Is Your Work Managing You?

Is Your Work Managing You?

Ronald E. Bereit
GE Smallworld
7700 East Princess Drive, Suite #7
Scottsdale, Arizona 85255-5885

During the last few years, the utility industry has experienced many changes, challenges and much turmoil. First there was the Y2K problem. Most utility application implementations came to a screeching halt, in order to address Y2K and to avoid the “end of the world” as they thought they would know it on January 1, 2000. January 1 st came and went with little to no problems, but a huge amount of resources had been committed and expended, and the fact still remained the improvements or replacement of legacy applications did not occur.

Then came the start of deregulation, which has been less than a shining star. In theory, deregulation was supposed to provide an increased focus on customer service and customer retention through lower rates. However, with the brownouts and unprecedented rate increases that occurred in some areas of the country over the past summer, customer service might be approaching an all time low. At the same time, the utility industry entered into the world of e-business, but even this “fad” is having its problems, with many e-companies closing their doors on a daily basis. And because our lives in the utility world just can’t stay simple, we will add a twist of countless acquisitions and mergers, now being followed by divestitures of our foundation – the distribution utility.

Which of these events have helped the journeyman at 2:30 a.m. restore the customer back to service? Which of these events have improved the productivity of Construction, Maintenance, and Operations for our utility companies? And which one of these events has taken advantage of the technologies, looked into the daily activities for the field personnel and tried to make their life a little more efficient as well as reducing expenditures? Acquisitions and mergers were often directed at increasing revenues through an increased number of customers. But what has happened to the day-to-day support of the utilities facility operations?

In a presentation delivered at CIS 2000 by American Management Systems, quoting Public Utilities Fortnightly, "54% of companies going through mergers said that some or all of their mergers and acquisitions had not been successful.” An even more startling statement was that “two-thirds of the mergers resulted in a reduced shared price for the acquiring firm”. Continuing on, “About half of the energy mergers destroy wealth for shareholders of the acquiring company.” “Acquiring firms will continue to pursue accounting earnings, reduce the value of heir shares in most mergers, and fail to deliver the operating performance implied in the premiums they pay over market value.”

The question I present to you is: how much of the “operating performance” is based on how the operations perform? Is your Work managing you?

Understanding The Purpose of Work Management
Work management is widely accepted as the best viable method for streamlining overall corporate objectives for managing work. It is widely acknowledged that Work Management Systems (WMS) pay for themselves by reducing operating costs and improving business processes. However, with the increased number of supporting applications, there is often an increased number of process and data redundancies. The key must be how WMS should interact with other corporate systems, keeping in mind the changing business demands.

The fundamental question that is most often the most difficult to answer is, “What is really meant by Work Management?” If I were to go to 30 utilities and ask, “What is Work Management, and how is it used in your organization?”, I suspect I would receive 30 different answers.

So let’s make a basic assumption – that “Work is Work” – and that one application managing ALL work seems to make sense. Why shouldn’t the same application be able to manage a New Service as well as a Facility Extension? What makes the installation and maintenance of Street Lighting and Meters so different? To build on our assumption, here are the basic components of most work.

"Initiation – provides the mechanism for accepting and recording information describing any type of requests for work, planned or unplanned.
"Design / Estimate – determining what facility or facilities are required, and then calculating the cost to complete the effort.
"Approval – assures all approvals have been met, and that all applicable money and permits are received. The completion of this process may be the trigger to communicate with other corporate applications
"Schedule – this process should include the ability to schedule materials, crew(s), and equipment. The ability to “Group” work or stage work would be a plus.
"Work / Work Reporting – reporting the activities that have occurred and the facility work completed.
"Completion / Closing – recording what actually occurred, and sometimes, how and when.
"Compatible Units / Work Units – this is the foundation for determining the resources for any type of task

And what might be some of the best business drivers that make this assumption work?

"Increased Customer Service
"Consolidation of resources
"Reducing hand-offs and redundant effort
"Resulting in … reduced Operating Costs
"Resulting in … better Operations Productivity and Coordination
"Provide Management with a more singular stream of the Corporate Asset data

Which brings use to a more pressing question, just how do we manage our assets? We will discuss this point a little later.

Timely Business and Application Integration, Through Common Technology
Work Management provides two-way access to valuable information for key business functions and applications such as:

"AM / FM / GIS
"Asset Systems – Meter, Transformer, Valve
"Maintenance Management
"Marketing / Sales
"Customer Information / Customer Care
"Materials Management / Supply Chain
"Contract Administration
"Payroll / Equipment
"Trouble / Outage Management / Dispatch
"Accounting / Finance / Work Order

Many utilities are striving towards common technical and business solutions, resulting in the need for a new or modified infrastructure that combines improved and efficient processes with common technology solutions.

