Effective Utility Management

The five keys to management success define approaches/systems that management can employ to achieve the outcome of the 10 attributes.

In order to determine where a utility stands and where the opportunities for improvement are, a five-step process of assessment is utilized.

• Assess current conditions
• Rank importance of each attribute within the utility
• Graph results to define levels of importance and achievement
• Select attribute to improve
• Develop and implement improvement plan

With an improvement plan under way, measurement becomes critical to ensure success. Measurements have been applied to each of the attributes to help in gauging the direction and level of change in relation to the strategic target.

As part of the process framework, an online toolbox of resources from six collaborating associations, developed in collaboration with the US Environmental Protection Agency, has been aligned to each attribute. Utilities can link directly from the toolbox to the respective association's offerings via the attribute.

Among the tools is the free, downloadable Effective Utility Management Primer for Water and Wastewater Utilities that is designed to help water and wastewater utility managers make practical, systematic changes to achieve excellence in utility performance.

Released in June 2008, the Resource Toolbox stems from a 2007 report titled Findings and Recommendations for a Water Utility Sector Management Strategy prepared by the collaborating associations – the American Public Works Association, American Water Works Association, Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, National Association of Clean Water Agencies, National Association of Water Companies, and the Water Environment Federation.

After the release of the Effective Utility Management Primer in June 2008, four utilities became case studies as to how the principal concepts and tools were applied. Each of the case studies describes a brief utility overview, delineates existing management initiatives, explains how the self-assessment was utilized, defines how the attributes were applied, lists the attribute-related utility measures, enumerates the keys to management success, and points out the lessons learned.

The Effective Water and Wastewater Utility Management Case Studies document was released in April 2009 and can be downloaded as a PDF file from the blue Related Resources box above as 2009 EUM Case Studies.