SAP Business Transformation Study Public Sector – Local Government and Public Agencies MARIN MUNICIPAL WATER OPTIMIZING ASSETS THROUGH INTEGRATION AND VISUALIZATION QUICK FACTS Financial and Strategic Benefits Better visibility and control across • operations Improved maintenance planning and • execution Improved visualization through software and • geographic information system synchronization Integration of work orders and resources to • improve asset management Improved reporting and forecasting abilities • for better fiscal and operational management Elimination of many manual tasks • New foundation for handling business needs • through scalable and flexible business platform Operational Benefits Reduced infrastructure data maintenance • costs by 33% Extended asset life cycle by 5% • Integrated purchasing and work orders to • lower operational costs Improved environmental compliance • Reduced warehouse expenses by 10% • Reduced dollar volume of inventory by 15% • Reduced capital projects budget • Lowered inventory carrying costs by 15% • Enabled preventive maintenance • Completed higher percentage of work • orders Marin Municipal Water District is a public agency that provides high-quality drinking water to 190,000 people in a 147-square- mile area of Marin County, California. Marin implemented solutions from both the SAP for Public Sector and SAP for Utilities sets of solutions to uphold its mission to help ensure the fiscal and envi- ronmental vitality of the district for future generations. Access to real-time informa- tion and integrated business processes and data were at the heart of the infra- structure decision. Industry Public sector – local government and public agencies Revenue US$60 million Employees 250 Location Corte Madera, California Web Site www.marinwater.org SAP® Solutions and Services SAP® Service and Asset Management solution, SAP ERP application, SAP for Public Sector and SAP for Utilities solutions, SAP Active Global Support organization Key Challenges Improve operational effectiveness within a • constrained budgetary environment Satisfy increasing environmental and regula- • tory requirements Replace legacy IT system with an integrated • software solution Increase enterprise-wide visibility with focus • on cost management Improve processes for financial reporting • Why SAP Was Selected Integrated platform with comprehensive • functionality Tight integration with SAP® and non-SAP • software at the highest level of detail Best business practices within the solution • Industry knowledge and expertise • Readily accessible real-time data • Solution scalability that enables growth • Implementation Best Practices Secure management buy-in of IT decisions • Attend conferences to learn from others and • minimize risks Use ASAP methodology and big bang ap- • proach after adequate preparation and training Understand SAP software before blueprint- • ing if working with outside consultant Minimize customizations to control project • costs Low Total Cost of Ownership Eliminated legacy systems and maximized • existing infrastructure to support operations Reduced number of interfaces to minimize IT • and maintenance costs Lowered effort to maintain and support ap- • plication by using central database Used scalability to support growth • Achieved implementation in 9 months • Held customization to a minimum •
Transcript
SAP Business Transformation StudyPublic Sector – Local Government and Public Agencies
MARIN MUNICIPAL WATER OPTIMIZING ASSETS THROUGHINTEGRATION AND VISUALIZATION
QUICK FACTS
Financial and Strategic Benefi tsBetter visibility and control across •operationsImproved maintenance planning and •executionImproved visualization through software and •geographic information system synchronization Integration of work orders and resources to •improve asset managementImproved reporting and forecasting abilities •for better fiscal and operational management Elimination of many manual tasks •New foundation for handling business needs •through scalable and flexible business platform
Operational Benefi ts Reduced infrastructure data maintenance •costs by 33%Extended asset life cycle by 5% •Integrated purchasing and work orders to •lower operational costsImproved environmental compliance •Reduced warehouse expenses by 10% •Reduced dollar volume of inventory by 15% •Reduced capital projects budget •Lowered inventory carrying costs by 15% •Enabled preventive maintenance •Completed higher percentage of work •orders
Marin Municipal Water District is a public agency that provides high-quality drinking water to 190,000 people in a 147-square-mile area of Marin County, California. Marin implemented solutions from both the SAP for Public Sector and SAP for Utilities sets of solutions to uphold its mission to help ensure the fiscal and envi-ronmental vitality of the district for future generations. Access to real-time informa-tion and integrated business processes and data were at the heart of the infra-structure decision.
