 INSIGHT
customer information systems
Revolution of Evolution?
Utilities at a Crossroads between CIS Replacement or Upgrade
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Melanie Rettie
Vice President |
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Think of a utility’s Customer Information System (CIS) as if it were your family car. No matter how well you have maintained, coddled, cherished, or babied the old wagon, it will eventually need to be replaced. This is inevitable. With many utilities operating on 20- or 30-year-old technology platforms, it has become difficult to maintain and program such legacy systems and makes meeting current customer needs using outmoded technology nearly impossible. These realities make a CIS upgrade or replacement a matter of when, not if. The difficulty lies in knowing how to proceed.
Many legacy systems are fragile and poorly documented, but loved by customer reps. This makes it difficult to know where to begin. Couple that with the cost of CIS system replacement and the potential risk of affecting cash flow, and it becomes obvious why utilities procrastinate. Of course, the inevitable resistance to change usually kicks in, too, as internal Information Technology (IT) leaders resist replacing systems in which they have invested years of blood, sweat, and tears.
If the legacy system was developed in-house, giving up their storehouse of knowledge and a position of strength to start over with someone else’s software is hardly attractive. Then there is the sense of loss and concern over what to do with programmers who have served the utility well for years.
Reaching the Crossroads
The decision often comes down to a crossroads: Do we evolve with our current CIS, upgrading despite the shortcomings and headaches we already know about? Or do we start over, explore today’s CIS landscape, learn from the experience of other utilities, and ensure we acquire the best system available? If this is your dilemma, take heart. You are not alone.
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Thanks to the much-publicized failure of prominent utility CIS implementation projects, there is a legitimate fear factor involved. The key to overcoming those fears is to explore the options within a proven framework developed around industry-leading practices. The recent AwwaRF (American Water Works Association Research Foundation) project – “Effective Practices to Select, Acquire, and Implement a CIS” – provides a practical step-by-step roadmap (see illustration) for utilities embarking on a new CIS project. The key to a successful implementation is preparation. By following these major steps, decision-makers can reach the best possible conclusion:
 Identify Problem & Opportunity – Requirements, goals, constraints, opportunities?
 Needs Assessment – Stakeholder needs, business case, change management issues.
 Plan and Design – Custom vs. standard solutions, best practices, internal politics, requirements definition, demonstration scenarios, solution selection.
 Implementation – Plan go-live, training, review/standardize business/operating procedures for maximum efficiency.
 Continuous Improvement – Plan to maximize/integrate full CIS capability and optimize work processes over time.
Following steps 1, 2, and 3 can get your utility through this crossroads juncture successfully. Experience shown from the recent AwwaRF project can be applied to your unique situation.
Revolution or Evolution? For many utility decision makers that becomes the question. When it is time to move forward, there are multiple factors to consider, both for and against CIS replacement.
Regardless of the direction chosen, good planning is crucial to a successful CIS implementation. By exploring the experience of other utilities through real-world examples, utility decision-makers can gain a sound understanding of the basics of good CIS planning. This will enable you to directly address key issues and enhance your chances of a successful implementation.
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FORESIGHT
strategic asset management
Strategic Asset Management Made SIMPLE
Linda Blankenship
Principal Investigator
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The North American water industry has traditionally focused on “building” the engineered environment (including plants and collection/distribution systems), but there is a major paradigm shift on the horizon. The emerging approach is one of “managing” the engineered environment, leading to increased emphasis on Strategic Asset Management (SAM). In an era of aging infrastructure, sound management requires attention to every dollar being invested (both capital and maintenance) to ensure optimum use of resources that will minimize life-cycle cost.
Around the world, billions of dollars will be spent over the next few decades on infrastructure renewal. Attention has turned internationally toward identifying and mastering best practices in the management of physical infrastructure. In response to the need for more effective Asset Management practices, the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) has launched the research program “Strategic Asset Management Communication and Implementation” (known as the SAM Challenge), which is being managed by Dr. Roy Ramani of WERF. A research consortium, led by EMA, began work in 2007. This multi-year research program is part of WERF’s new “Program-Directed Research” initiatives designed to focus on high-priority and critical water quality-related issues.
