Enabling Digitalization at Eastern Municipal Water District.
The sixth-largest utility organization in California transformed its construction operations, setting itself up for future innovation.
CUSTOMER PROFILE
Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD) of Southern California is the water, wastewater service, and recycled water provider to nearly one million people living and working within a 555-squaremile service area in western Riverside County. It is California’s sixth-largest retail water agency.
CROSS-DEPARTMENTAL
- - CIP
- - DEV
- - Ops&Maint
THE SITUATION
EMWD had been utilizing a project management software system that no longer aligned with the Agency’s workflow requirements. The system was plagued by frequent outages, downtime, and cumbersome controls, requiring additional support from the vendor. The outdated software failed to meet current industry standards and workforce needs, consistently resulting in dissatisfaction among EMWD users and managers due to its inefficiencies.
THE SOLUTION
CIPO enables EMWD employees to collaborate effectively on a unified platform featuring personalized dashboards and role-specific functions. It has transformed communication among managers, administrators, inspectors, consultants, and contractors, allowing multiple users to monitor project health and progress easily. This improvement has resulted in faster document turnaround times. Leadership can access multi-year program and organizational performance data, offering real-time insights that support continuous performance improvement. Additionally, CIPO has streamlined the contractor payment requests, creating a transparent and efficient process.
BENEFITS
INCREASED EFFICIENCY
Improved team efficiencies cross-department. For example, change order approval process went from weeks to hours.
COST SAVINGS
Eliminated several independent, siloed systems by centralizing data onto the CIPO platform.
STANDARDIZATION
CIPO was initially implemented for the CIP department; however, it now also manages all development projects, and data is accessible to the Operations and Maintenance teams.
