Benefits and Challenges: Integrating AM/FM with Work Management

Texas Utilities (TU) completed deployment of the Distribution Information System (DIS) in September 1997. This project represents a significant achievement in combining AM/FM/WMS appl icat ions and legacy mainframe systems to form a true enterprise solution for a c Iient base of 1,250 employees. This paper reviews the issues encountered by the Project Management team and the benefits Texas Utilities has already received by implementing an enterprisewide system.

Company Background
TU is an investor-owned utility whose United States operations provide service to East, North Central, and West Texas, including the densely populated Dallas/Fort Worth area. The company serves 2.4 million electric customers in its 170,000-square-kilometer service area.

Approximately 140,000 kilometers of electrical lines serve the energy needs of one-third of Texas. The staffing level is currently at 1I ,000 employees.

The merger of Dallas Power and Light, Texas Electric Service, and Texas Power and Light in 1984 formed TU Electric, the operating subsidiary of TU Company. A re-engineering and downsizing in late 1992 was undertaken to improve TU’S competitiveness in the energy market and resulted in many innovative methods of performing business processes, accompanied by a work-force reduction of almost 4,000. One of the innovations endorsed by the re-engineering effort was the Distribution Information System, which has eliminated the dissimilar systems utilized in the former operating companies.

TU Australia was established in late 1995, with the acquisition of Eastern Energy as a part of the privatization of the industry by the Victorian government. Eastern Energy provides distribution and retail sales of electric energy and serves 481,000 customers from the eastern suburbs of Melbourne to the New South Wales border. Through Eastern Energy and TU Australia, TU intends to be a long-term supplier of energy and related services in the Australian market. Branching out further, TU acquired Lone Star Gas Company, one of the largest gas companies in Texas, in 1997.

Texas Utilities (U. S.) is operated as five regional organizations. The business functions in each region include operations, customer service, construction, maintenance, and engineering. Within each region are service centers where the bulk of the customer interface and construction activities occur. Corporate-level engineering, operations, and marketing groups support the region organizations.

A tiered approach has been adopted for planning service to customers. Based on the projected cost and complexity, projects may be handled by service planners at the service centers, or by engineering technicians and engineers at the corporate level. This tiered approach provides greater efficiency and service response by placing the majority of the work near the customer. Locating the service planners at the service centers with the distribution crews also improves communication at the Engineering/Construction interface.