Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities

A major provider of essential services for Salt Lake City and the surrounding areas, Salt Lake City Department of Public Utilities (SLCDPU) keeps critical infrastructure up and running, including water, sewer, stormwater and street lighting. The organization also manages utility permitting for the region.

Rapid urban expansion and ongoing drought placed growing pressure on SLCDPU teams to maintain aging water infrastructure. Permitting workflows relied on paper or separate software systems, leaving data siloed. “This resulted in inefficient data management, communication silos and duplicate work,” says Tammy Wambeam, GIS/IT Administrator for SLCDPU. Teams also struggled with project tracking and schedule management. “We often lacked clarity on the project phases, leading to wasted time sifting through documents or making numerous phone calls to find project information.”

To continue providing dependable service to the community, the organization set out to modernize its permitting workflows, transitioning from paper-based processes to a fully digitized system using Trimble Unity Maintain and Esri ArcGIS.

SLCDPU had relied on Trimble Cityworks AMS, now part of Trimble Unity Maintain, since 1998 for enterprise asset management. More recently, the organization implemented Trimble Unity Permit to modernize permitting and bring work order and permitting data into a single platform.

“Before that, we were chasing fragmented information across multiple systems and paper trails, resulting in data silos and communication gaps,” says Wambeam. “With Trimble Unity Permit, we were able to completely digitize and streamline our permitting, licensing, inspection and plan review processes.”

Today, SLCDPU uses Trimble Unity Permit in tandem with Esri ArcGIS to manage permitting for utility construction tied to subdivisions, new residences and developments, remodels, demolitions, dry utilities and more. The system also tracks capital improvement projects and infrastructure permitting activities, including water service repairs, sewer line construction and repairs, and right-of-way permits.

The Trimble solution boosts visibility and communication between departments, allowing teams to more easily monitor projects and identify inefficiencies. Employees can now search for and access permitting, inspection, work order, GIS and project data within a single system. 

“Our organizational efficiency has greatly improved,” says Wambeam. For example, SLCDPU now completes the certificate of occupancy process for each project up to 30 minutes faster than before. With a consistent volume of 30–40 projects per month, those efficiencies translate to 10–20 hours of reclaimed productivity each month.

SLCDPU also streamlined its public-facing permitting activities by launching an online portal powered by Trimble Cityworks Public Access. Through the portal, contractors and residents can submit permit applications, upload supporting documents, and track the status of pending projects.

With more than 1,800 external users, the portal empowers SLCDPU to process submitted forms in 10 minutes or less while reducing paper usage by 50 percent. “The portal has become a key communication piece for us, providing a user-friendly way for our community to complete their permitting and licensing needs,” says Wambeam. 

A centralized permitting system also simplifies reporting and regulatory compliance. Teams can easily track projects and services to ensure they meet government-mandated water quality regulations and EPA requirements related to lead and copper piping. “Ultimately, Trimble Unity Permit helps us ensure that the services we provide are safe and sustainable,” Wambeam says.

SLCDPU teams created customized templates to automate workflows, saving significant time and effort. For example, selecting a meter size automatically generates a corresponding work order. Since implementing Trimble Unity Permit in late 2023, SLCDPU’s development services team has created more than 10,500 cases across multiple permit types.

Integrating Trimble solutions with ArcGIS, SLCDPU has built a connected system that links permitting and construction with ongoing operations and maintenance. With this comprehensive view of its data, supported by interactive GIS maps, the utility has improved both efficiency and transparency. “This data visualization capability helps us balance workload distribution, inform scheduling, and make hiring decisions,” says Wambeam. “Now, we have the tools necessary to perform more comprehensive data analysis that will help boost our productivity and further streamline workflows.”