City of Clearwater Implements Oracle(R) Utilities Work and Asset Management

    REDWOOD SHORES, Calif., March 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
    --  Oracle today announced that the City of Clearwater has successfully
        implemented Oracle(R) Utilities Work and Asset Management to gain a
        comprehensive view of its infrastructure assets to help enhance
        planning, streamline operations and contain costs.
    --  The City of Clearwater's gas department is the city's fourth
        department to deploy Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management,
        joining the city's Public Utilities, Solid Waste/General Services and
        Police Departments on the Oracle system.
    --  The City of Clearwater -- located in the Pinellas peninsula midway on
        Florida's West Coast, and home to more than 110,000 permanent
        residents and 20,000 additional winter residents -- required a single
        asset management solution that would provide a cohesive view of
        citywide capital resources while also supporting tailored requirements
        for multiple departments.  The city was migrating from a legacy system
        that did not provide visibility across multiple departments or the
        applications required to enhance asset management processes.
    --  To maintain high levels of service to its citizens and complete field
        maintenance to prepare for Florida's tropical storm season, the City
        of Clearwater is using Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management to
        improve budgeting and planning throughout the asset lifecycle, and to
        optimize its field maintenance workforce and manage costs effectively.
    --  Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management provides city managers with
        an enhanced understanding of field asset maintenance costs, which is
        essential to budget effectively for significant equipment repairs and
        replacements.  The application allows the City to take a proactive
        approach to asset maintenance -- resulting in fewer unplanned system
        outages due to faulty equipment.  City managers also use the
        information from the Oracle application to provide elected officials
        and residents with quantifiable information and increased visibility
        into the City's asset management operations.  Further, the Oracle
        system supports enhanced recordkeeping that is available to any
        authorized user.


    Phasing In Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management
    --  The City's leaders directed a phased, department-by-department rollout
        for the Oracle Work and Asset Management application.  The City
        initially implemented the Oracle application in 2004 at its Public
        Utilities department, which included the Water, Wastewater and
        Reclaimed Water divisions.  In 2006, the City rolled out the
        application at the Solid Waste/General Services department, which is
        responsible for citywide building and fleet maintenance.  This rollout
        also addressed users in the Police department responsible for asset
        and property management.
    --  The City's gas department, Clearwater Gas System, also went live with
        the Oracle application in summer 2007.  Clearwater Gas System provides
        natural and propane gas equipment installation and services to 19,000
        customers across a 330-square-mile service territory.  The
        department's 90 employees use Oracle Utilities Work and Asset
        Management to proactively maintain assets, as well as more effectively
        align the workforce to department priorities and develop accurate
        budget forecasts.


    Increasing Efficiencies Across City Government
    --  Currently 200 city employees use the Oracle application.  The City of
        Clearwater will continue to implement Oracle Utilities Work and Asset
        Management for additional asset-centric departments, including the
        Parks and Recreation Department.  The City will also enable mobile
        asset management updates by deploying the application on laptops for
        field maintenance and repairs, which will help the City make immediate
        updates to the system and simplify the administration process for
        employees.


    Supporting Quotes
    --  "Establishing visibility across multiple departments is essential to
        optimizing equipment and associated staffing resources, while also
        closely tracking costs.  We look forward to continuing to work with
        the City of Clearwater to help it maintain its highly efficient
        operations," said Quentin Grady, senior vice president and general
        manager, Oracle Utilities.
    --  "We continue to focus on expanding our services while increasing
        employee efficiency.  Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management
        provides us with a clearer understanding of the maintenance status of
        our diverse field assets.  We are using this information to schedule
        service proactively and map priorities to staff resources, which
        enables us to increase productivity and service to our residents.  In
        the past, much of our valuable data resided with key employees.  The
        Oracle system provides a central source of accurate, up-to-date data,
        allowing us to share information citywide and better serve our
        citizens," said Dan Mayer, director of IT, Information Technology
        Department, City of Clearwater.


    Supporting Resources
http://www.oracle.com/industries/utilities/index.html
http://www.oracle.com/industries/utilities/oracle-utilities-work-asset-
management.html
http://www.myclearwater.com/

About Oracle Utilities

Oracle Utilities delivers the proven software applications that help utilities achieve competitive advantage, business performance excellence and a lower total cost of technology ownership. Oracle Utilities integrates industry-specific customer care and billing, network management, work and asset management, mobile workforce management and meter data management applications with the capabilities of Oracle's industry-leading enterprise applications, business intelligence tools, middleware and database technologies. Oracle Utilities enables its customers to adapt more nimbly to market deregulation, meet ever-evolving customer demands, and deliver on commitments to environmental conservation. For more information, visit http://www.oracle.com/industries/utilities.

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