Strengthening OneWaterSF
2018 Initiatives: Promoting the Use of Technology & Changing Business Practices
Landscape
Partnering for Innovation
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A key element of the OneWaterSF approach is to foster innovation and
implement technological solutions that can help us be a utility of the future.
However, as a public entity with finite research and development capacity, we
are limited in our ability to investigate the latest technologies. This constraint
makes establishing internal and external partnerships all the more critical so we
can effectively leverage our resources and prioritize research efforts to identify
potential technologies that can address a broad range of needs at the SFPUC.
This Initiative encourages establishing internal and external partnerships that
will allow the SFPUC to streamline the process of identifying and testing new
technology solutions. Strengthening internal partnerships will also help create
a platform for SFPUC staff to share efforts and access potential solutions
and technologies. Work under this initiative will allow us to help advance the
OneWaterSF Guiding Principles of pursuing partnerships, fostering creative
ideas, and piloting state of the art technologies.
New Service Connection Process
Improvement Project
In the middle of a construction boom, San Francisco is seeing an unprecedented
increase in applications for new water service connections. This increased
demand has taxed existing resources and processes, resulting in an undesirable
customer experience. In the past two years, the New Service Connection Process
Improvement Project has already provided cross-departmental transparency and
extensively re-engineered existing business processes. This Initiative will continue
this work by beginning to design and implement an Online Customer Portal
for application and monitoring of new water service requests. It is envisioned
that the Portal will provide advanced and transparent tracking of all steps in
the installation process, from application approvals to construction to initiation
of account billing. This 2018 Initiative provides an opportunity to implement a
technology solution that will enhance the SFPUC’s ability to properl