Washington State Ferry Terminal

Washington State Ferries (WSF) operates the largest ferry vessel fleet in the U.S. Twenty-five vessels cross the Puget Sound and its inland waterways continually. Each day, they carry more than 23 million passengers to 20 ports of call from Tacoma, Washington to Sidney, British Columbia. These ferry routes act as the marine highway for commercial users, tourists and daily commuters.

WSF wanted to replace the existing manual methods and procedures that their engineers and managers used to plan, execute, monitor and record their maintenance activities. A steering committee comprised of several key staff members from WSF’s vessels, terminals, Eagle Harbor Repair Facility, and Information Technology Group reviewed numerous computerized maintenance management system (MMS) software packages. The committee preferred an off-the-shelf solution as long as it could integrate the maintenance activities of more than 25 vessels, 20 land-based terminals and the individual maintenance shops at the Eagle Harbor Maintenance Repair Facility, and allow management to capture valuable maintenance information easily.

The committee selected the Summit Maintenance Management software package, developed by Summit Software (formerly ECTA, Corp.), the same system that we used for the I-90 tunnel for Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT). They also chose to employ the expertise of the PB/Four Winds Group (FWG) team to integrate and implement the software. This decision was based primarily on the team’s success on the I-90 tunnel project.

System Objectives and Requirements

In essence, our task is to implement a MMS that is capable of supporting the operations and management of the maintenance functions throughout WSF with reliable, timely and easy-to-use information. The system must:

• Capture and store information for all WSF organizational units responsible for the maintenance and repair of vessels and terminals
• Process the full range of maintenance transactions (e.g. work requisitions) used within WSF
• Inform managers and maintenance staff of preventive maintenance requirements and activities
• Assist in scheduling preventive maintenance and corrective repair activities
• Monitor on-hand spare parts and bench stock levels
• Provide historical information for quick reference, analysis, litigation purposes and future planning
• Interact with other WSF databases (inventory, financial, personnel, etc.).
• Provide standard and unique reports and inquiries.

The complexity and number of users made it necessary to provide each of the 25 vessels with a stand alone database that could integrate with a primary land-based database that is used to control the many vessel terminals and the Eagle Harbor maintenance shops. Although the full system inventory/history (all vessels, terminals and Eagle Harbor maintenance shops) can be accessed on the land-based database, the staff on each vessel can view only that vessel’s equipment inventory/history.

The stand-alone vessel databases must:

• Allow the staff of each vessel to closely monitor maintenance activities of their vessels
• Provide the Port Engineer with details concerning overall fleet maintenance status (via data transfer communication links).

The land-based database must:

• Allow the Terminal Maintenance Manager to monitor all maintenance requirements and activities for the terminals
• Provide the Eagle Harbor Maintenance Repair Facility with a means for managing limited resources to accomplish corrective and annual lay-up maintenance on the vessel fleet and both corrective and preventive maintenance activities at the terminals and the repair facility itself.

One of the most critical requirements is to be able to update the land-based MMS with maintenance information from the vessels. To accomplish this, each vessel will use specially adapted data transfer capabilities that will link the vessel to the shore-based system electronically. As a result of several meetings between the WSF Steering Committee, PB and FWG, an understanding of the complex informational flow requirements helped the team in the development of the initial working prototype.

To satisfy such a large number of “clients” effectively, extremely close, coordinated working relationships between the users, the consultants and the software developers is critical. The complexity of the project has led to the development of some innovative resolutions that will necessitate the need for specific software customization. To this end, Summit Software has been extremely cooperative in meeting the challenges.

A Phased Approach

The project is divided into four phases. In Phase 1, we formed the overall requirements of the project and established MMS baseline information describing information flow, management and staff responsibilities, etc. We also established a model design approach and criteria to enable development of various model alternatives. Vessel and terminal site prototypes were recommended during this phase, as well.

In Phase 2, we provided WSF with a prototype MMS database equipped with limited data from the prototype sites. This prototype was used to evaluate the capabilities of the software to satisfy the particular requirements of the vessels and Eagle Harbor Repair Facility staff. We also identified unique design requirements that would necessitate further refinement of the database structure.

The objective of Phase 3 is to develop a fully functioning MMS software production model, further refine the design requirements addressed in Phase 2 and build a WSF MMS product engineered as a single supported application. Some customization will be necessary to support unique WSF spare parts and preventive maintenance requirements for the vessels, Eagle Harbor work flow processes and data transfer functions. We have accepted the challenge of satisfying these special requirements and are currently working closely with WSF staff to gain a better understanding of the specific details. This phase will also provide the resources for bar-code and scanner proof-of-concepts.

Phase 4 will consist of building and incorporating the system modifications, as well as beginning the actual deployment WSF-wide.

Ongoing Challenges

When faced with the complex interactions of such a diverse group of clients, it is not uncommon to uncover additional requirements that must be addressed. Although on the surface some of them may appear as impenetrable as brick walls, they challenge all of us to search for unique solutions. The use of a team approach has enabled us to establish the framework for a WSF MMS product that will virtually eliminate their current manual maintenance methods and procedures. As historical records accumulate, a comprehensive picture of their overall maintenance program will begin to develop. They will be able to more accurately assess current work methods, track and schedule scarce resources in a more timely manner, and monitor parts and materials more efficiently. This information will also provide them with the latest, “up-to-the-minute” data for inquiring, reporting and budgeting purposes. For more information, contact Tom Thompson, PB Seattle at 206-382-5241.