Situation / Challenges. Assessment. ENCO Utility Services Technology and Customer Service Taking FileMaker Pro to New Limits

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1 Situation / Challenges ENCO Utility Services Technology and Customer Service Taking FileMaker Pro to New Limits ENCO Utility Services helps Cities, Quasi- Municipal Districts, and Master Planned Communities enter the Electric Distribution Business then operate and manage the business for them as their complete Turnkey Staff providing superior service anywhere in the United States. Desiring to develop a customer support call center with over fifty Call Center Agents (CSR) and a fully staffed City Utility Billing Department, ENCO employed ACG Technologies to work together to find the best database software solution that utilizes rapid development technology and is both inexpensive and agile for their ongoing development and requirement needs. Assessment Ruby Irigoyen, Senior Vice President of Customer Services, worked with Chris Quinn, President of ACG Technologies, and together chose FileMaker Pro for its World Class Rapid Development Platform and its Low Cost of Ownership to develop and grow their complex database and software infrastructure across multiple nationally located municipalities and for FileMaker s ability to quickly and easily accommodate on the fly development without business interruption and easier integration with SQL, MySQL, PHP, VB, BillMaster and SyncDek. Working closely with Ruby made it possible to identify key areas where the application of technology would improve day- to- day task efficiency, the quality of data input, ease of use, and the overall performance. Those key areas included: Call center dashboard used for retrieving detailed utility information about customers (One location for all customer related data access) Image 1.1 On the fly customer payment plan creation by the CSR High call volume management for call centers Live power outage management (OMS) and both manual and automated customer call back processes Image 1.6 Ability to track ALL incoming and outgoing customer phone calls for utility invoicing Live power outage web- based mapping application with interactive site information Image 1.7 Scalable multi- location utility customers data sets capable Ability to generate and dispatch trouble tickets to trouble men in the field Live wireless Revenue Meter monitoring and alerting, integrated OMS and trouble ticket creation Database synchronization between multiple locations Automated and configurable record archiving Electrical grid equipment location, maintenance tracking and scheduling UMMS Image 2.3 Many more features Page 1 of 17

2 CSR Customer Dashboard Image 1.1 The CSR utility and customer detail view is a rich and easy- to- use layout that allows the CSR to view almost all necessary information in one glance.. The Tab/SubTab navigation offers a low learning curve and data is quickly and easily accessed as needed in real time while on a live service call with a customer. Page 2 of 17

3 Challenges and Opportunities Coordinating with many different entities that have robust integration requirements across multiple technologies presented many challenges, such as: A call center database solution that is capable of handling multiple sets of utility specific customer data. This database has the scalability to add any number of municipalities and their corresponding customers. Track, identify and report on incoming and outgoing phone inquiries by customer utilities, address and premise numbers. - Image 1.2 Rapid and automated outage trouble tickets and electronic trouble men dispatch from the dispatcher as they occur. - Image 1.2 Real- time outage management including predictive fault device identification by outage call numbers. Automated rollup of single to multiple outages status. - Image 1.2 Interactive manual and automated CSR customer call back notification and tracking which would call customers after power restoration. - Image 1.6 Power outages that occur across multiple circuits can result in thousands of phone calls to the call center at the same time. Automated and integrated overflow call handling. Web based outage mapping in real time as outages occur over multiple cities. Drill down to outage for site information interactive web map for city managers and service personnel. - Image 1.7 Wireless revenue meter monitoring and alerting published to a live web- based mapping solution for real time outage conditions. This would include a specific meter or outage location that retrieves more detailed information. - Image 1.7 Automated record archiving to manage both local and remote database performance. Real- time data synchronization between multiple city locations. SyncDek by World Sync was integrated with FileMaker Pro Servers to manage and synchronize this process. CSR ability to track and create payment plans on the fly for utility customers. Quickly identify and manage life support and emergency service customers as a high priority. - Image 1.1 Underground Maintenance Management System (UMMS) inspectors use this portable solution to schedule, report and maintain underground electrical grid equipment that identifies and documents equipment issues and dispatches repair crews if problems are found. - Image 2.3 Many other features This fully functional FileMaker application with a utilization of serves approximately one hundred end users both local to the call center and remote users from all over the United States. The FileMaker database is heavily used each day and has been a great success for ENCO Utility Services. Ruby s experience and thorough understanding of the utility industry has helped ACG deliver an application that is extraordinary in its business application and performance. Page 3 of 17

