KeySpan Energy (Long Island, New York, U.S.) is a familiar utility story, having experienced major merger activity one year and acquisition activity the next. The company expanded geographical boundaries and substantially increased the customer base. Yet, the challenge to increase efficiency and enhance customer service continues.

After determining its top priority, KeySpan decided it needed a common workforce-management system (WMS) that would require little development and would be supported across the organization.

“There was no question in our minds that we absolutely needed a system to efficiently process work orders from the customer to the dispatcher, and on to our mobile workers,” said Paul Chan, manager, Field Services Systems, Energy Operations Systems. “We'd had quite a bit of experience building our own systems, but in the current business environment, we needed something to be ready in a relatively short period of time. We didn't want to spend years building it. And we needed a system that would be scalable.”

The companies now joined under the KeySpan corporate umbrella had put several different workforce-management solutions in place. Included in the mix were KeySpan's homegrown Customer Field Services System (CFS), a manual paper-based system, and an early version of an MDSI Mobile Data Solutions' Advantex mobile workforce-management solution.

With merger and acquisition activity of 1998 and 1999 complete, KeySpan looked for a way to bring the entire company onto one platform with a common architecture. After an internal review (conducted by representatives of KeySpan's information technology, gas, electric and construction services areas), KeySpan decided to implement an updated version of Advantex company-wide, which has resulted in more than 1200 mobile technicians connected to the system.

“It was part of our corporate strategy to ensure that all of the different types of work being performed throughout the company would be supported by one solution,” Chan explained. “As it stands now, whether our technicians are doing electrical or gas service, complex construction or emergency-response work, they're all tied in to the same system.” He continued, “From a management standpoint, it's a huge advantage to be able to view, monitor, measure and track all of the work being done across disciplines. Advantex lets us do that.”

System Implementation

The transition was smooth, and the results have been impressive. In April 2000, the WMS was rolled out to 350 technicians in the New England Construction Services division. In February 2001, it went live to 650 gas and electric service technicians in New England, New York and Long Island. In February 2002, rollout started for 275 more Construction Services technicians in New York and Long Island.

KeySpan used a train-the-trainer methodology, using field personnel and in-house trainers. The mobile training team traveled to the company's 21 reporting areas and trained the technicians on site using the actual mobile hardware.

“The mobile training team worked well. It meant that all of our technicians were able to train in their ‘home’ facilities,” said Ed Ehmer, senior project manager, Field Operations Support. “It was certainly easier to dispatch a small team of training experts throughout the region than to coordinate travel to our head office for everyone who required instruction. It also allowed us to be on site when the newly trained employees used the system in the field for the first time.”

One day of training was required for those who were familiar with WMS and two days of training for those with no experience.

The WMS is run on two different hardware platforms. KeySpan's New England field crews use Itronix 6250 XC Pro laptops with an external modem. The New England configuration was already in place at the time of the acquisition. KeySpan's Gas and Electric Emergency Service areas in Long Island used the same Itronix device but with an internal modem to allow for wireless communication away from the service vehicle. The company's field construction and maintenance crews use WalkAbout Hammerheads, which are tablet devices more suitable for the field crews to complete map updates in the field. The entire workforce communicates using Verizon's CDPD service.

While the overall implementation proceeded fairly smoothly, both MDSI and KeySpan had challenges to meet. Craig Costanzo, principal software engineer, Energy Operations Systems, explained, “Joining several different business units onto one system entailed managing a number of disparities. The variety of work environments meant the need for different codes and screens available to the technicians. Further, the WMS was being used for distinctive work situations altogether, whether it was gas emergencies or long-term construction projects. Essentially, we all had to live with the same application.”

The idea of one solution managing all the types of work a single company performs was also new to MDSI, as none of its previous customers had used Advantex in a similar fashion. Both MDSI and KeySpan agreed to two intense nine-month implementation project schedules, which, at their conclusion, would support the business units KeySpan desired.

Positive Results

Mike Rogers, manager, Inspection/Mandated Programs, observed, “The immediate ROI had already been realized because a large portion of our company had already been using an earlier version of Advantex, and had previously enjoyed the major benefits of moving from a manual paper-based system to a fully automated and mobile solution.”

Rogers added, “We continued to reap the benefits of things like online time reporting, job costing, maps on the mobile devices, intranet access for our field techs and accurate data collection, but were also able to include the benefits of our upgraded WMS solution, such as better validation rules, more user-friendly pull-down menus, map updates and increased system reliability.”

KeySpan's unique use of the solution company-wide has enabled it to realize additional benefits. Ehmer illustrated one of them. “The WMS can perform what we call ‘tagalong jobs.’ Essentially, it means that we become a seamless work force. A construction crew can be dispatched a customer job at the same or nearby location. This reduces travel time and home access problems, and improves customer satisfaction. It saves us time, money and resources.”

Also, if there is a general change to the business or to company policy, modifications can be made across the board with minimal effort. One application serves different lines of business, different geographical regions, and a mix of industry rules and regulations that demand compliance.

Another advantage of company-wide implementation is the ability to glean information from all the relevant departments for management and operational reports. With a common point of data collection, it is easy to establish standards across business lines and regions, and ultimately produce reports that help managers make decisions that will increase operational efficiencies and customer service levels. Drawing information from KeySpan's historical database, which is a repository for all the data collected via daily transactions, managers can customize reports and promote better business practices in their respective departments.

Merger and acquisition activity may not be over for KeySpan, given the trends in the U.S. utility industry, but if there is more to come, KeySpan's workforce-management solution will certainly be up to the challenge. Different cast of characters, same story ending: everyone working effectively from the same platform and KeySpan continuing to deliver the highest levels of service to its growing customer base.

Gary J. Sidoti has been a part of Keyspan's information technology staff for more than 19 years. He implemented the first hand-held meter reading system in 1985 and the first wireless handheld system in 1989. He currently is responsible for the development, implementation and maintenance of hand-held applications for field employees.