Many facilities consider only the initial purchase and installation cost of a pumping system despite the fact that life-time operating costs, especially energy and maintenance costs, can amount to many times the purchase cost. It is in the best interest of the facility's profitability to evaluate the life cycle cost of alternative solutions before purchasing and installing major new equipment or carrying out a major overhaul. Important new methodologies and tools have been developed specifically for pumping systems and aimed at improving system efficiency and facility profitability. This paper discusses the use of a "systems approach" to evaluating pumping systems. Examples from the authors' own experiences and the US Department of Energy's (DOE) Best Practices activities within the DOE Industrial Technologies Program are provided to illustrate this systems approach, which leads to a system optimized for energy efficiency, maintainability, reliability, and performance. This paper includes an overview of the Pumping System Assessment Tool, an easy to use software program developed by DOE to identify energy savings opportunities in existing pumping systems. The paper concludes with a discussion of Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis as a management tool to help facilities minimize waste and maximize energy efficiency for new and existing pumping systems. Includes 11 references, table, figures.