainers how to train Users, sometimes in conjunction with consultants, and aligned with the organization’s business rules.  Basic Training course plus Advanced Training course.  Best for large organizations.

Q: “Our organization was trained, but we could use the “Refresher” training, and a few of us could use the “Advanced Course”. How can we divide the training time?”

A: Any way you want!  Our trainers believe it’s YOUR training, and they’ll help you get the biggest “bang” for your buck.  They will work with you to determine what to cover when, divide training times into multiple sessions with various audiences, and can propose a tentative agenda for your review/approval before training occurs. Give us a call for a price quote today at 1 (800) 738-9892 x7624

By Tari Muth

Maintenance Management Nuggets

Multifarious approaches to maintenance exist, but it seems the best results are achieved using a combination of them!  Two are discussed below.

First, let’s talk about Maintenance Planning & Scheduling. Maintenance planning & scheduling prioritizes and organizes work so it can be executed in a highly efficient fashion. Managers and hourly employees alike in stores, accounting, purchasing, engineering and production must buy in to the concept and do their part for it to work.

Some of the major outcomes of planning and scheduling are:

•An organized approach to analyzing and executing any work identified

•Detailed plans, rules and records for the evaluation and execution of work

•Effective utilization of planners, supervisors and craftspeople.

These outcomes should yield these benefits:

•Cost savings due to efficient use of maintenance labor hours.

•Increased production yield from faster execution of all jobs.

•Reduced injuries and less stress from a better work flow.

As we can see, it’s all about efficiency and organization! When maintenance planning and scheduling is implemented alone, craftspeople often continue to be frustrated with emergencies caused by “surprise” breakdowns, forcing them to bypass the planning and scheduling procedures they labored too hard and long to deploy.

Next, let’s look at Condition-based Maintenance. Condition-based maintenance, or predictive maintenance as it’s often called, can be defined different ways. However, it is important to note that it goes far beyond vibration analysis.


Figure 1

Figure 1.

A Common Definition of Condition Based Maintenance The outcome of condition based maintenance is:

• Finding future failures before they manifest themselves as a breakdown of equipment or a component.

A breakdown is defined as the loss of the function a components was designed to accomplish e.g., when a pump stops pumping. As we can see, the outcome is pure information; knowing that an item will break in the future.

This in itself does not prevent any failures, but it allows you to:

• Gather information about the equipment and parts affected by the future breakdown.

• Plan and schedule the repair.

• Eliminate the cost of consequential damage caused by a functional failure.

When you repair it before a breakdown develops, you typically save 50-90%. (compare Figures 2 & 3)


Figures 2 and 3

Figure 2.

Planning and Scheduling Without Condition Based Maintenance.

When a breakdown is discovered, you must diagnose, plan, and repair it immediately to get production back up and running. Typically no resources are spared at this time.

Figure 3.

Planning and Scheduling and Condition Based Maintenance.

When impending failure is discovered ahead of time, you have time to plan it, get parts, schedule and repair it before a breakdown occurs. This typically cost 50-90% less and can often be scheduled with other repairs for less production impact.

The degree of savings above depends on how early you catch it, if can be repaired online, and the cost of repairs. Compare finding an impending breakdown on a standard motor you have in stock, attached to a production line scheduled for maintenance next Wednesday at 8 AM – 4 PM, to the scenario where a non-stock motor failed at night and forced a shutdown of the line for repair.

The second scenario will cost much more than the first as people scramble to find what’s wrong, call in several trades and perhaps stores. Add overtime, production losses, and contacting supplier(s) to find replacements and a familiar picture emerges. Implementation of predictive maintenance alone frequently results in many items being flagged for repair. However, only some of them are actually being repaired as maintenance does not have the efficient work practices (read planning and scheduling). Of course, this demoralizes operators and craftspeople as most items they find using predictive maintenance still break down instead of being repaired when discovered. On the other hand, when predictive maintenance and planning and scheduling are used together, they produce synergies like:

•reduced cost of spares and material

•increased labor productivity (primarily in maintenance but also for operators)

•better job satisfaction

•increased production yield

•effective work practices

•improved production quality

Either method has its good points, but also some bad points – and it seems that the impact of those bad points can be reduced, or even negated, by using both methods together. I learned this, and other stuff, from this awesome website:  Article

By Tari Muth

1st Quarter 2014 Newsletter

Note from the Editor

Hello, all. This newsletter brings some exciting news! We are working on….

