DUBUQUE, Iowa- Cartegraph, a leader in operations management software and services, is pleased to announce the winners of their 2019-2020 High-Performance Government and High-Performance Operations awards, as well as their Flag Forward awards. These prestigious honors recognize government agencies, higher education institutions, utilities and businesses that leverage modern operations management technology to solve problems, work smarter and improve their communities.
The following 12 organizations rose to the top based on their accomplishments in several core areas, including infrastructure management and improvement, operational efficiency, citizen engagement and data-driven decision-making. The winners were honored this afternoon in front of 1,000 of their peers during a CarteCon Online virtual awards ceremony.
HIGH-PERFORMANCE GOVERNMENT AWARDS
ADAMS COUNTY, COLORADO
In 2019, Adams County shifted their focus to improve rural roads and communities. Digging into their Cartegraph work and asset data, the county identified an extensive demand for gravel road repairs, which opened the door to evaluating new material, equipment and practices that could result in more sustainable roadways. With an intent focus, the gravel road rehabilitation program targeted areas of repeated flooding and increased traffic volume, resulting in an 80 percent decrease in complaints, nearly half of all gravel roads rehabilitated and international attention from the World Bank.
CLAY COUNTY UTILITY AUTHORITY, FLORIDA
With 9 sewer treatment facilities, 170 sewer pumping stations, 450 miles of sewer gravity mains, 190 miles of pressurized sewer force mains and more than 10,000 manholes, even the smallest efficiencies mean big savings for Clay County Utility Authority. In 2019, their team saw an opportunity to optimize pump station checks and sewer main inspections with the help of Cartegraph’s mobile applications. The move to mobile is saving their team hours each day, has reduced labor costs by $41,000 and is allowing multiple crews to shift their focus to other tasks
CITY OF KINGSPORT, TENNESSEE
Maintaining compliance and mitigating environmental risk is critical when it comes to water and wastewater operations. Getting creative with their asset management system data fields and automations, Kingsport was able to streamline processes and reduce duplicate recordkeeping. As a result, field crews are spending half the time documenting responses, costs per task have been reduced by 30 percent, and office staff spend 75 percent less time per event and compile reports two days sooner. For 2019 alone, this equates to an incredible $15,000 in savings and efficiency gains.
CITY OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA
From playground inspections and inventorying signs to processing requests, the City of Pittsburgh drove efficiency across departments in 2019. Using 360-degree imagery and iPads in the field, the city inventoried tens of thousands of infrastructure assets, completed 800 playground inspections, processed 3,000 internal requests, cut down on paper and improved service delivery to residents. In addition, Pittsburgh was able to save $180,000 and keep cross-department communication open by expanding Cartegraph to their warehousing team instead of purchasing a separate software tool.
CITY OF PLYMOUTH, MINNESOTA
The City of Plymouth used to manage their infrastructure with a mash-up of disconnected tools. Procedures to inventory assets, track work orders and schedule repairs varied by department. So, they set out to find a comprehensive solution for Parks & Forestry, Public Works, Engineering, GIS and IT. Through a phased implementation, the Plymouth team worked together to inventory over 175,000 citywide assets. They’re estimating savings of nearly $40,000 annually on data entry, inspection efficiencies and windshield time while improving service for their residents.
CITY OF WAYNESBORO, VIRGINIA
Home of a headwaters tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, the City of Waynesboro has special conditions for their Municipal Separate Storm Sewer (MS4) permit. To help monitor and reduce stormwater runoff pollution, the stormwater team turned to Cartegraph. They created a street-sweeper route map in GIS to see live, up-to-date information on which blocks have been swept, as well as key nutrient removal numbers. Through this program, the city can now provide adequate data to the Department of Environmental Quality in a matter of seconds, saving the city an estimated 140 staff hours per year.
HIGH-PERFORMANCE OPERATIONS AWARDS
BEDFORD REGIONAL WATER AUTHORITY, VIRGINIA
A long-time customer of SEMS Technologies, Bedford Regional Water Authority is always looking for ways to improve their operations. When Cartegraph acquired SEMS in early 2020, the forward-thinking team decided to transition to Cartegraph’s cloud-based operations management software. They’re using Cartegraph to manage a number of distribution and collection assets, complete work orders through the mobile app and track key metrics for all of their reporting needs.
UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, colleges and universities were faced with significant challenges related to space management and occupancy planning. With ingenuity and creativity, the University of Notre Dame turned to their existing facility management system to prepare for a safe return to campus. They worked hand-in-hand with the Cartegraph team to configure the tools to visualize necessary modifications, accommodate physical distancing guidelines, adjust circulation controls and more.
CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
As the need for increased COVID-19 testing and treatment areas became apparent, the City of Philadelphia knew they needed to act quickly. By leveraging the space planning technology they already had in place, the team analyzed their options and decided to spin up a field hospital and testing center in a large stadium parking lot. They worked with the Cartegraph team to quickly configure the software to fit this new use case and communicated their plans across the city.
FLAG FORWARD AWARDS
Launched in 2017, the Flag Forward award winners are hand-picked by the Cartegraph team. Inspired by the Cartegraph flag, these awards are intended to recognize communities that are challenging the status quo and revolutionizing the industry. There are three recipients this year.
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
The team in Salt Lake City is embodying the meaning of ‘high-performance government’ and working hard to be better today than they were yesterday. Through the implementation and use of Cartegraph, they are reimagining their infrastructure management processes, breaking down departmental silos and improving communication across the organization. In doing so, they are transforming the way they manage their infrastructure assets and positioning themselves to benefit from enhanced data-driven decision-making.
CITY OF ARLINGTON, TEXAS: FORESTRY & BEAUTIFICATION
The Forestry and Beautification team in the City of Arlington is practicing smart and proactive stewardship of their valuable urban forest. By leveraging tree data in Cartegraph, they developed a holistic, long-term plan to mitigate the impact of the Emerald Ash Borer in their community. With this innovative approach, they were able to reduce the cost of treatment and tree removal, optimize replanting of less-susceptible species, and limit the impact on their urban canopy and community.
VILLAGE OF BUFFALO GROVE, ILLINOIS: PUBLIC WORKS
For the past five years, the Village of Buffalo Grove has focused on working smarter and finding ways to do more with less. By leveraging data, process improvement, and automations in Cartegraph, they have intentionally shifted to a more proactive approach to infrastructure management. Since 2017, they have seen a 14 percent decrease in reactionary requests coming in. During the same timeframe, they have achieved a 40 percent increase in overall task completion, all without adding staff.
About Cartegraph:
Cartegraph builds safer, more resilient and sustainable communities through better stewardship of buildings and infrastructure. They offer powerful, intuitive SaaS solutions that help government agencies, higher education institutions and businesses manage their physical assets and associated operations. With Cartegraph software, users optimize the life of their infrastructure, deploy maintenance resources efficiently and increase productivity to drive high-performance operations. For more information, visit cartegraph.com.