City Reaps Benefits of Software from Managing Electrical Needs to Customer and Financial Data

April 06, 2010 -- Sandy, UT — Managing electrical infrastructure, customer needs, and financial data has been easier and more efficient at Traverse City, Michigan, since their implementation of Cityworks by Azteca Systems, Inc., the leading provider of GIS-centric management solutions. The City is utilizing the software and experiencing positive results and plans to expand the system throughout their enterprise.

After the Traverse City Engineering Department and Traverse City Light & Power (TCL&P) deployed ESRI’s ArcGIS to manage their electrical infrastructure data, the City soon recognized the benefits of using their geodatabase to manage their day-to-day operations. They looked to integrate work order management in a GIS environment to facilitate call taking, service request processing, and work order tracking. Cityworks met the City’s requirements and was selected with POWER Engineers (formerly VELOCITIE Integration, Inc.) for the implementation to replace the previous inventory system and integrate with their HTE financial and customer information system.

Cityworks was deployed in the City’s Electric Distribution, Generation, Meter Reading, and Administrative Departments providing enhanced management with the availability of and access to asset inventory and work order management data. Using Cityworks, the City achieved its main goal of improving electric operations through increased data availability and reporting capabilities, simplifying work processes, and eliminating redundant data entry. In addition, Cityworks is used as the primary tool for retrieving customer information. Recording customer calls with centralized access to customer data in the City’s HTE system through Cityworks has been very beneficial to the City.

“We were initially concerned about the adoption and use of the system (Cityworks) on a daily basis for data entry,” said Jeremy Dunlap, Traverse City, “so we provided a lot of training. We were surprised at how quickly the staff adopted Cityworks. Another bright spot was the way VELOCITIE (POWER) handled the implementation process – involving linemen and field crews upfront in making decisions about their use of the system.”

“It’s our customers like Traverse City that take advantage of the flexible nature of Cityworks and adapting it to meet their needs that really shine,” states Brian Haslam, President of Azteca Systems. “Though Cityworks has many strong points, among its most advantageous features is its ability to be tailored to fit the individual needs of an organization and adapting to whatever infrastructure they care for. This, coupled with its one-of-a-kind GIS-centric capabilities, makes for an unparalleled asset management system.”

Following their successful experience with their electric utility, the City is currently implementing Cityworks for water and sewer maintenance. The City plans to continue with future implementations in other City departments to fulfill their vision of an enterprise asset maintenance management system.

About Traverse City, MI
Located in the northern part of Michigan, Traverse City is home to roughly 142,000 people. The City functions as the major commercial area for a seven-county area and is known as the “Cherry Capital of the World” with an annual weeklong Cherry Festival in July. The Tuscany-like countryside also produces grapes and is among the Midwest’s finer wine-producing areas. Both winter and summer tourism is a key industry of the city with freshwater beaches, a mild summer climate, upscale golf resorts, vineyards, prodigious snow fall, nearby ski resorts, thousands of square miles of surrounding forests, and a historic downtown area home to many shops, restaurants, and offices.

About Azteca Systems, Inc.
Founded in 1986, Azteca Systems, Inc. is the leading provider of GIS-centric Enterprise Management Systems. Built exclusively on top of ESRI’s leading GIS technology, Cityworks is powerful, scalable, and affordable, designed for agencies that own and care for critical infrastructure, capital assets, and property.


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The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.


Photographs available upon request.


For more information, contact:
Lindsay Ferguson
Communications and Marketing
Azteca Systems, Inc.
801.523.2751
Email Contact
www.cityworks.com