Read More

CitiTech News

Same report – much, much faster!  User yells, "Hooray!"

Read More

What's New?

The Changing Face of Technology

This is an exciting time to be in the technology field. We started working on Version 9.0 in earnest…

Read More

Coming Soon…

One of the biggest challenges computer users have is linking or sharing information between software programs …

Read More

Guru's Corner

Answered… More of YOUR Frequently-Asked Questions!

Read More

Features & Functionality

Completing the Maintenance Management Cycle; Work Smarter, Not Harder …

Read More

Maintenance Management Nuggets

Here’s what I’ve discovered after thinking about the ways asset management are changing…

Read More


Note from the Editor

Hello! This newsletter brings some exciting news. We are working on the next awesome version of our software! Version 9 will look better, be even easier to use, and also will have faster reports. It’s not coming soon enough to be featured in our “Coming Soon” section; maybe we should create a new section called “Coming This Year!”.

Guru's Corner features MORE of your Frequently-Asked Questions; in this edition we feature Material Inventory.

Version 7 users, make this the year you  upgrade to Version 8.5! Conversion is straightforward, fast, and free – and the functionality will knock your socks off – yet it’s so similar to Version 7 that training isn’t needed (although webinars are offered, free of charge, for “how-to” sessions – did you know?). What do you have to lose? The better question is, what do you have to gain? More and better functionality and reports. What’s not to love? Give us a call and we can show you what you’re missing in Version 8 – and how easy conversion will be. Tell ‘em I sent ya.

Here’s something you may or may not know… in addition to being CitiTech’s newsletter editor, I’m also the senior trainer – AND, first-line tech support. This means that if you call with a question or problem, I’ll be the first in line to help you – but, sometimes the problem is complicated, or results from a snippet of code that pertains to a certain developer. I will do my best – but in the event I don’t know the answer, we’re lucky that there’s a whole team of talented developers that can help!

Something I’ve found out recently is that if you search for terms like “National Maintenance Management Standards”, you get TONS of results… but if you put quotes around those words, there are NO results! Aren't there any national standards?  I learned a lot about the management of maintenance, and hope you enjoy the article on “Maintenance Management Nuggets”. Please enjoy the newsletter, keep the suggestions coming, and continue to let us know what you think; we care!

CitiTech News

Tulsa County, Oklahoma used to dread producing a certain report, because due to its nature, it encompassed records "from the beginning of time" – meaning, from the very first day they began using CMS, back in 1999.

As you can imagine, the more data they had, the slower it became.

CitiTech Systems has recently re-worked this report to become more efficient, and it now runs in a mere fraction of the time it used to take, saving time and patience while eliminating the "dread" factor.

Just another example of how CitiTech is constantly improving performance.

By Tari Muth

What's New?  The Changing Face of Technology

This is an exciting time to be in the technology field. We started working on Version 9.0 in earnest at the beginning of the year and, as we started discussing all the new features and functions we wanted to add to CMS, we saw this as a tremendous opportunity to leverage technology and improve how CMS delivers and uses information.

CMS is getting a facelift. We’re building a new user interface that resizes itself to work on laptops and tablets with touch-screen technology. This revolutionary technology will work on all Android OS, Windows 8 RTM, and iPad tablets, but require a Snap-on keyboard due to on-screen keyboard visual interference. CMS9 uses Microsoft’s latest technology tools that incorporates web browsers with traditional Smart Client applications and delivers a “hybrid” solution that can operate on the Internet and in a traditional network, but isn’t dependent on a consistent network connection.

Now that the Internet and “data plans” offered by cell phone companies are more reliable and ubiquitous, the Internet and “the Cloud” have revolutionized how data is accessed, stored and shared. Version 9 will take advantage of these new wireless capabilities. It will be web-enabled using RemoteApp, an add-on of Windows 2008 R2+, and support cloud managed servers in both user-hosted and third-party hosted environments. CMS Version 9 can be hosted for as little as $30 per user per month (10-user system), with zero footprint and automatic software updates. IT departments love the “low maintenance” aspect of web-based applications.

CMS’s hybrid approach allows users to mix and match how they use the software. It can be deployed using the Internet, using traditional networks (the way it has been) and deployed without a network (CitiTech’s Smart Client disconnected capability). Researching the marketplace revealed the hybrid approach is the most flexible and sustainable method.

