iberdrola usa improves customer satisfaction, productivity and crew safety with field automation
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
Iberdrola USA
SAP Workforce Scheduling and
Optimization by ClickSoftware
Project Overview for
SAP Utilities Conference
September, 2013
About Iberdrola USA
• Iberdrola USA Operating
Companies consist of New York
State Electric and Gas (NYSEG),
Rochester Gas and Electric (RGE),
and Central Maine Power Company
(CMP).
• From New York to Maine, Iberdrola
USA utilities deliver natural gas and
electricity to nearly three million
customers across two states.
• The Click project applies to NYSEG
and RG&E only
3
4
Project Goal
• Improve employee productivity, streamline and improve
business processes, improve electric and gas emergency
response, and enable IUSA business activities through field
automation.
– This will be accomplished for NYSEG and RG&E by
replacing the SAP MAU application with a new scheduling
and mobile solution
5
Field Automation Business Needs
Current mobile functionality gaps: • MAU Syncing issues
• MAU scheduling issues for RG&E
• No mobile dispatch of Electric and Gas Trouble for NYSEG
Improve productivity through: • Optimized dispatch, scheduling and routing of work
• Real time transfer of work task details
• Electronic reporting of completed tasks
Improve Electric and Gas Emergency Response through: • Electronic dispatch to emergencies
• Event alerts for dispatchers and field workers
• Field entry of estimated restoration times
Project Overview
• Implementing ClickSoftware for NYSEG and RG&E including
modules: ClickSchedule, ClickMobile, ClickLocate and ClickAnalyze
• Scope includes meter work, meter maintenance, collections, move in
/ move out, outage and trouble.
• The impacted areas are Customer Service, Gas Operations and
Electric Operations
• ClickSchedule and ClickAnalyze will be used by Supervisors and
Managers in the impacted areas.
• 661 vehicles equipped for Click Mobile users. ½ of those users are
current MAU users; ½ are new mobile users
• Roll out January through October 2013
6
Click Functionality Summary
• ClickSchedule provides automatic
scheduling of resources, improved
route optimization and real time
dispatching for unplanned work.
Integration with ESRI GIS
accomplished with ClickLocate.
• Realtime Service provides the
field user interface for receiving,
reviewing and completing assigned
work.
• ClickAnalyze provides reporting,
monitoring and analytical tools to
leverage the data produced by
Click Schedule to optimize
performance.
7
External Resources
• System Integrator - Energy4U (parent company Atos) located in
Germany
– Specific technical expertise in Mobility, ClickSoftware and SAP
– Specific knowledge of our SAP implementation
– ClickSoftware and SAP partner relationships
– Goal oriented, confident approach based on clear understanding
of our requirements and proposed solution
– Positive vendor references
– Competitive Price
• Evora (extension of Energy4U) located in Bangalore, India
– .Net and SAP ABAP expertise located in Bangalore, India
• ClickSoftware professional services located mostly in Israel
9
10
High Level Solution
• Customer initiated work generated from SAP CCS via notifications
created by CCS users, IVR calls and web transactions like they are
with SAP MAU
• SAP interfaces with ClickSchedule
• The crews receive their work on
Panasonic CF 19 Tough Book
computers via communications
leveraging our existing Radio IP
infrastructure and cellular
communications
• We have also introduced
ruggedized Panasonic H2 Tablets
for some users
SAP Integration: PI Adaptor versus SXP
Adaptor
• Two existing methods to integrate ClickSoftware with SAP. SXP is
the legacy method. Focus now is on PI.
