Measuring Performance
After taking over responsibilities in the New Growth Department in October 2012 I helped to create and implement a "scorecard" for the department.
This created individual accountability and created a greater awareness of the issues the department was facing.
As a result of the implementation the following things have occurred:
- Estimation vs. Actual cost has moved from 50% cost overruns to 8% cost overruns
- New Meter Sets have gone from an 87% success rate to a 98% success rate
- We moved internal resources to be more evenly aligned with the workload
- Overall satisfaction with performance from internal and external customers has improved
Journey Mapping
Proven experience in journey mapping. The ability to break larger scale actions in to components that can be explored in greater detail.
Running
I made a conscious effort in 2013 to focus on my physical health. I had previously run some organized races with my wife, but never took the time to properly train for the longer runs. At the start of 2013 I chose the half marathon distance as the distance I wanted to train to complete at a decent pace. I have since completed a number of half-marathons and in the process have steadily improved my overall time and generally improved my overall health.
Outage Process Improvement
In the fall of 2014 I helped lead a Business Improvement Team that looked at the way Alagasco responds to customer outages. Through the efforts of the team we were able to make several improvements:
- Moved from paper to digital recording of data
- Created automatic updates to customers:
- Phone calls
- E-mails
- Text Messages
- Awareness through internal IVR
- Awareness on internal and external web applications
- Created a real time map of the process in action
- Started tracking and implementing further improvements based on newly acquired data
Top Picture (Example of automatic alerts set on accounts for impacted customers) Bottom Picture (Example of live map showing outage in process)
Top Picture (Previous way data was collected by hand in the field) Bottom Picture (New way in which data is collected electronically by the mechanic in the field)
Analysis
Below are examples of analysis that I perform as part of my daily work activities. Click on the images for more detail.
Engineering/GIS
I began my career at Alagasco as an Engineering/GIS Representative. During my time in Engineering I designed several hundred pipeline installation, replacement and retirement projects (see examples below). I also spent time on the steering committee for the company wide GIS initiative and was able to lead several new implementations of GIS throughout the company.
After spending two years as a member of the department I was promoted to supervisor of the department. During my time as supervisor I implemented a tracking mechanism (see graphs) to help improve efficiency and reduce a backlog from a number that hovered in the 300 range to a handful of projects at a time.
Measured Improvements
Improved Individual Performance
As part of my responsibilities as the Supervisor of Field Services I implemented a quarterly survey for every employee in my work group. The survey is completed by all internal employees that the surveyed employee has interacted with during that quarter.
We measure the areas of timeliness, communication, and effectiveness on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the highest).
I review the results with every employee at the end of each quarter and we develop a plan to improve performance.
From October 2014 to June 2015 the group of employees surveyed improved significantly in every area surveyed.
Increased Efficiency and Cost Savings
As part of my role as Supervisor of GIS/Engineering I made efforts to remove or dependence on third party contractors and increase the knowledge base within the work group.
Over a period of years we were able to:
- Reduce dependency on third party contractors from 117 projects per year in 2006 to 0 in 2011
- Save $457,938 by using existing resources to complete engineering jobs without adding headcount
- Save $234,828 by using existing resources to design engineering jobs without adding headcount
The end result was a $692,766 savings and increased capabilities and knowledge base of existing employees.
NACOLG
Below is a list of examples of the work I performed while working as the GIS Coordinator for the Northwest Alabama Council of Local Governments (NACOLG). Click on the images for more detail.
Reading
I have made a concerted effort to learn through reading since the beginning of 2012.
At this rate I average almost 16 books per year.
