Mobile GIS in Severn Trent Water

Editor's Notes

1. Intro NW, role and the objectives of this presentation
2. Start with introducing the company to help context the rest of the presentation, and what better way for this audience than by using a map. World’s 4th largest privately owned water company, providing about 2 billion litres of water per day to over 8 million customers across the heart of the UK, stretching from the Bristol Channel to the Humber, and from mid-Wales to the East Midlands. So we have alot of assets – both above ground such as treatment works and below ground such as pipes, valves, manholes and hydrants. In fact we’ve got about 140 thousand kilometres of pipes, and we need to hold data on all those – and this is where GIS is particularly useful.
3. So how do we use GIS in STW to drive business performance? Our customers are at the heart of everything we do so that’s a good place to start. Our customer call centre use GIS to help customers with resolving enquiries as quickly as possible. Also customers can see what’s going on in their area on a map on the STW website – for example a leak that has been reported, and what plans are in place to fix it. We have obligations to provide information to other utilities on the location and details of our pipes and indeed we also use their similar information to check its safe to dig holes. We provide sewer information on maps to local councils for members of the public to see. We also provide information on water and waste water pipes to solicitors who are carrying our searches for you when you buy a house All this is done using GIS systems From an investment planning perspective we use GIS as a data analysis tool – for example providing visibility of areas of sewers in poor condition. When we lay new pipes and connect new customers we use GIS to capture all the new information. Andy finally we use GIS systems to help our water and waste water operational teams do their job more effectively, and that’s the area we’re going to focus on for this project.
4. This is why GIS is important to our field operation. We store alot of details about all the pipes and everything connected to them. Here’s an example of a map showing both water and waste water pipes at a function, and one of the valves. Improving the quality & visibility for mobile field workers of the information about our water & waste water network assets helps them locate and diagnose any problems efficiently and effectively which in turn ultimately improves our operational business performance. These are the key business problems that drove the business case for our project – explain each one and the solution to resolve each. These solutions are the outputs of the project we’re now delivering.
5. So to achieve those outputs its not quite as simple as just deploying a new mobile application that’s pointing to our asset database. Our field operatives use ruggedized windows laptops and we’re therefore using the ArcGIS mobile for windows application which is connected into our core GIS database that feeds all our other corporate GIS systems. We also need to keep its background ordnance survey map data regularly refreshed which is stored locally on the device, and with file sizes of over 10Gb each time, there’s no quick & easy way to do this without wires or physical media. Then we need to build an interface with our SAP work management solution to make the use of GIS an integrated part of the day job in the field. Then we need to customise the mobile GIS application so that it asks our field workers to check and correct the information they’re referring to for the assets they’re working on, or to add it if its missing. This is mandatory for all jobs that expose an asset so we take every opportunity to ensure the data is accurate. Then we need a batch process to work out where all the incoming data updates need to go in the database or to peoples work queues to manually process, and to ensure they meet standards. And we need to ensure these are all displayed correctly on other systems and there are new facilities in place to find the new updates on the map. The we need to provide a secure way of allowing partners to use the new mobile application on their devices and for them to be able to manage their own user accounts as there are hundreds of them. Then we have the logistics challenge – over 1000 users across our water, waste water, contractors and office based teams, all with varying roles and needs. So we have built an e-learning facility for each user community to simplify the education and to help with ongoing requirements to bring new users up to speed after the project. And finally, we need the management information facilities to give us the confidence that the user community are successfully using the sytsems and processes we’ve implemented and the benefits are indeed being realised.
6. So, what does this look like from a user’s perspective? Here’s a few examples of screens they’re using. They see the water pipes on the roadside, the valves and hydrants. They see the sewers in the middle of the road and here’s an example of where colleague has added a private sewer from a property to join onto the mains sewer and has used the standard measuring tool to show the length of the pipe. The water field operatives see this screen that asks them to confirm whether each of the bits of information about the asset they’re working on are correct, and if not to correct them if they’re not. Esri have developed that for us. They see a search dialogue enabling them to search for specific locations or assets and to refresh the data in that locality on the spot – assuming they have a mobile network signal, which isnt always the case in the depths of Shropshire or the Derbyshire peaks!
