Operations Management via the Web: PacifiCorp’s Operations Visualization System Puts Facilities Maps on the Web
Bill Elliott
Marketing Manager, Baker GeoResearch, Inc 8120 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 300 Bethesda, MD 20814 Reengineering the Field Technician A few years back a well-known cable company analyzed how their field technicians were spending their time. The analysis revealed the following utilization statistics:
Further investigation revealed field staff had difficulty getting through on the radio, and were sitting in their vehicles waiting for instructions to the next service call. With over 40°/0 of a technician's average day spent on activities other than installing and servicing customer accounts (i.e. overhead), any technology that can assist in reducing field technician overhead time would have a positive effect on operational productivity. The inability to contact a dispatcher because of a high volume of traffic are time wasters. For the mobile worker, increased productivity is all about saving time. Automated Vehicle Tracking (AVL) is one technology that can save time. For most organizations, an increase of one customer service call per day by each field technician would significantly improve the bottom line. AVL moves AM/FM out of the box Integrating GPS positioning, AM/FM databases and wireless data communications, AVL offers opportunities for better management and utilization of a utility company's mobile workers. If the benefits are there, why has the industry been slow in adopting this technology? Perhaps, the main reason that AVL has been slow to take hold is the fact that vehicle tracking alone does not yield the business improvements required for a company to invest in the technology. AVL is apiece of the technology that needs to be integrated into work management processes and software applications. As the utility industry heads toward deregulation, many companies are investing in business process reengineering. Products that incorporate AVL into their solutions, addressing not only newer technologies such as AVL, but go hand-in-hand with recommended improvements fi-om reengineered work flows, will be in great demand as competition forces utility companies to reduce their costs and improve service. Today, utility companies are increasingly evaluating AVL technology in the form of pilot projects. As the industry leaders roll out and successfully integrate these AVL products into company operations, other utility companies will quickly follow suit. This day is f~t approaching, with AVL imbedded solutions projected to grow exponentially over the next few years. Organizational Imediments Another impediment to the advancement of AVL technology within the utility industry is the natural fi.mctional compartmentalization that exists within most utility organizations. In a sense, functional compartmentalization has hindered cross pollination of key technologies between fi.mctional departments. This is particularly noteworthy of AMIFM and its key role in facilitating such technologies as AVL and map-based Computer Aided Dispatch within operational departments. AM/FM by tradition has been a "records management" technology used in the office to streamline the update and maintenance of facility map databases, and to support design, engineering and work management recordkeeping processes. Since AM/FM had little direct impact on the mobile workforce, few saw the need to introduce and promote the technology to the operational departments. Emerging technologies of GPS, mobile computers, and wireless digital communications have brought AM/FM in direct support of real-time operations through applications of AVL, and map-based Computer Aided Dispatch. The emerging view of AM/FM is its expanding role as facilitator for new operations-orient applications that add a real-time geospatial component to work management/field force management processes. Untapped Enterprise Benefits As the utility companies prepare to compete for tomorrow's customers with better customer service while managing the high maintenance costs of legacy infrastructure, efforts to improve the efficiency of field service operations will be critical to their success. Solution vendors have taken notice of this shift in focus, and have begun to provide complete workforce management systems that combine AVL with multiple technologies involved in automating technical service and outage response in the field. The industry can expect a multitude of new product announcements in this area. Industry pundits are predicting that AVL-AM/FM applications can significantly improve the management of the mobile workforce. The capability to monitor and direct the movement of the field workforce, optimizing route and work order assignments in near real-time using AVL and map-based dispatch technologies appears to offer the highest payback. Key applications where AVL can offer benefit include outage management, trouble call response, disaster recovery, and customer calls for service. The driving factor in determining which applications should be implemented first will invariably be based on a detailed costlbenefit analysis. Overall business benefits to the enterprise for implementing AVL-AMIFM applications include streamlined operations, increased safety, reduced costs and increased productivity of the mobile workforce. Toward AM/FM-Based Dispatch Tabular dispatch systems do not provide capabilities to geocode incoming customer calls for service or network outages in near real-time. AM/FM-based systems can automate this fimction and display service vehicle tracks and request for service/job site locations on a single digital map display. The inherent geospatial nature of mobile workforce related applications offers the opportunity to significantly improve utility operations. AVL and AM/FM can make this happen. However, few utilities have reached this level of technological sophistication, because many pieces of the puzzle, both organizational and technological, need to come together to provide the solutions needed. AM/FM Accur4cy Issues As utility organizations layout enterprisewide AM/FM programs, one application