MDSI Mobile Data Solutions Inc.
MDSI Mobile Data Solutions: Experience The Mobile Workforce Advantage MDSI is the largest provider of mobile workforce management solutions to utility companies around the world.
In the face of ongoing mergers and acquisitions, utilities around the world are dealing with an increasing number of business challenges. Organizations strive to meet regulatory requirements, respond to competitive threats, and meet rising customer expectations – all while working with reduced budgets. The common phrase that echoes among gas, electric, and water companies is “do more with less.” Increase customer satisfaction while reducing operating costs. More than any other enterprise application, a workforce management solution can help companies do just that. But which solution is best? The wrong one may solve only a subset of your problems and force you to pour money into a never-ending project in an attempt to get it right. The right solution can give you an immediate and measurable return on your investment and directly affect your bottom line. Specific workforce challenges include: • Making and keeping customer commitments • Completing planned work without overtime • Responding quickly to emergency situations • Making the most productive use of the mobile workforce • Providing technicians easy access to the information they need • Automating the collection and validation of field data • Improving workforce performance Over the last 10 years, more than 100 companies have deployed MDSI’s Advantex, the world’s leading mobile workforce management solution. And every day field workers around the world use Advantex to efficiently do their job. MDSI’s experience in workforce management and expertise in wireless connectivity have set Advantex apart from other solutions in the market today.
optimal service delivery, while reducing costs and streamlining operations. It helps manage the work and workday of field service workers, dispatchers, and supervisors in the utility, telecommunications, broadband, and other field service industries. Advantex schedules work orders and, using complex business rules, assigns them to the best available mobile resource. It dispatches work order details to the mobile workforce, who uses Advantex to process their work throughout the day, and sends status updates and order completion information back to the office – all wirelessly, in real time. With integrated GPS (global positioning system) and mapping, Advantex can provide mobile workers with optimal routes for traveling between assignments and lets dispatchers and supervisors pinpoint the location of workers at any time. It features a scalable, open architecture; industry-specific solutions; built-in upgrade plans; a choice of mobile platforms; and rapid configuration and implementation. Advantex can support all networks, and will operate in the field on most devices. Advantex r7 can be upgraded wirelessly, so workers don’t have to return to the depot to install the latest version on their devices. The Advantex product suite offers a set
of modules that allows customers to create the right bundled solution to address their particular needs. • Advantex Scheduling • Advantex Staff Scheduling • Advantex Dispatch • Advantex Mobile • Advantex Wireless • Advantex Decision Support • Advantex Compose • Advantex Transaction Broker • Advantex Vehicle Tracking • Advantex Complex Orders • Advantex Common Cause • Advantex Time Reporting With MDSI’s streamlined implementation model, Advantex can be deployed quickly and easily, and customers can immediately position themselves to improve customer service, cut costs and increase revenues.
Advantex at Work Around the world, MDSI is helping utility companies meet the challenges of today’s market head on – and the results are impressive. One national utility that recently measured the results of their Advantex implementation found that their technicians were able to perform 48 percent more tasks per day while their
Performance Measure
Performance Improvement
Tasks per Technician per Day
8.4
Field Service Techs
7,000
5,400
Field Service Control Centers
30
7
Supervisor: Techs, Dispatchers: Techs
1:12
Service Window
2 days
Figure 1
12.4
1:37
1:9
1:37 2 hours
Performance Improvement of Nationwide Gas Utility
Performance Measure
Performance Improvement
Tasks per Technician per Day
4
7.1
Dispatchers
267
70
Field Service Control Centers
17
9
About Advantex
Supervisor: Techs
1:12
1:37
Advantex is a field-proven mobile workforce management solution that allows companies to meet customer commitments and provide
Tasks Auto-dispatched
82%
108
Figure 2
Performance Improvement of Nationwide Telco
w w w. U t i l i t i e s P r o j e c t . c o m
service window went from two days down to two hours. At the same time, they reduced field service technicians by 23 percent, eliminated 23 of 30 field service control centers, and significantly increased the amount of technicians managed by each supervisor and dispatcher. Another Advantex customer saw the tasks per technician increase by 78 percent while those that were automatically dispatched grew to 82 percent. The company reduced the number of dispatchers required by 74 percent and reduced the number of field service control centers by 47 percent. MDSI has more than 70 utility customers who have significantly reduced costs and improved customer service with their Advantex implementations. Some of these customers include: Consumers Energy, Keyspan Energy, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Pacific Gas and Electric, Reliant Energy, Progress Energy, British Gas Services, Equitable Resources, Florida Power and Light, Meralco, Nesa, NiSource, Southern California Edison, PECO Energy, Yorkshire Water, and Transco (U.K.) to name a few.
