A maintenance software migration is the moment to fix asset data

One topic is why many utilities put foundational improvements ahead of advanced technologies. For a maintenance chief deciding what a new system should fix first, that order of operations is the lesson. The session will also look at how asset hierarchy, governance and alignment across functions contribute to success over the long term.

Rebuilding the asset register under Ultimo

Trevor Simpson, Delta Diablo's maintenance manager, is helping lead the district's rollout of Ultimo, a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS), with MaxGrip. In nearly two decades at the district he has worked in maintenance, materials management, planning and scheduling, and supervision, which covers most of the desks a work order crosses. That background could help on a project that focuses on organizational alignment.

Another part of the session covers how asset hierarchy, governance and cross-functional alignment support long-term success. Juliana Laiate, the MaxGrip consultant presenting alongside Simpson, focuses her EAM work on data quality, governance, maintenance processes and user adoption. Adoption is the unglamorous one on that list, and probably the one that decides whether the others stick.

Why reactive work persists

Two of those four obstacles, legacy systems and data quality, sit squarely inside the scope of a software migration. Budgets and staffing do not. For operators planning a migration, that suggests treating it as a data project and not only a software upgrade.

A 2021 Deloitte Insights report on the power industry said companies would likely need to develop comprehensive digital strategies with data governance and cybersecurity at the core, and found that most electricity providers were still only dabbling in digital.

The strongest objection is staffing. The same workforce constraints that keep utilities reactive also limit who is available to cleanse records and redesign hierarchies, so a foundations-first plan could stretch the timeline for a thinly staffed district.

A playbook sized for smaller utilities

For districts still running maintenance on legacy software, or weighing a CMMS replacement in the next budget cycle, Delta Diablo is a closer reference point than a large investor-owned utility. The problems it chose to fix first, data, hierarchy and governance, are ones every utility carries into a migration regardless of size.

The October 20 session

The WaterWorld, MaxGrip and Delta Diablo webinar will set key findings from industry research beside one utility's real-world transformation story. It will also examine how asset hierarchy, governance and cross-functional alignment help build success that lasts over the long term.

• Date: October 20, 2026
• Time: 11:00 a.m. ET, 10:00 a.m. CT, 8:00 a.m. PT
• Length: 60 minutes
• Speakers: Trevor Simpson, Delta Diablo; Juliana Laiate, Ph.D., MaxGrip

What would show a measured gain is the district's own share of reactive work, before and after the rollout. One district's figure would give peers a benchmark that an industry-wide average can't, and it's the kind of number a maintenance manager can take to the next budget meeting.