2019-01-14-minutes-public-works-study-session

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KITTITAS COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS PUBLIC WORKS — BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS STUDY SESSION STAFF REPORT STUDY SESSION DATE: January 14, 2019 TOPIC: Finance Staff Attending Central Washington University ACTION REQUESTED: None Required — Informational Only LEAD STAFF: Mark R. Cook RECOMMENDATION: Support staff attendance at Central Washington University BRIEFING SUMMARY: • Recently, a Public Works (PW) Fiscal Analyst returned from attending the annual Cayenta users conference. • Integration of data out of Cayenta's work platform for reporting and analytics is best achieved using Visual Basic programming software. • PW is supporting the employee's attendance at (2) Visual Basic programming course at Central Washington University (CWU). BACKGROUND: During attendance at Cayenta's annual users conference in late 2018, our Fiscal Analyst discussed the use of Visual Basic with Cayenta programming staff. Cayenta staff affirmed the use of Visual Basic as a preferred mechanism integrating information from the Cayenta environment. Fiscal Manager Remeto requested authorization for our Analyst to audit a Visual Programming class at CWU. DISCUSSION: Developing an understanding of Visual Basic integrating PW tasks out of the Cayenta software is in the best interest of PW. Automation of time recording tasks assisting deployment of time entry by maintenance staff is a high priority for PW. In addition, learning that other areas within PW such as planning also have a huge need to be able to upload data from one program to another to satisfy various reporting requirements. One example was the hand entry of 700 pages of data into the mobility road program last year that took days, while with the use of visual basic we could have uploaded the information in a matter of minutes. FISCAL IMPACTS: The cost of auditing each course is $1000 for 40 hours of class. ATTACHMENTS: Exhibit 1 - Course Descriptions