White Paper for the Smart Water Utility IndustryReducing Water Utility Costs Through Mobile Workforce Management

Reducing Water Utility Costs Through Mobile Workforce Management

Executive Summary Manual processes and paper-based work orders are the norm in many water utilities. Even when these processes are automated, they rarely integrate with with other systems. As a result, operations are inefficient, work orders take too long to process, customer satisfaction sags, and profitability disappears.

Study after study shows the low percentage of water utilities using automated work orders, the lack of real time visibility they have into service vehicle location, and their low usage of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI). Cost considerations loom large as to why they fail to invest in mobile workforce automation. Many realize they need the system, but justify delays in implementation due to the perceived cost of automation.

Real world examples, however, demonstrate rapid return on investment from mobile workforce management. One U.S. utility, for example, estimated that its implementation of Clevest cut driving miles by more than half, brought its work order backlog from 3,000 to 50, and saved close to $1 million per year just by addressing faulty meters and inefficient work order processes.

Clevest Mobile Workforce Management has been found to improve worker productivity by 62%, increase customer satisfaction by 42%, and slash fuel consumption by 50%. With results like these confirmed in the real world, the question becomes: can you afford NOT to implement workforce automation?

Introduction: The High Cost of Manual Processes Local populations depend upon water utilities to supply them with enough water for their daily needs. That responsibility is not taken lightly. So it is no surprise that these utilities have traditionally been conservative when it comes to the adoption of new technologies. But in a world where downsizing is the norm and doing more with less is the order of the day, a lack of technology can lead to inefficiency and unprofitability.

According to recent surveys, most utilities continue to rely on manual processes for field work. By being dependent on notepads, spreadsheets, printed work orders (WOs) and handwritten schedules, time is lost and service levels are curtailed. Field personnel, for example, are often handed a map of their service area marked with the calls they have to make that day. This is typically supplemented by printouts provided from the Customer Information System (CIS) or the billing system of record. The field representative ticks the various boxes and adds data where appropriate. But what if it’s raining or windy outside? These forms are frequently left behind in the vehicle. In any case, many reps don’t complete their paperwork until the end of the workday. Thus mistakes can enter into the picture and incomplete information can be turned in.

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Reducing Water Utility Costs Through Mobile Workforce Management

At the end of the shift, those sheets are either entered into the system by the field agent, or given to administrative personnel for data entry. Further errors can result and time is wasted on administration instead of WO resolution. Each step of the way, money is being lost. Beyond the immediate financial impact, management decision-making is hamstrung by the lack of available or complete data.

Even if handhelds are used in the field for immediate data capture, such systems are rarely integrated into the CIS or other utility software tools. Many meter reading, asset inspection, WO and maintenance systems

were, after all, developed in house. They exist as point products with no interface or link to vital management systems. As a result, database personnel may be required to manually export the data from one system into another. Alternatively, some luckless clerk has to rekey everything. This inefficiency adds up to heavy economic losses and as customer service dissatisfaction.

Some water utilities justify holding onto aging systems, paper-based manual processes, and other non-automated systems as a way of containing costs. What they don’t realize, however, is that failure to implement mobile workforce management tools is costing them a fortune.

Mobile Workforce Automation Gathers Momentum A study by research firm Gartner found that mobile workforce management (MWFM) solutions are gaining ground in the utility sector. “The rate of change within the MWFM market is accelerating. Cloud-based delivery options and proliferation of new mobile form factors are driving down costs and transforming how field workers get work done.” (Gartner: Market Guide for Mobile Workforce Management Systems for Utilities, 22 December 2015.)

Gartner noted that the consumerization of mobile technology via smartphones, tablets and app stores is exerting a profound impact on the enterprise. As younger employees are hired at water utilities, they expect the same level of functionality, ease of use, and connectivity that they experience on their consumer devices. This is driving utilities to provide simpler methods of data capture, innovative user interfaces, and systems that demand little or no manual data entry.

In addition, Gartner drew attention to the role of improved geospatial technology in facilitating mobile applications. While Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have a long history among water utilities, the technology can now be embedded into a wide range of systems to facilitate vehicle tracking, asset management and field work. This has given rise to MWFM features such as dynamic rerouting, lightweight data collection apps and comprehensive integration with utility management systems.

