Navigating the Path to Excellence: Advancing Organizational Maturity, Benchmarking and Digital Transformation

By Addie Javed, Vice President, EPIC Engineering and Consulting Group; and Susan Boyer, Executive Director, Florida Benchmarking Consortium

1. INTRODUCTION

The maturity level of an organization plays a pivotal role in its ability to adapt and thrive in a dynamic realm of local government. Harnessing this maturity effectively can be a key catalyst for a successful journey toward digital transformation. Benchmarking provides a framework for measuring organizational maturity against industry standards and peer organizations, allowing for informed decision-making and strategic planning. Skillfully managing the interplay between these three elements – organizational maturity, benchmarking and digital transformation – is the essential recipe for attaining organizational excellence and sustained growth.

2. DEFINING ORGANIZATIONAL MATURITY

Organizational maturity refers to the level of sophistication and effectiveness with which an organization manages its processes, culture, technology and people. Key components of organizational maturity include:

1. Process Maturity: The standardization and optimization of business processes.
2. Cultural Maturity: The organization’s ability to foster a positive, adaptive and innovative culture.
3. Technological Maturity: The extent to which technology is integrated into business operations and strategies.
4. People Maturity: The organization’s approach to talent development, leadership and employee engagement.

3. BENCHMARKING FOR ORGANIZATIONAL MATURITY

Benchmarking involves comparing an organization’s maturity against industry best practices, peer agencies or recognized maturity models. This process helps organizations understand their current position and identify areas for improvement. Key benchmarking methods include:

1. Process Benchmarking: Comparing operational processes to identify efficiency gains.
2. Performance Benchmarking: Assessing key performance indicators (KPIs) to understand overall performance.
3. Best Practices Benchmarking: Identifying practices from leading organizations that can be adapted for internal use.

By identifying best practices and operational efficiencies, organizations can reduce costs and allocate resources more effectively. Two of the most powerful benefits are knowledge sharing, and public engagement, which fosters trust and accountability.

In an effort to identify historical trends and verify obstacles that may still hinder the progress of any organization, findings from a recent survey involving over 100 Florida agencies reveal a general consensus that most local governments face comparable paint points when it comes to operational and business process evaluations.

Figure 1                Summary of Pain Points Analysis (April 2024 – Joint poll survey of 100 plus Florida agencies – by APWA Florida, FL LTAP and EPIC)

Effective data management is the backbone of successful benchmarking. The goal is embracing a culture of continuous improvement, to ensure local government stay agile and responsive to emerging challenges and opportunities.

4. THE ROLE OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Digital transformation is the process of integrating digital technologies into all aspects of an organization, leading to fundamental changes in how it operates and delivers value. Digital transformation has a significant impact on organizational maturity, driving changes in processes, culture and technology. Core elements of digital transformation include:

1. Technology Adoption: The use of advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud computing.
2. Customer-Centric Focus: Leveraging technology to improve customer experiences.
3. Data-Driven Decision Making: Using data analytics to inform strategic decisions.

Some of the key benefits of Digital Transformation for any local government can range from increased efficiency and enhanced customer experiences to improved data-driven decision-making and stronger operational continuity. A summary of benefits for multiple services in an organization is highlighted in Figure 2.

Figure 2                Benefits of Digital Transformation

5. INTEGRATING ORGANIZATIONAL MATURITY, BENCHMARKING AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

For successful digital transformation, organizations need to integrate the concepts of organizational maturity and benchmarking into their strategy:

1. Assess Current Maturity Level: Use benchmarking to determine the organization’s current maturity level and identify gaps.
2. Develop a Transformation Roadmap: Create a comprehensive plan for digital transformation that addresses process, cultural, technological and people-related changes.
3. Foster Continuous Improvement: Adopt a culture of continuous learning and adaptation to ensure sustained growth.
4. Measure and Adjust: Implement benchmarking at regular intervals to track progress and adjust the transformation strategy as needed.

Recognizing that robust integration strategy is a means to an end rather than an end in itself can help organizations navigate the complex landscape of technology adoption, ensuring that they derive tangible benefits in terms of efficiency and resilience.

6. CASE STUDIES AND PROJECTS

Successful benchmarking and digital transformation projects in this section showcase how organizations have leveraged technology and data management to improve efficiency, customer experience and overall operational responsiveness. Having reliable digital repository with consistent data sets empowers agencies to become more resilient and sustainable in the face of adversity.

6.1 Case Study: Public Utilities Infrastructure Capital Improvement Planning – City of Hallandale Beach, Florida

The following case study is a Lean Six Sigma Belt team project conducted by the Florida Benchmarking Consortium, that highlights the use of benchmarking and data analytics to assess the urgent need for overdue infrastructure improvements.

The City initiated its data collection process by conducting a thorough examination of its utility infrastructure, encompassing the water treatment plant, stormwater systems, sanitary sewer and water distribution network. Subsequently, the project team augmented this dataset with the original engineered life cycle information for the seventy-two identified projects. Setting an initial target of no more than 50% of the infrastructure exceeding its engineered life cycle, the initial assessment revealed that 83% was surpassing this threshold. Further analysis of the data indicated that 42 out of the 72 reviewed infrastructure components (59%) had exceeded their life cycle by 17 years or more.

