Known for its majestic scenery featuring breath-taking waterfalls, deep valleys, high mountain peaks, and more than can possibly be described, Yosemite National Park spans nearly 1,200 square miles of California's High Sierra region. First protected in 1864, the park has served as a haven for fishing, hiking, biking, camping and more for 150 years. With four million visitors each year, the park must meet the expectations of those who come to enjoy this national treasure. This means maintenance is a high priority and a job taken seriously by the park's authorized concessioner, Delaware North Companies (DNC) Parks & Resorts. DNC has complete responsibility for ongoing maintenance and management of the park's lodging, dining, guest recreation and transportation, including The Ahwahnee, Tenaya Lodge, Wawona Hotel and the Yosemite Lodge at the Falls.
Yosemite National Park features over 1,000 buildings, bridges, lodging and camping facilities which all have to be maintained to the highest standards of the National Park Service. This also includes over 250 miles of paved and graded roads along with 1,000 miles of trails. Being the size of the state of Rhode Island means assets are spread throughout the vast expanse of the park. All maintenance activity has to be tracked, reported and managed.
Legacy System Limitations
Initially, DNC relied on a manual maintenance system to manage the park's maintenance. It quickly proved to be cumbersome, time-consuming and full of limitations. Recognizing the need for a maintenance system capable of capturing information, planning and analyzing data, and reporting on maintenance activity, DNC sought a solution. A legacy system appeared to provide what was needed, but soon showed limited capabilities. As a result, DNC turned to CHAMPS and put a plan in place to address their pressing maintenance needs.
By implementing the CHAMPS system, DNC set goals for more proactive maintenance to help eliminate the costly aspects of deferred maintenance. The initial implementation involved establishing asset and equipment codes along with the construction of a master equipment list. This now serves as the core system for tracking and managing activity involving painting, carpet replacement, remodeling and similar ongoing maintenance activities that must be scheduled and performed.
We rely on the CHAMPS system for all of our work order activity, which includes over 7,000 individual PM work orders scheduled weekly, monthly, bi-annually and annually. Because of the large number of assets we maintain, the system generates over 30,000 work orders a year including planned, routine and emergency work orders.Steve Ullmann, Director of Facility Services, Delaware North Companies Parks & Resorts
Cost Tracking and Management
Maintenance work at Yosemite is performed by a crew and staff of nearly 100 members and includes project managers, schedulers, inventory control specialists, systems administrators, and IT personnel. All crew members are specifically identified in the system for tracking of work performed. This allows DNC to conduct year-end analyses to determine how well certain skilled labor has performed. They take into account what they did, how long the job or project took, the cost involved, materials used and more.
Most of the work at Yosemite is centered on maintaining critical assets and equipment which is completely tracked in CHAMPS. The system allows DNC to document work performed on over 400 buildings and critical systems related to those buildings including roads, sidewalks, and pathways. Because of the comprehensive structure of the work order system, everything related to maintenance is captured in the system.
Work Requests on the Fly
The CHAMPS work request function for creating work orders is also used routinely. This allows DNC to generate a request for any type of work required including emergency repairs, quick work or jobs, special projects, dispatch work and similar needs. A weekly work order report is available to unit managers to review and evaluate jobs that are scheduled and completed. Costs associated with work orders — including labor, materials, spares, etc. — is included within the report for detailed analysis.
Given the remote location of Yosemite's offices and buildings across 1,200 square miles, inventory levels have to be accurately maintained. Because the performance of jobs involves the use of specific materials and spare parts, DNC has to track all part activity. Their spares inventory is valued at nearly half a million dollars which requires careful cost management in the CHAMPS system. By using the CHAMPS purchasing module, the process for generating purchase orders for inventory and spares is fully encompassed and managed within the system.
We can't just run out and grab a part from a local supplier if we're working on a job that is 100 miles away from the nearest dealer. The CHAMPS system gives us up-to-date inventory balances and a valuation of our materials. This allows us to instantly know where we stand with our spare parts and when we are nearing a re-order point.Steve Ullmann, Director of Facility Services, Delaware North Companies Parks & Resorts
Analysis Tool for Planning
At the close of each year, DNC leverages the CHAMPS system to generate report data used for planning and budgeting purposes. These reports help determine what staffing and supporting resource needs are required for the next fiscal year based on historical data pulled from the system on various costs. This is an important, crucial and comprehensive report that provides an analysis of all maintenance activity performed by DNC at Yosemite National Park. It includes work that is scheduled, in progress, completed and associated costs to satisfy the National Park Service's requirement for demonstrating that all maintenance is being done properly and on time.
We have to have the system — it's a must given our requirement to maintain our facilities for the National Park Service. Without it, we would never be able to properly track everything we do.Steve Ullmann, Director of Facility Services, Delaware North Companies Parks & Resorts
Maintaining a National Treasure
DNC makes it a priority to operate the latest version of the CHAMPS system. Plans are always put into place to upgrade to the newest release to take advantage of enhanced system functionality. As a result, Yosemite National Park will continue to be maintained to the highest standards that not only satisfy the National Park Service, but millions of annual visitors who embrace the natural beauty and inspiring scenery of this national treasure.