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Reducing Water Utility Costs Through Mobile Workforce Management

These findings are supported by a survey conducted on water utility executives by Clevest. One quarter of utilities admitted to operating with paper-based reporting. While more than two thirds were implementing some form of workforce management technology in the field, many of these systems were found to be inadequate for the task. Many were homegrown and did not integrate well with other systems. As a result, data had to be exported from worker devices manually at the end of the work day. At other utilities, aging systems required continual effort from IT staff to supply management with field data. Behind the scenes, constant troubleshooting, scripting, data transcription and manual entry are the order of the day.

Yet the Clevest survey revealed that two thirds of water utilities are not considering partial or full automation of field operations. Instead, they are hoping to cope with a patchwork of computerized systems. 23% have fully automated WO tools, though most don’t integrate with other enterprise systems. Only 25% have real-time visibility into the location of service vehicles, 28% have automatic meter reading (AMR), and 12% have advanced metering infrastructure (AMI). 43% have asset management tools in place. On the device side, 10% of water utilities expect that employees will be conducting field work and entering data into their own mobile devices. Another 46% anticipate a mixture of company hardware and employee devices. This hodgepodge of systems is a recipe for inefficiency. Lack of integration means delays in responding to emergencies. Work order backlogs will mount and customer dissatisfaction will rise as people are forced to wait for services to be turned on. Field workers will waste half their days figuring out where to go next, finding destinations, or completing reports.

So why would this technology not be in active use inside all water utilities? The Clevest survey uncovered the top reasons utilities were not considering mobile workforce automation. These included lack of support from local government, fears of data insecurity, and a low number of IT resources or trained personnel. At the top of the list of reasons to avoid or delay implementation was a perception of high cost.

But in a business climate where margins are tight and budget cuts are a fact of life, the absence of mobile workforce automation tools comes at an enormous cost – perhaps millions each year as one water utility discovered.

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Reducing Water Utility Costs Through Mobile Workforce Management

The High Cost of Non-Automation: One Utility’s Story Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority (ABCWUA) in New Mexico employs over 600 people to look after over 200,000 accounts and representing more than 600,000 water users. Its network encompasses more than 3,000 miles of water supply lines, 2,400 miles of sewer collection lines and over $5 billion in assets.

A few years ago, management of ABCWUA wondered if its paper-based WO system and manual meter reading processes were losing revenue. It began to investigate the issue more closely and found that broken meters were often ignored, resources were being illegally diverted, and field reps were forced to drive many miles – yet the number of WOs completed each day remained low. As a result, customer satisfaction levels dropped and the WO backlog reached as high as 3,000.

With multiple systems used for WO tracking, poor data integrity, manual data entry processes, and no integration between systems, ABCWUA concluded that it was pouring money down the drain. How much? Just in terms of inoperable meters, the price tag added up to $780,000 in 2014 alone in direct losses, with $5 million in losses estimated between 2012 and 2017.

The water utility instituted AMI and a Clevest Mobile Workforce Management system. These systems are tied into its Eris GIS, Oracle billing, and IBM Maximo asset management systems to create a fully automated utility platform.

Regardless of where WOs are created at ABCWUA, they appear instantly on the screen of supervisors who assign them to field reps. Those WOs show up immediately on tablets in the field. This enables agents to rapidly deal with turn ons, turn offs, line spots and

maintenance issues. GIS data feeds the exact location of WOs. This allows them to determine the best route without trial and error, and to complete more WOs per day.

But those are just some of the benefits. Out of range meter readings are flagged. WOs are then generated so they can be investigated. Field reps are dispatched to find out if a meter is faulty, a leak is present, or a customer setting is causing overconsumption.

