Dairyland Power Cooperative, a utility company based in La Crosse, Wisconsin, provides energy to 24 member cooperatives and 27 municipal utilities across four states. When scattered data started holding them back, the organization realized it was time for a change and turned to Dynaway’s mobile asset management solution integrated with Microsoft Dynamics 365. This shift didn’t just improve workflows, but it revolutionized how they manage assets, empowering their team to make data-driven decisions and streamline fieldwork.
Introduction
"Without data, you're just another person with an opinion" - this well-known quote attributed to W. Edwards Demin sums up why Dairyland Power Cooperative, a Wiscounsin-based utility company, undertook the D365 and mobile asset management solution to get the data needed to make informed decisions.
We had the pleasure of speaking with Chris Gerold, a Program Manager at Dairyland Power who has been with the company for over two decades. Throughout his career, Chris has held various roles: having started in quality assurance and maintenance-related roles, he has extensive experience in maintenance and reliability practices. For the past few years, Chris has been working in his current asset management position.
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In this article, we will explore how Dairyland Power Cooperative revolutionized its asset management by implementing Dynaway Mobile EAM.
About Dairyland Power Cooperative
Dairyland Power Cooperative is an electric utility company headquartered in La Crosse, southwestern Wisconsin. As a not-for-profit utility, Dairyland Power generates and transmits electricity to 24 member distribution cooperatives and 27 municipal utilities across Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois. With over 460 employees, the cooperative oversees more than $1.59 billion in assets.
Dairyland Power is subject to various regulatory requirements, including NERC compliance, which mandates specific documentation practices related to asset maintenance and inspections.
Over the past few years, Dairyland Power has been actively transitioning away from paper-based processes, embracing digitization and mobile technology to enhance their operational efficiency and data management. With a focus on providing reliable and affordable power, Dairyland Power Cooperative plays a crucial role in meeting the energy needs of the community.
Challenges Encountered
As Dairyland Power Cooperative expanded its asset management operations to the transmission side of the business, Chris identified a pressing need for an enterprise asset management (EAM) system. At the time, Dairyland Power relied on fragmented systems such as whiteboards, spreadsheets, notebooks, and access databases. While tools like Esri (a geospatial GIS software) were used to map assets, they lacked the critical functionalities needed for effective asset management, such as tracking lifecycle costs and maintaining accurate data. “We couldn’t trust the data in the system, and that created inefficiencies,” Chris explained.
These legacy processes led to:
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- Data Disparity
Scattered information across various tools and platforms, making it difficult to obtain a single source of truth. - "Like a lot of people, we had data everywhere—whiteboards, notebooks, Access databases, spreadsheets, and everybody had it all over the place. SharePoint, network drives, notebooks in somebody's truck (...). We needed a single source of truth."
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- Scheduling Challenges
- Lack of centralized scheduling tools created inefficiencies and made it hard to optimize resource allocation.
- "What we didn’t want to happen was, okay, I go out there, I do my work, I come back at the end of the day, end of the week, and I input all my data. When you're gathering data, when you're doing your work, all this needs to be part of that process."
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- Incomplete Work History
- "Collecting work history... it was just institutional knowledge. It was in the culture of the organization. One guy taught the next guy." Chris shared.
- This reliance on informal knowledge-sharing rather than documented processes meant that critical maintenance information was often lost when employees retired or moved to other roles. "We didn't have real good documentation there."
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- Limited Lifecycle Cost Insights
- Data silos prevented accurate tracking of asset lifecycle costs, affecting decision-making.
"Lifecycle costs... that was a difficult thing for us to get out of our systems. Our ERP system, they went in as a location code, and there could be many, many assets or different assets under that location code. So there’s really no way to slice and dice and get true, good information."-
- Opinion-Based Decisions
- Without consistent, valid data, organizational decisions were often driven by opinions rather than knowledge.
"It all comes down to that decision-making. Where are we spending our money? Where are the technicians? How can they be more efficient? Where are we failing? What problems do we have? It was all basically opinions. Who spoke the loudest? Who was the most persuasive in trying to get their message across? They got the capital projects."
Recognizing the need for a different approach to asset management, Chris Gerold took on the responsibility of developing an asset management program at the corporate level. This initiative was driven by a clear value statement: "Better decision-making from a position of knowledge."
The Journey to D365 and Asset Management
Dairyland's journey into D365 started with an ERP system.
The accounting team initiated this project to replace outdated systems with multiple integrations and inefficiencies. Their goal was to improve processes with a new ERP system, but asset management was not included in the initial plan.
That's when Chris Gerold stepped in: “I came knocking on the door and said, ‘I want to be part of this.’ At first, they told me, ‘This is just accounting. It doesn’t relate to asset management.’ But from my perspective, asset management is at the core of how we run our business,” he explained.
For Chris, asset management goes beyond just maintaining equipment - it involves shaping long-term business strategies: "People misuse the term. Managing assets is about the physical assets themselves. Asset management, though, is about the business—how you manage those assets over the next 50 years. For example, our transmission structures are assets designed to last 75, 80, or even 90 years. We should have 30-year plans for every asset class. We’re not there yet, but that’s the vision."
Chris advocated for including asset management in broader business processes such as procurement, supply chain, and engineering design. His efforts paid off as these elements, along with aging generating assets, were incorporated into the ERP framework.
"I kept pushing them, and eventually, procurement was added to the scope, then supply chain, and finally our generating assets, which had a system that was sun setting," Chris shared. "I kept asking, 'What about us?', and they still couldn't get across that asset management should be part of that. But we finally convinced them after they started implementing."
