HomeMy WebLinkAboutM-82-04991:1
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Howard V. Gary
City Manager
Randolph Rosencrantz
Assistant City Manager
Consolidation of Communicatioi
Maintenance Functions
In March of this year, I requested the Operations Analysis Division
of the Management & Budget Department to prepare a report on how
the City performs the maintenance function for communications equip-
ment. Specifically, they were asked to examine the organizational
structure and the service capabilities of the two divisions pro-
viding communications maintenance services.
The study has been completed and a significant realignment of orga-
nizational units is recommended. Specifically, it is recommended
that the communications unit now presently part of Computers and
Communications Department be removed from that department and be
consolidated with the Communications Maintenance unit presently a
part of the Department of Building and Vehicle Maintenance.
There are a number of reasons to consolidate these two units:
1) Responsibility, authority and accountability for, will
be clearly identified.
2) Coordination in the purchase and ability to maintain
equipment will be significantly improved.
3) The redundancy of maintaining two separate repair and
maintenance facilities will be eliminated.
4) The consolidation will result in an improved opportunity
to reduce expenditures and control costs.
I strongly recommend that we move as quickly as possible to con-
solidate these units into one organization.
This proposal has been reviewed by representatives of Booz, Allen
and Hamilton, and by members of the Computers and Communications
users group. All concur with the concept and recommend approval.
A copy of the study is attached.
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CITY OF MIAMI
COINHUNICAT ION'S 114AINTBANCE
STATUS REPORT
Prepared by
Operations Analysis Division
Department of Management and Budget
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CITY OF MIANI
CXPIUNII CAT ION 11AINTE1'ANCE STATUS REPORT
PURPOSE
At the request of the Assistant City Manager 11r. R. Rosencrantz, the
Department of Management and Budget, Operations Analysis Division
reviewed the services provided by the two City of Miami communications
maintenance divisions. The purpose was to establish the status and
organization of the communications maintenance function within the City
of Mi ani .
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The methodology instituted by the Operations Analysis Division was to
interview the providers of the maintenance services, as %,.ell as the
primary users of the communication maintenance services and to analyze
the various finding;. The City concnunication maintenance functions are
divided bet%veen trio entities: the Cosdriunication ?laintenance Division
(C11D) of the Departvient of Building and Vehicle Haintenance (W"I) and
the Teleccni,nunications Services Division (TSD) of the Departt,rent of
Computers and Communications (DCC). The primary users of the
communication maintenance services are the Fire and Police Departments.
The Building and Vehicle Maintenance personnel interviewed were:
C. E. Cox, Department Director
Julio Fernandez, Superintendent, Co,,u,nrnicatioils 1aintenance
Division
Bob Ferr>>r, Sup;?r'vlsor, CU„linunic,itlon$ ilairrtc-nance Division
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The Department Qf Comput42rs and Communications personnel consulted were:
Bryce Genzlinger, Director
Floyd Joubert, Assistant Director
S. Drakatos, Systems Engineer II
The users of the Fire Department consulted were:
Chief Cox, Communications Section
Lt. Fredrickson, Communications Section
From the Police Department the following consulted were:
Deputy Chief E. B. Gunn, Support Services Bureau
Captain Larry Beomler, Commander, Communications Bureau
Officer Jimmy Hicks, Planning and Research Section
Mr. Cliff Root, Systems Development Manager
In addition, George Birch of Booze, Allen & Hamilton was consulted.
FINDINGS
I. RESPONSIBILITIES:
The responsibilities of the two coi;llnunication maintenance divisions
are as follows:
The
Corn-rnunications
1aintenance
Division
(0'1D) has
15
employees
and
a total budget
of $903,677.
0'1D is
responsible
on
a 24-hour
basis for the following general types of communication equipment:
(See attachment `l for specific details.)
1. Public Announcement Systeris throughout the City such as:
A. Marine Stadiur;r
B . City Co,-eni ssi on Chambers
C. Department Director's Offices (City Com-rissi(,—n
Transciissions, etc.)