A Risk Probability Matrix was developed by examining infrastructure failures over the previous two-year period. This analysis considered the frequency of infrastructure failures, the number of years beyond their life cycle, and the extent of impact on residents and stakeholders. Utilizing this matrix aided in identifying infrastructure that would have the most significant consequences for the City in the event of failure. This process was crucial for establishing project prioritization and Capital Improvement Planning (CIP). The assessments conducted through the risk probability matrix revealed a noteworthy problem area that had not been previously highlighted. While the failures of many lift stations were more visible to the public, the more impactful issues were identified at the water treatment plant, which had less public visibility.

Next step was to evaluate the expenses incurred due to the lack of rehabilitation that should have been carried out in previous years. The technical term for this is called “the Cost of Poor Quality.” The project team assessed the 33% gap as the cost of the inefficient rehabilitation planning the city had endured on an annual basis. This revelation underscored the importance of advancing the proposed plan and fueled discussions regarding the necessity for a utility bond to finance infrastructure improvements. Further assessment revealed an annual cost of poor quality amounting to $2,330,858.

After completing various analyses, the city identified 26 water distribution and water treatment infrastructure components with a minimum of 17 years beyond their planned useful life cycle, posing elevated risks for significant impact in case of failure. This underscored the importance of prioritizing planning for projects that were deemed most impactful to the city and its residents, although it didn’t diminish the need for vigilance across all areas of infrastructure. While some may consider this prioritization obvious in relation to the identified high-risk projects, when requesting significant investment from the city, a more quantifiable assessment rather than mere opinion enhances credibility in discussions. Consequently, city staff proposed a $250,000,000 10-year infrastructure rehabilitation plan to the city commission, which was subsequently approved. Currently, $71,000,000 worth of these projects are under construction and slated for completion by the end of 2025.

6.2 Case Study: Public Works Digital Transformation Project – City of Orlando, Florida

Scope of the project included needs assessment and recommendations for Enterprise Asset, Customer Service, Work Orders and Capital Improvement Project (CIP) Management programs.

The City of Orlando serves a diverse population of 228,000+ in the central Florida region. The City’s leadership team identified the need to evaluate the feasibility of implementing an enterprise infrastructure data management platform to serve five critical business activities supported by various Divisions within the Public Works Department. The critical business activities identified include: Citizen Requests, Asset Management, Corrective Maintenance, Preventative Maintenance and CIP Management. EPIC team conducted over 28 focus group meetings with stakeholders, met with 300+ City staff, identified 100+ business processes and mapped 68 workflow processes. In addition, approximately 400 staff “pain points and challenges” were compiled and documented. The result of this pain points analysis was consistent with the survey results shown in Figure 1.

Subsequent to the completion of the study and delivery of the project recommendations, the City selected EPIC’s Simplify i3®digital transformation solution to serve as the common enterprise platform. The solution went live in 2020 March (before COVID) and has effectively served the City through the pandemic and during the recovery. The cloud-based solution served the City to track and respond, even when the staff worked remotely. In order to support the City’s core business activities, EPIC’s Simplify i3® implementation was expanded and currently includes: Asset Management, Project Management, Service Request Management, Work Order Management, Inspection Management, Document Repository, Contact Management, Fund Management, Ad-Hoc Reporting, GIS and Mobile Applications modules.

Figure 3                Dashboard of City managed Service Requests

QUOTE: “The EPIC Team has been a trusted partner for the City in our digital transformation journey. Starting with various listening sessions with our stakeholders, the EPIC team mapped our numerous business processes, collaboratively worked with us in streamlining our work and eliminating duplicate and labor-intensive data management processes. With the successful deployment of the Simplify i3 solution city eliminated duplicate data entry, significantly reduced our spreadsheets, and successfully transitioned to tracking our activities and managing our information in this cloud-based system. Throughout this journey, the EPIC Team has been highly accessible, responsive and capable team players. Their diligence has helped us become more responsive to customer requests, provide on-demand information to executive leadership and elected officials, and capture institutional knowledge. As a result of our collaboration, the City staff are able to put their time in high-value activities and are able to make data-driven decisions.”

7. CONCLUSION

Organizational maturity, benchmarking and digital transformation are intertwined concepts that, when effectively managed, can drive innovation, efficiency and competitive advantage. By assessing organizational maturity through benchmarking and pursuing a strategic approach to digital transformation, organizations can achieve higher levels of performance and adaptability in a rapidly changing business landscape.

Addie is a true Gator at heart, Vice President at EPIC and an engineer who has served in city and county government with over 28 years of experience, and continues to be active in the local government profession through his continuous participation in FCCMA, Florida League of Cities (FLC) and Florida Association of Counties, besides several other professional associations.

Susan has served as the Executive Director of the Florida Benchmarking Consortium for the past 12 years. She has over 35 years of municipal management experience in Florida and is a member of the International City/County Management Association (ICMA), a Credentialed Manager, a past member of the Florida City and County Management Association (FCCMA) Board of Directors, and a former City Manager of three Florida cities.