PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE MAINTENANCE

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Municipal engineers are responsible for the periodic implementation of normal, generally minor, actions that ensure longevity of infrastructure assets in line with their design and operational requirements –i.e. maintenance. The efficient management of this maintenance is a crucial component of successful infrastructure asset lifecycle management. Well-maintained infrastructure serves consumer needs and underpins economic production, employment, taxes and rates.

Rapid urbanisation and population growth are placing ever-greater pressures on city infrastructure and the municipal engineers tasked with managing these assets in cash-strapped contexts. The need for systematic maintenance, based on accurate and informed decision-making, has never before been this imperative.

Without effective and informed decision-making:

Assets are allowed to run to failure

Important capital is wasted on continuously providing new assets

Faults are precipitated and breakdowns hastened

Service delivery is undermined and backlogs increase

In this complex environment, how do you make the right decisions about corrective and preventative interventions, manage stocks and work force, or more effectively schedule maintenance according to need?

IMQS MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT

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IMQS Software helps overcome key Maintenance Management challenges with a geospatial, GRAP-17 compliant Maintenance Management software package.

The infrastructure-management-specific software has been developed to make the every-day tasks of municipal engineers easier. From incident logging and maintenance scheduling to managing resources, time and cost, IMQS has packaged Maintenance Management into one system that links directly to a municipality’s Asset Register.

IMQS integrates, automates and unifies all maintenance-related data sources, processes, and reporting, presenting information in different views on an intuitive GIS Web-interface. This means that the right information is always accessible to the right people at the right time.

GEOGRAPHICALLY LINKED MAINTENANCE DATA

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A key departure point for determining the Maintenance Management approach is to have an up-to-date financial asset register, complete at the selected component level, linked to a GIS enabled viewer.

The IMQS Asset Register maintains data such as failure-mode status and criticality data linked to every asset or asset component. This data can either be linked to IMQS’s powerful GIS engine, or can easily integrate with an organisation’s existing GIS ERP system, such as Esri. GIS offers users a view on the wide geographic distribution of their asset networks - e.g. water distribution.

The IMQS Maintenance Management Module integrates with the IMQS Asset Register, as well as various existing municipal data sources, in order to provide the most complete information to municipal engineers for them to make timely decisions.

DATA SOURCES INCLUDE:

Hydraulic models

Infrastructure network layout data, such as GIS-layout data

In-field remote sensing values such as telemetry readings

Financial data such as budgets and expenses

SIX INTEGRATED MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT MODULES

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IMQS Maintenance Management consists of six modules that enable municipalities to overcome key maintenance lifecycle management challenges.

1. INCIDENT LOGGER

An incident logger allows citizens to easily alert the municipal call centre to an incident such as a burst water pipe on a stand or street in the municipal bounds. The module is an integral component in the municipal system that empowers citizens to play an active role in their communities and to ensure that transparent and good governance practices are met. Incident reporting is made efficient and transparent by automating broader processes and displaying centralised information geographically.

A report is made

The incident is logged via the call centre and linked to an existing asset component in the GIS-referenced IMQS system

The appropriate municipal authorities can view the status and authorisation history of outgoing work-orders, see what labour has been assigned to the job, and effortlessly print job cards

2. PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE

A preventative maintenance module enables engineers to:

Query asset, or asset-component status

Identify and maintain critical functions before asset failure

Identify asset faults that could lead to the loss of critical functions

Municipal engineers are therefore able to proactively schedule and specify maintenance at repeat intervals, according to asset components, and in relation to procedures and tasks that need to be performed.

In the case of water demand management, for example, Maintenance Management and the IMQS Water software package integrate in order for the municipality to extract comprehensive and complex reports that will inform managers about problem areas, and thus further feed the preventative maintenance system.

3. RESOURCE MANAGER

The Maintenance Management package fulfils the need for financial transparency and accountability on the Local Government level by seamlessly integrating with a municipality’s preferred Financial ERP system.

The Resource Manager Module allows the municipality to account for all resources utilized within the Maintenance Management system to maintain:

Employee, fleet, material and equipment lists

Tariffs and standard-time programmes for their employees

4. TIME AND COST

The Time and Cost module provides municipal managers with the ability to automate time sheets, as well as calculate overtime and cost for all skilled and unskilled labourers. Overtime and short-time reports can be exported to the municipality’s preferred Financial ERP to ensure payroll is updated accordingly.

The module therefore bolsters good governance, efficiency and transparency, while combating unnecessary expenditure.

5. METER MAINTENANCE

The Meter Maintenance Module provides managers with an up-to-date spatial view of all water-connection and meter-maintenance-activity history in the municipality’s boundaries. By querying meter-related information - leveraged from the IMQS Water Demand Management Module - engineers can schedule maintenance according to accurate information. The module, moreover, enables a municipal manager to generate detailed reports that offer insight into previous or ongoing work.

6. REPORTING

Reporting is integrated directly into the Maintenance Management system. Users can generate a wide range of reports – e.g. Trend Analysis, Full Detail and Performance reports - relating to all maintenance activities and costs. Payment certificates for all contract work can effortlessly be generated and printed on demand.

As an integrated and spatially enabled solution for Incident Reporting, IMQS Maintenance Management helps municipalities overcome challenges and extract the most value they can get from each asset they maintain.