As part of a major programme to improve customer services,
Yorkshire Water has recently purchased over 450 Panasonic ToughBook
CF-M34s and is currently implementing plans to equip its field service
technicians with the new technology.
In August 2000, Yorkshire Water launched a pilot to test Panasonic
ToughBooks in the field. Previously, the mobile workforce of over 400
either carried no communications equipment at all, or used
conventional laptops. As part of the drive to transform work
management and finance systems throughout the organisation, a superior
notebook solution was sought that would increase efficiency of the
field function.
Streamlining services through new work practices “The main area of
activity we were looking to improve was the relaying of job data and
mapped pipe information from the site back to the call centre. To
achieve this, our field technicians would need equipment with built-in
GSM communications,” explained Graham Austin, Yorkshire Water’s senior
IT professional.
Yorkshire Water covers an area of 5400 square miles with hugely
diverse geographical conditions. The company currently serves 4.5
million domestic and 150,000 trade customers, while the Bradford based
call centre handles
1. 6 million contacts per year. With an operation of such size and
scale, continuous and efficient communications between central
management systems and technicians in the field, phis top priority.
Rugged local terrain and prevalent weather conditions can create a
hostile outdoor work environment with exposure to the harshest
elements. Any solution introduced to improve field operations had to
be sufficiently robust, resilient and durable to withstand wind, rain,
snow and dust pollution from plant, as well as the unavoidable knocks
and scuffs caused by repetitive loading and unloading from
technician’s vans. The equipment would also have to perform through
long periods of use to meet the demands of a 24/7/365 service, and be
easy to navigate in the dark.
ToughBook beats back the competition
Yorkshire Water invited competitive tenders from potential suppliers
of the notebook solution through an entry in the European Journal. The
following features were specified as essential requirements:
• rugged build
• touch screen for drawing maps
• substantial hard disk for storing complex geographical information
systems locally
• a keyboard for drop down pick lists and to type in customer comments
• GSM connections built-in for mobile phone calls and the transmission
of data to and from any location
All submissions were reviewed and both a technical and business
evaluation were carried out. A short-list was then drawn up and
product samples from the successful suppliers were tested in a
hands-on evaluation.
One of the contenders was the conventionally sized ToughBook CF27
but it proved to be too big for this application. “Other models were
rejected on grounds of cost per unit or lack of necessary features,”
observed Graham Austin, “but the mini ToughBook CF-M34 was shortlisted
because it met most requirements at a good price per unit.” Yorkshire
Water negotiated with Panasonic to purchase the product through a
third party supplier, Concorde Informatics, who helped organise the NT
build and liased with Panasonic for the supply of components.
They are also providing a service package including three year
service and support programme.
Testing the water with ToughBook
For the initial pilot, units were supplied to Yorkshire Water with
several software packages installed. The organisation is first to use
the CF-M34s with Windows NT operating software. Email is provided via
Lotus Notes, and Wings software enables the mapping facility. MDSI
Canada’s Advantex software provides the work management systems that
allow the company to schedule and organise the workload of their 400
field technicians.
Graham Austin is happy with the introduction of the ToughBook: “So
far, feedback from our 50 or so users is positive and very few
problems have been reported.
Not all the software is yet deployed but efficiency improvements
have already been experienced.” Although 450 CF-M34s with built-in GSM
have been purchased so far, the project is still being implemented and
is run on a pilot basis in certain areas of the organisation. 400 of
the units are not yet in the ‘live’ environment, but those in use are
giving the company an opportunity to test its communications
infrastructure, as well as assessing performance of the equipment.
Valuable feedback is also being collected so that Panasonic can
continue to develop the system and tailor it to task requirements.
Accomplishing the mission
The deployment of new technology gives managers the opportunity to
schedule work on a daily basis, identify high-priority jobs and assign
technicians with the relevant skills more rapidly.
With GSM communications enabling the direct transfer of information
between field and central management, daily travel patterns are
changing, making savings on both time and expenses. Paperwork and
office use can be reduced, and because systems are continuously
updated, the current status of jobs is readily available to customers.
ToughBook’s resilient build ensures that further savings can be
made regarding repair and maintenance costs. Also, its compatibility
means that other software applications can be introduced so more jobs
may be completed by fewer people.
In helping to improve work practices by providing mobile
communications, tailored software solutions and dependable weather and
shockresistant hardware, ToughBook is a match for the rugged features
and challenging work conditions set in Yorkshire.
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