Research Enables Effective Shift
A substantial body of knowledge has been developed on the subject, leading to such powerful tools as Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analysis, Reliability Centered Maintenance, and Business Risk Exposure, but the work has historically been directed and implemented on a piecemeal basis. The New Zealand National Asset Management Steering Committee released its first edition of the International Infrastructure Management Manual in 1999. Co-authored by Tony Urquhart, of the EMA-led team, the manual provided the first conceptual framework for pulling the body of emerging best practice information into a systematic structure.
In recent years, the US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), WERF, and AwwaRF (AWWA Research Foundation) have all played critical roles in industry-relevant research. Now, with the introduction of WERF’s web-based tool SIMPLE (Sustainable Infrastructure Management Program Learning Environment), that asset management framework has been significantly refined. The 10-step SIMPLE core process guides practitioners in organizational responses to the five core asset management questions, and provides a starting point for this new research. SIMPLE was intended as a first step for the North American water and wastewater utility industry to build an asset management knowledge base.
The SAM Challenge has four fundamental research objectives, the results of which will be used to enrich SIMPLE:
- Effectively communicate why this is important to key decision-makers and other stakeholders
- Provide a benchmarking of best practices and case studies for SAM implementation
- Provide more implementation guidance to SIMPLE and expand available tools utilities can use to more effectively make sound infrastructure management decisions
- Organize and expand physical sciences-based technical knowledge to develop tools to project remaining life and failure modes
The research will also identify best practices that U.S. and Canadian utilities are developing. Utilities in North American have different drivers and needs related to asset management because of very different regulatory, financial, and customer situations. This research will document the rapidly-evolving practices that will help utilities strategically manage their assets.
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| Model Shows Utility SAM Program Elements |
Every utility must define its own unique drivers in conducting the SAM core process steps. Stakeholder communication – internal and external – is a critical element in gaining support for an effective SAM program at every step of the process. This research program is expected to produce a variety of tools to bolster the effort. With additional supporting organization and technology, this enrichment will reinforce SIMPLE’s primary role as a knowledge management platform, around which cost-effective organizational change in asset management can occur and be sustained.
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Q & A INTERVIEW
The 'Browning' of America: How Shifting Demographics Are Driving Dramatic Change
Few people understand the realities of demographic change in America better than Dr. James H. Johnson, Jr. of the University of North Carolina. Selected by Fast Company magazine (September 2000) as one of the “17 … brightest thinkers and doers in the new world of work,” Jim’s research is preparing employers and communities for the dramatic population shifts that have begun in America. The impact of these trends for public sector organizations is enormous. Only by understanding the change that is afoot will employers respond effectively in the years to come. Dr. Johnson recently shared his thoughts on the subject with EMA.
You wrote an article in 2005 titled, ‘Demographics Drive Change.’ Can you explain this concept?
We all move through the various phases of life, from childhood to adolescence to adulthood and so on. As we age, our needs and the demands for various goods and services change over time and the marketplace has to respond. The cohort that was born between 1946 and 1964 – the Baby Boom cohort – is beginning to age out of the labor market. There are 86 million of us and every day another 12,000 of us turn 50. Within the next five years, we are going to see this huge wave of retirements. Behind the Baby Boom, Americans stopped having children in sufficient numbers to replace ourselves. How do you replace 86 million people with 67 million?
The only way to meet our labor needs in the future will be through some combination of new immigrants and global recruitment. The most rapid growth in our native population in is going to occur among people of color because the fertility rate for non-Hispanic whites is below replacement level. This is what I call the ‘Browning of America.’ It is immigrants, particularly from Latin America, that are going to drive population in the years ahead. Our ability to compete and thrive and prosper is going to depend on the extent to which we are able to manage this transition.
Can you give us a sense of the kind of numbers we are talking about?
We have about 35 million Hispanics in our population today or about 12 percent. By the year 2050, Hispanics will account for about 25 percent of the US population. The reason the Hispanic population is going to grow so quickly is it’s an age-selective immigration process. The average Hispanic immigrant coming in is very young – median age about 25 – whereas the median age for the US population as a whole is about 35. When you combine that with differential fertility rates, you begin to see where growth is going to occur. The first place you begin to see the impact is in our public schools. Native born women in the United States have about 62 live births per 1,000 women, foreign-born women about 80, and foreign-born Hispanic women approximately 112.
