Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) announced today that the El Paso Water Utilities
in Texas has successfully implemented Trimble® Fieldport® software to
enhance its utility field operations. The Trimble Fieldport software is
an interactive Geographic Information System (GIS) map-based mobile work
management solution for utility field workers.
“El Paso Water Utilities is committed to improving our efficiencies,
reducing costs and better serving the needs of our community. We believe
that Trimble Fieldport software is helping pave the way for improved
customer service and field service activities,” said Armando Renteria,
Chief Information Officer of the El Paso Water Utilities.
With the deployment of Trimble Fieldport software on field crew mobile
computers and integration to its Customer Information System (CIS), El
Paso Water is optimizing its processes for customer service and field
operations work planning in real-time. In addition, enhanced management
reporting functionality is now helping the utility improve operational
efficiency, reliability of service and increase worker productivity by
ensuring that the right resources are available at the right time. With
Trimble Fieldport software, El Paso Water is improving critical work
processes such as customer field service by efficiently dispatching
field crews as well as optimizing field inspection activities and field
data collection for better asset management.
El Paso Water Utilities customer service field crews are equipped with
mobile computers and Trimble Fieldport software, which they use to
record updates about service calls and synchronize with the customer
service system from the field. Back in the office, customer service
representatives have access to the updated information, which they can
share with customers calling to inquire about their accounts throughout
the day. Trimble Fieldport also makes it easy for El Paso Water
Utilities’ workers to see updates posted by customer service quickly and
easily from the field.
In addition to streamlining communication between the field and the
office, Trimble Fieldport has also enabled more effective distribution
of work orders, both at the beginning of the shift and throughout the
day. Previously, work order completion information was manually entered
into the CIS by office staff the following day. Now, with Trimble
Fieldport’s wireless synchronization, work orders are closed within
minutes of the work being completed. Since dispatchers can now see the
progress of each field worker, this also means they can distribute new
work orders as soon as they are generated throughout the day, rather
than handling work communicated over the radio and jotted down on a
piece of paper by the service worker.
Trimble Fieldport is also helping the utility increase worker
productivity by ensuring that the right resources are available at the
right time as well as optimizing field inspection activities and field
data collection.
“Being able to synchronize data and have real-time updates between the
field and the office throughout the day makes us more efficient on a
number of levels,” said Renteria. “For example, it’s easier to get
through our backlog of lower priority work – things like fixing a
cracked meter box – because we can easily track the progress and
reassign those jobs based on workload and location of our employees in
the field, rather than leaving those work orders in the service trucks
to be completed at the discretion of the worker.”
In addition, the implementation of Fieldport has enabled El Paso Water
Utilities to eliminate a variety of administrative processes. In the
past, office administrative personnel would take radio calls continually
throughout the day from field service workers and update their progress
on a paper log. Trimble Fieldport’s wireless synchronization means that
these calls are no longer necessary.
Also, prior to implementing the technology, hundreds of paper work
orders would be reviewed by hand each evening to see if any had
incorrect account balance information. Since Trimble Fieldport imports
work order data, the calculation of amounts due is done automatically
and the hand vetting processes is no longer needed.
“Now that so many of our processes are automated, we can allocate the
time we used to spend calling back and forth, looking at work orders and
keying in data for more useful projects,” said Renteria.
Trimble’s Fieldport software is currently used by public and private
utilities throughout the U.S. that serve millions of residential and
commercial customers nationwide.
Trimble’s Utilities Field Solutions group specializes in field and
office solutions for GIS mapping and work management, field data
collection, design and inspection, outage management, and vehicle
tracking for electric, gas, water and wastewater utilities around the
world. Trimble’s solutions integrate advanced positioning and mapping
technologies with software and hardware to automate utility mapping,
design and operations, enabling increased field worker productivity,
enhanced regulatory compliance and improved customer service and
response.
For more information about Trimble’s utility enterprise solutions, visit: www.trimble.com/ufs.
About El Paso Water Utilitie
El Paso Water Utilities serves over 200,000 commercial, industrial and
residential customer accounts by providing reliable water services,
engineering, construction and maintenance. El Paso Texas has more than
700,000 residents that live in the greater Metropolitan area. For more
information, visit: http://www.epwu.org.
About Trimble
Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in
businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions are
focused on applications requiring position or location—including
surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public
safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies,
such as GPS, lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software
content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are
utilized to deliver the solution to the user and to ensure a tight
coupling of the field and the back office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is
headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.
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