PROJECT 07-19 | OCTOBER 2009

BUSINESS AVAILABLE EXECUTIVE AND STRATEGIC MOBILE TECHNOLOGY MOBILESYSTEMS SUMMARY PLANNING SOLUTIONS FOR EVERY BUDGET

FUTUREAND EMERGINGTRENDS CASESTUDIES ACRONYMS

Acknowledgements About the Authors Legal Notice OCTOBER 2009 PROJECT 07-19

Putting Mobile Technology to Work

this page intentionally left blank PROJECT 07-19

Putting Mobile Technology to Work

Prepared by

Bill Durham Michael McGannon Engineering Associates, Inc. 1220 Old Alpharetta Road, Suite 390 Alpharetta, Georgia 30005

and

Darrell Powell IT 4 Electric Co-ops, LLC 13197 Guyana Street Venice, Florida 34293

for

Cooperative Research Network National Rural Electric Cooperative Association 4301 Wilson Boulevard Arlington, Virginia 22203-1860 The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), founded in 1942, is the national service organization supporting more than 900 electric cooperatives and public power districts in 47 states. Electric cooperatives own and operate more than 42 percent of the distribution lines in the nation and provide power to 40 million people (12 percent of the population).

NRECA’s Cooperative Research Network (CRN) harnesses research and development to benefit its electric co-op members in four key ways:

• Improve productivity • Control costs • Increase service excellence • Keep pace with emerging technologies

CRN strives to deliver new products and services best suited to the particular needs of electric co-ops. CRN communicates with its members through its Web site (www.crn.coop), online and printed reports, newsletters, Web conferences, and seminars.

In addition, CRN staff present at several annual events, including NRECA’s TechAdvantage Conference & Expo, the NRECA/Touchstone Energy “Connect” marketing conference. For more information about these events and CRN’s participation, visit the Conferences & Training section of www.Cooperative.com. For questions about CRN, call 703.907.5843.

© Putting Mobile Technology to Work Copyright © 2009, by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. Reproduction in whole or in part is strictly prohibited without prior written approval of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, except that reasonable portions may be reproduced or quoted as part of a review or other story about this publication.

Legal Notice This work contains findings that are general in nature. Readers are reminded to perform due diligence in applying these findings to their specific needs, as it is not possible for NRECA to have sufficient understanding of any specific situation to ensure applicability of the findings in all cases. Neither the authors nor NRECA assume liability for how readers may use, interpret, or apply the information, analysis, templates, and guidance herein or with respect to the use of, or damages resulting from the use of, any information, apparatus, method, or process contained herein. In addition, the authors and NRECA make no warranty or representation that the use of these contents does not infringe on privately held rights. This work product constitutes the intellectual property of NRECA and its suppliers, as the case may be, and contains Confidential Information. As such, this work product must be handled in accordance with the CRN Policy Statement on Confidential Information. Contents – iii

contents

Executive Summary ix

Section 1 Mobile Technology Business & Strategic Planning 1 What Is Mobile Technology? 1 Mobile Technology’s Relevance to Overall Business Planning 3 Technology Planning Overview 5 Creating Business and Strategic Planning Habits 8

Section 2 Mobile Technology Solutions Available in the Marketplace Today 11 Wireless Cellular and PCS Mobile Data Network Providers 11 Private Land Mobile Radio Data Networks and Applications 14 Satellite Communication Services 19 Wi-Fi-802.11 Mobile Applications 21 GPS Mobile Data Applications 23 Combining these Mobile Technologies into an Integrated Solution 26

Section 3 Mobile Systems for Nearly Every Budget 29 Performing Mobile Technology Planning 30 Implementation Considerations 33 Mapping the Existing Workflow 36 Justifying the Cost 38 Selecting Tasks for Automation 40

Section 4 Future and Emerging Mobile Technology Trends 41 Co-op Technology and Industry Trends 42 Future Cellular and Mobile Broadband Data Technology Trends 44 Future Land Mobile Radio Technology Trends 46 Mobile Technology Disaster-Recovery/Business-Continuity Planning 50 Conclusions 57

Section 5 Mobile Technology Case Studies 59 Coastal Electric Cooperative, Georgia 59 Cobb Electric Membership Corporation, Georgia 64 Delaware Electric Cooperative 71 East Central Energy, Minnesota and Wisconsin 78 Nashville Electric Service, Tennessee 82 Wheat Belt Public Power District, Nebraska 86

Appendix A Acronyms 93 iv – Contents illustrations

FIGURE PAGE

E.1 GPS Route-Optimization Software. viii E.2 Screenshot of a Mobile Workforce Application. ix E.3 Field Workers Can Use Either of Two Different Wireless Data Networks to Connect, Real-Time, to the Internal Operations Center Using a Mobile Workforce Application. xi

1.1 Pillars of Support for Attainment of Cooperatives’ Strategic Business Goals. 4 1.2 Technology Planning Conceptual Diagram. 5

2.1 Standard Type II Card (or AirCard). 13 2.2 Express Card/34 Card. 13 2.3 Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) Digital Versus Analog Technology. 15 2.4 Analog Versus Digital Waveforms Integrating Voice and Data. 17 2.5 Satellite Integration of Voice and Broadband Data. 19 2.6 Communications-on-the-Move Systems. 19 2.7 Globalstar GSP 1600 Satellite Phone Made by Qualcomm. 20 2.8 Typical Service Yard Wi-Fi Coverage with Single Access Point. 21 2.9 Typical Service Yard Wi-Fi Coverage with Multiple Overlapping Access Points. 22 2.10 The DOD Navstar Satellite System Surrounding Earth. 23 2.11 Examples of Global Positioning System Screens. 24 2.12 GPS Devices for Fleets Showing Real-Time Tracking for Each Vehicle. 25 2.13 Field Workers Can Use Either of Two Different Wireless Data Networks to Connect Real-Time to the Internal Operations Center Using a Mobile Workforce Application. 27

3.1 Application Systems Interface Diagram. 31 3.2 Screen Shot of a Mobile Workforce Application Work Queue. 33 3.3 Screen Shot of a Typical MWM Field Scheduler. 37

4.1 A Handheld Garmin Rino Two-Way Radio with GPS Receiver. 46 4.2 A Yaesu Two-Way Mobile FM Transceiver with Quad-Band Capability. 47 4.3 Unlicensed 6-GHz Horizon Compact Ethernet Microwave Transmission System. 50 4.4 Licensed System Using Andrew 6-GHz Ultra-High-Performance Antenna. 50 4.5 Technology DR/BC Life Cycle Planning Process Methodology Diagram. 52 4.6 Sample Telecommunications Diagram. 54 Illustrations – v

illustrations

FIGURE PAGE

5.1 Mobile Field Service Via the eMobile Data Service-Link. 60 5.2 Creating a Mobile Service Order. 60 5.3 Service-Link Dispatcher Application Screen. 61 5.4 Dispatcher and Mobile Application View of a Cancelled Service Order. 62 5.5 A Ruggedized Pedestal Holds the Non-Ruggedized Laptops Used by Field Crews. 63 5.6 A Mobile Laptop Installed in a Cobb EMC Service Vehicle and Displaying the OMS Software. 65 5.7 Screen Shot Listing Outage Jobs by Number and Type. 66 5.8 Screen Shot Showing Outage Details for a Particular Job. 67 5.9 Screen Shot of Street Map Showing Cobb EMC Infrastructure and Service Vehicle. 68 5.10 Screen Shot of Real-Time Map of Cobb EMC Service Territory Showing Service Trucks in the Field. 69 5.11 A Screen Shot of the Georgia UPC Homepage. 69 5.12 Size Comparison of an Earthmate GPS to a Typical Cell Phone. 74 5.13 Screen Shot of a DeLorme Navigation and Route Optimization System. 75 5.14 Screen Shot of the DeLorme System’s Route Optimization Process. 76 5.15 Two Views of the Garmin StreetPilot 7200 GPS Navigation System. 80 5.16 Three Views of Field Technician Cell Phones Using the eTrace Program for Reconnects. 84 5.17 NES’s eTrace Service Area Map Showing Status of Every Job and Worker. 85 5.18 WBPPD Data Superimposed on a Google Earth Map. 89 5.19 Weather Data Superimposed on a Google Earth Map Showing WBPPD Data. 90 vi – Tables tables

TABLE PAGE

2.1 Satellite Solutions Providers. 20 2.2 Wi-Fi Options and Performance Data. 22

4.1 RTO Comparison Among Cooperatives. 55

5.1 Comparison of DEC’s Five MWM Applications. 72 Acknowledgements – vii

acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the following individuals for their time and contributions to this report:

• Mark Bolton, Vice President of Marketing and Customer Service for Coastal Electric Co-op • Larry Chalupsky, Energy and GIS Technical Source • Corbitt Clift, Manager of Special Projects–Engineering, Cobb EMC • Gary Cripps, Vice President of Finance and IT for Delaware Electric Cooperative (DEC) • Harold Gardner, Vice President of Sales, GPS Fleet Solutions • Linda LaTourelle, IT Manager, East Central Energy (ECE) • Tim Lindahl, IT Specialist, Wheat Belt Public Power District (WBPPD) • Dave Sickels, National Information Solutions Cooperative (NISC) • Joe Trentacosta, Vice President and CIO, Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) • Keith Wheeler, CIS Group Leader for Nashville Electric Service (NES) viii – About the Authors about the authors

Mike McGannon is the author of a previous CRN-sponsored technical report entitled A Guidebook to Land Mobile Radio. He has worked in telecommunications for over 20 years as an engineer and technical project manager. Mike has experience with many wireless technologies, including cellular, PCS, LMDS, MMDS, land mobile radio, Wi-Fi, MESH, SCADA, and microwave transport systems. Mike has worked with New Hampshire Electric Cooperative, AREA, NRECA, GreyStone Power, Georgia Power, and the Southern Companies on various wireless and technology projects.

Bill Durham has over 18 years of engineering, technical leadership, and project management experience in the wireless industry. He was an engineering manager for a major manufacturer in both its cellular and land mobile radio business. Bill has experience in developing and implementing wireless technology designs and communications solutions for both large and small cellular providers and public safety customers. Most recently, he has been providing technical support and project management to several large Metro Atlanta counties and other local government agencies in the southeast for the 800 MHz rebanding of public safety radio system frequencies. Bill has also provided technical project management of the integration of several digital radio systems for both public safety and the industrial-private radio frequency bands.

Darrell Powell is the president of IT 4 Electric Co-ops, LLC. Darrell has over 25 years of technology experience in the electric and natural gas utility industries. He spent 10 of those years leading the information technology function at several electric and natural gas investor-owned utilities and as the CIS implementation project manager for a major utility industry software vendor. Darrell has performed company-wide technology strategic planning, system/solution selection and implementation, project management, corporate-wide technology management, disaster recovery and business continuity planning, security assessments, and the definition and implementation of a wide variety of technology performance measures and metrics. Executive Summary – ix

executive summary

his report includes six case studies demon- staff was successful with this first project they T strating how mobile workforce applications typically found it easier to expand the mobile and technology are helping both small and large project and technology into other areas of the electric co-ops reduce expenses, improve cus- company. Success can be measured in many tomer service, increase system reliability, and ways, including the elimination of steps in work- enhance field workflow efficiency. Mobile work- flow or the automation of a process. These can force applications and tools need to be built be tied to measurable financial gains or simply around best practices to help keep costs down, related to improving customer satisfaction. provide effective solutions to the field, and pro- This small-step approach to the implementa- tect the personnel and capital assets of the com- tion of mobile workforce technology will allow pany. It will become readily apparent while the electric co-op community to become “early reading the mobile technology case studies in- adopters” (not “first adopters”) of technology to cluded in this report that the deployment of meet the increasing demands for better customer mobile technology is typically just a wireless service and a more reliable electric distribution extension of the co-op’s existing in-house local system. and wide area networks (LAN/WAN), office ap- The electric cooperative community is no dif- plications, and business functions into the field. ferent from any other service provider when it This mobile technology report also contains comes to the need to support field workers by specific sections that detail the development and providing them with the latest mobile technology importance of technology, continuity planning, tools to help them manage workloads more effi- and disaster recovery; and the integration of ex- ciently. The effective deployment and use of mo- isting and future mobile workforce applications, bile workforce technology will allow the electric tools, and technology. co-op to provide the field workers with wireless network access and the associated mobile appli- START SMALL AND BUILD ON SUCCESSFUL cations that can significantly improve existing MOBILE TECHNOLOGY IMPLEMENTATIONS field operations workflow, outage restoration, The introduction of wireless communications— and, most importantly, customer-member service. particularly mobile technology—into an existing business can seem like a monumental task to a The Future of Wireless Technology service organization with little or no technical expertise in this area. All electric co-ops, regard- “I believe there are three forces that hold less of size, should investigate the use and ap- the most promise for wireless. These forces plication of wireless communications and are coming together now and will continue mobile technologies as a means to improving to do so in the years to come. First, mobile workflow and reducing costs. broadband networks will continue to get The most successful field implementations faster and more ubiquitous. Second, we involve an area of operations in need of a com- will see even more powerful, easy-to-use munications or automation solution to help im- smart devices like the iPhone. Third, com- prove field service workflow. While conducting pelling new applications will evolve that research for this project, it was discovered that take advantage of those faster networks the success of a mobile technology project was and powerful devices. I believe the conver- not related to what issue the cooperative de- gence of these forces will ultimately im- cided to address first; rather, success was better prove lives on a global scale—by bringing determined by the size of the project and having people closer together and by creating a sufficient amount of end-user involvement. greater prosperity through accelerated These successful field workforce management commerce.” – Ralph de la Vega, president projects had one thing in common: they started and CEO of AT&T Mobility, CTIA Wireless small, with a simple problem that the use of mo- Wave, fall 2008. bile technology could resolve. Once the co-op x – Executive Summary executive summary