4 Results and Benefits Developing an Integrated and Multi- Location FileMaker Database Solution Three areas where the application of FileMaker Pro has significantly impacted ENCO s day to day operations were: 1. Outage Management System (OMS) 2. High Volume Call Capacity Auto Attendant (IVR) 3. Underground Maintenance Management System (UMMS) Page 4 of 17

5 Outage Management System (OMS) was developed to manage multiple municipalities across the United States. CSRs at the ENCO Call Center can easily toggle between each municipality OMS live outage data with ease while on the phone in realtime with different utility customers as customer outage calls come in. OMS Dashboard Image 1.2 OMS Supports unlimited utilities and dynamically flags utilities that are experiencing live power outages Outage event filtering to quickly identify and prioritize outage events Probable fault device is predicted based upon customer location, meter or IVR outage activity Image 1.3 Toggle from any outage to all related customer trouble tickets for processing Drill into an outage event to log partial outage restorations image 1.3 Drill into any customer experiencing an outage for detailed customer information Image 1.4 View a device tree from an outage to review upstream devices on that circuit From the OMS Dashboard Managers easily toggle between utilities as outage events occur Move the outage event to the Restore tab when power restoration takes longer than normal. Manage and assign crews to a particular power outage restoration Page 5 of 17

6 Outage Management Image 1.3 OMS drills down into each record making it easy to dispatch trouble men during outages and document power outage events. The dispatcher can also drill into the single customer location of any of the rolled up customers under one particular outage event. Page 6 of 17

7 Customer Outage History Image 1.4 Easily and quickly drill into a customer specific outage history for review from multiple or single outage record. Page 7 of 17

8 Customer Location Embedded Web Map View Image 1.5 View any customer location from the unique FileMaker embedded web map page view. Toggle between map, satellite and hybrid views. Page 8 of 17 Ruby Irigoyen ENCO Chris Quinn ACG Ext 105

9 Service Orders Management Dashboard Image 1.6 CSRs process and call through to all restored outage customers to ensure that there are no residential breakers tripped and to ensure they have their power fully restored. If the customer requested that the IVR auto attendant call them back, the IVR auto attendant will cycle through the selected service orders and call back those customers on a fully automated system. This automated feature also enters an Outbound Call record for that particular customer as well. Interactive customer service orders dashboard and processing Indicates if the service order was created by the IVR, Wireless Meter Event or by the CSR Shows actual device fault ID Interactive phone icon allows the CSR to have the IVR automatically call the customer back after power has been restored Each Outage Event shows Date, Time and who the service order was dispatched to Page 9 of 17

10 Live OMS Outages Web Map - Image 1.7 The OMS Outage Web Map publishes live outage events as they occur from within the OMS database giving the city managers real- time visibility into what is happening on their electrical grid. The map interactivity allows the city managers and ENCO trouble men to view real- time outages and details from any web browser on each reported outage right within the web map. Page 10 of 17

11 High Volume Call Capacity Auto Attendant (IVR) Ruby required an integrated and automated Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR) auto attendant phone solution in the event of a large power outage that could handle high volume call events. ACG working closely with Ruby, developed a solution that gives the customer the option to hold for the next available CSR or opt for the auto attendant to create their trouble ticket through the IVR automated system. This system is designed to handle high volume call traffic. The IVR Auto AttendantAttendant handles many incoming calls at once and, through voice interactivity, automatically validates the customer by identifying them from their phone number. It then confirms the caller s current premise address. If they are not in the CIS database the IVR allows the customer to dictate their premise address. The system then has the customer identify the type of outage they are experiencing e.g. Light Out, Flickering Lights etc. The IVR then completed the following process: The IVR asks the customer if they would like an automated call back once their power was restored. o If the customer preferred the automated call back, the IVR in the call back process would allow them at any time to opt out of the auto attendant and speak with a CSR. After a customer completes a simple IVR auto attendant call, all the data is collected and migrated into a trouble ticket and outage record into the ENCO customer database that automattically shows up in the OMS as a live outage event for the dispatcher and CSRs to process. IVR Auto Attendant Phone Tree Image 1.8 Page 11 of 17