We are also porting CMS over to Smart Phones. Because of the smaller screen size, regular CMS forms don’t fit very well. We are developing a new user interface that adapts itself to smaller devices. The Dispatcher, a new CMS module that sends work orders to cell phones and other devices using email or text messages, is our first step into the exciting web/cell/mobile market. Once a field worker receives the email or text message, a hyperlink launches the Internet web services and lists all pending work orders for the crew member. The user can review a work order, complete it and automatically create a work report tracking work costs and accomplishments. This streamlines and improves workflow and simplifies how work is processed and completed.

In the next several months, user interfaces for work orders, work reports, inspections, work scheduling calendars and asset records will be redesigned to fit on Smart Phones and other small devices. With careful engineering, we hope to deploy CMS to the new generation of handheld devices that ensure reliability, security and affordability.

By Brian McKiernan

Coming Soon…

Web APIs – Bridging Data Islands

One of the biggest challenges computer users have is linking or sharing information between software programs. Being able to merge names and addresses from a spreadsheet file into a word document is a great achievement. CMS supports open architecture and provides flexible tools to link data together.

A new set of tools is being developed that will extend CMS data integration even further. Pre-defined WebAPIs serve as gateways between CMS and other systems. For example, CMS pay and leave data can be sent to the Payroll Office, inventory purchases and usages to the Finance Office, equipment costs to the fleet department, etc.

This gateway delivers bi-directional functionality. Using these WebAPIs, the user can develop scripts that can send CMS data to other systems or receive data from other systems to update CMS files.

WebAPIs, combined with CMS’s User-Defined Triggers module, build bridges between data islands and give CMS sophisticated data integration tools that can be scheduled or timed to occur as the result of a specific user-defined event. “This capability has been sorely missing in modern management systems”, said Brian McKiernan, CitiTech President. “We’ve always encouraged open architecture and even built some sophisticated interfaces to share data between CMS and large legacy systems. But, these required our help because our data is normalized. That means it manages data very efficiently, but nobody can figure out how to access the data without help”. WebAPIs provide that help to the user. When WebAPIs are released with Version 9, CMS users can share data between systems on-demand, on-event or on-schedule.

If you would like more information on how WebAPIs and User-Defined Triggers can improve data integration in your systems, please give us a call.

By Cassidy Keyser

WebAPIs!
Guru's Corner

Answered… More of YOUR Frequently-Asked Questions!

Q: "I have lots of material inventory. This makes inventory functions like my counts and reports so slow! Is there a way to speed these up?"

A: Yes! You can use a new table called "InvAnchor"; the anchor table is designed to host information on in-stock quantities – without going back to the beginning of time – so calculations are faster wherever in-stock quantities are calculated, including reports! It does require some initial setup, but users say it's not complicated to do, and worth the effort! See the HELP for more information; search for "inventory anchor table".

Q: "Is there an easy way to "clean up" my inventory records?"

A: Yes! You can use functions in the "Verify Data" section to identify and delete inventory "orphans", duplicate sites, and more. Other examples include resetting matlog (inventory usage) quantities and deleting unneeded (extra) inventory counts. Check it out!

By Tari Muth

Completing the Maintenance Management Cycle

Also known as a "feedback loop", CMS allows users to not only Plan, Schedule, Perform, Monitor, and Evaluate work… but also analyze that data and affect current and/or future work plans (and the resulting budget)! The result is better planning – so they work smarter, not harder!

The concept is simple – use existing data to update work plans to meet your target levels of service while working efficiently.

This "feedback loop" begins with planning. Plan your activities.

Then, schedule your activities throughout the year.

Work on those activities.

Monitor your progress, using Planned -vs- Actual reports.

Inspect your assets (evaluate their condition/level of service).

Analyze your work in terms of the resulting levels of service of your assets, and update work plans to meet your target levels of service – all at the touch of a button!

"What does that mean to me?", you may ask.

For one user, it meant that they were able to compare the costs for the same activity (Mowing) over many districts, find efficient practices, apply those practices statewide, and save approximately 2.4 million dollars! That's per year. For one activity (Mowing).

How much could YOU save? 

