Winning Asset Management Integration
August 16, 2021 by Meredith Trimble
When public servants rely on siloed technology systems, unnecessary inefficiencies and hurdles can arise. Staff in Benton County, Oregon, experienced this as they navigated management of public works assets with a dated, third-party database that was not integrated with the county's modern enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution.
The database lacked audit and workflow capabilities. And the lack of connectivity meant data needed to be entered twice.
“It was very difficult to extract information from the system in a usable format," said George Looney, Benton County’s public works finance manager. "We needed to expand the capabilities beyond what our current system provided and wanted it to interface with our financial system.”
To move to a system that would help staff overcome these challenges and position the county for future success, leaders adopted an asset management solution that seamlessly integrated with Benton County’s existing ERP technology.
“We have been able to eliminate a lot of the double-entry and are entering into an auditable system with workflow,” explained Looney. “Overall, the organization has gained a better way to track costs, project future expenditures, and report on activities.”
Benton County’s adoption of an enterprise asset management solution streamlined core operations and improved financial oversight and reporting. For example, the county is now saving about four hours a week on accounts payable tasks and five hours a month on internal billing operations.
In public works, the new solution streamlined core operations and improved financial oversight and reporting. This results in more accurate budgeting and cost tracking.
The roads department can now track information more easily, use maps to create work orders, and access all needed information from a central data repository.
In engineering/survey, staff can now track more details from large projects to more accurately project future costs. Facilities can now track costs and labor usage by activity for the first time, enabling identification of what activities are better done in-house vs. being contracted out. And the parks department can track costs for each park, which helps with budgeting.
“The biggest takeaway from this project is how flexible the software is, which allows different types of users, departments, or activities to use it in a way that will make them more productive, efficient, and accurate,” said Looney.
Benton County won a 2021 Tyler Excellence Award for this successful, scalable integration of the asset management solution into their financial system.