Organizational Review of Plant Automation Group
It is intended that this organizational review, will provide the Districts with a better understanding of the changing process computer hardware and software support needs. Also to review the department location for the Plant Automation
Group (Group), and develop recommendations on the proposed reporting relationships. ¨ Review the background information.
¨ Identify the primary and secondary functions of the Plant Automation Group
¨ Review possible location of the Plant Automation Group.
¨ Identify and review reporting relationships options
DEFINITIONS
Definitions used within this organizational review.
SCADA Supervisory and Data Acquisition System
PLC Programmable Logic Controller
HMI Human Machine Interface
ITD Information Technology Department
PAG Plant Automation Group
GM General Manager
BACKGROUND
When the Districts first began consideration to form a focal group with responsibility for Plant Automation, a task force was formed to make recommendations. The one recommendation this task was unable to come to agreement on was the location of this new Plant Automation Group (PAG). An executive decision was made by the General Manager to center the PAG in the
Information Technology Department (ITD).
In September 1994, the Joint Board contracted with Ernst & Young to produce a
"Management Review of the Proposed Plant Automation Group for the Sanitation
Districts of Orange County". Their report recommended the location be with ITD but noted that for the duration of the J-31 project, some engineering-related activities would be involved and require close coordination with the Engineering
Department. As late as July 1995 when Ernst & Young performed the Finance
Function Review (which included the Information Services Division), they echoed their previous recommendation but provided a timeline of approximately two years to revisit the issue of PAG's location. However, this was not a firm recommendation. Over the past several months, a number of problems have made it clear that the two year time frame identified in the Ernst & Young report may have been optimistic. The problems of budget management, close coordination and communication have placed a strain on the existing management of the ITD, creating frustration and numerous problems throughout many parts of the organization. Primary Functions
The charter of the Plant Automation focuses on:
¨ Support of the Operations Division
¨ Providing engineering integration assistance through software and hardware analysis and the setting of standards
¨ Support of the Maintenance Division regarding system and software modifications and changes
¨ Assisting in the roll-out of the J-31 contract so that a transfer of knowledge between CH2M Hill and the Districts occurs
¨ Analyzing and the recommendation of system and network architecture, system design, and integration proposals.
The Plant Automation Group is made up of a number of disciplines. Process control programming is very different from the type of programming which
The goal of this report is to inform the reader of the recent events that
Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities in order to meet project requirements (PMBOK Guide, 2008). Using this definition, it is made evident that the parties involved in the Denver International Airport (DIA) Baggage System project in the 1990’s failed at applying basic organizational practices towards managing the triple constraint of scope, time, and cost goals. The combination of inherent risks, uncertainties, and dysfunctional decision making geared the project towards disappointment while simultaneously designating it as a text book example of what not do when taking on a complex project. By looking at the key strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats we can pull together a basic plan of action that would have set the DIA’s baggage handling system as a marvel model of rapid automation.
they had to face when the problem was first noticed, which was as early as
Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mission Command White Paper (Washington, DC: U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, 3 April 2012),pg 3
the problem is much more pressing than it has in the past, and both the
Improved access to funding and resources at strategic level (noted by over one-sixth) was also considered a benefit. Interviews highlighted, for example, that joint working enabled them to bid for funding which they might otherwise not be able to access because multi-agency involvement was a requirement for the bid. (Source: Telephone interviews in Phase one of the NFER study, 20000. p29).
There are many definitions for what is considered to be a crisis. Alan Jay Zaremba, author of the textbook ”Organizational Communication,” combines several definitions of the word to conclude that a crisis is “an incident that occurs unexpectedly, could damage an organization’s reputation, values, and/or performance, and requires effective communication. (Zaremba, 2010) In the case of the Nuance Group, their current situation completely blindsided the organization, was a nightmare for their reputation, and communication was now the key element in restoring their image. This was indeed a crisis.
lot to handle at once. Clearly awareness of the issues is a critical component for Salgado
can not continue to the next level until its fixed. But this way of looking at
...when the company focused on further improvements of its pickups and SUVs instead of focusing on innovations required by the changing demand. If the management had not been ignorant and would have developed sound strategy as soon as it spotted the change, the company would have avoided the crisis. However the company just recently adjusted its production plan and plans to continue realigning its manufacturing capacity, product mix and cut costs to fix the situation (“Ford Adjusts Production”).
and must be addressed. In so doing, governments around the world will be in a better
EXAMPLE: Since Sept 11th the government has officially declared we are in recession. Unstable Stock Market, Rising Unemployment.
On that day, as the call load increased slightly above average on that day, a number of errors occurred in the system. Senior staff would take a preferred ambulance rather than the one that they had been assigned, improperly trained staff pressed the wrong buttons, callers would call back repeatedly increasing the call load and vehicles got lost in the system. As seen in Figure 1 below, the errors compounded on one another leading to the complete meltdown of the system.
15. Rosalie L. Tung, "Selection and Training of Personnel for Overseas Assignments," Columbia Journal of World Business, (Spring 1981), 68-78.