D. Or3,igo '3ual Stjdiu.-;l
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2. MobiJ e terminals in 150 police cars and 47 fire apparatus.
3. The EKG equipment in the Fire Department's ten rescue
trucks.
4. Special communication radios in Police Chiefs' cars and
police digital and 2 way radios.
5. Beeper and beeper terminals'in City Departments (104
Police, 46 Fire and 250 others).
6. The engineering and planning of touch tone radios for
police cars.
The Telecommunications Services Division (TSD) has 7 employees and a
total budget of $1,456,013. TSD is responsible for the development of
the City's telecommunications services which involves the design and
installation of the telecommunications network, the data communications
telephone network, and terminal interface between terminals and the
computer.
1. flatters relati►q to the Federal CoiilmuniCatioil Cor?:nission
(FCC) licensing and control of communications networks. This
involves the adherence to compliance with FCC codes.
2. Planning, development, and maintenance of data communication
equipment in the City Departments. They presently maintain
369 terminals, mode►►rs, etc. (Police 176, Fire 50, other 143).
3. Responsible for all planning, development and billing of City
telephone service; a total of 3,500 instruments (Fire 100,
Police 400, other 3,000) and a total of 1,400 lines (Fire 33,
Police 200, and other 1,112).
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4. The handling,)' support maintenance contracts with suppliers,
i.e. Burroughs.
5. The training of City of Miami operators on the TIMS word
processing system (Police 8, Fire 5, other 4).
6. Developing a list of projects which is updated each week
with estimated start and completion dates. (See attachment
#2)
7. Planning and development of all City emergency services and
local government communications; for a total of 17 channels.
(Police 8, Fire 5, other 4).
8. Consulting services for planning future communication needs
for City users.
9. Maintaining all radio call assignments.
10. Responsible for all teleC01,1111ll►lications capital improvement
projects. (Improved radio, voice, and data communications
networks projects - pg. 194, Capital Improvement Program
1931-19°7)
II. PROBLEHS:
Ci•ID and TSD expressed t►;o major problems that they encounter: (1)
equipment acquisition problems; and (2) starf problems.
1. Equipment is purchased by user departments without contacting
the C011111"U►llcation caintenance departments. An example is the
radio that was purchased by the Police Department and
installed on a boat. The radio interfered in the communica-
tion channels and F. Joubert was called by the FCC to
determine why the r•adiu did not have license. This
p1-0i)1em is also encotjnbred in thf� of equip-
c,ent as the techiiici�r,s need Io fardliari.ze tho::Iselves ,iith
the product.
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Often techni•. ians are not a:rare that the equipment was
purchased by the City until brought in for maintenance.
2. The second problem is the lack of experienced technical
personnel in the Hiami area to hire in these departments.
This problem has been partially alleviated by providing
on-the-job training.
III. USER PERCEPTIO^JS:
There was a general consensus among the two primary user
departments (Fire and Police) on the difficulties that they were
experiencing with the communication maintenance divisions.
1. The equipment is often not repaired as quickly as they would
like it to be. The users said that this was due to the
communication maintenance divisions being "short-staffed"
(this was also expressed by the communication maintenance
personnel).
2. There has been a lack of priority given to the needs of the
tr.ro user departments. Both said that they did not believe
that tine cciii!,lunication maintenance divisions recognized the
urgency of their requests.
CONCLUSIONS
Based upon the conversations that we had with the providers, as well
as the users of the communication maintenance divisions, the
f0l10:4ing conclusions have been reached:
1. The lack of coordination in the purchase of equipinont causes
problems in terms of iniintalning the equipment and FCC
1iconsinn ,Then required.
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2. Both of the cq)munication maintenance divisions may require
additional technicians and an equipment "redundancy" factor
built-in. There is an additional problem of lack of trained
personnel in the area.
3. There is a preference to combine the maintenance services and
preferably have them operate as a separate department.
4. Technicians need more training on new and old equipment.
5. The "User's Committee" which is presently in operation is not
operating as timely and effectively as the users would like
6. The Police and Fire Department's equipment is not given the
priority these departments would like.
