Touch and Go!!!!

Touch and Go!!!!

A.J. van de Werken, John Leeuwenburg
Tensing-SKS (Spatial Knowledge Systems)
Wielkamp 3a, NL-5301 DB
Zaltbommel, The Netherlands

Introduction
Within the Netherlands, a concentrated effort has been applied at all levels of government to ensure that large-scale basemaps of the whole country be made available in digital format to all utilities and municipalities. The result has been that utility organizations have been able to quickly implement GIS that in combination with these maps has sped up the process of digitizing the networks.

Early Returns of Investments were made on the basis of capturing all.this data into a single repository. Thus the Engineering and Planning tasks associated with the data justified the need for the GIS. As hardware and soflware technology improved, Returns on Investments were recalculated on a basis that this data could be exploited throughout the organization.

In order to accomplish this, a multistage process was initiated within the industry. First, only workstations were provided with a connection to the database. It was a simple method of exploiting the use of the data internal to utility organizations but was also very expensive in that full blown GIS workstations were required to accommodate this construction. Second, desktop applications for viewing, querying, changing attribute data and adding some redline data became the requirement. This construction identified the need for GIS Lite software that could be priced more attractively to the volumes required here. However, GIS vendors relented in providing a solution where the full blown GIS could have been used while GIS Lite vendors were faced with the need to natively read or translate GIS data while providing only limited functionality. Then the Internet craze took over. Thin client applications for viewing, querying over the internet and even analyzing were the norm.

Nowadays it is possible to have a direct data link between someone in the field and the office. In the terminology of the utility industry, field engineers can now communicate with the dispatcher’s office to send and receive digital data as opposed to only speaking via the telephone or radio. Like any professional service organization, a utility wants to ensure the customers satisfaction. The Touch and Go concept can help you to achieve this.

The Concept
One of the most important business processes within a utility organization is the efficiency in which it attempts to minimize or even eliminate client disruptions. The conventional method has inherent and obvious disadvantages. Occasionally, utility company personnel must travel to a location to determine the problem, write up a report and hand it off to a supervisor who in turn determines when and by whom it can be repaired.

However, for every instance of maintenance, the Technician from the utility organization must go to a specific office location to obtain issued cards and/or work orders, which costs a lot of unnecessary effort and time. Since Technicians are on the road and return to headquarters only daily, it is difficult to add a work order. Management of available parts in inventory as well as on hand is not a simple undertaking. Administration of work orders and disruption registration forms is very slow and cumbersome. Furthermore, providing the necessary information, like GIS data and drop wire (connection) sketches to the Technicians on paper is costly and time consuming.

With the current information and communication technologies available, it is now very easy to realize a solution that greatly eases the above process. Such a solution has been realized that by far meets or exceeds the demands of these times, especially in time savings and cost effectiveness. An implementation of an actual Work Order Management system including the integration of the GIS data and associated drop wire sketches provides the solution, The solution is composed of a base workstation for the Service Manager at the office and a mobile computer for every Technician. This mobile computer could be a laptop as well as a pen based computer with all the information necessary for the Technician to do his job. These computers can remotely accept planned work orders or assignments on any given day at any given time along with the geographical information system data and the associated drop wire sketches. To make it easy finding the address of a client, the Technician also has a map of the streets of his service area.

The system must have an Open Architecture, with extensive support for native data formats, an elaborate on line help system and compatible with Office packages such as MS-Office or Corel Suite. Scheduling, Work orders exchange, used parts list, used hours on the job, travel time are all types of information exchanged with the base station. Standardization ensures compatibility with all kinds of extensions like barcode readers, label printers and so on.

In a basic setup the following entities are involved: a base station (the planner’s or dispatchers office) and one or more satellite/ mobile stations (the car of a field engineer or even his home office).

The Base Station
The base station is the centerpiece to the support of service engineers and technicians that are in the field. It provides them with up-to-date information, such as network status, from the dispatcher’s office and is included in work orders and assignments. A tight integration with ERP, Service Management and Customer information Systems ensures the accuracy of the data. Detailed information is available on daily schedules, part availability, set appointments, route planning for time estimation purposes and complex queries. Thus technicians can be assigned specific tasks based on the service area, task, where they are located compared to the requested location and which spare components are available in which vehicle based on baseplan backgrounds for dispatching software, representation of the status and location of all the field engineers.

The Mobile Station
Once the Technicians connect and turn on the laptop or pen based computer, all information is automatically exchanged, ready for the next day’s activities. One type of data included is used for route planning to direct him to the location. Information on these computers includes graphic and alphanumeric data. It is stored in a RDBMS along with connectivity information. All information required for data display such as line styles, symbol, color, etc. are also stored in the RDBMS and created consistent with the master GIS implementation. With fast screen displays for very large data volumes, a very efficient usage of internal memory and a user definable layering structure that can be scale dependent for display purposes, Technicians can quickly obtain the appropriate data needed to execute his task.

