SPL WorldGroup has announced that the Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) has selected SPL to deliver an integrated software solution comprising SPL Outage Management System (SPL OMS) and SPL Mobile Workforce Management (SPL MWM). These pre-integrated solutions will help HECO more efficiently manage outage and restoration activities as well as improve the accuracy and timeliness of outage information communicated to customers, according to SPL.
HECO, along with its subsidiaries, provides electricity to 95% of Hawaii’s residents. An integrated outage management and mobile workforce management system was one of the four cornerstone campaigns of HECO’s strategic Operations Information Systems Strategic Plan (OISSP) initiative. OISSP, along with a newly planned operations dispatch center, is part of its overall plan to integrate tools which will lead to better system reliability and customer service.
As an island community, Hawaii faces unique challenges in that each island stands alone with no back up capabilities available from other power utilities during an outage. It therefore becomes paramount to have systems in place that will enable optimal electric grid network reliability and, in the event of an outage, support power restoration as quickly as possible. OISSP includes HECO’s strategic and proactive plans to implement systems that will help them further improve their response to customer outages and improve how information is received and communicated to the customer.
SPL became the front runner during HECO’s evaluation process based on the robust functionality of the individual SPL solutions. The defining factor was SPL’s advantage of offering an integrated solution. This approach was synergistic with HECO’s strategy to create a seamless information environment to improve customer service by (1) providing timely outage status information and (2) minimizing outage restoration times by quickly and accurately identifying device failure and the subsequent deployment of the optimal resources to repair and correct the failure.
“Overall, SPL offered a robust solution to manage information during our outages. And, no other vendor offered the unique advantage of an integrated solution which was key for our strategic initiatives and dedication to further improve our level of customer service,” said Chris Shirai, HECO’s vice president of Special Projects. “HECO needed a total solution that would support cross-functional teams -- from the collection of outage data, to the flow of that information to the dispatch center, communicated to the field work force, with work and restoration updates wirelessly transmitted back to our customer service personnel. We were looking for a solution that would be fully integrated and interoperable with our new Energy Management and Customer Information Systems. This flow of information and real-time updates will ensure improved timeliness and accuracy of outage information communicated to our customers, and restore power to them as quickly and safely as possible.”
