Essay/Term paper: Organizational review of plant automation group

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Economics

Organizational Review of Plant Automation Group

It is intended that this organizational review, will provide the Districts with
a better understanding of the changing process computer hardware and software
support needs. Also to review the department location for the Plant Automation
Group (Group), and develop recommendations on the proposed reporting
relationships.

¨ Review the background information.

¨ Identify the primary and secondary functions of the Plant Automation Group

¨ Review possible location of the Plant Automation Group.

¨ Identify and review reporting relationships options

DEFINITIONS

Definitions used within this organizational review.

SCADA Supervisory and Data Acquisition System
PLC Programmable Logic Controller
HMI Human Machine Interface
ITD Information Technology Department
PAG Plant Automation Group
GM General Manager

BACKGROUND

When the Districts first began consideration to form a focal group with
responsibility for Plant Automation, a task force was formed to make
recommendations. The one recommendation this task was unable to come to
agreement on was the location of this new Plant Automation Group (PAG). An
executive decision was made by the General Manager to center the PAG in the
Information Technology Department (ITD).

In September 1994, the Joint Board contracted with Ernst & Young to produce a
"Management Review of the Proposed Plant Automation Group for the Sanitation
Districts of Orange County". Their report recommended the location be with ITD
but noted that for the duration of the J-31 project, some engineering-related
activities would be involved and require close coordination with the Engineering
Department. As late as July 1995 when Ernst & Young performed the Finance
Function Review (which included the Information Services Division), they echoed
their previous recommendation but provided a timeline of approximately two years
to revisit the issue of PAG's location. However, this was not a firm
recommendation.

Over the past several months, a number of problems have made it clear that the
two year time frame identified in the Ernst & Young report may have been
optimistic. The problems of budget management, close coordination and
communication have placed a strain on the existing management of the ITD,
creating frustration and numerous problems throughout many parts of the
organization.

Primary Functions

The charter of the Plant Automation focuses on:

¨ Support of the Operations Division

¨ Providing engineering integration assistance through software and hardware
analysis and the setting of standards

¨ Support of the Maintenance Division regarding system and software
modifications and changes

¨ Assisting in the roll-out of the J-31 contract so that a transfer of knowledge
between CH2M Hill and the Districts occurs

¨ Analyzing and the recommendation of system and network architecture, system
design, and integration proposals.

The Plant Automation Group is made up of a number of disciplines. Process
control programming is very different from the type of programming which
Information Technology has been doing and requires different education, skills,
and experience. These skill sets all need to be integrated and unified for the
purposes of process control. Skills required include the administration of VAX
computer environments, configuration, computer operations, data communications
for Ethernet and report generation.

The Plant Automation Group also covers PLC development and programming, HMI
development, and data communications required for PLCs. It is also necessary to
perform software development for process control systems, either personally or
by assuming oversight responsibility for contractual development. Once a system
is in place, this is a task which cannot be contracted out due to the highly
customized nature of the process control software (Square D, CRISP SCADA) design.


The Plant Automation Group is also required to be on-call 24 hours a day in
support of the Operations and Maintenance Departments; and is a resource to all
other departments, providing technical support which primarily focuses on
control system and data integration.

Secondary Functions

The Plant Automation Group was chartered with an additional task, outside of
their normal work responsibilities, the design of the J-31 Projects. These
projects were expanded to include the development of a set of working software
programming standards including CRISP, Human Machine Interfaces, Programmable
Logic Controller Ladder Logic, and documentation at the conclusion of this
project.

Location of The Plant Automation Group

Considerable debate has surrounded the location of the Plant Automation Group
and the J-31 Project. Each of the four departments has a vested interest in
this function:

A. Operation's interest is as a natural outgrowth of being the primary recipient
of our group's effort, and the department most concerned with its success.

B. Maintenance's interest is due to its existing responsibilities in PLC
maintenance through its Instrumentation Maintenance Division.

C. The Engineering Department's interest is due to their staff's concern in the
proper design of treatment processes, and facilities to optimize the treatment
of wastewater by the Districts.

D. Information Technology is concerned with the management of the Districts'
computing and communication resources for the benefit of all of these
departments.

