Latest News / Updates

Operations Reporting

AllMax Software understands your industry and your needs. We work relentlessly to provide innovative and cost effective data management solutions, and to assure maximum benefit from the software and a substantial return on your investment. Our product development is proactive and driven by users' comments, suggestions and needs, as well as ever-changing regulatory and reporting requirements. AllMax considers it a top priority to constantly develop new reporting capabilities and add new reports as they become available. This level of dedication has led AllMax to the top of operations data management.

Report Availability

Operator10® reporting now provides federal, state-specific forms and operating reports that satisfy reporting requirements for almost every state and agency—at least one report form for every state, with more options provided for those states having specific reporting requirements. For many states, there are multiple reports available that meet, and often exceed, state requirements. Reports can even be based directly on DataView data entry forms.

In addition to generating printed forms for submission, Operator10 provides electronic filing capabilities. For those states that have an established method for reporting data electronically, Operator10 uses a customized data export through which a results file is generated. In most cases, the results file can be uploaded directly to the state reporting web site. For all other states, a default implementation of the export is available which creates a file containing a complete set of data for the report. Exporting of data through Operator10 Reporting uses XML and related technologies, ensuring flexible and powerful data portability.

Custom Reporting

A default report form is provided in Operator10, requiring that only the data be input. For those needing to go further with custom reporting, a Report Designer is provided, allowing for the creation of totally new forms.

Modular Design

Underlying all of the power in Operator10 reporting, and in part, providing that power, is a component-driven architecture. Now, new reports and updates to current reports can be installed quickly and easily.

AllMax Helps Maintain Facility through Years of Service and Growth

Wheeling Water Department in Wheeling, West Virginia, is an independent, municipally owned water utility, serving a population of approximately 50,000 people, including all of Ohio County.

Phil Kowalski, Plant Manager, Wheeling Water

Consisting of three divisions, Wheeling Water is responsible for all treatment and testing of the source, finished water and for pumping it to the customers. The utility treats approximately 7.5 million gallons of water per day and distributes this water through 200 miles of water mains, some of which are over 100 years old. They also maintain the various pumping stations located throughout the system, all requiring a very diligent monitoring program and a sophisticated treatment facility to ensure that the water meets all state and federal health and safety regulations. The mission of Wheeling Water is to produce and distribute their product in the most efficient way, while maintaining and upgrading the system to meet future requirements.

Issue

Data had always been entered and managed manually by the operators and plant manager. Once all of the data was recorded into the reports and forms, there was very little that could be done with it. In 1985, the City of Wheeling's public works director decided to convert the manual processes of data collection and management in the vehicle maintenance, water and wastewater departments to more efficient personal computers and electronic data manipulation. At that time, there were limited choices in software programs for these types of applications, and ever-increasing regulations, reporting and data requirements from state and federal EPA were becoming more difficult and demanding.

Solution

After a great deal of research, the decision was made to purchase a software program from Macola. The DOS based program, called Operator 10, was developed specifically for the water and wastewater industries. However, manipulation of data was limited.

AllMax Software, Inc., founded in 1994, purchased Operator10 with plans to advance development and support of the software. The programs were completely redesigned to be Windows® based, with easy-to-follow screens and features that speak to operators in their own terms.

AllMax operations data management software utilizes DataViews as the method for presenting database information. "We now have dozens of DataViews for looking at and presenting information that has been collected in any way we choose, including multiple graph forms", says Phil Kowalski, Wheeling's plant manager.

The use of AllMax's DataViews has allowed thorough evaluation of the effect of chemical feed changes or operational changes on water quality. In addition, reports and forms can easily be created and customized to meet a multitude of requirements.

Results

For the past 20 years, the Wheeling water department has relied on the Operator10 program to monitor plant performance and create all of the reports. Besides solving the data collection and management problems, other major benefits of Operator10 included the ability to export data to an Excel® file. The O&M program was a particularly good fit for the vehicle maintenance department in helping to track and record all of the maintenance on the city's fleet.

The water plant now has a database of water quality parameters for the Ohio River spanning over 20 years. Researchers from various colleges, engineering firms and government agencies often request some of this information from the facility. It is very easy to create a DataView for the particular parameters and export it to Excel and send it as an e-mail attachment.

Conclusion

"The Wheeling Water Department pays an annual maintenance fee for the software, which entitles us to any software upgrades or revisions. In addition, we have access to their excellent on-line support. The service is most useful when there is a major upgrade or change in the software which might require assistance with the changes", Kowalski adds. All of the AllMax programs are still being used by the city departments.

Utility information and photography courtesy of Wheeling Water Department, Wheeling, WV