THE COST BENEFITS OF IMPLEMENTING are located in the same area. In addition, DEC MOBILE TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS saved approximately 8,000 labor hours by using Electric cooperatives across the country have global positioning system (GPS) route-optimiza- saved thousands of dollars and numerous man- tion software. This is based on savings of three hours of labor implementing mobile technology hours per day, per field team, using an average solutions. Rural co-ops of various size and ser- of ten active teams per day. vice area topography are now using a number The electrical grid screenshot shown in Figure of wireless technologies such as wireless fidelity E.1 exhibits a typical co-op Wi-Fi network with (Wi-Fi), cellular broadband data, private land projected wireless coverage from the wireless mobile radio data, and satellite communications access points (WAPs) for a service yard and networks to implement feature-rich mobile Inter- adjacent maintenance facility. net and scalable field workforce applications. In a similar manner, Wheat Belt Public Power For instance, Delaware Electric Cooperative District (PPD) is using mobile technology for its (DEC) is using Verizon Wireless “AirCards” to Field Operations Dispatch Team. Wheat Belt PPD, help with underground service locate requests. based in Sydney, Nebraska, serves 2,300 miles of Using this wireless network technology and the line with 29 full-time staff. Over the last few years “Miss Utility” mobile application allowed DEC to it has implemented mobile technology using a implement real-time locates. The field users combination of wireless communications plat- have access to this Web-based application, avail- forms including Wi-Fi hot spots at offices and able from the State of Delaware, from within substations, public Wi-Fi networks, private data their service vehicles. radios, and Wildblue Satellite Internet technology. The use of this mobile broadband data net- At Wheat Belt, implementing mobile work- work allows DEC field users to access and close- force applications has helped several internal locate service requests from the field, reducing customer-support departments, including Field errors and saving trips when multiple requests Operations Dispatch, to capitalize on the bene- fits from having a more timely awareness of out- ages when they occur and a quicker overall response to power restoration. The field opera- tions team, engineering, and safety staff have also implemented a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology at all of the substations. This wireless-access capability now allows for reliable and consistent communications from the sub- station to the outside world when cellular or two-way radio coverage is not available.

MOBILE TECHNOLOGY MOVES THE BUSINESS OFFICE INTO THE FIELD Mobile technology can be used anywhere and anytime as long as the business application sys- tems it is connected to are available. Multiple wireless paths to the same information will elim- inate the historic separation between office and field workers, who will now all have equivalent access to the most up-to-date information. The co-op customer and field service organizations will typically recognize dramatic improvements in workflow. Mobile technology allows for multi- FIGURE E.1: GPS Route-Optimization Software. tasking and also minimizes errors caused by re- liance on inaccurate information. Executive Summary – xi

executive summary

FIGURE E.2: Screenshot of a Mobile Workforce Application.

One advantage to co-ops with different sizes shows a map view of the electrical power grid, of field support organizations is that mobile street name, and service truck location indicated technologies are typically designed to be by the red vehicle and unit number. This mobile scalable, allowing cooperatives to add additional workforce application screenshot also shows the devices and applications as their staff and needs various menu selections and capabilities of this continue to grow. Depending on how the mobile application along the top, bottom, and right side application is designed, field staff can enter data of the image. directly into the cooperative database on a real- Rural co-ops can investigate and choose from time or a near-real-time basis. This eliminates the variety of mobile technologies available in a the need for paper copies or for office staff to manner that best suits their needs and budget. re-key data. Thus, depending on how the mo- There is no single best use of mobile technol- bile application is designed, cooperative data is ogy, which is analogous to the concept that either kept current at all times, or on a same-day no one-size solution fits all. After all, different basis if a near-real-time (store-and-forward) ap- co-ops of differing sizes, geography, and man- proach is utilized. The screenshot of a mobile agement styles will have a diverse set of tech- workforce application displayed in Figure E.2 nology needs. xii – Executive Summary executive summary

JUSTIFYING THE COST OF MOBILE service request follows a workflow process that TECHNOLOGY PROJECTS is part manual, part electronic, and often crosses One method of providing cost-savings justifica- numerous departments. The service request is tions to senior managers and finance representa- further edited, reviewed, and assigned by a dif- tives is to use cost-savings extrapolations instead ferent department/person providing a resource of trying to directly measure return on invest- scheduling and planning function in order to ment (ROI). When the co-op project team is complete the service requested. Eventually, going through the process of determining tasks, these service requests are assigned to field staff workflows, and resources (such as workgroups members to be completed, recorded, and closed. and equipment), the average amount of time The effective use of mobile technology will and associated costs for completing these exist- allow this basic customer-member service re- ing tasks should be calculated. quest to move more efficiently through the en- The mobile technology project team should tire workflow process and keep track of its determine the amount of time and costs for the status from cradle to grave while minimizing the new mobile workforce process and compare the amount of human intervention, the opportunity procedural steps and cost differences with the for the introduction of errors to occur, and the existing manual process. Once this cost differ- number of job hand-offs required. ence has been determined, calculate the number of occurrences of this task during a weekly, THE DISPARATE WIRELESS monthly, or annual period and extrapolate the NETWORK SOLUTION mobile application cost savings. This cost-sav- Improving the safety of field utility workers— ings extrapolation method is a good example while increasing outage responsiveness and of the ability to measure the tangible benefits productivity with regards to power restoration, of deploying a mobile workforce application. planned upgrades, grid maintenance, and ser- The project team will have a more difficult vices—are all goals of any electric co-op leader- time trying to understand the cost benefits real- ship team. But how does a rural co-op imple- ized from the implementation of a mobile solu- ment a mobile workforce application, tool, or tion when attempting to measure the intangible solution to meet the goals outlined above when benefits and trying to assign cost values. Imple- there are limited or no wireless data networks mentation of a mobile application should auto- available throughout its service territory? At- mate many of the tasks involved in the execution tempting to justify and implement a wireless data of a typical service order (SO) workflow. An ex- network solution that covers the entire electric ample of an intangible benefit could be the elim- co-op service territory and allows for the use of ination of human errors introduced in SOs. voice, data, and video mobile workforce appli- These errors could have been introduced into cations could prove to be a costly endeavor. the manual workflow process resulting from im- Six case studies were performed as part of proper communication of the SO information, a this CRN report on mobile technology, and it lost or misplaced SO document, incorrect or was discovered that both small and large electric incomplete address/payment information, etc. co-ops are now using a number of wireless These types of intangible benefits are very diffi- technologies such as Wi-Fi, cellular broadband cult to measure, because they tend to be more data, private land mobile two-way radio, and qualitative than quantitative in nature. satellite communications networks to implement wireless field workforce applications. MAPPING THE WORKFLOW FROM Selecting and utilizing an effective middleware CRADLE TO GRAVE application (see Figure E.3) and the correspond- Today the electric co-op workflow typically be- ing mobile network switch will allow rural co- gins with the customer-member contacting the op field users to move in and out of a wireless co-op to order a new service, report an outage, network or onto another wireless system with- pay an electric bill, etc. This customer-member out concern for these network changes. This Executive Summary – xiii

executive summary

mobile workforce “application persistence” does system (CIS) data wirelessly into the field. Later, not require intervention by the field user for au- this particular co-op decided to implement thentication and security purposes. This middle- a more user-friendly middleware encryption ware solution allows the mobile application to application after the users had difficulty with use the preferred wireless network in a given authentication (starting a new session). The prob- circumstance based on requirements such as the lem occurred when the vehicle would enter and cost of service, radio signal coverage, message exit data network coverage or move into another size, etc. wireless network coverage area, such as Wi-Fi operating in a substation or service yard. The MOBILE TECHNOLOGY CASE STUDIES lesson learned from this case study is that encryp- AND LESSONS LEARNED tion and authentication measures need to be One of the lessons learned during the case stud- somewhat easy to activate and use by the field ies of mobile workforce applications involved users. Mobile workforce applications need to be security measures and considerations. One of a useful tool that increases productivity, not one the case study participants initially deployed a that creates extra work and aggravates the field military-grade encryption solution for the imple- users. mentation of its first mobile data application, Taking the small project or phased approach since it was transporting customer information —along with the use of disparate wireless net- works for the implementation of mobile work- force technology—will help reduce the unnec- (1) Campus Wireless (802.11) essary risks associated with selecting the wrong technology platform that may become prema- (2) Public Wireless Broadband Data (AirCard) turely obsolete. It will also help to avoid the inefficient allocation of a co-op’s financial and Dialer + SSL Connection + Mobile Application human resources, or possibly avoid an increase in SO cycle time and the resulting decrease in customer member satisfaction and confidence. (1) (2) Campus Electric co-ops have been making good deci- AirCard ~~WI-FI .WAP sions in deploying mobile technology and have (Data Only Card) Wireless been prudent in reaping the benefits available from the use of a planned and phased deploy- ment approach. Disparate or hybrid solutions Mobile SSL Mobile Workforce Connection that leverage existing mobile technology and ++Connection Application Manager wireless networks are often the most cost- effective and easy to deploy. In addition, more co-ops are realizing the need for cooperative- FIGURE E.3: Field Workers Can Use Either of Two Different Wireless Data Networks to Connect, Real-Time, to the Internal Operations wide technology planning and are using this Center Using a Mobile Workforce Application. larger process as their vehicle for introducing mobile technology to their field workforce.

this page intentionally left blank Mobile Technology Business & Strategic Planning – 1

Mobile Technology Business 1 & Strategic Planning

In This Section: What Is Mobile Technology? Mobile Technology’s Relevance to Overall Business Planning Technology Planning Overview Creating Business and Strategic Planning Habits

What Is Mobile The term mobile technology can mean different It can also provide the opportunity to gain more Technology? things to different people. Prior to discussing it efficiencies and even to offer new products and within the confines of this report, it is important services to your customers. to have a common understanding of what ex- Mobile technology can be used anywhere and actly mobile technology is. anytime as long as the connected business ap- Mobile technology is exactly what the name plication systems are available. Multiple wireless implies: technology that is portable. Mobile tech- paths to the same information eliminate separa- nology—also known as mobile computing—is a tion between workers, who all have instantaneous generic term describing one’s ability to use tech- access to the same and most up-to-date informa- nology “untethered.” Mobile computing allows tion. This improves workflow and allows for people to use information technology (IT) with- multitasking. Mobile technologies are typically out being tied to a single location. Mobile devices designed to be scalable, so cooperatives can add can be wirelessly networked to a home/business additional devices as their needs and staff con- office or the Internet while working in the field tinue to grow. Depending on how the mobile or otherwise outside of a person’s primary office application is architected, field staff can enter facility. data directly into the cooperative database on Any business with staff who work outside of either a real-time or a near-real-time basis. This their office, such as a rural electric cooperative, can eliminates the need for paper copies or for of- benefit from using mobile technology. Whether fice staff to re-key data. Thus, depending on traveling to meetings, out in the field on service how the mobile application is architected, coop- calls, or working from a customer’s site or from erative data are either kept current at all times, home, cooperative employees can use mobile de- provided a real-time solution is deployed, or are vices to keep them in touch and make the most kept current on a same-day basis if a near-real- use of their time. Mobile technology can do time approach is used instead. more than just change the way you do business. You can choose from the variety of mobile 2 – Section 1 1

technologies available in any manner that best co-op senior managers and their boards of di- suits your particular cooperative. There is no rectors view and treat mobile technology as a one single best use, which is analogous to the strategic resource (for long-term goal achieve- concept that no one-size solution fits all. After ment) rather than a tactical one (to gain only all, different co-ops of differing sizes, geography, one specific objective). This is a business “best and management styles have differing techno- practices” way to approach not only mobile logical needs. But it is strongly recommended technology, but also cooperative-wide technol- that, in order to maximize potential benefits, ogy as a whole.