increasingly discussed is vehicle tracking and fleet management. Too often, the AVL application box is checked on the AM/FM wish list without much thought being given to the design and structure of the AM/FM needed to support the vehicle tracking applications that are envisioned. Just as AM/FM databases come in all shapes and sizes to support differing user needs, the development of digital background maps to support AVL and fleet management applications can vary based on specific user needs. Is Your AM/FM Up to the Task? In planning for AVL, some important questions need to be answered before AM/FM database specifications can be defined. If the organization already has a AM/l?M landbase, it needs to be examined very closely to determined it will support AVL and fleet management. Frequently, the current AM/FM landbase will need to be improved or upgraded to support the new AVL application. Answers to the following questions will help sort out AVL specifications and clari~ AM/FM landbase needs:
Since most utilities desire service vehicles to be dispatched to outside facilities, such as telephone, water, sewer, gas or electric infrastructure ('Yes' to Question 5), then the AM/FM should support the GPS positioning of facility features on a seamless base map. Merging AVL and outside facilities management (AM/FM) technologies can provide significant benefits for trouble call applications that require quick identification and location of damaged facilities, followed by rapid dispatching of the nearest available field crew or service vehicle to the trouble call site. Emerging AVL-AM/FM applications will significantly improve trouble call response times and overall management of utility field forces in the fiture. Difficulties encountered implementing AVL-AIWFM solutions more often than not are caused by inadequate AM/FM map databases rather than the lack of an innovative AVL solution. To support facilities-based AVL, the underlying map base must provide a high degree of "absolute" geographic accuracy that will relate mapped facility locations to the GPS location of vehicles. In general, the legacy of AM/FM systems tends to be "drawing-based" in that the seamless map is created from an amalgamation of drawing sheets (work prints, plats, engineering details, schematics, etc.). Each drawing sheet may have high "relative" accuracy and include very precise dimensioning. However, many of the drawing sheets from which AM/FM maps are created lack geodetic control reference points or coordinate grid projections. When seamed together on a geographic base, drawing sheets may not edgematch well. Map distances and directions may be noticeably skewed across large, seamed-up areas. Individual drawings need to be positioned across a seamless base map using GPS control points in order to support GPSbased vehicle tracking applications. Many AM/FM databases are not being developed in this fashion and will need to be enhanced to support planned AVL applications. Islands Of Automation In a recent pilot program, an East Coast electric utility implemented AVL technology for their meter reading application. The project was very successful and the hands-on experience gained was very valuable. That utility is now evaluating the operational and economic aspects of expanding AVL technology to their construction and service repair operations. Whereas the meter application was oriented toward scheduled responses, the construction and repair vehicle AVL system will need to support rapid response situations. Keeping the two AVL systems separate initially makes sense, since they are designed for different purposes. A similar staged implementation model can be followed by other utilities. Start with a manageable application where staff can get their feet wet in the technology, then expand into the more sophisticated applications with real payback potential. For this utility, use of AVL in repair and construction applications involves investing in additional equipment and software to track a larger number of vehicles than the meter application, but will provide significant payback during power outages and storms by providing faster recovery of service. Real-Time Versus Static Mam Eventually, this utility will link all AVL systems with its enterprise AM/FM. Since the geographic aspects of the utility's outside plant will be managed from a single, centralized AM/FM, it only makes sense to integrate company real-time spatial applications to that same AM/FM database as much as possible. This will provide the ability to spatially relate the location electric plant with the real-time location of service vehicles to quickly ascertain the nearest available service crew to an outage, for example. As SCADA data also links to the AM/FM, a real-time spatial management tool can be created. Since the utility's AM/FM is not a real-time system, their Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) software will handle real-time AVL needs utilizing copies of AM/FM data as background maps for CAD. If desired, vehicle location updates can be passed over to the utility's enterprise AM/FM at regular intervals for display. Since the utility's enterprise AM/FM was not designed to support real-time applications, it is more feasible to let a CAD system handle the real-time aspects of vehicle tracking. Combining Avl And AM/FM Data Collection The capabilities of AM/FM and GPS-based vehicle tracking are rapidly being combined to offer new and exciting applications for improving the efficiency of the mobile work force. New GPS/GIS systems, such as GeoLink@ PowerTrakTMfrom Baker GeoResearch, provide sophisticated AVL, fleet management and GIS field mapping capabilities in a single, open systems environment. These 'combined' systems make it easier to build and maintain AM/FM databases that can support robust vehicle tracking and map-based Computer-Aided Dispatch applications. The creation of AM/FM databases that meet the needs of a wide range of emerging and increasingly popular GPS-based vehicle tracking applications will be the real challenge facing our industry as we move into the 21 st century. | ||
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