Annual AMWA meeting to kick off with performance measurement discussion by Westin

RANCHO CORDOVA, CA, August 6, 2007 -- Westin Engineering Inc. today announced details of their Performance Measurement presentation to occur during the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) Annual Meeting, October 21-24 in Seattle. The conference is open to municipal water utility executives and AMWA subscribers.

The presentation, titled "Performance Measurement by Water Utilities," will be hosted by Westin CEO and President Doug Harp and will feature Mark Graham Brown, an internationally recognized author and consultant on developing and implementing effective performance improvement measures. Also joining the presentation will be Stan Williams, CEO of Santa Clara Valley Water District, and Westin Vice President Doug Spiers.

"Utilities seeking excellence are measuring progress in all aspects of their organizations including societal, economic and environmental," said Diane VanDe Hei, AMWA's Executive Director. "We are excited to provide this forum to support utility executives in instituting effective measures that will assist them in achieving their goals."

Brown's session will address fourth generation balanced scorecards and how to use such mechanisms to provide leaders with accurate ways of measuring complex aspects of performance such as corporate culture, customer relationships, communication and intellectual capital.

Brown is the author of Beyond the Balanced Scorecard: Improving Business Intelligence With Analytics and has consulted with numerous water utilities and public sector organizations. Water sector professionals Harp, Spiers and Williams have all been involved in implementing measurement programs in numerous water agencies. The workshop will conclude with roundtable discussions about the barriers to performance measurement.

"In order to be sustainable, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) must be based on reliable and timely information," said Harp. "In many organizations, existing operational and business systems collect data during normal business operations that can be used to show trends, monitor progress and guide decision making to affect change."

AMWA is an organization of the largest publicly owned drinking water systems in the United States. AMWA's membership serves more than 127 million Americans with drinking water from Alaska to Puerto Rico.

Westin works with water utilities to improve performance in treatment, business operations, knowledge management, customer service, maintenance, and asset management. Westin's suite of services address utilities needs throughout the entire life cycle of their technology -- from planning to design, implementation, integration and system maintenance. Westin has delivered practical SCADA, telecommunications and information technology solutions to customers throughout North America since 1981.

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