Toronto, Canada, March 27, 2001 -- Contra Costa Water District (CCWD) and the Capistrano Valley Water District have chosen Advanced Utility Systems to provide and install CIS Infinity to handle their Customer Information and Utility Billing needs.
CCWD provides a reliable supply of high quality water to over 430,000 residents in central and east Contra Costa County, California. Employing approximately 340 people, the District supplies treated water services to the cities of Concord, Clayton, Clyde, Pacheco, Port Costa, and parts of Walnut Creek, Pleasant Hill, and Martinez. These cities are located in the San Francisco Bay area of California. Untreated water is also provided to several cities including Antioch, Bay Point, Martinez, Oakley, and Pittsburg. CIS Infinity will be installed immediately in order to meet a projected live date in the winter of 2001.
The Capistrano Valley Water District, operated by the City of San Juan Capistrano, provides water and wastewater management services for the residents and businesses of the City, located in Orange County California. Water and wastewater services are provided to over 11,000 customers. The City employs over 25 people assigned to the Water District that have provided high quality service since 1970. A May go-live date is targeted.
Capistrano Valley Water District is undertaking a rapid implementation. They will be using CIS Infinity with a Microsoft SQL database, and will be the first client to install Version 2.0 with a planned go-live in May 2001. Jim Widner, the Administrative Services Manager for the City, stated the following, " Our existing system is in unstable, crisis mode. The folks from Advanced are providing CIS Infinity and all their resources on a fast track to meet our rapid schedule. We are extremely pleased with their flexible implementation methodology and thoroughness. A key consideration for us was a software system that could accommodate our complicated, but fair rates without a lot of custom programming".
Capistrano has very intricate rate structure taking into account the square footage of each lot and the house size of every customer, along with the evapotranspiration rate to bill by tiers tied to allocation based on the calculated prudent use levels. This rate is a forerunner to California's BMP #5 & 11 that specify calculating "water budgets" for landscape customers and implementing conservation rates. At Capistrano this "water budget" concept is built into all customer classes and rate schedules.
"The implementation at the Capistrano Valley Water District is one of the quickest we have ever undertaken. To-date the efforts have been very successful because of the team of experts at Capistrano Valley and the experience in place at Advanced Utility Systems" said Patricia Sorbara, President of Advanced Utility Systems.
CCWD is not only replacing their Customer Information and Utility Billing software, but also will replace their financial systems. SunGard Bi-Tech has been chosen to provide and implement this part of the project. SunGard Bi-Tech and Advanced have partnered on several other implementations, and will work side-by-side to complete both elements of the implementation.
Gaye Frohwein, Project Manager for CCWD, is looking forward to beginning the implementation immediately. "It's been a comprehensive search process and we are excited about starting the implementation. CIS Infinity will provide support for the District's evolving customer care vision. Expanding the services we offer to customers is one of the District's key business goals, and our customer service team has been searching for a system that will meet our customer care objectives."
The CIS Infinity business logic will be set-up on an NT server, while the database will reside on an IBM RS6000, using an Oracle database. This will provide CCWD with a comprehensive solution linked to the SunGard Bi-Tech IFAS financial suite. This configuration is enabled by the Database Independence of CIS Infinity Version 2.0, whereby CCWD can use their Oracle database to create a solution they can control. It is extremely scalable, allowing CCWD to expand services to their current customer base of approximately 60,000 customers. CIS Infinity provides Rate Infinity Technology(tm), which is designed to allow complicated formulae and calculations to be woven into individual rates. CCWD will utilize this functionality for all of the District's rates.
"The enhancements we are building into CIS Infinity to handle CCWD's complex operations will further strengthen CIS Infinity for future customers" said Patricia Sorbara, President of Advanced Utility Systems. "For example, extending the inventory module to handle back-flow devices will be beneficial to numerous other water utilities."
Advanced Utility Systems Corporation is a privately owned and operated software and services Company headquartered in Toronto, Canada. The company has grown from its 1997 start-up to serve over 40 North American water, electric, and natural gas utility clients with its billing and customer service software CIS Infinity. The team at Advanced Utility Systems delivers what it takes to develop the ideal solution for the utility market. For additional information visit www.ausc.com.