There are obviously a few states where this impact is greatest – Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, and California. What is the impact on the nation as a whole?
Well those places obviously drive the numbers but there are a whole series of newly emerging magnet states in the US, places like North Carolina, Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Utah, and Colorado that you might not think would be hotbeds of Hispanic population growth that are really growing dramatically. During the 1990s, for example, North Carolina led the nation in immigration-driven population change. In 2004, we estimate that our Hispanic population totaled 600,000. In the 2000 census, we had about 379,000 Hispanics. In 1990, we had about 79,000. So you can see how rapidly the population is changing. In 2005, South Carolina led the nation in immigration-driven population change and Arkansas led in Hispanic population change.
There are two things that are happening. First, some of the Hispanic immigrants that used to live in gateway communities like Los Angeles, Dallas, or Miami are moving on to these Hispanic magnet states, largely because employers are aggressively recruiting them as workers. Second, an increasing number of immigrants from abroad are moving directly to magnet states. This is part of the globalization of labor recruitment where employers are seeking immigrant and Hispanic labor not only in the traditional gateway communities but directly from abroad, particularly in Mexico. Agribusiness – primarily hog and poultry production – was the trigger for these states initially but as the economic boom of the 1990s continued, it spread to construction, hospitality, and services. Basically, there is no sector of the economy that isn’t impacted by this wave.
What will the impact of these trends be for public sector employers?
Because everybody is going to experience this exodus of Baby Boomers, the competition for talent will be fierce and expensive. The public sector faces a formidable task of how to recruit and retain talent while competing with the private sector. For example, I have looked at the data for my own institution, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2002 (and it’s even worse now), 66 percent of us on the faculty were aging Baby Boomers. How do you replace two-thirds of your faculty? It’s the same at Duke University down the road, at NC State 21 miles away, at Harvard, Princeton, Berkeley, you name it. This is a nationwide problem.
That’s one thing. The second thing is, how do you recruit in a marketplace that is radically different in all facets of diversity, from race and ethnicity to gender, religious orientation, and sexual preference. The pool of people that you have to draw upon is radically different. This is going to turn HR (Human Resources) upside down. The organization that gets this right will be the most viable in the future.
What kinds of cultural differences do employers need to prepare for?
Everything is up for grabs, ranging from how you understand the meaning of time, how people respond to deadlines for deliverables, to your holiday policy. On a
diversity calendar, every day in the year is somebody’s holiday. How do you understand different practices and orientations across various cultural, religious, and ethnic groups? It’s everything from dress codes to what kind of music can be played in your office to understanding social distance and how it varies from one cultural context to another. It is a daunting task for all of us.
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James H. Johnson, Jr., Ph.D.
Jim Johnson, Jr. is the William Rand Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Management at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His current research and consulting activities focus on the workforce and workplace implications of post-1990 demographic changes in the U.S; and on how to create highly competitive and sustainable business enterprises and communities in the current era of economic uncertainty and global insecurity. His research on these and related topics has been widely cited in a number of national media outlets, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, as well as Newsweek, Time Magazine, and U.S. News and World Report. He has appeared on NBC’s Today Show as well as on the CBS Evening News, ABC Nightly News, and Inside Politics on CNN. Dr. Johnson specializes in systematic urban and metropolitan business demography, workplace diversity, sustainability and urban and metropolitan competitiveness. |
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CUSTOMER STORY
City of Las Vegas
Gamble Pays Off As The Environmental Division
Deals With Change
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Clockwise from upper left: EST Pilot Team Member, Jay Chapman, checks out the BNR process; aerial view of the 91 MGD Water Pollution Control Facility; EST Coordinator, Phil Kastner, adjusts blower controls; downtown Las Vegas and beyond; Chemist Wendy Ellis does NPDES compliance testing; methane gas is scrubbed and used for aeration; Instrument Tech, R.A. Nelson, calibrates a controller. |
Las Vegas brings to mind the famous Strip – neon lights, slot machines, casino gaming, the constant buzz of activity. That glitz and glamour transformed this dry desert town into one of the fastest growing cities in the United States and one of the most popular vacation destinations in the world. Peel away the City’s public relations image though and you’ll find Las Vegas faces the same issues as so many of its counterparts, including rapidly changing and aging workforce demographics.