Mobile Technology: Is It a Strategic or Tactical Answer? A Cooperative Opinion

First and foremost, mobile technology is not, nor should it Your cooperative’s mobile technology strategy is your be, considered an IT project as in just another land area unique fingerprint, most likely distinct from that of network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN) to support; a peer and consistent with the definition you prescribe. potential enterprise-wide benefits run much deeper. Too At our cooperative, work mobility technology is consid- often there is the inclination to confine the definition of ered in some rather nontraditional ways. Closely aligned mobility to tethering (i.e., being plugged into a single with the mission, work mobility is viewed as enablement, space and location) and to presume that this technology to provide greater service, lower operating costs, and a is an employee (that is, workforce) resource. If this is true, flattened utility management hierarchy. More importantly, then planning associated with the technical aspects of mo- key stakeholders in mobile technology include not only bility would typically center upon the means of effectively rank-and-file employees, but members as well. Defining untethering our employees. Consequently, the issue be- work mobility technology at the cooperative is a product comes a tactical engagement, not a strategic one. of these simple and effective concepts: If we view mobile technology as the untethering of workers, then solutions would simply address how we can • Work: Product of effort; creates shared goals among reliably and inexpensively transmit information over radio, stakeholders satellite, cellular, or even microwave infrastructures. Depend- • Mobility: Anywhere, anytime; 24/7; multiple paths ing upon service-area topography, geographical region, and • Technology: Eliminates separation; improves workflow; population density, the choices may range from plentiful allows for multitasking; scalable to very limited, if at all. Volumes of research and studies are available that address these tactical challenges. Clearly, Thus, mobile technology needs to be strategically creating a strategy for the deployment of mobile technol- aligned to facilitate decision support and eliminate iterative ogy must mean more than just untethering employees. manual processes. While many may choose to envision Mobile technology should, and will, be defined by every mobile technology as a wireless solution, our co-op enterprise consistently with the needs of its business. chooses to envision it as dispersion of work, process re- Mobile technology for some enterprises will mean little engineering, and a reduction of separation between the more than cellular coverage in a service territory. For others, member and each employee. The platform, medium, or it will mean enablement and empowerment of every em- particular technology to be wireless is merely a product of ployee and, dare say, every customer. The bounds are limit- service availability, infrastructure considerations, and eco- less and the opportunities are quite tangible. Creating your nomic justification. Such tactics are extremely important, co-op’s strategy for mobile technology—planning strategi- but to consider work mobility for an enterprise based just cally, not tactically—will mitigate costs, provide opera- on these attributes leaves too much untapped opportunity tional efficiencies, improve service, and give our members sitting on the table. the reliable performance they have come to expect. Recognizing that there is no universally accepted defin- Source: Gary Cripps, VP of Finance & IT, ition for work mobility clears a few hurdles immediately. Delaware Electric Cooperative Mobile Technology Business & Strategic Planning – 3 1

While the focus of this report is neither on coop- 5. Engineering- and operations-related systems Mobile erative-wide strategic business planning nor on and technology are becoming increasingly Technology’s cooperative-wide technology planning, it would reliant on customer information systems Relevance to be doing the reader an injustice if this document (CISs), financial and other traditional admin- Overall Business completely overlooked the relationship between istrative systems and vice versa, as well as Planning mobile technology and these two important shared technical infrastructure. Thus, there types of co-op planning. Many electric co-ops are no longer any exclusive departmental have embraced the process of developing coop- systems or databases. All systems and other erative strategic business plans, objectives, initia- technology must now be selected and imple- tives, and vision statements, both on an informal mented as a shared corporate asset. and increasingly formal basis, over the past five to ten years. A newer, but equally significant, These new trends support two fundamental “best practices” trend in the electric cooperative principles: industry is the emergence of cooperative-wide technology planning. The primary drivers behind 1. Cooperative-wide technology planning is this new trend include the following realizations: needed to ensure all technology investments are undertaken in support of and built upon 1. Cooperative “front office” and “back office” past implementation successes to help en- functions are both highly dependent on able specific, identifiable strategic business technology to perform their day-to-day oper- initiatives and goals. ations more efficiently. 2. Mobile technology is an important facet of 2. Field force automation is the next frontier the technology planning process and should where significant productivity, system relia- be included as part of an overall technology bility, efficiency, and member satisfaction plan to extend the home office technology gains can be realized through the proper de- into the field, rather than being viewed as a ployment of more and better technology to separate business function. the field. This technology includes mobile technology along with mobile workforce Figure 1.1 depicts the relationship just de- management (MWM) applications. scribed between the importance of technology 3. Cooperative-wide technology expenditures planning in the achievement of the cooperative’s are typically the second-fastest-growing ex- strategic business objectives and goals, along penditure category after wholesale power with the other more traditional strategic business costs. Even in situations where this is not the “enablers” and “pillars of support.” case, the costs of maintaining existing tech- Note that enablers are technologies that do nology and deploying new technologies are not simply support the attainment of a goal. two of the fastest-growing expenditure cate- They actually enable the attainment. Without gories for most electric cooperatives. this enablement, the goal would be unattainable. 4. Cooperatives, in general, are resource- and Not all technologies are enablers. Thus, if some- funding-constrained. Consequently, even thing is a pillar of support, it is not necessarily modest technology investments must be an enabler. But, if it is an enabler, it is also a planned and executed in a manner that pillar of support. optimizes the benefits on a cooperative- wide basis. 4 – Section 1 1

Enablers

Staff Public & Revenue Financial Electric Technology: Resources: Community Stream: Lenders: Distribution • Software • Internal Relations • Revenue • RUS System: • Hardware • External • Cost • CFC • Multiyear • Communications • Operating • CoBank Work Plans $Margins

FIGURE 1.1: Pillars of Support for Attainment of Cooperatives’ Strategic Business Goals.

The conceptual diagram in Figure 1.1 demon- ing their ever-increasing investments in and strates that there are a number of elements deployment of technology. The point is the (pillars of support) involved in helping the increasing importance of having a cooperative- cooperative attain its strategic objectives. These wide, multiyear technology plan in place that is elements must all work together in a coordi- strictly focused on the attainment of the co-op’s nated manner to achieve the highest level of strategic business goals, rather than treating each workforce efficiency, member satisfaction, and technology deployment project as if it were an operating cost improvement. Virtually all co-ops island of its own instead of part of a much are aware that, in order to achieve these goals, it larger, more comprehensive system of increas- will take dedicated staff resources (employees ingly interdependent components. In order to and possibly consultants), targeted public/ maximize the business benefits realized from community/member relations programs, funding any type of mobile technology investment, from operating margins generated by revenues mobile technology projects cannot be viewed from the total amount of electricity delivered, as isolated technological deployments. Instead, and additional funding from co-op industry they must be included as part of the overall lenders and sources. These multiyear, electric cooperative-wide technology planning effort. distribution work plans need to be specifically The technology plan must be viewed as a living constructed around the attainment of the co-op’s document, just as the multiyear, electric distribu- strategic business goals, whether they pertain to tion plans are replanned and redeveloped as improving system reliability, increasing customer necessary on an annual basis. Thus, they too satisfaction, reducing average per-customer must be adjusted as needed to accommodate restoration times, and so on. unforeseen regulatory, business, legal, and The main purpose of Figure 1.1 is to empha- management directional changes that may size a point that many co-ops overlook regard- occur over time. Mobile Technology Business & Strategic Planning – 5 1

Technology The pyramid diagram in Figure 1.2 is a concep- Pyramid Layer 1 (Bottom Layer) Planning tual model depicting the seven major steps (lay- Two key components comprise the first step in Overview ers) involved in any comprehensive technology the technology planning process: planning process. The left side of the pyramid lists the process steps and the sequence in which 1. Define the project organization structure, as they should be performed, while the right side well as identify and commit key resources. of each corresponding pyramid layer describes • The first component requires the for- the expected results produced from each step. mation of a project Executive Steering Committee (ESC) that represents all of the CONCEPTUAL DIAGRAM OVERVIEW project’s stakeholders. It typically consists The following is a brief explanation of each of the co-op’s general manager or CEO layer comprising the Technology Planning and the senior management team. This Conceptual Diagram depicted in Figure 1.2. group will ultimately have responsibility

(7) Process Plan Co-op Results Approval -Wide Buy-in Develop(6) Formal Plan Resource Team Develops Bus. Cases & Determine Tech. Sets Priorites SupportInfrastructure Bus.-Driven Needed(5) Initiatives to

EnsureTechnology Proposed

Determine Business-Driven Supports & Enables Impacts on Current Operation Technology Plan (4) Support & Enable:

Determine Technology-Driven • Business Strategic Plan Impacts on Current Operation • Regulatory Compliance (3) • Business-Driven Initiatives Inventory, Assess & Document Current Operation (Including Tech. Support Staff & Organization) • New Technology Advances • Technology/Software Upgrades (2) • Newly Obsolete/Unsupported Tech.

• Define Project Organization & Resources • Application System Portfolio • Understand Co-op Business Strategic Plan Project Start-up(1) • Application Architecture Diagram

• Technology Infrastructure Component Portfolio • Technology• Report Infrastructure of Findings & Recommendations Architecture Diagram

• FormCommittee Cross-Functional RepresentingGoals, & Resource Vision All Statement Stake Team Holders& Steering • Understand Business Srategic Plans, Initiatives,

FIGURE 1.2: Technology Planning Conceptual Diagram. 6 – Section 1 1

for reviewing and approving the technol- Pyramid Layer 2 ogy plan, as well as ensuring the planning The second step in the technology planning process has their full support. A project process is to inventory, document, and sponsor also needs to be identified and assess current operations and make recom- selected by the ESC. This individual will mendations for improvement with regard to organize and chair all future project ESC the currently deployed technology and asso- meetings and will typically also lead the ciated support staff. It consists of the follow- project Resource Team. ing key components: • The second component requires the pro- ject ESC, along with the project sponsor, 1. Identify, inventory, and document all de- to select the cross-functional project Re- ployed technology—including all software, source Team members. All members of hardware, tools, telecommunications for the Resource Team represent one or more voice and data, security, services, contracts, co-op functional areas and participate and technology support functions—regard- directly in the planning process on behalf less of whether it is internally developed, of the functional areas they represent. It outsourced, or manually performed by the is their responsibility to involve other internal staff. This effort will produce an members from their functional areas as application systems portfolio and a technical they deem appropriate. Collectively, this infrastructure components portfolio. Resource Team represents all of the pro- 2. Identify relationships, dependencies, inputs, ject’s stakeholders. It is also permissible and outputs among all systems in the ap- for an individual to be a member of both plication systems portfolio to produce an the project ESC as well as the project applications architecture drawing. This Resource Team. This tends to be more drawing is sometimes also referred to as prevalent in smaller co-ops, where mem- a “systems interface diagram” or a “systems bers of the senior management team tend relationship diagram.” to have more of a hands-on role in the 3. Identify relationships, dependencies, inputs, co-op’s day-to-day operations than in and outputs among all components in the larger electric co-op organizations. technical infrastructure components port- 2. Ensure that the Resource Team members folio to produce a technical infrastructure understand the co-op’s strategic business architecture drawing. plan, including its goals, initiatives, and 4. Perform an assessment of all deployed tech- vision statement. If no formal or up-to-date nology, upgrades, or enhancements for this version of the strategic business plan exists, operating technology as well as any new the project sponsor must gather this infor- technology that could enhance the systems, mation by interviewing the general manager components, and applications that were de- or CEO and every person on the senior fined in item 1 of this list. Also include this management team. All of the information information in the applications architecture is documented and provided to the ESC for drawing and the technical infrastructure ar- review and approval. Once the documented chitecture drawing developed for this level version of this information is approved, it is to produce a report of findings and recom- provided to the members of the Resource mendations. Team with the understanding that they must 5. After the project Resource Team reaches a be able to clearly demonstrate that all pro- consensus approval, the report of findings posed technology plans and initiatives are and recommendations is presented to the supporting and potentially enabling one or ESC for review and approval. This report more goals defined in the co-op’s strategic must be approved by the ESC in order business plan. to gain authorization for the project to continue. Mobile Technology Business & Strategic Planning – 7 1