Selecting the Right Tool
The selection process involved gathering requirements and determining the specific needs of Dairyland Power Cooperative. Chris and the team worked closely with business process owners from different areas of the organization, such as supply chain, accounting, finance, and projects, to ensure that the chosen EAM solution would effectively interact with other modules and systems. A Change Advisory Board was established for the review and approval of any changes made to the software or business processes, carefully considering the potential impact on various areas of the business.
After careful evaluation and consideration, the organization decided to adopt Microsoft Dynamics as their ERP system, which led them to explore the EAM module within the Dynamics suite.
"We stepped back, and we looked at, okay, what does Dynamics have to offer, and how does it meet our requirements? So one thing that especially on our transmission side of the business, we needed a mobile solution. We needed to schedule all the other aspects of asset management work, work management."
Key User Requirements
1. A Single Source of Truth
Dairyland needed a centralized system to unify their asset information.
2. Robust Mobile Capabilities
With field crews spread across a four-state region, a reliable mobile solution was a critical requirement. As Chris Gerold, Program Manager of Asset Management, explained, “We had to have mobile capability. That was a given. Our technicians are out in the field, often in remote areas with no office or laptops. We needed offline functionality to collect data, take measurements, log counters, and complete checklists.”
3. Support for Diverse Work Management Groups
Dairyland required a system that could handle varied asset classes, including transmission lines, generating plants, substations, telecommunications, vegetation management, and facilities.
"We have our transmission line group, substations, electrical maintenance, telecommunication sites, our vegetation management. So within the corridors of our transmission lines, we have to keep that clear of all trees and vegetation. Our facilities group and also our generating assets. So a lot of different groups, a lot of different players, a lot of different personalities of how they want to use the system. But we have to try to be consistent in how we do that from a higher level. And that's posed some challenges, obviously."
Meeting the Requirements
When evaluating Microsoft Dynamics 365, Chris and his team realized that the base EAM system couldn't meet their needs. Through independent research, Chris discovered Dynaway’s add-ons, including the Dynaway Mobile Work Execution App, Planning Board, and Advanced Asset Management.
"When it came to system evaluation, we were told, 'Here, D365 is for you.' But when we looked at the base EAM system, it didn’t offer much," Chris shared. "After some research, I discovered Dynaway’s add-ons, like the Mobile EAM app, Planning Board, and Advanced Asset Management, which perfectly matched our requirements. These tools were essential—we couldn’t go live without them. However, they weren’t part of the ERP scope, so I had to secure funding within my operating budget to make it happen. Thankfully, I was able to support it through the operations budget, and while the ERP team initially said, ‘Don’t slow us down,’ we actually outpaced them. That was a big win for our team.”
The Implementation Process
The implementation of Dairyland Power's EAM solution was a success, with the team achieving their planned go-live date of August 2022. Despite the natural apprehension that comes with change, the process went smoothly, overcoming minor glitches along the way. As Chris Gerold reflected,
"You hear some horror stories out there in the industry, where some people never get off the ground with their implementation. But I think we were quite successful in what we did there."
The implementation process involved configuring the EAM solution to align with Dairyland Power Cooperative's specific needs and requirements. This included:
- Mapping out asset hierarchies,
- Defining maintenance strategies,
- Establishing workflows for work order management.
Impact on the Business: Enhancing Fieldwork Efficiency with the Mobile Solution
At Dairyland Power Cooperative, the introduction of mobile asset management has been a game-changer. Field technicians can now log counters, update checklists, and collect data in real-time, directly from remote locations. This shift has eliminated delays caused by paper-based processes and ensured that all asset information is accurate and centralized. With mobile tools, Dairyland has strengthened regulatory compliance by providing auditable records for preventive maintenance and inspections, helping them meet NERC requirements with confidence.
Perhaps most importantly, mobile asset management has empowered Dairyland to make smarter decisions. Reliable, real-time data flows seamlessly between fieldwork and centralized systems, giving leaders the insights they need to allocate resources effectively and prioritize critical maintenance tasks. The result? Faster response times, improved collaboration, and a stronger foundation for long-term growth and operational excellence.
Dairyland Power Cooperative has leveraged Dynaway Mobile Work Execution App to empower field technicians and streamline their work processes by utilizing the system to support:
- Work identification
- Work scheduling
- Work accomplishment
- Work documentation
Sharing the Success Story at Dynaway CONNECT 2024
At Dynaway CONNECT 2024, an asset maintenance conference, Chris Gerold presented Dairyland Power's asset management journey to fellow industry professionals. His session titled “Dynaway Mobile: Revolutionizing Field Work for Electric Utilities” provided an in-depth look at how his organization transitioned from fragmented data management to a centralized, efficient system using Dynaway’s advanced EAM tools and the mobile solution.
“We needed mobile, and we needed a good mobile solution,” Chris emphasized during his presentation, highlighting the critical role mobile technology played in enabling their technicians to work efficiently in the field.
Conclusion
Dairyland Power Cooperative turned scattered data into actionable insights, streamlined operations, and empowered their teams with Dynaway EAM. Their journey to modernize its asset management processes demonstrates the transformative power of a well-integrated system like Microsoft Dynamics 365 combined with tailored tools such as Dynaway's add-ons.
Despite challenges like cultural resistance and adapting to new workflows, the organization has successfully implemented a system that supports its field teams with mobile capabilities, streamlines work documentation, and enhances visibility across operations.
Looking forward, Dairyland Power aims to keep improving, using their system to refine processes, stay compliant, and continue providing reliable power to their members.