The Geocomponent
The software on both base and mobile stations is based on COM (OCX, ActiveX control). Facilities for the creation of user friendly applications in a Rapid Application Development (RAD) environment supporting ActiveX (Visual Basic, Access, Designer 2000, etc.) with full Windows related functionality (OLE, ODBC, SQL, DDE, COM, DCOM, DAO, etc. ) is inherently available. Windows standards for any type of peripheral equipment such as plotters, printers, scanners and displays, touch screens and pen computer hardware technology, monitors, printers, WMF, GIF, clipboards and Internet streams are all supported. Thus the operator and field technician can be supplied with an environment that suit their requirements.

In short: An ActiveX control is not an independent application but rather an environment where software developers can create, in their organizational standard using their favorite programming tool, independent applications for use throughout their organization. This facilitates an integration of GIS related functionality with for example office automation and workflow management technology. It can even be used to create applications that combine with Oracle Objects for OLE (Oracle Designer 2000’s replacement) to create GIS applications that heavily depend on database integrity.

Using component-based software can also improve business processes and workflow administration resulting in dramatic cost reductions. Furthermore, any existing applications can be expanded to include GIS functionality.

In the end component based software development will inherently make application development cheaper, of higher quality and faster resulting in lower costs.

The Telecommunications Network
For transferring data (workorders, sketches, etc. ) from and to the operator and the field engineers, the software relies on a telecommunications link. In terms of telecommunications coverage, Mobile data network and Cellular telephone, are becoming cheaper every day. However communications speed has limitations thus the volume of communications should be limited to emergency situations only. Nightly replication using ISDN will ensure that full updating of the GIS master database takes place. The synchronization of data with the master GIS database makes it possible that the replica of the GIS database is always current.

The Workorder
The Service Manager distributes the work orders per Technician. Instead of driving to the office, the Technician can, via an ISDN line, make contact every night with the office to download the next day’s activities (work orders or assignments). Complimentary to this, the Technician sends updated information about finished assignments and adjusted geographical data and sketches. Furthermore, if the Technician is on his way to a particular location or already at a location, he can send messages to the base. This promotes regular contact between the Technician and the office with continuous reports as to his activities and what the status of his job is. With this information, the Service Manager always knows how the Technicians are progressing and can adjust the plans for the rest of that day and affect scheduling thereafter. Also, if a Technician misses a component required to complete the job, the office can tell him if another Technician in close vicinity has that component. Of course, in case of an emergency, any Technician could be called upon to respond to that situation as quickly as possible since the office knows where all the Technicians are located and the base station can send all necessary information regarding the emergency to the appropriate resource, quickly.

The Sketch
Drop wire sketches are hosted by any Document imaging System. Wkh an on-line request mechanism in place, these sketches can be downloaded to the mobile station as a reference drawing for the technician. Since these sketches are reasonably static and depending on location or task oriented mobile units, a large number can be stored on the hard drive, on CD-ROM or even DVD. Simple zoom in / out and panning functions allow the technician to display close in views of these sketches.

The Map
Any GIS component may be used, However based on past experiences, some unique GIS related functions as well as the magnitude of the GIS to address the functionality required in a GIS system preclude the use of a majority of systems. These are used to manage very large amounts of graphical data and its associated fast display on screen. With this toolkit on the Wndows platform, users can:

Zoom in and out
Set layers on and off
Set multiple views on screen
Set scale dependent views
Perform spatial queries and analyses
Perform network analyses, connectivity checks, tracing routines including distance down a network, and tracking routines
Perform route planning
Import/export vector and raster data formats
Integrate real-time systems such as GPS and SCADA
Control graphic and alphanumeric entities
Compose plots and prints
Integrate with office automation tools, e.g. MS Office and work flow management soflware
CAD/Drawing functions for redlining or editing

The Gain
A better streamlining of the processes of handling interruptions enables a utility business to react and respond to client complaints and reports to attain a highercost savings.The following issues can be managed with the implementation of a fast GIS in combination with a Work Flow Management system.

A direct, digital operational approach in the issuance of work orders and disruption forms in a steadily defined process.
To make available in digital form the drop wire sketches and GIS data.
The Technicians work completely “away from home” and rarely have to travel to the office.
Through regular communications inherent in the solution, actual data and insight are available everywhere and continuously.
Reduction of travel times means a more responsive utility organization.
By simplifying operating procedures, administrative costs can be reduced dramatically.
Increase customer satisfaction, which is where the utility earns its money.
Provide a level of customer service that you originally sold or promised.

This methodology gives an operation, besides the advantages related to a better cost savings and extension of services, more insight in the execution of these operations, an effective communication tool, a simplified administration and an up to date inventory system all resulting in higher productivity within the operational environment. The new method of working is attractive for the employee since there is always a clear definition of his tasks and the Technician loses less time on the telephone, driving to the office, filling out work orders, etc. The Technician’s administration is minimized if not eliminated, so the Technician has more time to dedicate to their actual tasks.

The Future
Larger bandwidth will allow more data to be directly accessed. This means the field engineer will ultimately have an on-line connection to the company database. It is no longer necessary to take copies of the GIS database in the field. Combine that with the improving technology, improved integration procedures and the need to become more competitive, the Touch and Go concept is one that will be heavily exploited in the near future.