IRWD becomes data-fit in just 9 Months with 40,000 Assets Ready for Maximo Upgrade

"MaxGrip quickly understood the issues we were facing with our inconsistent asset breakdown structure. They provided expert engineering resources to logically and intuitively restructure our assets and locations, ensuring compliance with local and national water industry standards. To ensure consistency going forward, MaxGrip developed an "Asset and Functional Locations Standard" that can be applied to future expansions and enhancements at IRWD. The project was managed professionally and transparently and was delivered on time without surprises."

– Verowin Hunting, Reliability Manager at IRWD

1. Delivered a 50% reduction in recorded asset count by eliminating duplicates and obsolete entries, giving IRWD a lean and accurate foundation for maintenance and asset decisions
2. Enabled technicians to locate any asset within seconds using a logical, ISO-aligned hierarchy, cutting search time and improving wrench time efficiency
3. Created a governance policy that ensures consistent asset naming, classification, and data quality across 14 diverse facility types, supporting future expansions without rework
4. Provided a complete flagship facility with 1,000 validated assets—over double the initial pilot scope—ready for immediate use months ahead of the Maximo upgrade
5. Established a repeatable process allowing IRWD to cleanse and prepare all 40,000 assets in under nine months, accelerating time-to-value and ensuring upgrade readiness

1 | Mobilize & Align Scope
A kickoff workshop brought important stakeholders into one room to agree on objectives and set a realistic mobilization path. The pilot scope was a 6 week effort during which the policy would be holistically developed, a pilot site selected, and deployment to ~450 assets as a proof of concept.

2 | Extract the Baseline
MaxGrip exported every live Maximo record, mapped it against P&IDs, asset ledgers and spares files, and consolidated the results in a master equipment list. The exercise revealed a two-to-one over-count and surfaced dozens of duplicate tag strings that had crept in over the years.

3 | Validate on Site:  "truth capture"
IRWD and MaxGrip teams walked the pilot facility, scanning tags, confirming functional locations and marking handrails, fencing and other non-maintainable items for removal. By the end of the walk-down, 94 % of the physical assets were already represented in the master list and every discrepancy was clearly logged.

4 | Design the Hierarchy Policy
Through a series of interactive workshops we co-created a naming and classification standard aligned with ISO 14224 and AWWA best practice. The policy defined level-1-to-7 breakdowns, tag syntax, mandatory attributes and governance rules that would work equally well for treatment plants, wells, booster stations and recycled-water sites.

5 | Model & Test the Pilot Hierarchy
Using the new policy, consultants rebuilt the full structure for the pilot facility with around 1,000 assets inside a sandbox database. A stakeholder review where technicians were able to quickly navigate from plant level to pump sub-assembly provided the project's "aha" moment and green-lit pilot rollout.

6 | Cleanse, Enrich & Load
Duplicates were merged, obsolete records struck off and missing attributes were added. Clean data were then bulk-uploaded to Maximo with audit trails that allow any future change to be traced back to source.

7 | Knowledge Transfer & Change Management
MaxGrip produced a policy and worked closely with the IRWD team from the start so they could voice their ideas, give feedback and share ownership of the solution. Weekly updates keeps stakeholders engaged and ensures buy-in throughout the pilot stage. The maintenance team experience the improved way of working in their day to day practice, which elevates job satisfaction and further cementing this new approach for IRWD.

This structured, repeatable approach means every subsequent site can be processed faster than the one before, guaranteeing that the full portfolio will be fully "data-fit" and Maximo-ready within the nine-month window.

Current Status and Next Steps

The pilot not only finished on schedule, it delivered around 1,000 validated assets instead of the 450 originally scoped. This gives IRWD an entire flagship facility ready for immediate use. With that success, MaxGrip and IRWD have launched Phase 2, covering their next largest sites. The roadmap targets completion of the remaining 39,000 assets, spanning 480 locations, by the end of this year, ensuring clean data is in place for the Maximo upgrade soon after.