Pyramid Layer 3 initiatives previously determined in pyramid The third step in the technology planning layer 4. In this step: process identifies and documents technology- driven impacts on the currently deployed tech- 1. Identify relationships, dependencies, inputs, nology and support staff. It consists of three key and outputs among all systems in the applica- components: tion systems portfolio to modify or enhance the applications architecture drawing and the 1. Identification and assessment of deployed technical infrastructure architecture drawing; technology that is either already technologi- 2. Perform an assessment of all deployed tech- cally obsolete or for which the vendor has nology, upgrades, or enhancements to this announced future near-term dates for dis- operating technology and any new technol- continuing development or ending future ogy that would enhance the systems, com- support for certain products and services; ponents, and applications that have been 2. Identification and assessment of potentially identified; and upgrading to newer versions of currently 3. Typically, the technical infrastructure up- deployed technology; and grades needed to support the business solu- 3. Assessment of new technology advances tions identified in pyramid layer 4 involve and their impact on existing deployed telecommunications-related capacity issues technology or technology in the process (local area network [LAN], wide area net- of being implemented. work [WAN], Internet and/or radio systems) and/or scalability issues involving technol- Pyramid Layer 4 ogy components such as the private branch The fourth step in the technology planning exchange (PBX) and interactive voice re- process is to identify and document business- sponse (IVR) systems. driven impacts on currently deployed technol- ogy and support staff. Typically, these business- Pyramid Layer 6 driven impacts are derived directly from the The sixth step in the technology planning co-op’s strategic business plan, initiatives, goals, process is where all of the work and analysis and vision statement. This step consists of three performed in the previous five steps—including key components: recommendations made, impediments or con- straints identified, and opportunities for ad- 1. An understanding of how well the existing vancement—come together in an organized, deployed technology is meeting the current business-case-driven prioritization within a for- business needs as previously determined in mal planning document. The document uses the pyramid layer 2; report of findings and recommendations work 2. Identification of opportunities to further cap- product created in pyramid level 2 as its starting italize on or leverage existing deployed tech- foundation. The deliverables produced from nology; and pyramid level 3 through pyramid level 5 are 3. Identification of impediments or constraints then factored in by the project’s Resource Team imposed by the current application systems to create the proposed technology plan docu- architecture and the technical infrastructure ment as follows: architecture to attaining the desired busi- ness-driven objectives. 1. All proposed projects are classified as being either major or minor, based on the Pyramid Layer 5 estimated dollar cost and the amount of The fifth step in the technology planning co-op staff effort required. Large projects process is to identify and document technical are typically classified further into one of infrastructure upgrades needed to support the the following categories: solutions required to satisfy the business-driven • Strategic and large systems; 8 – Section 1 1

• Regulatory compliance; required, as well as any project prerequi- • Technology and telecommunications sites and dependencies, produce an ini- infrastructure and others; and tial, proposed, multiyear project schedule. • Quick hits (projects requiring a relatively The Resource Team may need to go modest investment relative to the amount through several iterations of this process of benefits to be gained, resulting in a in order to reach a consensus short payback period). approval of the proposed, multiyear 2. For each major project, the following major project schedule. steps occur: 3. For each minor technology project or • Identify a project manager and sponsor enhancement, the following steps occur: from the Resource Team who will de- • Identify a project manager, typically from velop a preliminary business case for the the Resource Team, who will be responsi- project that outlines all initial and ongoing ble for ensuring this project is performed; costs, quantifiable and non-quantifiable • Identify a timeframe for project comple- benefits, staff resources required, approxi- tion; and mate project duration, prerequisites or de- • Identify a project sponsor. pendencies, and an explanation of how this project supports and enables one or Pyramid Layer 7 (Top Level) more of the co-op’s strategic business The seventh step in the technology planning goals. The only exception to this is if the process is the review and approval of the pro- project is needed to satisfy mandatory posed cooperative-wide, multiyear technology regulatory compliance requirements. plan. The following elements are involved: • Identify an executive project sponsor. • The Resource Team reviews each prelimi- 1. Consensus review and approval by the nary business case for each proposed project Resource Team; major project. 2. Consensus review and approval by the • Using a standardized, objective rating sys- project Executive Steering Committee; and tem, each Resource Team member rates 3. Review and approval by the co-op’s board each project. The ratings are combined for of directors. The need for the plan to have each project to create a project prioritiza- board-level approval varies from one co- tion list, which can be adjusted based upon operative to another, although virtually Resource Team consensus, if necessary. every co-op will review a summarized • Based upon project priorities, the applica- version of the completed plan with its tion of resources available versus resources board of directors.

Creating Business The above mobile technology planning pyramid achieve the co-op’s strategic business goals. and Strategic model is intended to demonstrate the major It will become readily apparent while reading Planning Habits components required in order to effectively de- the mobile technology case studies included in velop a cooperative-wide technology plan by Section 5 of this report that the deployment of understanding and building on the existing mobile technology is typically just the extension foundation, as well as gaining an understanding of the coop’s existing in-house LAN/WAN, busi- of the best practices garnered from successful ness applications, and business functions into past technology deployments. This valuable un- the field. derstanding of a co-op’s currently deployed Today the electric co-op workflow typically technology provides the foundation for deter- begins with the customer-member contacting the mining how best to leverage the existing tech- co-op to order new service, report an outage, nology and maximize the returns from new pay an electric bill, etc. This customer-member technology investments in terms of helping to service request follows a workflow process that Mobile Technology Business & Strategic Planning – 9 1

is part manual, part electronic, and crosses nu- of mobile technology will allow this basic cus- merous departments or internal work groups. tomer-member work or service request to move It is further edited, reviewed, and assigned by more effectively and efficiently through the entire different resource scheduling and planning func- workflow process, keeping track of its status tions in order to perform the service or work re- from “cradle to grave,” while minimizing the quested. Eventually, the work or service request amount of human intervention, the opportunity is assigned to field staff members to be per- for the introduction of errors to occur, and the formed, recorded, and closed. The effective use number of job hand-offs required.

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Mobile Technology Solutions Available in 2 the Marketplace Today

In This Section: Wireless Cellular and PCS Mobile Wi-Fi-802.11 Mobile Applications Data Network Providers GPS Mobile Data Applications Private Land Mobile Radio Data Combining these Mobile Technologies Networks and Applications into an Integrated Solution Satellite Communication Services

Existing mobile data networks and technologies section includes an evaluation of both existing include wireless cellular and personal communi- and near-term (one- to three-year) mobile tech- cations services (PCS) providers, integrated nology solutions available in the marketplace voice and data communication networks today and includes a discussion of combining through the use of private land mobile radio these available data networks and technologies (LMR) systems, satellite service providers, and to provide an integrated wireless solution. 802.11 Wi-Fi public and private networks. This

Wireless Cellular According to the Cellular Telecommunications During the past five years, wireless companies and PCS Mobile and Internet Association (CTIA), the growth in have migrated from billing at a flat rate per Data Network wireless usage within the United States suggests minute of use for local and long-distance cellular Providers that approximately 85 percent of the population phone service to a bundling of minutes-of-use now has cellular telephone service. Having a with standard features (call waiting, voicemail, cellular phone has become a part of everyday etc.) for a monthly fixed-rate billing plan. The life for most Americans and, for many, can be a growth of feature-rich phones offering data necessity for business and personal use. services, like smartphones, is becoming a big The cellular phone or wireless industry within revenue opportunity for the cellular industry, the United States has become a mature market similar to what triple-play service (local and with the passage of the Telecommunications Re- long-distance telephone, digital television/HDTV, form Act of 1996. The subsequent telecom melt- and Internet access) has become for the tradi- down that started in 2001 when the Act came into tional regional land-line telephone companies. effect witnessed the exit of many small wireless Smartphones—which offer e-mail, Web surf- carriers from the market and helped accelerate the ing, music, and other applications—accounted consolidations, mergers, and outright purchases for approximately 68 percent of all mobile among the large wireless service providers. phone sales in 2008. Many of the smartphone 12 – Section 2 2

devices now have cameras, music players, and During the past five years, several large cellular personal digital assistants (PDAs) built right into providers have dramatically extended broad- a handheld unit. Now the rush is on for compet- band and high-speed wireless data coverage ing wireless service providers to build networks throughout the United States and now offer this that can support the capacity required for these capability in most of the metropolitan markets, smartphones by building infrastructure capable large airports, and along major highways and of transporting broadband data to any location interstates. The revenue growth and demand for at any time. wireless data service has allowed these cellular

AT&T Broadband Data Solution areas throughout the United States. AT&T Verizon Wireless Broadband The AT&T EDGE network is advertised as Broadband Connect is based on GSM third Data Solution being the largest national high-speed wire- generation (3G) technology and will sup- According to Verizon Wireless, broadband less data network in the United States, port simultaneous voice conversations and network access is now available in approxi- according to its Web site. Wireless data data transfer by the mobile-phone user. mately 250 major U.S. metropolitan areas, service covers more than 13,000 cities and covering more than 240 million people and 40,000 miles of U.S. highways and is being Sprint Broadband Data Solution 215 primary airports. This Verizon high-speed expanded to eventually reach over 270 mil- Sprint mobile broadband coverage is adver- wireless broadband network is based on lion people. tised as the nation’s largest mobile broad- CDMA evolution-data optimized (EV-DO) The AT&T network is built on the global band network and reaches over 230 million technology and is able to deliver even system for mobile (GSM) communications people and is available in 218 major metro- faster data speeds and greater efficiencies cellular phone standard that is widely de- politan markets and over 1,000 airports. for Internet Web browsing and accessing ployed throughout the world. Its promoter, Sprint initially constructed an all-digital, corporate intranets and e-mail systems. The the GSM Association, estimates that 82 all-CDMA (code division multiple access), wireless data capabilities of this Verizon mo- percent of the global mobile market uses single-frequency carrier mobile network, bile broadband network include typical down- this standard. GSM is currently used by without having to upgrade from a previous load speeds of 600 Kbps to 1.4 Mbps and more than 2 billion people across more analog cellular network. Sprint was able typical upload speeds of 500 to 800 Kbps. than 212 countries and territories. This to deploy these 3G services nationwide in Verizon also offers a wireless data ser- fact has helped keep the cost of GSM August 2002 and offer advanced multi- vice called National Access that is available mobile phone service lower, in light of the media mobile services. anywhere digital voice service has coverage, economies of scale of using a GSM net- CDMA employs spread-spectrum tech- and allows for speeds of 60 to 80 Kbps, work for wireless voice and data. The nology and a special coding scheme (where which is good for two-way short messaging voice and data needs of these GSM mo- each transmitter is assigned a code) to and small data applications. The Verizon bile-phone users has also created a signifi- allow multiple users to be multiplexed over Wireless network has been advertised as cant marketing demand for devices, appli- the same physical channel or frequency- the most reliable during emergencies or cations, tools, and wireless solutions. carrier. CDMA technology is also being used natural disasters and has battery back-up GSM differs from its predecessors in in many communications and navigation power at all facilities, as well as generators that both signaling and speech channels systems, including the global positioning for longer duration outages installed at all are digital, and is considered a second system (GPS) and the OmniTRACS satellite switching facilities and many cell site loca- generation (2G) mobile phone system. system for transportation logistics. tions. Verizon also has dedicated a team of This has also meant that data communica- Sprint offers high-speed nationwide technical professionals across the country to tion was easy to build into the digital voice wireless data services with average upload monitor, test, and optimize this wireless net- mobile system. The average download and download speeds of 50 to 70 Kbps work every day to ensure efficient operation. speeds of an EDGE wireless data are ap- with bursts of 144 Kbps. The Sprint mobile Verizon Wireless has set up data testing to proximately 70 to 135 kilobits per second broadband network offers multimedia wire- monitor large file downloads and uploads on (Kbps). The AT&T Broadband Connect net- less data services at average download this broadband network, allowing it to also work provides an average download speeds of 600 Kbps to 1.4 megabits per claim the nation’s most reliable wireless throughput of 400 to 700 Kbps on compati- second (Mbps) and with 350 to 500 Kbps broadband network. ble devices in numerous metropolitan upload speed capability. Mobile Technology Solutions Available in the Marketplace Today – 13 2

