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ERP, WMS, GIS: Who Controls the Work Order?
Kevin Hitt
January 1999
Kevin Hitt
January 1999
Introduction
The Work Order business process is the dominant procedure for Utilities to manage and maintain their assets. As companies automate this process they find there are many software offerings requiring interoperability to maximize benefits and improve this process. Predominately GIS, work management (WMS), and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems play a significant role in this process improvement. Each of these systems has their specific fi.mctionality and focus, which assembled as a whole creates a highly productive workflow. In addition, the Work Order process may be integrated with other operational systems such as Outage Management and Computer Aided Dispatch to further automate an organization from the office to the field.
The Business Process
Very simply the Work Order encompasses an initiate, design, schedule, build, and close activity as shown below. These basic activities can generically be applied to many industries involved in managing assets. However, in a Utility’s process there are additional complexities such as:
The Value Chain
The GIS, WMS, and ERP systems each supply some value of automation to the Work Order process. The Value Chain table below outlines the more significant functions that each supplier provides and implies supplier’s core competencies.
Supplier Value Chain
An Integrated, Automated Process
Integrating these complementary systems provides an improved, more productive workflow. The following input and output diagrams describe the information flow for each activity of the Work Order life-cycle.
Initialize Activity
Design Activity
Schedule Activity
Build Activity
Close Activity
The Data Flow Diagram below aggregates each of these activities and shows a typical integration of the systems to best manage the above mentioned complexities relevant to the Utility industry. In addition, the diagram’s flows outline data ownership
Sample Data Flow Diagram
For an Electric Utility
Design Considerations
Advancements in technology such as automation models and open application programming interfaces have greatly assisted in enabling this integrated workflow. With the improvements in technology and an industry under pressure to adopt off-the-shelf products instead of highly customized products, the vendor community has been able to successfully provide a completely automated Work Order process. However, there are key design considerations that must be reviewed and analyzed to accommodate Utilities’ specific business decisions. A brief listing of some more important design considerations include:
Here are a few bullets on future trends with some recommendations to consider while designing a integrated system:
There is no single, standard systems integration that accommodates the entire industry, or that has provided the competitive edge of a Company over another. There are many variations of integrating GIS, WMS, and ERP systems all providing end-user benefit. However, those not choosing to integrate these complementary systems or yielding on integrating the Work Order process will soon find competitors providing more responsive service to customers.
The Work Order business process is the dominant procedure for Utilities to manage and maintain their assets. As companies automate this process they find there are many software offerings requiring interoperability to maximize benefits and improve this process. Predominately GIS, work management (WMS), and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems play a significant role in this process improvement. Each of these systems has their specific fi.mctionality and focus, which assembled as a whole creates a highly productive workflow. In addition, the Work Order process may be integrated with other operational systems such as Outage Management and Computer Aided Dispatch to further automate an organization from the office to the field.
The Business Process
Very simply the Work Order encompasses an initiate, design, schedule, build, and close activity as shown below. These basic activities can generically be applied to many industries involved in managing assets. However, in a Utility’s process there are additional complexities such as:
- graphic (map) and database change management
- jobs spanning a long duration (long term transactions)
- a process that must adhere to sound engineering and company standards
- field assignment for job completion
- a life-cycle involving many discrete groups with various skill sets
- an urgency to complete jobs during storm conditions and equipment failure
- continue update of a corporate database available to the enterprise.
The Value Chain
The GIS, WMS, and ERP systems each supply some value of automation to the Work Order process. The Value Chain table below outlines the more significant functions that each supplier provides and implies supplier’s core competencies.
Supplier Value Chain
| GIS | WMS | ERP |
| * Automation of graphic
design work and status
of this work * Management of complex design jobs open over long periods of time * Continuous, connected model (connectivity model) of the facilities/equipment * Management of facility’s geographic location * Spatial analysis functionality |
* Job management * Standardization through compatible (construction) units * Scheduling of many job packets |
* Updating and
maintaining of corporate
databases such as: - Materials management - Customer information - Sales and financial - Human Resources |
An Integrated, Automated Process
Integrating these complementary systems provides an improved, more productive workflow. The following input and output diagrams describe the information flow for each activity of the Work Order life-cycle.
Initialize Activity
Design Activity
Schedule Activity
Build Activity
Close Activity
The Data Flow Diagram below aggregates each of these activities and shows a typical integration of the systems to best manage the above mentioned complexities relevant to the Utility industry. In addition, the diagram’s flows outline data ownership
For an Electric Utility
Design Considerations
Advancements in technology such as automation models and open application programming interfaces have greatly assisted in enabling this integrated workflow. With the improvements in technology and an industry under pressure to adopt off-the-shelf products instead of highly customized products, the vendor community has been able to successfully provide a completely automated Work Order process. However, there are key design considerations that must be reviewed and analyzed to accommodate Utilities’ specific business decisions. A brief listing of some more important design considerations include:
- Will the initialization of jobs always occur from the WMS or can jobs commence from the GIS as well?
- Will trouble work orders be managed by the work order system?
- Will the ERP system be the work management system or will a separate WMS product be integrated?
- What will be the maintenance frequency of the GIS data and how often
- will this data be posted to the master database?
- Who will approve the Work Orders and at what phases will these approvals be performed?
- Will crew scheduling for trouble jobs be part of the WMS or will the outage management schedule trouble work?
- How will the ERP’s labor and material information update the WMS product/modules?
- What system will manage and own the capitalization of new facilities?
- What process will be followed to maintain the integration software as new product versions are implemented?
Here are a few bullets on future trends with some recommendations to consider while designing a integrated system:
- More outsourcing will occur in the Utilities business requiring buyers and suppliers to be more integrated. Plan for 3rd parties to be included in the Work Order process.
- ERP vendors will expand their product line to perform more work management fi.mctions. Analyze this functionality in detail to determine applicability to your business.
- The data depository will continue to be relational databases. Become experts in relational databases and understand their future direction.
- Many operational systems will become more dependent on the connectivity model supplied by the GIS. Create a accurate, connected model of the facilities from the start or improve existing models to have a complete connectivity model.
There is no single, standard systems integration that accommodates the entire industry, or that has provided the competitive edge of a Company over another. There are many variations of integrating GIS, WMS, and ERP systems all providing end-user benefit. However, those not choosing to integrate these complementary systems or yielding on integrating the Work Order process will soon find competitors providing more responsive service to customers.