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| David Mendenhall |
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The City’s population is made up of over a half-million residents (approaching 2 million in the greater Las Vegas area of Clark County). Their median age is 34.5 years. However, the City’s Public Works Department Environmental Division‘s statistics looked much different. Their plant worker’s average age was 56. David Mendenhall, Environmental Manager, puts it this way, “The departures have already started and lots more of our people are or will be eligible to retire. We need to prepare to head off a workforce crisis.”
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Terry
Hughes |
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Mendenhall and his Plant Operations & Maintenance Superintendent, Terry Hughes, recognized the impending challenge as one that faced many other large utilities across the nation. They knew it was time for them to take a calculated risk and make some changes to the way they were working. They heard EMA’s Chairman, Alan Manning speak on this very issue at a Water Environment Federation Annual Conference. Alan spoke about the changing demographics and productivity imbalances at many utilities and highlighted the cultural changes that Mendenhall, Hughes, and the Public Works Department wanted to make.
The Environmental Division of the Public Works Department is responsible for treating wastewater for the cities of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas. The Division runs three facilities including two water reuse facilities that provide treated water for golf course irrigation (the Bonanza Mojave and the Durango Hills Water Resource Centers). The Water Pollution Control Facility (WPCF) treats wastewater generated by more than 650,000 residents and businesses in the greater-Las Vegas area. This facility treats an average of 68 MGD, with the capacity to treat up to 91 MGD. The adjoining cities of Henderson and Boulder City, as well as unincorporated areas of Clark County are served by separate treatment plants.
Division Goals Drove Genesis of Flexible Worker Concept
Environmental Division staffs’ stated goals include “looking for ways to become more efficient” and optimize plant performance. As the population boom in the Las Vegas area continues, Division staff has had to explore ways to address their changing workload. Working with Mendenhall and Hughes, the Public Works Department recognized the need to respond with a highly flexible workforce. This new workforce would provide the proper mix of generalists and specialists needed to accomplish the work. Public Works management felt this concept would help them deal with the cultural changes and shifting workload requirements they face in the years ahead.
Management believed the odds of dealing with this change positively would be in their favor if they developed a flexible worker concept. To prove this concept, they worked with EMA to pilot the concept of the Environmental Systems Technician or EST. The EST combines the functions of Operations and Maintenance (O&M) to develop an employee pool trained and verified to perform most operator and mechanical maintenance functions. The goal is to have the EST accomplish 80 percent of the utility’s O&M work and have basic electrical, instrumentation, and control skills.
A 12-person task force initially defined the EST for the City. This task force, the O&M Project Team, represented all stakeholders including Environmental Division trades, management, and City Human Resources. The Las Vegas City Employees Association was invited to all meetings but did not get completely involved until the latter end of the development stage.
The EST Training and Verification program development consisted of three activities: Develop the Framework, Design the Program, and Pilot/Implementation. The framework established the program goals, as well as the methods and techniques used to conduct the program.
The EST Training Program design began with a workload analysis using a Resource Loading Tool. Once the team defined the workload’s core skill sets and levels, an assessment of the current skill sets helped identify the training needs. Where required, job descriptions were revised or developed to encompass the desired skill sets.
The training program itself was designed to incorporate all training requirements. Multi-skilled workers typically enter into the program with a core skill in Operations or Mechanical Maintenance. The initial training includes 12 skill blocks, so trainees are introduced to each section of the Division’s functions and also involves more focused training on the O&M skills. The training program includes obtaining and maintaining a Nevada Wastewater Operator Certification and a Trinity Maintenance Certificate for each level.
SMART Metrics Measure Program’s Progress
Las Vegas’ training program includes a SMART performance metric program. SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. The performance metric program is a critical component of the overall EST program in that it measures specific progress and gauges the effectiveness of the training program.