We have heard the term, “Enterprise Applications”, but just what does this term mean to the T & D operations personnel? Is the “Enterprise” for a distribution utility the same as that for a manufacturer? Let’s put a little different twist on the term “Enterprise” and create “Enterprise Application”. First, let’s make a bold assumption that the Distribution and Transmission asset or facilities is the enterprise, for without them there would likely not be very many customers. And let’s also assume that the “Enterprise Application” is made up of two applications, GIS and Work Management. Now with this assumption, what are the applications supporting this “Enterprise Application”?

Let’s imagine we live in the perfect world, and let’s imagine that we have the ability to create a brand new Distribution utility, the perfectly modeled utility. We will have to provide service for 500k to 1M customers. So where should we start? Why Work Management, … of course.

First, let’s use Work Management to initiate the effort, handing the jobs to GIS for design and network planning. We will pass information back and forth until we build the most efficient yet cost effective “backbone” facility structure. Through the use of Compatible Units, we will begin the ongoing integration with the Material Management applications. Using Work Management we will complete the cost estimate, receive all the approvals and permitting required, and schedule the work. This is the point where we will interface with the Accounting and Financial applications, including Work Order Accounting. As the work is completed, the “as-built” information is recorded in both Work Management and GIS. This is also the point where it would be easier to define the applications not being required to integrate with this process, than defining those that would. The new integration points might include Dispatch, Outage, and Property Accounting.

Now that the “backbone” facility structure is built, it is time for the customers with their services and meters. This will introduce the largest application in any utility, Customer Information Service and Billing (CIS). But CIS is also the third foundation piece that is critical in this model, and only when they are working together will our utility will become cost productive and efficient. Each individual customer will be created in CIS and the request for service passed to Work Management and GIS for design and estimate. Like the “backbone” built by the facilities, many of the integration points would be the same. When the work is completed and the customer is in service, the CIS is updated, and our Distribution utility is generating revenue.

Finally, the maintenance and operation of our utility will need the tight coordination and integration with Outage, Trouble and Dispatch applications. In addition there will be the constant Customer Service support, Customer Inquiries and customer “turn-over”.

However, we don’t live in the perfect world, and as for the “perfectly modeled” utility, … let’s look at reality.

Bringing the Business Operations into one Common 'Playing Field'
Even if we had the “perfectly modeled” utility, and with the availability of numerous world class applications, would our problems be solved, just like that? The answer is simple – no. If I have all the “right” applications, what is the problem? The problem is that all these wonderful applications must fit in with how you actually operate your utility and your business processes. Let’s look at some of the issues.

There are several real issues that mess up our perfect model. They may include:

"Business and Data Silos
"Each of the Silos justify the need for its own technology, thus creating redundant technologies
"Redundant technologies create redundant data
"Redundant data creates extensive integration
"Extensive integration often provides pride of data ownership
"Pride of data ownership enhances the need for silos

There appears to be a spiral here, and in many utilities, this can become very expensive, and it will more than likely impact productivity. Acquisitions and mergers and the resulting increased number of “autonomous” business, functions and departments, with a dash of numerous Utility Commissions and Labor Unions, exaggerate this problem. So how do we bring the business operations into one common “playing field”?

Most certainly the process will be slow, but you need to first address how you are doing business today, and spend some quality time completing BPI’s. This is not Business Process Improvement (we are really tired of those) but rather Business Process Identification. Look at your business processes in a department-less environment, using the resources from as many applicable departments as possible. Then identify each and every one of the technologies your company has purchased, regardless of whether they have been put into production, are part of a pilot program, or shelved and you’re not sure what to do with it. Identify ways to share the technologies, and their functionality. If this is done in an “out of the box” setting, a couple of thing might just happen. First, a better understanding of each other’s business needs will occur, resulting in better communication, trust and the possibility of sharing data. Second, redundant efforts usually are identified and if there is a need for improvement, resolution can commence. Finally, there is the chance that redundant technologies and the associated data needed to be resolved for the betterment of your utility.

Let’s look at a couple of relatively simple examples.

Example 1: Utility A has implemented a successful Work Management application, and now they are starting on an Outage Management application. At the conclusion there will be two applications, using some of the same personnel, but hesitant to communicate information concerning the business processes. As a result each application works independently. A Trouble call is taken, entered in the Outage Application, the crew is called and then investigates the problem. If the crew can resolve the problem, the work is completed, reported and documented. All the information is passed from Outage to the various corporate systems. But what if the investigator finds that one person can’t resolve the problem and a certain type of crew and / or additional materials are required? Work Management is then notified and a Work Request generated. The work is completed and the reporting and the documentation are completed in Work Management. Looks simple enough, but is it really? We have set in motion two systems reporting time and progress, and we are potentially allowing the same information to come from two applications. Also, depending on the Outage application, the duplication and / or coordination of scheduling can also be a problem.

