4 Methods for Rapid Adoption of Cityworks

Without an existing asset management system (AMS) in place, the City of Pflugerville was forced to manage assets and track work activity manually. Those paper-based processes were inefficient, inconvenient for team members, and opened a door for human error and future problems.

The city knew they needed an asset management system (AMS) solution to take better care of their wastewater plants, parks, and streets. But with so many critical jobs that needed to be handled as soon as possible, they couldn’t afford to dedicate months solely to adopting the new solution.

Pflugerville decided to partner with Axim Geospatial (formerly GIS-inc) on a jumpstart implementation of Trimble Cityworks AMS.

Here’s how they fully integrated and embraced a new enterprise asset management system in just 10 weeks.

1. Jumpstart Approach

Pflugerville’s primary goal was to implement a robust computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) to better track work orders, even as they grew. They chose Trimble Cityworks because its capabilities fit their needs and also provided them with the flexibility to continue to expand their asset management strategy and operations in the future.

In particular, Trimble Cityworks AMS provides the structure for the city to continually lighten the load on employees over time. They could use the solution to streamline workflows for new work orders and pursue a Trimble Cityworks Storeroom implementation. The dashboards also allowed their team and the community to easily see critical information, from COVID updates and work orders to federal reimbursement.

The City of Pflugerville had an existing relationship with Axim Geospatial and was in proximity to key technical staff, so Axim Geo-spatial was a natural choice. Axim’s focus on collaboration and communication also aligned with the city’s values and goals for the project

Rather than transitioning every department into Trimble Cityworks at one time, the implementation team took a jumpstart approach: a small-scale implementation that enabled key stakeholders and end users to familiarize themselves with the solution before implementing it across all departments.

The initial configuration was lightweight and low-stress. Best of all, it didn’t add excessive work to the city’s overwhelming responsibilities.

2. Discovery Workshops 

Often, the most significant challenges organizations face when implementing a new asset management solution is a misunderstanding of what data needs to be transferred over, who will use the system, or how workflows should be defined.

To reduce headaches and confusion, the city and Axim Geospatial began with discovery workshops, where they:

• Discussed the city’s biggest pain points and created a plan to address them.
• Defined the workflows, work orders, and inspections.
• Met with key stakeholders and decision-makers to ensure everyone was on board.
• identified exactly what the team needed to do to help the city admins meet their goals.

The workshops allowed both teams to be on the same page every step of the way, which pre- vented headaches and created a smooth process from start to finish.

3. Communication and Testing

The system administrators at the City of Pflugerville were motivated and excited to learn the system, and they met with the implementation team on a weekly basis to keep the project on track.

These regular sync meetings kept the city fully aware of expectations and allowed time to celebrate milestones as they passed. They also ensured that the project stayed on track, the implementation team stayed accountable, and everyone looked at the process as a collective.

The City of Pflugerville also focused heavily on testing and provided remote feedback promptly to keep the process on track. Because city admins supported configuration changes with Axim Geospatial, the implementation team was able to tweak workflows and make edits quickly and efficiently. This meant less waiting and back-and-forth for the city, as well as ensuring that things worked exactly as they needed them to.

4. User Training

The City of Pflugerville wanted the ability to understand, manage, and utilize their solution after implementation had finished. As a result, the city and Axim Geospatial focused heavily on admin and end-user training. The team spent the last leg of the project focusing exclusively on knowledge transfer to set up the city’s admins and end users for success.

The Final Results

At the end of the jumpstart, the City of Pflugerville walked away with a Trimble Cityworks solution that simplified asset management, improved accountability, and delivered actionable insights—in just 10 weeks.

City officials were able to start taking citizen requests directly from Esri’s CrowdSource Reporter and other public engagement channels. On top of that, they are now able to:

• Streamline work orders created by police dispatch for damaged guardrails or potholes.
• Increase response time and citizen engagement.
• Send out work orders with ease.
• Track and justify work.
• Identify areas where work is lacking.
• Gain insights from historical data to make the best decisions moving forward.

With Trimble Cityworks, the City of Pflugerville is now able to save time, money, and headaches—and team members have peace of mind knowing their system will grow with them as the city expands.

By Kelly Farley, GISP, Axim Geospatial Solutions Architect