In order to encourage the Division’s employees to take part in this program, the O&M Project team designed an innovative compensation program. They wanted to create an incentive for the Level 1 ESTs to become Level 2s and did so by instituting a seven grade increase between the Level 1 and Level 2 pay. Normal promotions within the utility carried a four grade increase. The new program allowed employees to realize over an 11 percent increase in pay for moving from Level 1 to Level 2. ESTs who move on to Level 3 receive a four grade increase. EST program participants are immediately eligible for promotion upon successful completion of the certification and verification.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was created to modify the Bargaining Units Contract. The MOU allowed the Division to modify provisions in the collective bargaining agreement between the City of Las Vegas and the Las Vegas City Employees’ Association. The MOU created two Committees to oversee the EST Program: the EST Oversight Committee and the EST Program Team. The EST Oversight Committee’s purpose is to provide overall direction to the program, to provide oversight of the program, and to select persons to enter into the program from the voluntary applicant pool. The EST Program Team was created to monitor the progress of those employees participating in the EST Program.
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Tammy
Hughes |
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As often happens, the EST Program Team’s efforts butted up against a bureaucratic approval process, and the project risked losing momentum while waiting for the MOU to work through the City’s civil service channels. But, because of a strong sense of project ownership and good communication among the core team members, the project overcame the odds and got back on track. Personnel Services Coordinator, Tammy Hughes explains that sometimes buy-in is slow, but that the program is being accepted gradually. The key to maintaining momentum is communication and helping the employees realize they are an integral part of the program.
Terry Hughes was part of the O&M Project Team. “The idea was to have very knowledgeable teams of people that would be able to complete the work in multiple areas by themselves on a daily basis with minimal supervision.” Employees entering the program can expect to spend six months as an EST Trainee at the probationary level. Each subsequent level of training and verification takes between 12 to 18 months.
ESTs are required to reach the Level 2 competency in order to stay in the program, but there is no requirement to move on to Level 3. However, one of the incentives is that everyone is eligible to move to that level. Once the program participant completes the requirements to move to Level 3, there is no waiting for a position to open. The program serves as a sort of trade school for wastewater O&M technicians – the equivalent of a journeyman program in other trades.
The program first began recruiting employees from within the Environmental Division. The intent was to give current Operations and Maintenance employees the opportunity to enter the program before allowing outside recruitment to begin. This was a plus for both the employees and management. Current employees were given an opportunity for promotion and growth. Division employees also helped with critiquing the training and with making improvements to the program.
EST Program Sets the Course for the Utility’s Future
In addition, the EST program is serving purposes that weren’t originally intended, such as addressing the qualified labor shortage in the Las Vegas area. New recruitment techniques along with job fairs will need to be developed to draw qualified applicants. When new recruits are hired into the City for the EST program, the program will serve as a comprehensive entry level through journeyman level training that provides a clear career path.
The EST program prepares the Division to deal with coming changes in its workforce. By providing training for its newer employees, and cross-training existing staff, there is less “brain drain” impact as older, more experienced staff members retire. In addition, the EST program provides multi-skilled workers allowing Division supervisors and planners to more easily mix and match skills to work tasks at hand.
The program kicked off in January 2006 with a pilot team of six employees: Gary Rusch, Jay Chapman, Lee Jones, Charles Trushel, Bruce Anders, and Joe Butler. This EST Pilot team participated in the training and verification processes while continuing some of their day-to-day work at the WPCF. In addition to their regular workload, the EST Pilot Team also analyzed and critiqued the training materials, program, and verification process. As “pioneers” in the program they hit the bumps in the road, identified them, and provided tremendous help in refining and improving the program for future participants. The Pilot Team has completed Level 1 and is mid-way through the second level of training. Recruitment for a second round of participants has begun. The pilot team participants went “all in” and the gamble’s paying off, paving the way for new EST trainees to begin increasing their odds for a successful future.
Opportunity Knocks, Environmental Division
Employees Answer
Gary Rusch is one of the first group of City of Las Vegas Environmental Division employees taking part in the EST pilot. He started with the utility not quite eight years ago as a Maintenance Mechanic. As the only “maintenance guy” in the EST pilot program, he worried that the program focused too heavily on the maintenance side. His co-workers, too, were skeptical when management first introduced the idea. Many wondered if the EST concept and pilot program were merely schemes for management to eliminate jobs.
However, Gary saw the program as an opportunity for him to receive the training contact hours he needed to get his Operator’s license. “As a mechanic, I could have taken the Operator test and even passed, but it wouldn’t have done me any good. I couldn’t get signed off on the hours required. This gave me the opportunity to do that.”