Industry Public sector – local government and public agencies
Revenue US$60 million
Employees 250
LocationCorte Madera, California
Web Site www.marinwater.org
SAP® Solutions and Services SAP® Service and Asset Management solution, SAP ERP application, SAP for Public Sector and SAP for Utilities solutions, SAP Active Global Support organization
Key ChallengesImprove operational effectiveness within a •constrained budgetary environmentSatisfy increasing environmental and regula- •tory requirementsReplace legacy IT system with an integrated •software solutionIncrease enterprise-wide visibility with focus •on cost managementImprove processes for financial reporting •
Why SAP Was SelectedIntegrated platform with comprehensive •functionality Tight integration with SAP® and non-SAP •software at the highest level of detailBest business practices within the solution •Industry knowledge and expertise •Readily accessible real-time data •Solution scalability that enables growth •
Implementation Best PracticesSecure management buy-in of IT decisions •Attend conferences to learn from others and •minimize risksUse ASAP methodology and big bang ap- •proach after adequate preparation and trainingUnderstand SAP software before blueprint- •ing if working with outside consultantMinimize customizations to control project •costs
Low Total Cost of OwnershipEliminated legacy systems and maximized •existing infrastructure to support operationsReduced number of interfaces to minimize IT •and maintenance costsLowered effort to maintain and support ap- •plication by using central database Used scalability to support growth •Achieved implementation in 9 months •Held customization to a minimum •
New Technology Platform Quenches Thirst for Improvement
Marin Municipal Water District is respon-sible for 30 billion gallons of water. This water must make its way through 925 miles of pipeline, 140 storage tanks, 95 pump stations, and 3 potable water treat-ment plants. It’s a responsibility Marin takes seriously – but its aging IT sys-tem was impeding the municipality’s performance.
Marin’s IT system was comprised of dis-parate, legacy applications that offered no evolution path and were fraught with inef-ficient and heavily paper-based process-es. “Our old work-order system had zero reporting capabilities. We literally had to print reports and rekey the information into another application,” says Bob Fairchild, Marin’s IT manager.
Finding the Right Solution
Operationally, Marin wanted a cost- effective solution that would support its mandate to deliver water at reasonable prices. The solution had to integrate bill-ing, HR, and work-order systems, while integrating with Marin’s geographic infor-mation system (GIS). And Marin wanted to avoid a lot of customization. The deci-sion to go with SAP® software was unan-imous. “It helps to have unified buy-in so everyone maintains a positive attitude during implementation,” Fairchild explains.
Speeding Up the Implementation
Using the ASAP methodology, Marin took
a “big bang” approach and implemented all of its SAP software at once. The pro-cess took nine months from start to fin-ish. “We learned how other municipalities performed their SAP implementations so we could streamline our efforts. Also, we identified business processes support-ed by SAP solutions as best practices and adapted to conform to the software, not modify the software for our needs,” Fairchild adds.
Swimming in Improvements
Marin has retired its paper-based pro-cesses for automated, integrated func-tionality. As a result, Marin has improved maintenance planning. “A lot of our territo-ry is remote from sources of distribution. If you don’t leave the yard with the prop-er tools, it’s a long drive to get parts. The SAP software has enabled us to be more efficient in our work,” says Jon Mandell, Marin’s engineering manager.
In its work-order system, Marin can bet-ter plan and execute maintenance activi-ties. “Before, we had dozens of business processes to track time. Now we have just one tool,” Mandell explains. “So we can quantify the hours to complete a task better to prioritize and avoid resource shortages.”
Marin can also more easily perform work on a preventive basis. “By convert-ing manual processes into SAP mainte-nance plans, we can forecast hours and resource needs to run our operations more effectively and efficiently,” Mandell adds.
Leveraging Enterprise-Wide Visibility and Data Integrity
With better data access and improved functionality, Marin can map data to its GIS to visualize all assets within a job number. “In a tabular system, you could be missing sections and not know it. Now we can quickly sync the software and GIS to see the quality and accuracy of our data,” Fairchild says.
Planning decisions are made more easi-ly as well. “By integrating our SAP soft-ware and GIS, we can spatially see the costs of leaks to identify trends and bet-ter prioritize capital expenses. We can also consider this information in the con-text of its proximity to endangered spe-cies to uphold our conservation efforts,” Mandell adds.
With better operational data, Marin has made other improvements. It was able to assess its warehouse requirements and reduce operational costs. Also, an up-to-date customer database and eas-ier access to data records have helped streamline Marin’s customer service efforts. “When we correspond with the public about upcoming work, we can assemble our mailing lists in minutes for affected neighborhoods. It used to take hours,” Mandell explains.
Marin will use its improved enterprise-wide visibility and data integrity to build strategic plans so it can manage its resources most effectively and continual-ly improve.
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“By converting manual processes into SAP maintenance plans, we can forecast
hours and resource needs to run our operations more effectively and efficiently.”
Brian Richards, Business Analyst, Marin Municipal Water District