Results: • Driving miles are down by more than half and WO completions up 100% • Further the WO backlog is down from 3,000 to less than 50 • Customer satisfaction ratings have risen

From the standpoint of management, field rep accountability is now firmly in place. Consequently, error rates are much lower. Double work has been eliminated and the cost per WO is considerably

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Reducing Water Utility Costs Through Mobile Workforce Management

lower. The utility aims to reduce driving miles by more than 500,000 per year once it finishes the ongoing project to install AMI and Clevest MWFM throughout its territory. The savings at ABCWUA tally up to millions each year when you consider the collective value of being able to act faster on faulty meters, the reduction in man hours, lower gasoline bills, a lessening of vehicle maintenance and ease of management.

Rapid Return on Investment As shown in the ABCWUA example, the return on investment (ROI) from a mobile workforce management system can be rapid. The price tag for such a system is modest in comparison to the millions in savings that can be realized due to benefits such as:

Ease of Use: Workers view WOs on tablets with visual displays highlighting where to go next and what remains to be done. Supervisors distribute WOs in real-time.

Operational Efficiency: No more manual keying in of numbers, writing out reports in the field or typing up data at the end of the day. Everything is entered in real-time. Since field reps take photos as they read the meters, potential errors can be verified against those photos in the system. This eliminates the need to dispatch a driver to the site to re-read the meter.

Streamlined Maintenance: Personnel are only dispatched when needed. Their routes are correctly managed so they complete more calls per day. Maintenance backlogs don’t occur due to paper reports going missing or systems failing to integrate.

Greater Customer Satisfaction: As WOs are viewable in real-time, supervisors and field technicians can fulfill them with speed and efficiency. Turn ons can happen with hours.

Reduced Overall Costs: Collectively, this equates to millions in savings each year and fast ROI for Mobile Workforce Management.

Conclusion: Mobile Workforce Management IS a Wise Investment According to Boenning & Scattergood’s July 2016 Aquanomics report, water prices are accelerating and project activity is rising in the sector. The S&P Global Water Index shows it to be consistently outperforming the same indices for gold and energy since 2012. This indicates that now is a good time for water utilities to invest in the future.

Clevest Mobile Workforce Management has been found to:

To find out more about Mobile Workforce Management visit www.clevest.com

• Improve worker productivity by 62% • Increase customer satisfaction by 42% • Improve on-time arrivals by 50%

• Reduce overtime by 60% • Cut travel time by 15% • Slash fuel consumption by 50%

With results like these confirmed in the real world, few water utilities can afford not to implement workforce automation.

What do water utilities use for workforce management?

25%Paper-based systems

65%Internally developed solution

10%Third-party solution

YES 33% NO 67%

Are you planning toautomate �eld operations?

What technologies arecurrently being utilized? Asset

management

Fully-automatedwork orders

23%

Real-time visibility of service vehicles

25%

AMR

28%

AMI

12%

43%

Lack of localgovernment support 25%

Reasons for not implementingworkforce automation?

Too expensive 98%Don’t understand the bene�ts 56%

Lack of trained sta�to manage the informationcaptured 37%

Data security 25%

Lack of IT resources 31%

$ Top Reasonsfor using automation?

Improvedonboarding

Ease of use

Reducingoverall costs

Operationale�ciency

Bettermaintenance

Workersafety 68% 70% 89% 62% 38% 24%

Bene�ts of Clevest Mobile Workforce ManagementWorker productivity gain

Customer satisfactionimprovement

On-time arrival gain Fuel consumption drop

Overtime reduction

Travel time reduction

62%

42%

50%

60%

15%

50%

Why Clevest?Low costs

saves you money

1Easy to use

streamlined work�ows

2Hosted

or on-premise

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Albuquerque Bernalillo CountyWater Utility Authority (ABCWUA)

ABCWUA losses due to inoperable meters

• $780,000 in 2014 • $5 million in losses estimated between

2012 and 2017

• Millions of dollars saved each year • Driving miles down by more than half • WO completions up 100% • WO backlog down from 3,000 to less than 50 • High customer satisfaction ratings• Full integration with AMI, GIS, billing and asset management systems

Bene�ts of Clevest at ABCWUA

• Lost revenue • Water illegally diverted• High driver miles • Low WOs completed per day • WO backlog of 3,000 • Customer dissatisfaction

Problems caused by paper-based workorder system and manual meter reading