What if, when the Trouble call is taken, a Work Request is generated, and then regardless of the outcome and the resources required, time reporting, and a good portion of the facility record keeping is completed in one place. As we look towards consolidating crews and crew efforts, we bring commonality to the data capture of facility and accounting information.

Example 2: Probably the most “silo” driven work problem in a utility is the New Service Order. Without going through the whole cycle, let’s look at some of the key issues. First, most CIS applications do not have nor were intended to have scheduling modules. So why not let Work Management manage and schedule the work and resources? Second, while separate crews have historically been the trend, consolidation of crews reduces hand-offs and notifications and redundant visits to the customer site. In addition, as the billing, payment, and collect portion of CIS appears to be a growing candidate for outsourcing, the field portion will need a home, and why not take advantage of the functionality of Work Management? Finally, the Meter function that can range from being part of the CIS world to its own independent process clearly spans both Work Management and CIS. And how many utilities have separate meter crews, requiring additional hand-offs and notification processes? If scheduling of crews is important, why not use the functionality provided through work management? One other business process that resides anywhere from existing in CIS or to having its own world, is the world of streetlights. Often these are supported with their own crews and with these crews comes the need for scheduling and resource planning, and, lest we not forget, reporting and documentation.

“Is Work Management managing your utility’s work, or is the work managing your utility?”

With the potential of numerous technologies, comes the real challenge, how do we capture and manage our assets?

The Total Corporate Facility Asset Tracking Information
Assets and the management of them is on the horizon, and is quickly becoming a critical area that is drawing management’s keen interest.

Again, the fundamental question that is most often the most difficult to answer is, “What is really meant by Asset Management?” If I were to go to same 30 utilities, as I did for Work Management, and ask, “What is Asset Management, and how is it used in your organization”, I suspect I would again receive 30 different answers.

Asset Management is the effective evaluation and management of the utility’s facility assets. However, to reduce the risk of confusing terms, let’s create our own term for this function, and call it Corporate Facility Asset Tracking and give it the acronym of CFAT. Now let’s look at the requirements that are going to be needed by CFAT. First, the center: CFAT must support one central asset repository. The major initiator and feeder would be Work Management. Three functional “legs” should support this:

"Maintenance Management
"AM / FM / GIS
"Property Accounting

Now, let’s look at the five pieces.

"Work Management, the application where all facility assets are installed, removed or transferred.
"CFAT, the central tracking data warehouse where each individual facility asset is identified.
"Maintenance Management, the application / data warehouse that tracks the maintenance history of each of the facility assets. This would also be the application that triggers maintenance work.
"Property Accounting, the application / data warehouse that records the date, dollar value, and depreciation of a facility asset.
"AM / FM / GIS, the application / data warehouse that captures the detailed information supporting the facility asset, as well as the physical location and the system network which it supports.

With this foundation, it is easy to see how other corporate applications could benefit. These applications might include:

"CIS
"Trouble / Outage

The most important benefit, however, is how it provides information to management. Management could make smarter and often more cost effective financial decisions on any given asset. For example, Transformer 23A3 is located on circuit 345. This circuit is to be up-sized, and a decision needs to be made on the status of the transformer, either putting it back in inventory or retiring it. By looking into Property Records it can be determined that the value has nearly been depreciated, and with a quick check in the maintenance history, this transformer has spent a lot of time in the shop. The resolution: retire this transformer.

Unfortunately, the asset environment of most utilities is so fragmented which makes this decision process virtually impossible. One of my favorite examples is a utility I am aware of that is capturing transformer information in over 25 different databases, and these databases range from being part of the CIS application to FoxPro and Access databases. The number of transformers impacted was over 500k, and not every transformer appears in every database.

The concept is fairly simple, but the effort to bring all this information together will be significant. First there are very limited CFAT applications in production, primarily because many utilities aren’t aware such an application is available. Second, Distribution maintenance applications, once you have left the substation or regulator station, are virtually non existent. And if a utility supports FERC’s mass plant accounting procedure, the ability to identify specific assets is very difficult.

“Is Asset Management managing your utility’s assets, or are the assets overwhelming your utility?”

Conclusions
In order to allow Work Management and Asset Management to provide the functionality that will provide ample cost benefits will more than likely require you to look at your Back Office operations, and possibly revitalize them. The “Revitalizing your Back Office” effort will better support your company’s products and services and will provide substantial benefits through the art of combining today’s technologies and the art of business reengineering.

However, to successfully revitalize your back office here are some of the steps that must be taken to achieve success:

"Prepare employees for change
"Promote reinvention
"Reengineer continually as part of corporate culture
"Eliminate duplicate activities and shared operations
"(a verb would be good here) Technology swap
"Assign accountability to implementation