BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS WRITING

Beneath the brick, concrete, gravel and dirt of the arid southern California city of Fontana, an intricate network of piping spans 40 square miles, providing water and wastewater services to 177,352 residents. The piping includes 370 miles of sewer mainlines, 35,367 lateral lines and 8,364 manholes, all of which need regular maintenance to keep the network flowing smoothly.

That’s where Keith Kramer comes in. Kramer is the Operation and Construction Project Supervisor for the city of Fontana Public Works Department. His job is not only to see the underground infrastructure assets, but also to understand their inner workings and proactively correct suspected problems.

“We have to paint a vivid picture of what’s going on,” Kramer said. “And not just a picture for the moment, but one for the long term too.” Before 2003, Fontana’s public works department did not have a way to electronically track assets and generate work orders. Instead, crews took hand-written assignments into the field and submitted inventory and inspection notes to supervisors. The process worked well enough from the field crew’s perspective, but adding more current data to older notes and creating reports by shuffling through six months worth of hardcopies became time consuming for those who worked in the office.