Project Highlights
- 1.3M Electric Power Customers
- 40,000 GME Structures per Inspection Cycle
The WE Energies GME & IM field project consisted of a multifaceted process. It called for the inspection, maintenance, GPS point and photo collection and highly detailed documentation of ground mounted electric equipment – transformers, pedestals, junction boxes and switch fuse units. The purpose of this program is to ensure the safety of the public and We Energies employees and enhance the integrity of the system through the external inspection of the GME associated with underground electrical distribution. Conditions requiring maintenance are identified and are either corrected or referred to the utility resulting in improved reliability and extension of the operating life of their GME.
UDC field technicians captured digital photographs and condition data and also performed any routine maintenance as defined by the SOW. If an eminent danger situation was encountered, the technician was required to secure the area, report to We Energies and remain onsite until utility personnel arrived. In the event a UDC field technician was unable to perform an inspection, the inspection needed to be designated as ‘Return to Field’ (RTF). All RTFs would then be reassigned by the field manager so that the inspection could be completed and recorded. If any RTF inspection could not be completed, UDC needed to provide We Energies with thorough supporting documentation. The information collected from each inspection was then delivered to We Energies in a tabular database format, coded to match predefined safety and administrative codes for the utility.
Compliance Manager was introduced to the We Energies GME & IM project to support the detailed and comprehensive capture of all the required inspection and maintenance information including the RTF exceptions. Using the mobile component of the solution, field technicians uploaded and downloaded work on the fly. RTF’s were recorded using configured dropdowns for the project and reported back to UDC managers. If a dangerous situation was encountered with the GME, the field technician was able to accurately record time spent waiting for We Energies personnel to respond onsite within Compliance Manager.
All work progress was tracked within Compliance Manager. UDC was able to see completed inspections for work units and up to date status of all work. With tracking represented in a spatial context, field and project managers were able to efficiently assign, monitor and report on all work. RTF work could be recorded in the field, rescheduled and/or reported from the UDC back office using Compliance Manager. All of the recorded information was easily exported from Compliance Manager to the requested format for We Energies.