By Tari Muth

Maintenance Management Nuggets

Here’s what I’ve discovered about how ways of thinking about asset management are changing. Following are 15 of the most important areas of change which have occurred in the field of physical asset management over the past 15 years:

OLD – Maintenance is about preserving physical assets
NEW – Maintenance is about preserving the functions of assets

OLD – Routine maintenance is about preventing failures
NEW – Routine maintenance is about avoiding, reducing or eliminating the consequences of failures

OLD – The primary objective of the maintenance function is to optimize plant availability at minimum cost
NEW – Maintenance affects all aspects of business effectiveness and risk – safety, environmental integrity, energy efficiency, product quality and customer service, not just plant availability and cost

OLD – Most equipment becomes more likely to fail as it gets older
NEW – Most failures are not more likely to occur as equipment gets older

OLD- Comprehensive data about failure rates must be available before it is possible to develop a really successful maintenance program
NEW – Decisions about the management of equipment failures will nearly always have to be made with inadequate hard data about failure rates

OLD – There are three basic types of maintenance; predictive, preventive, and corrective
NEW – There are four basic types of maintenance; predictive, preventive, corrective, and detective

OLD – The frequency of condition-based maintenance tasks should be based on the frequency of the failure and/or failure the criticality of the item
NEW – The frequency of condition-based maintenance tasks should be based on the failure period (also known as the “lead time to failure” or “P-F interval”)

OLD – If both are technically appropriate, fixed interval overhauls/replacements are usually both cheaper and more effective than condition-based maintenance
NEW – If both are technically appropriate, condition-based maintenance is nearly always both cheaper and more effective fixed interval overhauls/ replacements throughout the life of the asset

OLD – Serious incidents/catastrophic accidents which involve multiple equipment failures are usually the result of “bad luck” or “acts of God”, and are hence unmanageable
NEW – To a considerable extent, the likelihood of a multiple failure is a manageable variable, especially in protected systems

OLD – The quickest and surest way to improve the performance of an existing “unreliable” asset is to upgrade the design
NEW – It is nearly always more cost-effective to try to improve the performance of an unreliable asset by improving the way it is operated and maintained, and only to review the design if this cannot deliver the required performance

OLD – Generic maintenance policies can be developed for most types of physical asset
NEW – Generic policies should only be applied to identical assets whose operating context, functions and desired standards of performance are also identical

OLD – Maintenance policies should be formulated by managers and maintenance schedules drawn up by suitably qualified specialists or external contractors (a top-down approach)
NEW – Maintenance policies should be formulated by the people closest to the assets. The role of management is to provide the tools to help them make the right decisions, and to ensure that the decisions are sensible and defensible

OLD – The maintenance department on its own can develop a successful, lasting maintenance program
NEW – A successful, lasting maintenance program can only be developed by maintainers and users of the assets working together

OLD – Equipment manufacturers are in the best position to develop maintenance programs for new physical assets
NEW – Equipment manufacturers can only play a limited (but still important) role in developing maintenance programs for new assets

OLD – It is possible to find a quick, one-shot solution to all our maintenance effectiveness problems
NEW – Maintenance problems are best solved in two stages: (1) change the way people think (2) get them to apply their changed thought processes to technical/ process problems – one step at a time

I learned this, and other stuff, from this website:
Article

By Tari Muth

Flood Ravaged Colorado Cities and Counties to Receive Free FEMA Software

Today we are announcing we will provide FEMA Disaster Reporting software at no cost to Colorado cities and counties impacted by the recent flooding disaster. “We lived through a devastating flood event. The 1972 Rapid City flood took several hundred lives and changed the landscape of the city forever”, Brian McKiernan, CitiTech president said. “After the initial shock of the event wears off and clean-up begins, the amount of detailed disaster reporting required by FEMA can delay federal assistance for years”, he said. CMS, CitiTech’s maintenance management software, has proved effective for FEMA disaster reporting and provides the detail needed to expedite FEMA disaster claims.

Devastated cities and counties need help now to clean-up the destruction, build roads and return the communities to normal as soon as possible. “We want to do what we can to help them recover from this disaster”, he said. The software will be licensed to affected cities and counties at no cost for one year and CitiTech will provide web-based training to help agencies put it into full production as quickly as possible. 

For information on how to receive the software at no cost, contact CitiTech Systems, P.O. Box 7626, Rapid City, SD 57709 or call 605-348-5069 or email us at corporate@cititech.com.

How to Change Legend Text of a Chart Object in Crystal Reports 11

A lot of us have run into the problem of trying to change the legend text in a chart object on a Crystal Report with no luck. Quit using workarounds that take up time and look sub par with these few quick steps:

1. Open report in Crystal Reports 11.

2. Set report to “Preview Mode” by clicking View -> Print Preview

3. When in “Preview Mode”, select the Legend label you want to change the text of.

4. Right click on the Legend label and select “Edit Axis Label”

5. Then, select the chart, right click and select Chart Expert -> Apply to group template.

7. Save the modified report!