Organizational Development for Knowledge Management at Water ...

Project Study # 2
Development of Operations and Maintenance Manuals
Project Description: The goal was to develop operations and maintenance manuals for each of
three areas: water distribution, water treatment and sewage collection.
Size of Utility: 24 employees
Critical Success Factors: Ending up with documents that capture current knowledge which will
be used on a regular basis and can be updated as needed.
Barriers: Cost. Initial attempt was made to do this in-house, but there were time and writing
expertise issues. The utility could only afford to do one area (water treatment) in 2007.
Cost: $40,000 is budgeted for the first manual. It is assumed there will be similar costs for the
other two areas.
Alignment: These manuals will help provide tools for succession planning as well as good
reference documents for operations personnel.
Benefits: Will help capture the knowledge of senior employees, assist employees in the event
of emergency operations, and provide valuable operations and training tools for the future.
Compiled April 2007
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POC:
Karen Hawkins
City of Fairborn, Ohio
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