Reporting Relationship

There are three basic options, at this point in time:

1. The first option is to maintain the Plant Automation Group, as presently
defined, but change its organizational structure. At the present time it is
organized as a separate group within Division 2430, the Software Support and
Plant Automation Division. This has not worked well at all as the activities are
too varied to be able to manage adequately. If no other change is forthcoming,
it should be proposed that the Plant Automation Group be split so that the
Software Support Division and the Plant Automation Division be two separate
divisions. The new Plant Automation Division would be staffed with a Division
Manager whose role would be to provide the appropriate direction, coordination,
administration, and budgetary oversight to this important role. The advantage of
this approach is that, given the right manager, many of the problems which have
been experienced to date should be alleviated. The disadvantage is that it may
only bury the problems in another layer of bureaucracy -- much will hinge on the
management abilities of the new Division Manager.

2. The second option is to transfer the Plant Automation Group, in its entirety,
to the Engineering Department. Within Engineering, it should enable the proper
coordination and communication to occur for the elements of the PAG's activities
that involve design. The disadvantage of this approach is that the only design
element of PAG left is the remaining portion of J-31. When this project is
completed, no further engineering-related activities will remain. At the present
time, PAG is beginning to assume a 24-hour, on-going support function which is
not consistent with the Engineering Department's normal activities. The most
important role that the Plant Automation Group fulfills is that of System
Integration for Plant Automation. This activity is intimately attuned to the
activities of the Information Technology Department, although for a uniquely
different application than what the rest of the ITD is involved with.

3. The third option is to immediately transfer what small portion remains of the
J-31project to the Engineering Department for the duration of the project. The
PAG will then continue in ITD and become a separate Division, as outlined in
Option 1 above. The new Plant Automation Division would immediately assume the
sole function of supporting plant automation and make recommendations to
Engineering regarding future construction projects, in the same way that
Operations and Maintenance have always done. The advantage of this approach is
to allow Engineering to manage this project and get the Plant Automation Group
out of the business of Engineering. The only disadvantages are that a change in
project management mid-stream might result in some loss of momentum and
coordination difficulties. The other possible disadvantage may be a lack of
staffing in Engineering. Naturally, some support staff should be loaned to
Engineering from the Plant Automation Group to enable this transition to succeed.


RECOMMENDATION

The Plant Automation Group will only succeed through the combined effort of all
the departments. It must be allowed to focus on selected critical objectives.
Initially, it must focus on:

¨ Making Operations its primary customer

¨ Learning and analyzing new system architectures, hardware, and software

¨ Understanding and learning how to support and maintain the new systems arising
from the J-31 contracts
¨ Reviewing and participating on proposed projects, writing and testing
software standards for the entire organization to use.

The location of the Plant Automation Group should be based on its primary work
function, which is mainly computer software and hardware support.

The J-31 Projects have two very distinct parts - Traditional Design and Software
Integration. For the J-31 projects to be successful, cooperation and assistance
must be fostered between the departments. A team-like approach to problem
resolution is fundamental to building a responsive organization. The Districts
should employ the concept of "Concurrent Engineering," which solicits the input
and commitment of all relevant departments in the conception and design stages.
Concurrent Engineering allows for all parts of an organization to be included in
the initial phases of a project, in order to identify and address problems early
before change involves a great expense. Involving participants together enriches
the final product.

The best solution will center the traditional design portion of J-31 in the
Planning and Design Group of the Engineering Department, and Software
Integration within the Plant Automation Group. This same approach should be used
for any future follow-on projects involving automation for Plant Operations.
This dual responsibility will reduce each department's exposure and
vulnerability in dealing with skill sets outside of their normal working
environment.

Option 3 should be adopted as being the best solution to the problems
identified and I would recommend implementation of this option.

REFERENCES

Banner, D. K., Gagné, E. T. (1996). Designing Effective Organizations.
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Robbins, S. (1996). Organizational Behavior: Concepts, Controversies,
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Fisher, D. (1993). Communication in Organization. St. Paul, MN: West
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Hersey, P. (1996). Management of Organizational Behavior. Englewood Cliffs,
NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc.

Steers, R. (1993). Organizational Behavior. Glenveiw, IL: Scott, Foresman
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Timm, P. (1992). Supervision. St. Paul, MN: West Publishing Co.

Smeltzer, L., Leonard, D. (1994). Managerial Communication: Strategies and
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