7. Cf-1D has no responsibility in the area of computer related
maintenance.
3. TSD has considerable effort directed toward planning and
development of radio coi-im1unications. Based on 2/19/82 status
report (attachment -`2), 12 projects (31.671 were listed for
radio coi;munications, 19 projects (50.0`)) were listed for
computer communications, 5 projects (13.2'1 were listed for
telephone coml;lunlcatlons, and 2 projects (5.2`-.) were listed
combining types of communication. It should be noted that
the 12 radio projects have considerable impact on maintenance
requirements: 1 project is Citywide in scope, 6 projects
impact the Police and Fire Depts. as major users, and 5
projects are listed as affecting DCC. Therefore, the major
thrust of radio planning and developments, as accomplished by
TSD, is felt by the City's primary end users with no direct
provision for maintenance support.
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9. Both m4intenance divisions maintain data entry terriinals
which have the same maintenance characteristics.
10. There appears to be a trend toward a "computer -driven"
telecommunications network.
RECOi'ti•tENDAT I ONS :
PRIMARY USERS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS
The following recommendations were made by the personnel interviewed
(users and service providers):
1. The two maintenance organizations should be combined and
operated as a distinct department.
2. The number- of maintenance communication technicians should be
reviewed for adequacy.
3. The possibility should be explored to use some part-time
help. For ex�.mple, tie use of retired technicians.
4. All technicians shculd be provided with miore intensive
training for the equipment on hand and/or on order.
5. There must be clu,,er coordination bet►�reen user and
maintenance / planning personnel on purchase of now, or
replacewent equipment. Within this coordination other
viewpoints than maintenance considerations should be
addressed. These would include col7patabi i i ty, facility of
field up -grading, mean time between failures (;•1TBF) ,
available diaytiostic equilm-tit, and eduasior► of technology
levels. Inclusion of ;,raintenance personnel in the design
process is of pri:.Iary i:ilpor%,-111.',E .
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S DMG RECM-It 1ENDAT I0NS
Based upon conclusions reached from the interviews with the maintenance
organizations and primary "end" users, the Department of Management and
Budget has formulated three alternatives for improved communications
maintenance services.
ALTERNATIVE #1
There is a rationale to support a conclusion that maintenance
services, as they currently exist in two separate organizations,
could be improved by establishing purchasing policy and operating
parameters and a strengthening of the role of the Computer User's
Committee.
1LTEr"NATTVE '2
There is a rationale to support the consolidation of communications
planning and maintenance functions under one of the two current
operating departments.
ALTERNATIVE 713
There is a rationale to suggest that the creation of a separate
communications maintenance organization would i►,rprove services.
Department of Hanagement and Budget recon,.,ends Alternative
The consolidation of communication planning and maintenance functions under
the Department of Building and Vehicle iaintenance (BVIM) is recommended.
The centralization of services at BVi1 would improve the maintenance
function by providing greeter personnel utilization and coordination of
resources. In addition, a fiscal mechanism exists to develop unit costs,
to charge using departments for services, and to develop accurate
inventories.
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If this consolidation is ..accepted one Assistant Director, one Systems
Engineer I, one Clerk II, one Account Clerk, and two Communications
Repairmen will be transferred to BV0. In addition, Booze, Allen and
Hamilton, Inc. is in concurrence with this recommendation.
It is further recommended that proposed purchasing procedures be adopted
and that the role of the computers USERS' Committee be strengthened.
It is recommended that the reorganization take effect immediately upon
approval by the City Manager.
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If this consolidation is ..accepted one Assistant Director, one Systems
Engineer I, one Clerk II, one Account Clerk, and two Communications
Repairmen will be transferred to BV0. In addition, Booze, Allen and
Hamilton, Inc. is in concurrence with this recommendation.
It is further recommended that proposed purchasing procedures be adopted
and that the role of the computers USERS' Committee be strengthened.
It is recommended that the reorganization take effect immediately upon
approval by the City Manager.
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