Stormwater Series: City of Burien, Washington

Burien implemented Cityworks in 2008 and deployed it in the Public Works Department to manage stormwater assets and maintenance. The new program was initially targeted at meeting the permit requirements. Drawing on their GIS asset inventory, specific inspections, and work order templates, Cityworks quickly helped Burien attain more accurate and efficient stormwater management practices well within the mandated time constraints. In early 2011, the City upgraded to the browser-based Cityworks AMS solution, enabling more staff in the office and in the field. More recently, the City has implemented Freeance technologies to allow field crews to use Cityworks in the field with iPads and Android tablets.

Burien uses a combination of GIS web services, Cityworks AMS, and Freeance to conduct field operations for public works crews. The City has two separate crew divisions, Street and Stormwater, using AMS. Stormwater crews began using Cityworks Desktop 4.5 with DataPump to manage their work orders and service requests. When Stormwater migrated to AMS, they brought the Street crews online to access and maintain their work in the field.

With Cityworks, Burien’s stormwater maintenance crews interact in real time with work orders in both the field and the office. As assets are replaced or installed, they are flagged for edit in the GIS. While field maintenance crews view the asset data over reference maps on handheld devices, inspections and work performed are updated. This provides city staff with constant access to the most current information. More accurate data produces more reliable reports, allowing the City to easily justify the system. Improved activity-based management helps mitigate liability because work can be easily tracked and substantiated.

The crews can now see all the assets they have to manage in one system. In addition, they can easily find and map assets and give updates to the GIS Department if any discrepancies exist. When crews find an issue with an asset in the field, they create a work order, perform the work, track associated costs, and (if the GIS needs updating) submit the work order to the GIS Department.