Transitioning from Legacy AVL to a Utility specific Solution Doug Wolfe, Group Leader, Application Services Kristin Whitwam, Group Leader, Field

Transcription

1 Transitioning from Legacy AVL to a Utility specific Solution Doug Wolfe, Group Leader, Application Services Kristin Whitwam, Group Leader, Field Operations Support

2 Agenda Introductions Doug Wolfe, Group Leader, Application Services Kristin Whitwam, Group Leader, Field Operations Support Jared Brandon, Clevest Executive challenge at Connexus Modernizing AVL Investing in mobility

3 Executive Challenge Wholesale power costs keep rising Find innovative operational efficiencies to reduce costs Technology a key enabler of these gains Get technology out to the field and drive more effective field operations

4 Existing AVL Environment Legacy AVL system since 2005 Approaching limits of capabilities Reliability of GPS data Proprietary hardware in trucks Supported Systems Operations to see vehicle locations Was not an integrated solution

5 Evaluating the AVL Market Key drivers: Utility specific solution Enable complete shift away from paper and voice Support multiple areas of business Single, real time view of vehicles, crews, and work with transparency to all of them Ability to integrate MWFM with AVL

6 Choosing Clevest as our AVL Partner Highlights: Built for the utility industry Established customer base Proven, integrated MWFM Highly configurable Genesis configuration tool Incredibly flexible yet as rigid as we needed Flexible field platforms

7 A Phased Approach AVL in the cloud Configured system with data stored on Clevest servers Ran both systems (new and legacy) in parallel for ~6 months During this period, system operators learned the new system from internal training documents created by IT department Live in Q Rationale Improved control over upgrade process Rapid deployment in the cloud Readily adapt solution to suit business needs

8 AVL Benefits Better visibility into field operations View crews, work and vehicles geospatially on AVL map More directly manage and support field technicians Faster response to customers by assigning the closest crew to priority work Assign, reassign or cancel orders at a glance easily and quickly Work safety with alerts and geo fencing

9 AVL in the Control Room [Insert image]

10 AVL to MWFM Build on AVL with MWFM to automate work activities Consolidate multiple areas of business on Clevest Mobile Workforce Management: Credit and collections Metering Outage Inspection Construction

11 Integrated MWFM and AVL

12 Clevest AVL

13 Clevest AVL

14 Credit and Collections First department on MWFM Move from hosted to onsite AVL environment Configure screens and logic to align with day to day workflow of team Maximize real estate on handheld and provide only what people need to complete work Live Q with 5 field workers and 10 office personnel integrated to legacy CIS system

15 Training in Credit Field technicians: easy to use solution shortened the learning curve CSRs: Also trained CSRs so they can assist when other resources are busy; casual users Third party vendor: performs some of our credit work and was up and running after 2 one hour sessions on the solution Office dispatch: easily adopted

16 Benefits in Credit Accomplishing far more orders/day in mobile environment Easily expanded system to handle different types of orders Eliminated 80,000 sheets of paper/year Credit supervisors gain 1.5 hours of productive time every morning: Paper shuffling that used to take 2.5 hours every day now takes under 30 minutes Reduced travel time with better work assignments Lower overall mileage also drives fuel savings, reduced wear and tear on vehicles And lower average cost/truck roll to deliver services

17 Metering Second department on MWFM Two groups: Meter technicians using outdated mobile technology Specialized meter readers using paper orders to investigate atypical readings Project team included two technicians; expertise in workflow and familiarity with mobile accelerated configuration Another aggressive install Live in Q with 20 member department on rugged laptops; now using toughpads

18 Benefits in Metering Service orders generated by CIS now wirelessly dispatched Ability to get work out to the field in an instant Field sends completion information to office in real time Substantial productivity gains in field and office Potential to save enormous amount of lost/unproductive time, especially with large service territory Example: We can now assign work to the worker closest to the job and they can travel directly to the job instead of coming into the office or spending a lot of time on the phone getting instructions.

19 Future Mobility Plans Mobile Outage Estimated live for Q Construction MWFM Estimated live for Q4 2015

20 Mobile Outage Replace existing OMS with Schneider Responder OMS Expand Clevest MWFM with mobile outage capabilities Benefits of managing outages wirelessly: Shorten restoration times (about a day for storms) Enhance public and worker safety Improve coordination between field and office (especially with managing guest crews) Provide timely, accurate information to members, the public and regulatory agencies We save a lot of time not sorting paper incidents

21 Construction Third department on MWFM Long cycle construction work less transactional than day to day service work Construction supervisors will use AVL to view trucks Crews will use toughpads to wirelessly access work order information in the field Will eliminate paper Office personnel will exchange information with field in real time as work progresses

22 In Summary AVL leads to MWFM and more MWFM drives smarter field ops Clevest has been a great partner and continues to ask us what co ops need Do you have real time visibility into the location of your vehicles throughout the day? How much paper does just one of your departments use per year?

23 Thank you! Doug Wolfe, Group Leader, Application Services Kristin Whitwam, Group Leader, Field Operations Support Connexus Energy