companies to bring broadband or high-speed access to the commercial market, and this has enabled the mobile workforce population to leave their office or business without leaving their Internet connection behind. With no partic- ular order in mind, three of the largest wireless service providers in the U.S., along with their wireless and broadband data network specifica- FIGURE 2.1: Standard Type II Card (or AirCard). tions, are briefly described above for comparison purposes. Many electric co-ops are now taking the next step toward getting real-time service order up- dates from the utility field teams using these available public wireless data solutions and are taking advantage of the fact that most of their fleet vehicles already have geographical infor- mation system (GIS) laptops installed. During the past five years, several co-ops have worked FIGURE 2.2: Express Card/34 Card. with these large mobile phone wireless data providers and ended up purchasing a broad- band access device along with an unlimited All wireless broadband data networks these monthly data usage plan for each laptop and days are compatible with most Windows-based associated vehicle in the fleet, allowing for laptop PCs. Once these wireless network inter- connection to these high-speed wireless face cards are added to the mobile laptop com- broadband networks. puter, along with the proper monthly service The addition of wireless network access plan and following the proper authentication cards has enabled electric co-op mobile work- commands or virtual private network (VPN) ers to stay in touch with dispatch operations, configuration process, the cooperative field internal customer service teams, and the other workforce can access corporate information mobile field teams while moving throughout through Web applications and interfaces. The their cooperatives’ service territories. This mo- electric co-op field workers will now be able bile workforce is already familiar with the oper- access: ation of their existing GIS laptop computers, thus making it easier to add additional mobile • Business e-mail and attachments; data applications and tools. Below are the three • Documents, spreadsheets, and presentations; most common interface types used to access • The Internet for Web searches (weather, local these available public wireless broadband data news, Yellow Pages, etc.); networks: • Corporate intranets, customer information net- works, and files; and • Standard Type II Card Slot • Business and mobile workforce applications. Typically found on most Windows notebooks • ExpressCard/34 Card Slot Found on newer Windows and Mac notebooks • Universal Serial Bus (USB) Found on most computers today 14 – Section 2 2

Private Land Electric cooperatives have a variety of wireless log/digital technology is very similar to the evo- Mobile Radio technologies available to them. Some are ideal lution of technology that has taken place within Data Networks for voice communication while others are best the cellular industry. and Applications suited for transmitting data. In the previous sec- tion, we reviewed the current status of commer- RECENT TRENDS IN THE MARKETPLACE cial wireless data systems (cellular and mobility Over the last few years, LMR manufacturers have focused), including the technologies being de- been focused on producing digital radios. These ployed, the features of these systems, and their are radios that can actually operate in both a use in cooperatives’ operations. In this section, digital mode and an analog mode so that orga- we will investigate the latest trends in the land nizations can make a smooth migration from mobile radio (LMR) marketplace. analog technology to digital technology. In the LMR systems are typically considered mission- electric co-op marketplace, this digital migration critical, as cooperatives rely heavily on these usually takes place as the cooperative buys new during storm outages and for day-to-day opera- subscriber devices (portable or mobile radios) tions. The greatest advantage to having a coop- with digital capabilities until all of its subscribers eratively owned and maintained LMR system is have been gradually replaced. This digital migra- the knowledge that you control the design, op- tion typically takes place over a three- to five- eration, and availability of that system. When a year period. Once all of the subscribers have major storm hits, both management and the field digital capabilities, the cooperative can upgrade teams can be confident that their radio system to a digital infrastructure and radio tower sites, is designed to support them under the worst allowing for a much smoother transition of the conditions and that the cooperative has the tech- field workforce. nical support resources, either on-staff or con- The advantage of a digital infrastructure can tracted, that can effectively respond during the be evaluated using the same fundamental para- storm to monitor, repair, and maximize radio meters used to evaluate any wireless communi- system availability. cation system. These are: Over the past 10 or more years, LMR tech- nology has seen significant changes, primarily • Coverage—technology that meets co-op through the use of computer technology. Radio reliability standards and covers a large equipment manufacturers have moved away portion of the electric service area for the from the crystals that used to determine frequen- field workers to effectively operate; cies and, instead, have incorporated computer • Capacity—the ability to serve current and chips that synthesize frequencies. In addition, future co-op field users; subscriber device manufacturers are rapidly • Security—the ability to secure communica- moving away from radios with hardware limita- tions from outsiders or the public; tions and into a marketplace where the software • Reliability—system design redundancy and loaded on a radio defines the frequency range backup systems for unplanned outages; and and feature set of that radio. • Availability during storms—comparing private There are currently no radio subscriber control versus public systems. devices in the commercial marketplace that consumers can purchase that will operate in The coverage of a radio system is simply de- all bands of the Federal Communications fined as the area within which a radio user can Commission (FCC) frequency spectrum assigned reliably operate. The key word in this definition to LMR users. However, consumers are begin- is reliably. As the field crews are working in a ning to see radios that can operate in multiple hazardous, high-voltage environment, the relia- bands. This multiband and dual-mode ana- bility of their communication equipment should Mobile Technology Solutions Available in the Marketplace Today – 15 2

be high, which is typically defined as 90 to 95 because features such as caller ID and short percent reliable in terms of radio system cover- messaging can be added to a digital system, age. For this discussion, we will assume 95 per- allowing the field workforce new ways to com- cent reliable communications as the goal for a municate. The voice traffic on a digital channel given electric co-op service area. This means versus an analog channel may decrease due to that the radio system should work in support the “messages” that can be sent and the clarity of their operations in at least 95 percent of the of audio, which reduces the requirement for locations, for approximately 95 percent of the repeating voice communications. time. For most cooperatives, the standard pro- With time division multiple access (TDMA) cedures are to have two-person crews and to digital technology, a single radio channel that is verify radio communications before working allocated by the FCC is split into multiple (two an energized line, transformer, or similar device. or more) channels using different timing. In this In an emergency, this leaves one member of the case, the capacity of the system actually in- crew on the ground to call for assistance should creases. If we assume a two-for-one split using it be required. TDMA technology, we can actually get two voice The coverage advantage that a digital radio conversations in the same “channel” in which system has over an analog system is not neces- we historically had one traditional analog voice sarily in signal strength, in terms of expanding conversation. the amount of service area coverage. The ad- One of the recent trends in both the ultra vantage comes from the error-correction proto- high frequency (UHF, 450 MHz) and very high cols that are employed with digital radio systems frequency (VHF, 150 MHz) markets is the intro- to ensure accurate transmissions between the duction of TDMA infrastructure and subscribers. transmitter and receiver. As the user radio signal These TDMA systems will provide users with starts to degrade with distance from the transmit increased capacity with the same amount of site, digital error-correction technology can licensed frequencies—which are very difficult to deliver voice and data content with minimal loss over a given coverage area. With digital technology, the cover- Analog Channel age improvement is really just an improvement in the clarity of communications. Users ac- 25 kHz Analog 1 User tually can communicate in ... areas of the service territory that were marginally covered with the previous analog TDMA Channel radio system. The capacity of a radio sys- tem is defined as the number 25 kHz TDMA User 1 User 2 User 3 User 4 User 1 of users a system can support. ... In general, migrating to a digi- Time Slot Time Slot Time Slot Time Slot Time Slot tal radio system may not nec- essarily increase the voice Time capacity. However, the users FIGURE 2.3: Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) Digital may see an increase in the Versus Analog Technology. availability of a digital system 16 – Section 2 2

obtain in metropolitan areas—by allowing for DATA SOLUTIONS FOR PRIVATE LAND the addition of twice as many voice conversa- MOBILE RADIO SYSTEMS tions (talk-paths) or channels. As LMR systems migrate from analog technology Analog radio conversations are fairly easy to to digital technology, the use of data networks monitor using publicly available frequency scan- and field applications are starting to become ners. Digital communications can be easily en- more prevalent. In effect, every voice conversa- crypted, which allows the users to conduct their tion is converted to a digital data stream before business without eavesdropping by the general it is transmitted (modulated) on a wireless fre- public. Encryption helps avoid publicity prob- quency carrier. With both the voice conversation lems during normal operations and protects and digital data message in digital format, the sensitive communications. information can now be interwoven on the The overall reliability of analog radio systems same wireless transport medium. versus digital radio systems is about equal. A re- Digital wireless communication can transmit liable radio system for a co-op is typically sup- voice traffic more efficiently than analog be- ported by a primary and back-up power source, cause of voice-compression technologies. This has a hardened environment to withstand local allows for the addition of error correction, unit natural and man-made disasters, and has reliable ID information, and some short messaging ap- communications between the radio system sites plications in a digital radio system and the corre- and the dispatch command/control facility. sponding increase in overall capacity. In the However, the age of an analog radio system, the marketplace, we are seeing manufacturers add availability of replacement parts, the amount of these capabilities to LMR communication sys- preventative maintenance required, and the fre- tems. In addition, the communications industry quency of system testing all play an important is starting to see growth in the number of ven- role in the overall reliability of radio communi- dors developing data applications independent cations. of the traditional radio equipment manufacturers. One advantage that a digital radio system has The overall speed of wireless data transmis- over an analog system is in the battery life of sions is limited by the bandwidth of the wireless portable radios. Since a digital radio operates channel. In most traditional LMR technologies, more efficiently than an analog radio unit, users the channel bandwidth is 25 KHz. In today’s typically comment about the improved battery technology, that means that the typical data life of the digital portable radio when compared speed for LMR systems is 9.6 Kbps, with some to their old analog technology. systems reaching 19.2 Kbps. This data speed A private radio system is typically available in limitation drives the applications that are most a storm if it is designed with reliability in mind. likely to run on private LMR systems to small, While there is no difference between analog and “bursty” data applications (in which bursts of digital technology in this regard, it is important data are sent at a high rate between intervals to understand that a radio system designed to of no transmission) such as instant messaging serve a co-op is usually more reliable in a storm (IM) and paging. It is important to note that situation than a commercially designed system. the data speeds listed are the total data speeds— In recent history, we have seen many instances including error correction—meaning that your of commercial wireless systems failing to prop- actual data throughput is only a percentage of erly operate during both natural and man-made the overall system speed. In addition, actual disasters. This is an important factor to consider data throughput decreases as signal strength for an electric co-op that is relying on a wireless decreases. In other words, the greater the dis- technology during a time of critical need. tance between the radio tower site and the mo- bile data device, the slower the actual data rate will become. Mobile Technology Solutions Available in the Marketplace Today – 17 2

INTEGRATED VOICE AND DATA transmit frequency (tower site transmits to a mo- Vendors are beginning to push integrated voice bile unit receiver in the field) and a receive fre- and data over traditional voice-only radio sys- quency (mobile unit in the field transmits to the tems. In these systems, voice traffic has priority tower-site receiver) are paired together to form a and data is kept in queue until a channel be- single talk-path or channel. In the LMR bands, comes available. The applications that work best there are two types of trunking technologies in this scenario are low-level data applications. available for communications. The first is central- Applications with higher data throughput re- ized trunking, where all channels are controlled quirements, such as automatic vehicle location by a centralized controller and the frequencies (AVL) and the transfer of large files, will almost are exclusively licensed to a given user for a always require dedicated data channels. particular geographical area. The second is de- While the actual location information required centralized trunking, where the software in the of an individual vehicle utilizing AVL is small, subscriber units controls the channel selection having a large fleet of trucks sending location and each tower site operates independently. information near-real-time consumes a lot of Each of the tower-site base-station repeaters data airtime and the associated channel capacity. configured for decentralized trunking pass infor- When extending existing LAN/WAN applications mation back to a common computer. These re- into the field, a co-op should review its data ap- peaters will typically use shared frequencies with plications and match these with the wireless other operator systems within a given geographi- data technology that is currently available. cal area. To have a successful centralized trunking sys- CENTRALIZED VERSUS DECENTRALIZED tem, a co-op must have exclusive use of a fre- TRUNKING RADIO SYSTEMS quency for 50 or more miles surrounding the Trunking refers to automatic channel selection tower site. The FCC licenses frequencies in this from a group of FCC-licensed frequencies. A manner in the 700 and 800 MHz band; however,

f Analog Waveform (Wide Frequency Range, Continuous Channel)