12 Underground Maintenane Management System (UMMS) is both an in- field Rugged Tablet PC FileMaker Kiosk based application that is wirelessly syncronised with the main FileMaker database. The in- office administrators application allows administrators to monitor, review and dispatch trouble men as needed. Trouble men perform in- field grid equipment maintenance and service. They can also add new equipment as needed. From the field the technician can indentify equipment that may have overheating issues, rusted enclosures, review equipment signage, numbering and tagging, measure equipment load, make service orders on the fly, etc. With a scalable and customizable administrator maintenance inpection back office view, modifying the in- field inspection routines and dispatching is quick and easy. Rugged Touch Screen Tablet PC for In- Field Technicians Image 1.9 The rugged touch screen tablet PC and the easy- to- use maintenance wizard is designed to allow the trouble man to quickly inspect and document equipment maintenance or problems without any double entry. In the event of a problem, there is an option to create a service order which is managed by an office administrator. From the ticket, the office administrator can dispatch a trouble man to repair the documented issue. Technicians can easily add an unlimited amount of photos of each piece of equipment or problem area on the equipment which assists in identifying the repair requirements before leaving the office. Page 12 of 17

13 FileMaker Kiosk Touch Screen Application Home Page Image 2.0 Dennis Eastman, president and CEO of ENCO Utility Services, worked with ACG Technologies to create the mobile Underground Maintenance Management System to prevent problems before they occur on city power grid equipment. The FileMaker Pro Touch Screen Kiosk functionality was ideal for ENCO s mobile application development. The application fills the tablet PC screen and guides the technicians easily through four different functions. Once the technician logs into the home page image 2.0 they are presented with the following options, Add New Equipment, Add New Structure, Search Existing Equipment, and Perform Equipment Inspection Maintenance. The scalable and versatile inspection maintenance can be configured for different maintenance tasks based upon the type of equipment being inspected. Equipment maintenance tasks are also configurable and can be modified by the administrator when needed. Page 13 of 17

14 Search Grid Equipment Inventory Image 2.1 With the use of radio buttons, pull down menus and auto enter text as you type functionality, FileMaker provides developers with the tools to make searching quick and easy. Page 14 of 17

15 Equipment Detail Tablet PC Kiosk Layout Image 2.2 The equipment detail layout enables the trouble men to: Add field notes to a piece of equipment Add latitude and longitude coordinates to the equipment which is published to a web map Add equipment photos to the corresponding record to assist in repairing the device View inspection history that covers maintenance and past issues Page 15 of 17

16 UMMS Back Office application allows administrators to: Equipment Detail Tablet PC Kiosk Layout Image 2.3 View specific equipment details by equipment type or utility Schedule and route equipment routes and inspections Print Delinquent Inspection report Print Delinquent Maintenance report Print equipment Inspection/Maintenance History View and print equipment lists in different found sets Review equipment maintenance history for replacement Configure equipment specific inspection tasks by equipment type for trouble man to perform Page 16 of 17

17 Conclusion Dennis and Ruby s vision, along with their extensive power industry experience and expertise, were able to work closely with ACG Technologies to deliver a complex and powerful solution that helps manage all their national locations and many departments across the ENCO enterprise. Delivering a single solution with a high level of integration across multiple technologies gives managers real- time visibility across multiple customer locations and departments. ENCO Utility Services Ruby Irigoyen Senior Vice President of Customer Service 8141 E. Kaiser Blvd., Suite 212 Anaheim, California Tel: (877) Tel: (951) Fax: (951) irigoyen@encous.com ACG Technologies Chris Quinn President, CEO Avenida Empresa, Suite 101 Rancho Santa Margarita, CA Tel: (949) Ext. 105 Fax (949) 713- info@acgtechnologies.com Page 17 of 17