RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Municipal Information Systems Association of California (MISAC) awarded Western Municipal Water District with the 2013 Award for Excellence in Information – the fifth consecutive year Western has earned honors – at the MISAC conference earlier this month.
This is the third time in three years Western has received the Excellence in Information award. Each applicant receives a detailed evaluation and suggestions for IT program enhancements, but not every agency receives an award.
“Western proud to be acknowledged for implementing state-of-the-art technology for the benefit of our customers,” said Western General Manager John Rossi.
The Excellence in Information Technology Practices program recognizes cities and special districts throughout California that exceed industry practices. The program is revised annually to keep up with changing standards. Three qualified IT directors review each application, and the evaluation committee determines whether the applicant earns an award. There are two awards given—Achievement, or the higher level of Excellence.
The award application is a comprehensive look at all aspects of IT management and operations with one hundred questions in ten subject areas including Budget and Strategic Planning, IT Purchasing, Security, IT Operations and Staffing, Customer Satisfaction, Disaster Preparation and Recovery, Project Management and Application Development, Professional Development, GIS and Base Level Services.
Some of Western’s achievements contributing to this year’s award include the ‘go-live’ of Phase I of the District’s Hansen Work Management System; dynamic links between billing, geographic information systems, and work management systems; and significant progress on server virtualization which saved hardware and energy costs, as well as greatly improved disaster recovery capability.
All of these efforts contribute to providing more capability for communicating with and serving customers, increased efficiency, cost avoidance and improved security.
“MISAC is an esteemed IT industry organization,” said Rossi, who added, “To be honored by them with a second Award for Excellence means our IT team is truly performing at the highest level on behalf of Western and our ratepayers.”