Legend f = frequency t = time t Digital Waveform (2 Specific Frequencies, Voice Only Fills Portion of Time)

Voice Voice Voice Voice Voice Voice Voice

Voice Voice

t Digital Waveform (2 Specific Frequencies, Voice + Data Fill Time)

Voice + Voice Data Voice Data Voice Data Voice Data Voice Data Voice Data Embedded Data Voice Data Voice Data

t

FIGURE 2.4: Analog Versus Digital Waveforms Integrating Voice and Data. 18 – Section 2 2

in the UHF (450 MHz) and VHF (150 MHz) turers. Since 1995 manufacturers have had to band, frequencies are not necessarily assigned produce equipment that can operate using these on an exclusive basis. Most business and indus- narrower channels. After 2011 manufacturers trial two-way users share the frequencies with can no longer sell equipment that operates in other surrounding users. Each of the users shar- the wider bandwidths, and all equipment must ing a frequency must monitor (receive) the fre- operate at 12.5-kHz channel bandwidth. quency before transmitting and will need to wait For the electric co-op, this means that it if the frequency is already busy. If a co-op de- should be planning for the migration to narrow- ploys a centralized trunking two-way communi- band frequencies if the radio system is currently cation system at frequencies below 512 MHz, operating below 512 MHz. The first item that the protected base-station control channel is needs to be addressed requires the electric always accessible to the mobile field units to co-op to review its existing radio equipment make talk-channel assignments. and see if it can operate at 12.5 kHz. If not, Also, if the frequency has an FB8 (base-station co-ops should start to make plans to purchase classification) designation on its FCC license, it narrowband equipment before 2011. In addition means that the licensed tower site has a pro- to reviewing the current radio equipment, coop- tected service area or exclusive-use geographical eratives should also be reviewing their FCC coverage area. This FB8 designation on the FCC frequency license. The FCC is also pushing license is very important, because it means the licensees to reduce their output power when operator can deploy a centralized trunking they alter or modify their licenses for narrow- solution that will have higher capacity and band operation. support more users than a decentralized, two- way radio trunking system. Obtaining enough APCO PROJECT 25 FB8-designated frequencies will allow a co-op to The Association of Public Safety Communication implement a wide-area trunking system over the Officials (APCO) is developing a set of standards entire service area to allow its field workforce to for LMR in its Project 25 (P25) specifications. effectively perform two-way communications. These standards are being developed to allow It is extremely difficult, however, to license radios from different manufacturers to interoper- FB8 frequencies in most metropolitan areas, but ate. These standards have been adopted by the farther away from these population centers many organizations and are used as a guideline that a co-op service territory is located, the more when procuring new radio communication sys- likely that these exclusive frequencies can be tems. obtained. A two-way trunked radio communica- The first phase of this project was a frequency tion system purchased and operated by an elec- division multiple access (FDMA) standard that tric co-op is typically more cost-effective than if allows co-ops to buy infrastructure and sub- the co-op were to purchase this integrated digi- scriber units from different vendors while speci- tal enhanced network (IDEN) dispatch service fying that the basic features and functions of from a provider such as Sprint Nextel Communi- these radio units must work together, much like cations, Verizon Wireless, or SouthernLinc. the cellular industry standards and specifica- tions. The standards require basic communica- NARROW BANDING IN 2013 tions, while allowing each manufacturer to offer The FCC is looking to create additional spectra some unique features. This means that users to meet the needs of businesses and consumers. should be thorough in their evaluation of each In order to do so, it is “refarming” the spectrum manufacturer’s product for use on their radio below 512 MHz. Refarming, in this case, is the system. reduction of the bandwidth of 25- or 30-kHz APCO is currently finalizing the Phase II stan- channels into 12.5-kHz, and ultimately, 6.25-kHz dard using TDMA technology. Products that channels. This process began in 1995 as a meet this requirement should have become avail- requirement for only radio equipment manufac- able in mid-2009. For many of these vendors, the Mobile Technology Solutions Available in the Marketplace Today – 19 2

modification to meet the Phase II TDMA require- not compatible with the APCO Project 25 digital ment is expected to be a software upgrade, but standards. However, APCO Project 25 radios until the standards are final, buyers should exer- should be able to communicate on conventional cise caution. Legacy analog radios are typically analog systems.

Satellite In the satellite industry, service providers compete backup is a good alternative. Today, the FSS and Communication in specific market sectors or areas such as fixed MSS vendors are at a crossroads with services to Services satellite service (FSS), mobile satellite service (MSS), fill the communications gap during a land mo- direct broadcast satellite, digital audio radio ser- bile infrastructure outage. MSS terminals may be vice, broadband, earth imaging, and others. mounted in a vehicle, and portable products are Massive catastrophes can totally disable a ter- now available to be carried by an individual into restrial or land-based communication network, remote areas of the world. They are ideal for a and using satellite communications systems as a command vehicle to act as a mobile 802.11x hot spot to other convoyed vehicles in the group. FSS has traditionally referred to a satellite ser- vice that uses terrestrial terminals communicating with satellites in geosynchronous orbit. New technologies allow FSS to communicate directly with mobile land-based communications net- works. Communications-on-the-move (COTM) solutions can now provide fully mobile Internet protocol (IP) data and voice service to vehicles moving at speeds of up to 60 mph. COTM offer- ings from FSS and MSS satellite service providers have two cost components:

• Terminal—cost of the handheld, fixed, or Internet mobile equipment; and • Teleport—cost for satellite capacity and IP connectivity for e-mail, Internet, VPN, and FIGURE 2.5: Satellite Integration of Voice and Broadband Data. telephone.

MSS technology includes broadband data up to 492 Kbps and streaming data rates on-demand up to 256 Kbps. Current systems are not de- signed for high-bandwidth video applications. FSS technology includes up to 10 Mbps down- link channel delivered via FSS to a vehicle and up to 512 Kbps uplink channel transmitted from the vehicle to the Internet using IP support for voice, video, and data simultaneously. MSS satellite phones offer many of the same characteristics as cellular phones, including a similar user interface and design. They are slight- ly larger in size than cellular phones because the antenna for satellite frequencies is larger than a cellular phone antenna. The telephones are made FIGURE 2.6: Communications-on-the-Move Systems. for rugged environments; they are designed to 20 – Section 2 2

meet water, shock, and dust-resistant specifications. These satellite phones feature one-touch dialing, call-forwarding, and two-way short messaging service (SMS), and can transmit and receive data. They have headset/hands-free capa- bility and batteries capable of providing up to 30 hours of standby time with approximately three hours of talk time. When using a satellite phone for voice or data transmittal, the user needs to be outside with a clear view of the sky, away from buildings and overhead obstacles. There are currently satellite phones available that will work indoors in cellular mode when within a cellular service area. These dual-network (cellular and satellite) phones and data cards have the ability to be programmed to default to cellular service when it is available for a given area and move to satellite network service for communications when no cellular coverage is FIGURE 2.7: Globalstar GSP 1600 accessible. Most satellite phones can make 911 calls. However, they may or Satellite Phone Made by Qualcomm. may not be able to provide caller location information to 911 centers.

TABLE 2.1: Satellite Solutions Providers.

Contact Web site Solutions Americom Government [email protected] www.americom-gs.com FSS fixed, deployable, and mobile Internet, voice, Services 703.610.0988 and data broadband. Eutelsat [email protected] www.eutelsatinc.com Fixed satellite video applications, broadband IP 202.756.1460 connectivity, mobile data, and telephone communications. Globalstar Len Corasaniti www.globalstarusa.com/en Cost-effective satellite voice and data 301.361.0091 communications to over 120 countries. Hughes Amir Dehdashty www.hughes.com Broadband satellite networks, backup services, 301.601.2674 continuity of operations. Inmarsat [email protected] www.inmarsat.com Mobile Satellite Services; Broadband Global Area 703.647.4760 Network. Intelsat Britt Lewis www.intelsatgeneral.com Ground infrastructure, mobile and fixed satellite 301.571.1210 systems, and technical expertise. Iridium John Schroeder www.iridium.com Mobile voice, data, and tracking. 301.571.6265 Marshall Communications Sonny Marshall www.marshallcomm.com Mobile VSAT and custom turnkey communications 571.223.2010 solutions. Mobile Satellite Ventures [email protected] www.msvlp.com Interoperable two-way radio, telephone, and mobile 800.216.6728 data solutions. SES New Skies Robert W. Turner www.ses-newskies.com Fixed satellite services to include voice, data, video, 202.478.7121 and Internet connectivity. Stratos Jennifer Brooks www.stratosglobal.com Multiple VSAT/MSS solutions for emergency and 301.214.8800 contingency communications. TerreStar Networks Jim Frelk www.terrestar.com Next generation mobile communications that 571.921.4619 seamlessly integrates cellular and satellite networks through customized IP-based applications. Xtar Larry Haughey www.xtarllc.com Fixed and COTM X-band communications services. 240.599.2820 Mobile Technology Solutions Available in the Marketplace Today – 21 2

Mobile satellite solutions providers and satel- provides a fairly comprehensive list of lite Internet providers have numerous equipment businesses and contacts for satellite phone options and service plans available. Table 2.1 and data service.

Wi-Fi-802.11 If the cooperative’s in-house network is avail- the required outdoor wireless coverage antennas Mobile able near the utility maintenance facility, an and interface of the wireless routers to the existing Applications electric co-op IT department can implement a in-house IT network system. Most existing in-house Wi-Fi network at the utility maintenance facilities computer networks already have the capability to where the field service vehicles are stored authenticate wireless users for remote access in during non-use hours to easily update GIS order to extend and protect the LAN and WAN in-vehicle mapping systems and other mobile services into remote areas. workforce applications and software. Wireless A wireless LAN card is no longer required to fidelity, or Wi-Fi, is a wireless technology brand be purchased and plugged into the laptop PC owned by the Wi-Fi Alliance, intended to specify because most new laptop computers currently the interoperability requirements of wireless being purchased come equipped with built-in LAN products based on the IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi capability. All of the laptop computer soft- standards. ware updates, Windows operating system patches Adding Wi-Fi to an existing service yard is ex- and updates, and anti-virus and GIS mapping tremely easy to do and represents a very low-cost software changes can be performed wirelessly procurement. Deployment of a Wi-Fi data commu- overnight, when the vehicles are parked in the nications solution only involves the installation of service yard. Figures 2.8 and 2.9 represent two

FIGURE 2.8: Typical Service Yard Wi-Fi Coverage with Single Access Point. 22 – Section 2 2

FIGURE 2.9: Typical Service Yard Wi-Fi Coverage with Multiple Overlapping Access Points.

examples of Wi-Fi wireless coverage areas or The 802.11g private wireless infrastructure “hot spots” for the electric co-op mobile work- typically requires a continuous connect time of force vehicles to use for data communications approximately 15 minutes to complete transfer on the internal LAN/WAN network. of a full database. Crews may choose when to For more information concerning present and perform these database refreshes, rather than future Wi-Fi options, as well as performance allowing the updates to happen automatically data, refer to Table 2.2, “Wi-Fi Options and whenever their service vehicles are within range Performance Data.” of an access point.

