Water Company Uses Asset Tracking and Mobile Workforce Management Solutions to Manage Growth, Regulatory Requirements and Ageing Workforce.
Asa growing utility, Water Company (AWC) in Bridgeport, Connecticut needed help from technology solutions that could overcome the challenges of an ageing workforce, expanding territories, greater regulatory requirements, regional representation, large fleet management and better reporting.
The SAP Asset tracking solution were chosen for their ability to integrate seamlessly with SAP ERP system and to integrate GPS-enabled functionalities to its daily work processes. Three executives from water company explained the transformational nature of
Asset tracking & Mobile workforce.
Visual, Real-time Workforce Awareness. . “By using SAP Asset Tracking solutions, with GPS tracking of our vehicles and our people, and by using their visual mapping tools, we have been able to send the most appropriate and nearest technicians to troublesites more quickly,”said Water Company Project manager. “Wewantedto be ableto finda particular vehicle at a point in time in the field and now we can. The solutions help multiple supervisors coordinate oversight of individual technicians so that priorities are appropriately established.”
Operation head of water company noted how SAP Asset trackingsolutionshave saved money by making dispatch operations more efficient,saving wear and tear on vehicles,and reducing fuel costs. Water Company ability to quickly address customer demands will help preserve itsnumber one customer service ranking,a top priority for company management, she added.
Scheduling Meter Replacements, Meeting Regulatory Mandates. The severely cold winter of
2013-2014 set Water Companybehindon itsstate-mandated schedule forreplacing 20,000 meters, Operation headsaid, but SAP's Asset Tracking utility-orientedsolutions are making catch-up possible.“There’s incredibleflexibilityin their system so schedulingcontractors to match customer availabilityforchange-outs has helped us get back on track to meet regulatorsexpectations.”
SAP Integration Friendly. The SAP Asset Tracking solutions seem designed to be highlyadaptive to water utility specifications,Water company Project Manager said. “Most of our site callsdo not have physical addresses with a street number attached. They are hydrants or breaks in the middle of no-man’s land. SAP Partner worked with us, ESRI-GIS latitudes-longitudes system to overlay maps in our ERP. These technological feats reflect Asset Tracking flexibility and capabilities.”
The Possibilities for Bread Crumb Trails. Water Company believes more benefits are yet to come. “We are looking forward to using SAP's GPS-enabled Bread Crumb Trail reports,” Project Manager said. “Sometimes crews’ driving habits and whereabouts do not always reflect well on the Water company brand so we will use this tool to map vehicles’ locations, and monitor speeds and driving patterns.”
Flexibility, Customization, Affordability.
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“ They came in, listened to our needs, and built something right
to our size with the flexibility we were asking. They did it in a short
period of time and at a level of cost we could manage ”
with regulators in a rate case.
Director of Utility Operations
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