7. So, how did we deliver this as a project? Feasibility Well we started with a feasibility phase to gather requirements from our operational colleagues and to look at the high level solution and cost estimates for delivering all those requirements. We looked at the benefits and what is realistically achievable if we delivery these solutions. We then plotted on a big chart all the possible project outputs, their costs, and how each one contributed to all the possible benefits. We plotted this as a graph then we drew a line where we could delivery maximum benefit for minimum investment. After a bit of negotiating with business colleagues, this became ‘the scope’. Field Trials As soon as we got funding approved, we deployed the standard version of the Esri mobile application to a handful of field workers and got them enthused with the possible improvements we could bring to their job. We checked it was going to be the right tool to make their job easier and what they would want to see to get the maximum benefit. Design This went hand and hand with the field trials as an iterative process. We had a demo version that we kept tweaking and trialling to build confidence in the solution, as well as getting guidance and approvals from Esri in a design authority capacity. Build We set up a number of work-streams to develop the various components of the solution that I explained earlier. We scheduled these so that the critical components go initial go-live would be ready and tested first. Test We had a number of phases of testing, each to encompass the specific requirements of each of the user communities, growing with complexity and risk exposure and to align with our phased rollout plan. Pilot We got a number of lead users nominated from each of the user communities doing different roles and based in different locations. We trialled the software deployment, training and assessment process with them to give us the chance to optimise before going to the masses. Rollout This was planned as phased for each user community with increasing risk, complexity and user volumes. However we are just at the point of embarking on this stage of the project. Embed Again this part of the journey is ahead of us, but we know we are delivering some useful MI and have a keen bunch of operational team managers to use this to manage performance so we can look forward to the outputs we expect to see. But most importantly we have a named and engaged manager who owns each of the project benefits and is accountable for the realisation of them. They all sit on our project board team who meet regularly to monitor our progress. So we’ve had our eyes on the prize all the way through. Finally we have had a business change coordinator working in each of the user communities all the way through the project to ensure their own readiness activities and resources are being managed to ensure project outputs happen and land as planned in the big operational world of a large utility company.
8. So we haven’t quite finished yet, but what have we learned so far? Customisation Challenge : The standard Esri application is designed for a broad client base across different industry sectors across the world. Some aspects of the benefits case can only be achieved by changing the application however customisation increases cost, risk and hampers supportability. Recommendation : Challenge the benefits case and ensure that scope is limited to only the functionality that directly enables benefit realisation. Start with the approach of seeking to get maximum benefit from the standard software rather than creating a bespoke application to meet a lengthy set of requirements. This was a change in approach for us. Consider the option of Esri doing the customisation to mitigate supportability risk and secure an active partnership. Complexity Challenge : There is a temptation to specify rich functionality to squeeze as much value from a solution, however a busy field worker is only interested in a simple and quick to use tool to enable them to get on to their next job as quickly as possible. Recommendation : Early engagement of field users to understand their job, environment and challenges. Field trials early in the project to provide a platform to build on and generate buy-in. 3rd Parties Challenge : When rolling out to 3rd party contractors we have limited control over their people, processes and technology leading to uncertainty over their state of readiness, implementation plan and successful adoption of the new solution. Recommendation : Early and constant engagement. Single point of ownership and coordination. Contract leverage. Benefits orientated motivation for success. Automation Challenge : Moving from manual data entry to automated data entry reduces entry effort but raises the risk of data being valid but not sensible – which would have been identified by people. Recommendation : Consider additional system validation as part of the solution design, use of MI or other manual checks.
9. Project was driven by operational performance and specifically to improve the quality of our asset data held in our GIS system Project involved a number of integrated components and systems and the mobile application which was based on the standard Esri ArcGIS for windows application, customised as little as possible to achieve benefits case will be used by over 1000 field operatives Project was delivered in a waterfall methodology but with elements of agile development in the early stages of the project during field trials and design. Project has encountered a wide range of challenges and most are more associated with stakeholder management than the technical solution. Thanks for listening – any questions?