The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) — which provides water to 19 million people in a 5,200-square-mile service area — streamlined its strategic reporting with a centralized website and standardized forms.
Impact
Previously, reporting was done manually through emails, and various users updated a shared Excel spreadsheet. It was difficult to track dates, deadlines, monthly updates and other information. The use of a central site with user-friendly data entry forms has dramatically improved the process for all employees.
Efficiencies gained include:
- Easy creation of new goals and outcomes for each priority.
- Increased visibility for all teams and stakeholders.
- A seamless way to provide monthly updates.
- A report that collates updates for review.
- A significant reduction in manual steps for staff.
Advice
An agency can replicate MWD’s solution with the following steps:
1. Create a SharePoint site.
2. Create SharePoint lists with any required information. In this case, MWD has three lists for strategic priorities, monthly status updates, and goals and outcomes. MWD leverages Nintex Forms for better form design, but standard out-of-the-box SharePoint forms can also work.
3. Microsoft Power BI licensing is required. MWD heavily customized a Power BI report to display the SharePoint site.
MWD can also package its solution for other water districts with easy deployment steps.