• IUSA requirements:
We use SAP CCS notifications to process the work in the Click NY
scope of work
The decision to use notifications was made during the implementation
of CCS
Switching from notifications to orders would require a significant
amount of rework to custom code and a great deal of testing (estimate
at least 9 months effort)
Plan is that when we implement SAP CCS at CMP we would implement
SAP PI in order to support AMI functionality
12
Acquiring the SXP Adaptor
• We purchased ClickSoftware via SAP Workforce Scheduling and
Optimization (WSO) package
• The WSO package we purchased included the PI adaptor not the
SXP adaptor
• There was a version of the SXP adaptor on the SAP Marketplace that
is supported with Click version 7.5.x. However, we are using Click
version 8.17
• SAP indicated they would not certify or support the SXP adaptor for
the Click 8.1.x version
• Later reached agreement to receive SXP adaptor from SAP
Marketplace and will have support for a fixed period of time
• Energy4U was able to utilize the SXP adaptor certified for the Click
7.5.x version for our integration
13
GIS Integration Decision
• Click GIS integration needs
Work scheduling and assignment
Dashboard map view integrated with Click Schedule
Navigation instructions for field crews
• Options – ESRI, PTV or MapInfo
14
• Pros of using ESRI
Leveraged existing ESRI environment and
licensing
Map view would be consistent for OMS
users who need to see ClickSoftware
and OMS at the same time
• Note: The ESRI adaptor from ClickSoftware
was professional services not a packaged
template
Testing results
Testing phases:
•Integration testing
•Background Optimization
testing
•Business testing
2,000 test cases executed
275 issues logged
21 open issues at go live
no category 1 (critical)
issues
15
Current Status – Balancing Act
• Equipment deployment to 661 vehicles complete
• 12 of 17 divisions in production, 5 Remaining divisions to be implemented
in September and October
24
• Training completed
for Energy Control
Call Centers. JIT
training for Division
users at roll out.
• Working through
challenges with
automatic scheduling
results, connectivity
issues and new
mobile user
acceptance
26
Energy4U feedback regarding SXP Adaptor
– OOTB extensibility is only given at specific points in the
framework which are restrictive for an implementation with
custom requirements.
– Using SAP standard extension mechanisms (mainly implicit
enhancements) E4U was able to implement the custom
enhancements required and had no show stopper issues.
– In future projects (i.e. CMP Click implementation) Energy4U
recommends using the PI adapter (as is planned for CRM)
27
ClickSoftware Advisory Services worked
well
• Spec review
• Review of Dev environment installation and configuration
• Concept design discussions
• Support for ESRI adapter installation and bug fixing
• Scheduling logic configuration
• Provided sample coding for certain custom requirements
• Support on product bugs
• On site support for tuning issues escalation
28
Iberdrola USA Distributed Team Feedback
regarding IT Architecture
• ClickSoftware virtualized well (running on virtual
machines)
• Initially implemented on Hyper-V 2008 environment and
migrated to Hyper-V 2012 in June
• Reused existing infrastructure for field device connectivity
(Radio IP), which minimized design and deployment
complexity
Mobile Device Selection
The Plus side
• Panasonic CF19 expertise and
track record
• Equipping vehicles (versus use of
Smartphones) provides stronger
cell communication due to
antennae in the vehicle
• Required less application redesign
• ToughBooks more feasible for our
user community
• Excellent vendor – TransCOR for
vehicle installations
Down side
• Logistics of 661 vehicles,17
Divisions across New York State
took 6 months (through bad winter)
tough on users, project team and
vendor
• Multiple points of failure between
the antennae and the keyboard in
the vehicle
• Long term maintenance and life
cycle refresh
• Panasonic H2 challenges
• Cost per user
29
Automated Scheduling Challenges
• Normal to go through tuning after implementation; however, process
is frustrating for the user community
• Problem areas – same site issues, zig zag routing and schedules not
filling up
• Results difficult to measure, need subjective and objective feedback
• Careful examination required. Many reported issues were determined
to be perception versus reality
• Escalation of problem solving effort resulted in key findings for GIS
Warm Up required and implementation of scheduling area concept to
improve performance of the scheduling optimization
• Implemented tuning changes and measuring results
• Also required implementation of custom mass schedule functionality
30
Deployment and On Site Support
• Original plan to migrate from MAU to Click by Division good, but
initial plan to do a full roll out in 6 consecutive weeks was completely
unrealistic
• Roll outs adjusted to give time to address scheduling challenges and
to provide more on site support for training and roll outs
• Training on site for each division a real plus for the users
• On site presence during go live week was essential to the success of
the roll outs
• Project help desk triage of issues and point of escalation
• Continuous improvement of implementation steps
• Teamwork essential to the overall success – team dynamics for such
a big and long project – forming, storming, norming, performing
31
32
Global Team
• Team members in US: Augusta Maine, Rochester NY, Binghamton
NY + several other NY locations
• Energy4U – Munich and Bielefeld, Germany
• Evora (extension of Energy4U) – Bangalore, India
• ClickSoftware - Israel
• Benefits of working remotely far outweighed the difficulties
• Used conference calls and Web Ex for collaboration
• On site visits had to be well planned and choreographed
• Different time zones meant that someone was working all the time
• Personal note: we were able to build good friendships despite the
miles between us