By Telecom Lead Team: Norris Public Power District,
a provider of wholesale and retail electric service to 44 communities in five
counties across southeast Nebraska, America, has utilized Motion tablet PCs and
benefited from 75 percent in time savings.
With its entire meter service depending on a paper-based
process, Norris Public Power District used the Motion J3500
Tablet PC and found exactly what it was looking for – a Windows-based tablet
that was compatible and powerful to run its software, while still lightweight
enough to carry and use while mobile.
Norris Public Power District relies on the MotionJ3500 Tablet PCs to provide real-time access to schedules, service orders and
business-critical information as well as the ability to process meter readings
and update the database from the field. If a new service order comes in at any
point during the day, a customer service representative can assign it in real
time based on a lineman’s location, which is pulled from the software’s
integrated GPS functionality.
Once the linemen leave the office in the morning, they are
typically in the field for the entire day and previously could only work on the
service orders in their hands. With the paper-based process, the linemen would
not come back to the office to get more service orders to work on, and any new
ones had to be processed the next day. Now, the CSRs can assign service orders
as they come in, updating the linemen via the tablet while they are in the
field,” said Ryan Krupicka, Manager of Consumer and Business Information
Systems, Norris Public Power District.
A press release said that a service order that previously took
three or four days can now be completed in a single day, resulting in up to 75
percent time savings.
The District no longer worries about unnecessarily disabling a
customer’s power as the CSRs can update or delete a service order in real time,
which automatically notifies the linemen via the tablet. This helps the
District continue to provide excellent service through improved access to
dynamic information.
Norris Public Power District plans on utilizing the J3500 Tablet
PC’s integrated camera for enhanced documentation when dealing with meter
tampering issues. The District also plans to incorporate its outage management
system with the tablets. During a storm, for example, Norris Public Power
District will be able to alert the linemen in real time via the tablets when
customers experience power outages, where the outages are occurring and when
power has been restored. The District will be able to more efficiently manage
the linemen and restore power to its customers sooner.
