GPS Tracking ROI

Checking up on work crews

… Construction season got off to an early start when a majority of aldermen made their menu selections quickly and 360 seasonal employees were hired back two months earlier than they were last year.

Three departments at the center of the scandal — Water Management, Transportation and Streets and Sanitation — have been streamlined, with a single transportation bureau doing work previously done by three bureaus. And chief of staff Ron Huberman’s elaborate performance accountability system, disclosed by the Chicago Sun-Times in January, is apparently working wonders.

“We’ve been able to squeeze more productivity out of our employees by measuring everything. Every crew is assigned productivity daily, and it’s posted in their roll-call rooms. Crews that don’t meet those goals are disciplined. They’re feeling the heat to get more done in a timely manner,” said a top mayoral aide, who asked to remain anonymous.

“We’re using GPS to route crews from place to place. We’re way ahead of schedule on the aldermanic construction menus. All of that together has added up to thousands of hours of additional man-hours to deploy people on neighborhood-related improvements. We’re getting a lot more done in a shorter period of time.”… full article is here

I wrote about Chicago and it’s public work scandals last year. One needed a scorecard to keep track of all the investigations and prosecutions that were going on. Now, I’m really happy to report some good news.

Two major improvement recommendations came out of the original investigation. One: Pool trucks to get the work done. This same absurdity happens in cities all across the country. Trucks purchased to (for example) plow snow would sit and do nothing for 7 or 8 months while other departments, needing to haul dirt or refuse during summer cleanups and to but (or lease) their own. Chicago pooled three major department’s trucks and guess what? Ahead of schedule and under budget.

The second major recommendation came out of the first. In order to know what their trucks were doing and what their work crews are doing, Chicago decided to invest in a GPS tracking system. Now that system virtually eliminates wasted time and effort, chief of staff Ron Huberman’s elaborate performance accountability system is working, getting much more work from the same or fewer employees.

My hat is off to Chicago for implementing good management. A special salute to Mr. Huberman for acting like a leader instead of a sheep.