Work order management systems help utility directors manage the operations of government, maintain public utility assets, and provide better customer service. These systems also help budget and track service costs from the planning stage through the life of an asset.

By creating and integrating water and sewer utility GIS mapping data layers into the Hansen system, the City/County Utility is now able to better track maintenance efforts and the associated crew and equipment costs. Key in this process was A&A’s lead programmer Steve Spillane, who developed an ArcGIS "Work Order Data Builder" extension.

This extension allows the GIS user to map and add specific information about a certain utility asset into a Geodatabase. The "Work Order Data Builder" tool can be used to build work order data for sidewalks, street segments, electric systems, or any other municipal asset. A&A’s Mark Wilson and Jason Lewis were able to digitize water & sewer mapping while using the pull down menus to populate the Hansen work order database with the new ArcGIS extension.

The new GIS-based digital mapping inventory will help the City/County officials better manage and track expenses they incur over the course of each fiscal year. Additionally, the City/County Utilities were able to save nearly 30 percent of projected costs by digitizing the mapping rather than using GPS location.

A&A’s GIS Director James Martin said, "We produced the foundation for a GIS based work order management product that was immediately useable in the Hansen system. Our ArcGIS Work Order Data Builder extension could be used to create mapping for any of the work order management programs with a spatial component, like Hansen."

While on the ESOP committee, Kelly hopes to help reshape the committee image so that all A&A employees understand that the committee is a valuable asset and more than a suggestion box. Kelly said, "Having both the responsibility of representing my colleagues and the opportunity to share ideas with four other people who have the same goals and values that I have is satisfying. I feel lucky to be a part of such a supportive group."

Kelly looks forward to encouraging her coworkers to embrace their roles as employee- owners and the challenge of helping them understand that they do have a voice within the company.