Meeting business goals: Adaptation of enterprise geospatial technology and upgrade justification
Process for change
In January 2000, MidAmerican began the process of dramatically changing its inefficient work
processes by adapting and implementing geospatial technology integrated with work
management. This process started with the rollout of MidAmerican's company-wide Enterprise
Resource Management (ERM) Program, a multi-million dollar project designed to deliver a
comprehensive overhaul of the company's work, resource and asset management information
systems. The phase-in of the ERM applications that began in 2000 is slated for completion
during the first quarter of 2003.
ERM has touched virtually all of MidAmerican’s generation and distribution employees on a
regular basis. The project will enhance customer service and reduce operating costs by
upgrading and/or replacing some systems while integrating new systems with other information
systems previously in use throughout the company.
This paper will focus on one aspect of the ERM Program, which is the Delivery Services
Project. The Delivery Services Project consists of an integrated solution that includes:
- GIS/Facilities Management
- Work Management
- Advanced Scheduling
- Mobile Dispatch
- Web Enablement
- Work Reporting DataMart
Reasons for change
Prior to the implementation of the Delivery Services Project, work, resource and asset
management were managed without a true work management application. The use of separate,
stand alone systems that were tasked with work management capabilities meant that data, paper
workflows and associated labor were duplicated throughout the MidAmerican work process.
This duplication and the lack of integration between enterprise systems, especially regarding the
GIS, severely limited the ability for the Delivery Services organization to reach increased
operational efficiency targets, improve safety performance or maintain environmental
compliance.
The major problem areas that required change were:
- Lack of a comprehensive Scheduling System
- Lack of an integrated GIS System
- Lack of interfaces to external systems
- Lack of a comprehensive Reporting Tool
MidAmerican identified three options that could be implemented to address the internal
weaknesses of its then-current enterprise system environment.
(1) MidAmerican could retain the current systems and processes with their limited integration
and accept that the company would not be able to achieve the operational efficiencies they
desired.
(2) The company could undertake process re-engineering around the existing systems and
implement some modifications while recognizing that the company was putting a temporary
bandage on an inefficient and ineffective work process.
(3) The company could implement a Best-of-Breed, Commercial-Off-the-Shelf solution that
would address the existing problem areas while creating a path for the future with commercially
supported solution components.
After considering the benefits and costs of the three options, MidAmerican decided to implement
a Best-of-Breed, Commercial-Off-the-Shelf solution. This option required a significant financial
investment; also it was subject to a tight project timeline and a significant change management
effort so the company could start achieving the desired operational results and solution payback
in a timely manner.