Atmos Energy Corp. Atmos Energy Corp. is one of the largest pure natural gas utility companies in the United States, delivering natural gas to about 1.4 million customers across 11 states. The company has doubled in size over the last four years, owing to acquisitions, yet remains one of the most efficient utilities in the industry. Atmos has been using MDSI’s Advantex solution since 1998. Amid an environment of acquisition and change, Atmos has remained impressively focused on both automation and economy, which has delivered positive results to both the company and its growing customer base.
Part of Atmos’ acquisition strategy has been to move everyone onto the Advantex workforce management solution, ensuring consistency and ease of maintenance. Most of the acquired companies have used a manual, paper-based system; a couple have had homegrown systems in place. One of the biggest hurdles for moving everyone onto a common platform was training. The training plan for Atmos’ field technicians was efficient, thoughtful, and tailored to the end users. The training was done as a peer-to-peer exercise, although IT team members contributed as well. MDSI provided the initial training to a core group who then shared their knowledge with the Atmos staff. Trainers went to the field, working with relevant data and avoiding an uncomfortable “classroom feel.” Part of what keeps Atmos away from the paper trail is its effective use of Advantex’s Workload Distribution System (WDS), a component of the Advantex scheduling module. It assigns orders to the most appropriate technicians, matching priority, job code, appointment time, and duration of orders with the location, shift time, equipment, and skills of available technicians. Atmos makes very effective use of the scheduling rules to produce the most efficient match of task to technician. With WDS, appointment booking and technician scheduling is totally automated. As Richard Kester, manager of information technology, explains, “If you have an Advantex system and don’t use the order assignment feature (WDS), you haven’t really taken complete advantage of your switch to an automated system.” He adds, “With WDS, we can set very specific guidelines for assigning workers so that a senior technician (with a senior wage) doesn’t get assigned to perform basic tasks. Just as important, it allows us to distribute unscheduled work, or filler work, which largely comprises compliance-related activities. Without this system in place, it is difficult to determine when our technicians might have available time to perform meter testing, monitoring, etc. It has saved us time and money.” After four very busy years, Atmos Energy has emerged looking like a champion. By sticking to its plan of keeping everyone on the same workforce management platform, Atmos boasts 500 technicians (600 by next year) served by one major dispatch center and an easy-to-administer, customized training plan that keeps every technician up to speed on the latest software. More than 1 million customers enjoy excellent service levels and some of the most efficient utility delivery in the country. ■
w w w. U t i l i t i e s P r o j e c t . c o m
Solution Provider
www.mdsi-advantex.com
CONTACT INFORMATION Erik Dysthe President and Chief Executive Officer Peter Hill Rankin Executive VP, Operations Verne Pecho VP, Finance and Administration, Chief Financial Officer Walter Beisheim Senior VP, Worldwide Sales and Marketing
MDSI Mobile Data Solutions Inc. 10271 Shellbridge Way Richmond, BC Canada V6X 2W8 Phone 604.207.6000 Fax 604.207.6060
[email protected] BUSINESS CONTACT
Robin Jones
[email protected] Phone 604.207.6111
109