TABLE 2.2: Wi-Fi Options and Performance Data.***

Protocol - IEEE Release Operational Throughput Data Range Range Standard Date Frequency (Typical) Rate (Max) Modulation Technique (Radius Indoor)* (Radius Outdoor)** Legacy 1997 2.4 GHz 0.9 Mbps 2 Mbps FHSS or DSSS ~20 meters ~100 meters 802.11a 1999 5.8 GHz 23 Mbps 54 Mbps OFDM ~35 meters ~120 meters 802.11b 1999 2.4 GHz 4.3 Mbps 11 Mbps DSSS ~38 meters ~140 meters

802.11g 2003 2.4 GHz 19 Mbps 54 Mbps OFDM > 20 Mbps ~38 meters ~140 meters 802.11n 2009 2.4 GHz / 5.8 GHz 74 Mbps 600 Mbps OFDM ~70 meters ~250 meters 802.11y 2008 3.7 GHz 23 Mbps 54 Mbps OFDM ~50 meters ~5000 meters

* Depends on number and type of walls, floors. ** Loss includes one wall. *** Due to the dynamic nature of the newer Wi-Fi technologies, please reference external sources to ensure you are obtaining the most current information. Mobile Technology Solutions Available in the Marketplace Today – 23 2

Many electric co-ops have decided not to This decision was based on experience of use, purchase ruggedized laptop PCs for wireless high-quality standards of currently available com- field use, which are typically retailed at twice the puters, and the short two- to three-year technol- cost of normal, off-the-shelf laptop computers. ogy obsolescence curve of a new laptop PC.

GPS Mobile Over the past few years, millions of Americans sist the user in reaching his or her intended Data Applications have finally gotten rid of the folded paper maps destination. If you get lost or make a wrong in the front seat of their automobiles and have turn, the GPS device will audibly notify you upgraded to a vehicle with a built-in navigation and automatically recalculate how to get you system or purchased a separate portable GPS back on track. unit to use for travel and directions. This GPS location information can be used to These GPS units, with a proper antenna and determine how an automobile, boat, airplane, or limited overhead obstructions, communicate with person can get from point A to point B using a one or more of the 28 Navstar satellites that pro- navigation-based solution. When used in con- vide coverage for location-based services over junction with a public or private data network, the entire planet. This Navstar satellite system is GPS information can be used for real-time track- operated by the U.S. Department of Defense ing to determine where a particular vehicle, piece (DOD); its primary mission is for military pur- of equipment, or person is located. This GPS poses and there is no charge for anyone located data can also be used for historical tracking anywhere to receive and use these GPS satellite purposes, by generating a report, for example, signals to get location-based information. to see where a particular vehicle or person Most GPS devices contain a built-in map of has been traveling. the entire United States and sometimes most of When used purely for navigation, a GPS unit North America, used to provide location-based will contain a mapping device for use in the ve- (car, boat, airplane, person, etc.) directions with hicle (or a hand-held device for portability) and turn-by-turn visual and audio instructions to as- has a simple-to-use operator interface to enter the destination address, usually with audio and instruction confirmation. Such a device generally doesn’t have a monthly cost or data-service fee. A real-time tracking solution for a fleet of ve- hicles, however, does require several back-office equipment purchases, namely a centralized server, large-screen mapping peripheral device, and the interface components required to com- municate with the public or private wireless data network. The drivers or GPS fleet participants are usually unaware of this tracking solution and all of the information that is being exchanged re- garding their present and past locations, average speed, and number of miles driven. This GPS historical data will now be available at a central- ized mapping location for command and control purposes. This real-time tracking solution will typically require a monthly fee for a public wire- less or satellite network unlimited data plan or a significant capital investment in the purchase of a private data network solution that operates on FIGURE 2.10: The DOD Navstar Satellite System Surrounding Earth. the licensed or unlicensed frequency spectrum. 24 – Section 2 2

memory cards, which can be easily plugged into Mapping the USB port of a GPS-capable unit. Providing co-op field crews with digital cam- eras would allow for the ability to take pictures of newly installed electrical distribution system components deployed as part of a work order requirement or system maintenance procedure. The camera can be used to document new pole- attached electrical equipment such as transform- ers/wires, site hazards, the electrical equipment before and after service order completion, or to perform damage surveillance of a particular lo- cation after a storm has passed. These pictures can be stored on an SD mem- ory device with a file name corresponding to a co-op customer or meter number and with a date/time stamp on the file for future reference. These pictures can be reviewed by the field crews on a large screen GPS unit with internal expanded memory capability prior to or on their FIGURE 2.11: Examples of Global Positioning System Screens. way back to the work site to complete a cus- tomer service request. The early GPS devices were limited to the ve- It is also becoming more commonplace for hicles in which they were deployed, because these pictures to be stored within a co-op’s they either had a nonremovable in-dash design AM/FM/GIS system database as an additional ob- or required power from the car’s cigarette lighter ject/asset attribute on the co-op’s GIS database. to operate. Many currently available GPS devices Once they are placed in a GIS database, this in- now offer a rechargeable internal battery, which formation can be used for a wide variety of pur- means they can be unplugged and easily taken poses such as documentation for pole-attachment with you as you are exiting the vehicle and billing, allowing crews to view pole-attached headed into a remote area on foot to capture electrical system devices and wiring configura- and mark a new meter or equipment location. tions prior to leaving to perform field service or GPS tracking devices are now available that construction work to ensure that they are bring- transmit at regular intervals a location signal that ing the necessary equipment and field staff to works in conjunction with AVL application soft- properly complete the job. This GIS information ware, along with a monthly wireless data service can also be used to document the work per- plan that can be used for co-op asset tracking. formed and equipment required for cost-tracking Examples of co-op assets that could be tracked purposes, or can be used for inventory and asset based on location might include portable gener- documentation for tax purposes. ators, construction equipment, service vehicles, The purchase considerations for adding a and electrical equipment trailers. GPS-based mobile workforce tool to the existing Because many of these new portable GPS de- electric co-op field organization will need to in- vices have expandable memory, a rechargeable clude analyses of both business requirements and battery, and a touch-screen interface, they can workflow processes. First, the co-op leadership also be used as a portable media player. Numer- and field management teams will need to assess ous GPS devices now have the capability to allow the problems or issues associated with the exist- the user to listen to MP3 music, audio books, ing fleet and mobile workforce. They can start and to view photographs. These media files can by analyzing the needs of the field organization be stored on removable secure digital (SD) using a list like the one below to identify trends, Mobile Technology Solutions Available in the Marketplace Today – 25 2

4. Do we have vehicles and equipment getting Advantages of Combining GPS Data with AM/FM/GIS System Data stolen? 5. Do we have too many vehicular accidents Many co-ops have begun deploying GIS systems over the past where employee safety is a concern? decade. As part of this deployment, it has proven extremely valuable 6. Can we improve customer service by im- to obtain GPS coordinates for all of the electrical distribution system proving our knowledge of our field crew’s assets and to store these GPS coordinates as an attribute for each location? asset/object contained within the GIS database. This information 7. Do we have new or inadequately trained can be used to add value in numerous ways, including: employees? • Combining it with a GPS-oriented static land mass database to 8. Can we reduce the maintenance costs on show the locations of system assets relative to roads, bodies of our vehicles and equipment by improving water, topography, etc. This information layer can be used within the accountability for these assets? the GIS system, added to the co-op’s supervisory control and data 9. Is dispatching and rerouting service and acquisition (SCADA) system and combined with the co-op’s outage trouble orders inefficient? management system to show accurate, consistent location data. 10. As we add new employees to replace retir- • Combining it with street map GPS-based navigation systems to ing field workers, can we improve the allow for route optimization for field collectors, meter readers, knowledge and capabilities of these new field service crews, trouble call routing, etc. An excellent example field workers by providing access to infor- of this can found in the East Central Energy case study included in mation in the trucks? Section 5 of this document. The next step is to establish a cross-functional project team with representatives from field workers, operations and maintenance personnel, internal telecommunication and IT support staff, engineering, and vendor consultants. This team will need to develop and evaluate a mobile tech- nology solution that could effectively solve one or more of the issues on the list provided above. There are also the technical issues to be consid- ered with the selection of a GPS or other field- based tool. These technical issues include the radio frequency (RF) coverage of the cellular or private wireless data system service, the internal IT infrastructure application and interface chal- lenges, integration of this mobility solution with the existing work-flow process, and making sure encryption and data-security standards are followed. FIGURE 2.12: GPS Devices for Fleets Showing Real-Time Tracking for Before taking on a project of this type, the Each Vehicle. electric co-op will need to consider the person- nel, management, and political challenges in- volved with getting the field team to adopt and opportunities, or concerns that may be occurring embrace these new GPS tracking mobile work- within the existing organization. force tools. The following questions will need to be considered: 1. Can we reduce fuel costs by improving our service order routes? 1. What is the best way to introduce GPS to 2. Are our service order routes inefficient? the co-op field teams? 3. Do the field teams waste too much time 2. Who will be managing the GPS data and reading paper maps, plotting directions, etc? coaching the mobile workforce on their use? 26 – Section 2 2

3. How will this information be used to improve more work for end-users and support teams safety and efficiency? alike, it is probably not worth the effort to 4. Who will write and approve the rules associ- implement, and the project may eventually fail. ated with the GPS data and how they relate to The implementation of a mobile workforce ap- the current driver and employee policy? plication or tool may prove to be a frustrating experience at times, with the discovery of tech- The important thing to remember when nical problems or complex issues. However, if implementing a mobile GPS tracking system is the project team remains focused on the end getting early participation and adoption by the goal, as well as the key advantages of this co-op field workers. If the mobile workforce solution, it will be a successful deployment. application is hard to use, unreliable, or creates

Combining One of the co-op case study lessons learned band network use the static IP network proto- these Mobile during the early implementation stages of trying col, but this would require the electric co-op to Technologies into to extend the in-house workflow management pay an additional monthly fee to the data ser- an Integrated system to the mobile utility teams involved the vice provider. The other alternative was to have Solution assignment of IP addresses. The initial private the mobile workforce application modified to radio two-way solution used a static IP address handle IP switching on the public broadband configuration. However, moving to a public net- data network. In this case study, the co-op work required the application to deal with IP cross-functional project team worked with the switching, which is standard for a public data vendor to develop a software solution to main- network. IP switching by the public data net- tain connection during IP switching, and the work resulted in the regular loss of the mobile project moved forward. broadband connection and the associated real- Once this connection solution was developed, time entry of data updates by the field workforce. if the vehicle went out of the broadband data This proved to be a multivendor interface issue network coverage area, it would essentially re- between the public wireless network and the connect automatically once the mobile utility mobile application software vendor that had to team drove back into an area with good wireless be resolved before the mobile workforce could signal strength. This allowed the co-op utility effectively access this wireless network. team to make service order and outage manage- In order to access this mobile broadband net- ment updates and not have to worry about los- work, the very first thing that needed to be done ing the connection back to the hosting server. A was to make sure that the point-to-point protocol private mobile data network can maintain a sta- (PPP) application was installed on the field lap- tic IP connection at all times since the operators top computers. PPP is the means through which of this network can control the IP assignments the vast majority of Internet service providers required for its mobile workforce applications. (ISPs) make it possible for their clients to estab- However, a public wireless broadband data net- lish a connection. Broadband data security was work will randomly assign a new IP address for also a problem using a static IP address. Once every new data application session. the PPP connection was lost and would drop, Another lesson learned during implementa- the laptop computer required reconnection and tion of a real-time mobile workforce solution authentication before message transfer could involved the computer selecting the appropriate take place. The public broadband data network wireless data network connection. The initial would assign a new IP address upon reconnec- rollout of this mobile workforce management tion (IP switching) and the mobile workforce ap- (MWM) application, using a public wireless plication client was unable to reinitiate broadband data network, involved training the communications using this different IP address. co-op field crews to turn on the Wi-Fi network One solution was to have the public broad- access when returning to the service facility and Mobile Technology Solutions Available in the Marketplace Today – 27 2