Now that the first phase of the pilot is completed, Gary’s been promoted to EST 1. He says that the overall attitude about the program is better within the Division. “I’ve heard people say they might consider getting involved now.” He notes the initial skepticism is being replaced by cautious optimism now that the first group has completed the EST 1 program.
As one of the EST program’s pilot participants, Gary sometimes felt like a guinea pig, but he expected that going in. He’s confident the future of the program will be better for the others who’ll come after him because of the work done by the EST pioneers.
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| Pilot participants proudly display their EST Level 1 certification. From left to right: Charlie Kajdowski, Public Works Director; David Mendenhall, Environmental Manager; Bruce Anders, pilot; Jay Chapman, pilot; Lee Jones, pilot; Charles Trushel, pilot; Gary Rusch, pilot; Steve Houchens, Deputy City Manager; John McNellis, Deputy Public Works Director. |
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e-FLUENT
emergency preparededness
Florida Utilities Lead the Way in Disaster Preparedness
Mike Sweeney
Principal Consultant
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Florida utilities have faced more than their share of disasters in recent years, primarily from a series of killer hurricanes that stretched emergency recovery capabilities to the max. As a result of the experience gained – and to better prepare for future incidents – Florida’s water and wastewater service providers developed a system of mutual aid designed to speed response in an emergency.
FlaWARN (Florida’s Water/Wastewater Agency Response Network) is the formalized system of “utilities helping utilities” in rapid response and recovery. Not just for hurricane recovery, FlaWARN responds to both man-made emergencies and natural disasters by providing resources to water, wastewater, and other public service entities within member agencies. The system works much like triage in a hospital setting. Personnel are matched with necessary tools and equipment to quickly assess and assist other utilities until a permanent solution is found.
In 2005 – its first full year – FlaWARN members faced Dennis, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma, a string of punishing storms that tested the new arrangement almost immediately. In the aftermath of Katrina, the network set a precedent for coordinated interstate response for water and wastewater utilities. In less than a year, FlaWARN has emerged a national leader in mutual aid. To date, more than 25 organizations from other states have sought assistance from Florida in setting up similar arrangements in their regions.
Utility-Specific Preparation
FlaWARN assists its members with issues such as recovery coordination, resource inventory and availability status, vulnerability assessment tools, Emergency Response Plan updates and checklists, and an updated best management practices reference library. Nationally, eight professional water and wastewater organizations AWWA, WEF, NACWA, AMWA, ASDWA, NWRA, NAWC, ASIWPCA have signed a Joint Policy on Mutual Aid and Assistance Networks.
With the formation of FlaWARN, individual utilities are taking significant action, as well, including JEA in Jacksonville and Orange County Utilities (OCU) in Orlando. OCU’s Water Reclamation Division was the first to conduct a comprehensive Tabletop Exercise (TTE) in July 2006 involving FlaWARN. The intent was to initiate and develop response procedures for a future hurricane disaster and to test recent Emergency Management Plan (EMP) changes, to engage other state utilities, and to test the FlaWARN system.
Working with EMA, OCU personnel developed and executed the exercise, which involved a total of 80 participants from OCU and other utilities and agencies, an excellent training opportunity for everyone involved. It also demonstrated a few areas where the participant’s emergency response could improve. Based on actual hurricane events of 2004, the TTE was designed to identify water reclamation, water, and solid waste operational procedures to assess, respond, and recover from a disaster. In addition, incident management issues and intra-agency coordination linkage were identified for successes and failures. The format encouraged discussion and spawned dialogue between groups to identify expectations, protocols, and response guidance. It identified FlaWARN’s capabilities as well as opportunities to improve.
A Funded Model States Can Emulate
While OCU participants came away with a specific To Do list, there were a number of needs that emerged which are important for any utility working on emergency response planning. These include the need to:
- Review and update emergency plans regularly
- Increase emergency response training opportunities for employees
- Maintain contact information for effective communication
- Ensure employees understand their specific roles, responsibilities, and the workings of the mutual aid system
With Federal grants available to launch similar programs, FlaWARN serves as a live model other states can emulate. It is a proven, tested method utilities across the country should use to achieve more favorable outcomes in disaster response and recovery.
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