Initially, the standard Type II interface card (1) Campus Wireless (802.11) (also called an AirCard) was selected to access the public wireless broadband data network (2) Public Wireless Broadband Data (AirCard) using an available network vendor’s middleware mobile communications application software. Dialer + SSL Connection + Mobile Application The initial middleware solution was selected because this particular network vendor followed (1) a military-grade encryption standard for access (2) Campus to the electric co-op’s corporate network. AirCard ~~WI-FI .WAP (Data Only Card) Wireless However, this type of authentication was difficult to maintain in poor coverage areas. And once the vehicle moved out of and back Mobile into wireless coverage, the co-op field teams SSL Mobile Workforce Connection Connection Application had difficulty trying to reestablish the connection Manager ++ back to the public broadband network. The co-op cross-functional project team worked with FIGURE 2.13: Field Workers Can Use Either of Two Different Wireless the mobile workforce application vendor on an- Data Networks to Connect, Real-Time, to the Internal Operations other middleware solution that utilizes a secure Center Using a Mobile Workforce Application. sockets layer (SSL) connection to manage the wireless connection—via the AirCard—back to turning off network access when leaving the the broadband data network. facility. This allowed updates and data to be This new mobile middleware communications retrieved from these mobile laptop computers software uses a standard Windows login screen automatically during the hours the vehicle was for authentication, and it automatically switches not in use. from the public wireless broadband network to The problem encountered involved the field the Wi-Fi network once the vehicle enters the SCADA systemscrews forgettingprovide to turn off the public broad- service yard. This middleware solution maintains real-time controlband data and network connection and start the con- a “persistent connection” throughout the entire monitoringnection of electric to the Wi-Fi network once they entered MWM session and independently manages all of distributionthe systems. serviceAc- facility. A laptop computer doesn’t the encryption and authentication requirements, cording tohave IEEE the Standard ability to select the most appropriate unbeknownst to the mobile user. Other advan- 1402-2000,networkGuide for based on its coverage availability, net- tages of this type of solution include a significant Electric Powerwork Substation capacity, and throughput, and would often reduction in training because the wireless data Physical andrequire Electronic direct user intervention. The laptop is connection is now being managed for the co-op Security, “theunable introduc- to handle simultaneous network connec- field users. This device will make the actual tion of computertions using systems both Wi-Fi and the public broadband connection transparent to the mobile workforce with onlinedata, access and to the ideal situation would be to priori- application. substationtize information the Wi-Fi is connection, if it is accessible, significantbecause in that substa- of its superior capacity and speed. tion relay protection,The typical co-op field workforce training Secure Sockets Layer control, andsession data forcollec- this new mobile application lasted tion systemsapproximately may be ex- three to four hours, and 80 per- SSL is a protocol used to encrypt and posed to thecent same of the vul- technical material involved managing transmit private documents over the the wireless network connections. These wire- Internet. Many Web sites use SSL to less data networks give the co-op field workers protect customer credit card numbers. two ways to connect real-time to the internal operations center using the selected MWM application; see Figure 2.13. 28 – Section 2 2

The leadership and management teams will Some electric co-ops are choosing to use a also need to select a project team that will be combination of the above wireless communica- able to effectively implement and integrate a tion systems to deliver real-time or near-real- mobile application solution that will be success- time data to their mobile workforces. A number fully adopted and used by the co-op field work- of MWM applications now allow for “discon- force. To accomplish this goal, this project team nected work” and updates to take place even will need to perform the following functions: when wireless systems are unavailable in a given work area, such as when there is poor wireless 1. Selection: develop a requirements coverage. “Disconnected work” is essentially definition, write a vendor proposal, being able to work and enter data into the perform product and vendor selection. mobile application with intermittent network 2. Installation: complete vehicle and in-house connectivity. This store-and-forward approach network installation, software configuration, automatically transmits the updated records testing and training. of completed service orders to the internal 3. Policies: develop workflow guidelines, customer information system (CIS) for further establish driver policy and supervision workflow processing when the wireless network procedures. connection is once again established. 4. Support: develop maintenance and Numerous mobile laptop and smartphone training plans, discern lessons learned mobile workforce applications are available that and best practices. will support service-order tracking, job ticket processing, GPS navigation, and asset tracking. These will be discussed in Section 3. Mobile Systems for Nearly Every Budget – 29

Mobile Systems for 3 Nearly Every Budget

In This Section: Performing Mobile Technology Planning Justifying the Cost Implementation Considerations Selecting Tasks for Automation Mapping Existing Workflow

Cellular and personal communications service plans to improve the productivity, safety, and (PCS) wireless coverage throughout the United communications of their field workforces. States has increased dramatically over the past The introduction of wireless telecommunica- 10 years and has even created an entirely new tions—mobile technology—into an existing busi- industry by competing against the traditional ness can seem like a monumental task to a public service telephone companies. The service organization with little or no technical Telecommunications Reform Act of 1996 allows expertise. The electric cooperative community is for up to seven public wireless carriers or cell- no different from any other service provider when phone companies to compete against each other it comes to the need to support field workers by across the country. This wireless competition providing them with the latest mobile technol- has led to a huge drop in the cost of mobile ogy tools to help them manage workloads more wireless devices and subscriber service as well efficiently. Improving the safety of field utility as a dramatic improvement in cellular coverage workers—while increasing outage responsive- and system capacity. The major wireless compa- ness and productivity with regards to power nies (Sprint-Nextel, AT&T Wireless, Verizon, etc.) restoration, planned upgrades, grid maintenance, are expanding coverage into rural areas by either and services—are all respectable goals of any building out their existing networks or buying electric co-op leadership team. An effective smaller cellular carriers operating in these mar- mobile workforce management (MWM) plan kets. A number of co-ops—including Delaware will need to provide the co-op field workforce Electric, Cobb Electric Membership Corporation, with wireless technology and applications that and Coastal Electric—have reported that they will complement existing workflow, outage receive very good broadband data coverage restoration, and supply-chain processes. This throughout their service territories, even to the plan will need to consider the reliability of point that it is more reliable than cellular voice the wireless network, along with service-area communications in certain areas. The timing coverage, user capacity, and performance could not be better for electric co-ops to de- during storms and man-made disasters. velop and implement mobile data technology 30 – Section 3 3

Performing MWM is just one component of field-force au- data capability to the mobile workforce, which Mobile tomation. (For a more in-depth explanation of essentially moves the electric co-op’s office Technology these associated mobile applications, please see functions into the field. This should give the Planning Mobile Workforce Management, CRN Project co-op’s mobile workforce the ability to manage 04-14.) Some of the more common issues associ- their schedules, write and receive e-mail mes- ated with the introduction of mobile technology sages, download real-time updates of service tools into an existing organization include the orders (SOs), and effectively respond to outage lack of annual planning, the failure to establish situations. Depending on the bandwidth of the achievable short-term and long-term goals, an MWM application, these field workers can per- ineffective system implementation, poor user form a Web search for the current weather fore- acceptance, and limited or nonexistent budget cast, obtain mapping and directions, look up a allocation. telephone number from an on-line directory, The mobile technology plan for an electric and get local news and information. co-op needs to be based on the number of cus- tomers served, size of the service area, number DEVELOPING A FIVE-YEAR PLAN of field workers, information or feature require- Taking this planning one step further, coopera- ments of the mobile workforce system, and the tives should consider developing a five-year mo- amount of funding allocated for this purpose. bile technology plan and reviewing it annually. Larger investor-owned utilities (IOUs) and pub- This long-term planning will allow additional licly owned utilities, or municipals, can hire a time to consider and evaluate the following: large software company to install and integrate a complex MWM system that provides voice, 1. The latest wireless tools and mobile applica- video, and data communications to the mobile tions that were recently implemented; workforce, likely costing millions of dollars. 2. Selecting or deploying a wireless data net- However, there are currently better cost-effective work to support new MWM applications; mobile technology solutions that are available as 3. The need for collaboration with field workers common-off-the-shelf (COTS) packages that can on the ease-of-use of the new MWM solutions; be effectively used to enhance the productivity, 4. The amount of training needed and the safety, and communications of a co-op’s field required MWM user enhancements; workforce. If mobile technology planning is reg- 5. New MWM hardware, software, and applica- ularly performed, these MWM solutions can be tion solutions that become available; and implemented and integrated with existing sys- 6. A MWM integration plan that will build on tems extremely effectively. This will prevent ex- previous technology deployments. isting wireless and information technology (IT) infrastructure from becoming obsolete by adding Mobile workforce applications and tools need new features and capabilities, while avoiding the to be built around the electric co-op’s best prac- total expense of implementing a separate stand- tices to help keep costs down, provide effective alone MWM solution. solutions, and protect the personnel and capital Most co-op field teams already have an assets of the company. A mobile technology effective voice communication solution in place five-year plan needs to consider a wide variety through the use of a private two-way radio of technical solutions and wireless devices that dispatch system, enhanced specialized mobile will enhance and integrate with existing IT sys- radio (ESMR) 2-way “push-to-talk” service agree- tems and mobile applications already in use. ments, or a cellular or satellite phone service Figure 3.1 depicts the typical network elements plan. In fact, all cooperatives who receive or usually found in an electric co-op that are re- have received loans backed by the Rural Utilities quired to support an internal customer informa- Service (RUS) are required to have a voice com- tion system (CIS) and business operation. The munications system in place for employee safety elements indicated by the red color are the in- and effective outage response. Now is an excel- ternal CIS networks and business application lent time to take the next step and add wireless systems in which a typical electric co-op would Mobile Systems for Nearly Every Budget – 31 3

Clearing Utilities Customer Customer House G&T Sub- Customer in State Call Premises Locate Bank station Internet Request Made Usage Data Sent to G&T Customer Miss Utility Corp. Office Call Center Website Notifies PLC-AMR + Info E-mail Co-op’s SCADA Utilities Affected Load Control Website System Member Services General System Externally Once Completed, Info E-mail Hosted Digtrack Notifies Future Interface Pre-Populate Get Credit Card OMS with SCADA Alarms Requesting Utility Co-op Meter Test Results Meter Authorization Meter Test Boards Nofified History Digtrack System using Software Access Website Owned on IVR Database Authorized.Net by Co-op IVR2 Obtain Credit Card Automated Hosted by Digtrack Backup for Customer’s DB2 Processing Meter Reads IVR1 + Account Balance Database (PLC-AMR) Dev/Test (if IVR1 down) Credit Card Import Payment File Meter Capability PC Used to Access IVR1 Provide FTP Customer Info Read Access Digtrack System Customer’s (Daily Batch) PC Account Info DB to CIS FTP Customer(Daily Batch) Info + Accept E-mail Generated to Obtain Customer’s Co-op for Each Credit Card Download Today’s Meter DB2 Account Balance Info FTP Server Payment Received DB Payments Used to Transfer Readings from Handhelds Upload Customer Info to Tomorrow’s Meter Readings Info Get Credit Payments Via VAX Link Utility Batch Daily Access Other Systems CSR1 CSR1 Desktop PC Database

Build Customer Manually Enter Bill Print Credit Card Payments Data File From Payment Into CIS “Built In” CD Burner for Laser Posted (batch) into CIS CIS Database Capturing Check Images 1 Copy Mailed Printers 1 Copy to Walk in Payments to Customer 1 Copy to Cashiering Post Immediately Accounting for Via CIS Accounting, Manual Data Entry Remittance Service Orders with Work Order #s Transferred to Engineering Prints Most Bill Folder, Stuffer, Work Orders, Inserter + Processor Once a day, Send check payments MultiSpeak Electronic Staking CIS + RUS Field Engineering Materials sent back Estmates (3 copies) Postage Machine by batch to be posted on CIS Rpting Interface Manually Send File of Enter into Server Deliquent Customers Accounting Materials, Units + Stock#s Mail Bill to Send CIS Foxpro Manually Customer Info Needed Electronic DB on 2 Laptops Docking Mapping Gen Bill by GIS 3 Copies Staking Network Stations in Crew Access Cust Name, Service Address, A/N, Server Server Relief Area for Database Refreshed etc. Would Like to be Able to Send Misc

Deliquent Daily A/R

Customers Copy Saved Updates Back to CIS System Results Refreshing Copies GIS + of GIS Database Multiple OMS Depts. Mapping Systems Updates to GIS Planned to be Automated in Future “Phone Collector Outage Management System Data Cis Does Not Access System” Carry Accurate Database Mapping File Transferred Daily (Reminders Only) On Demand Full Info Concerning Download + Allocates Meter#, Conversion to Inventory in Transformers + Required Format GIS/Mappers Update Work Order Substations Master Mapping Laser

Engineering Design Database Laptops and Staked Jobs Work Orders Transferred to Printer Docking Station in Engineering + Connectivity Returned to Staking Server via to Collector Modeling Tool Staker’s Send Call Results Out Thru PBX OMS Runs Completes Jobs

Phone Collector Dials Tablet PC or Laptop Calls on Each PC Staking Dials Customer + Deliquent in Dispatch Sheets for PBX Corporate Access DB Tracks Results Customers Network Construction for Outage Dept. Printout of File Server Mgmt Laser Printer Completed System for Completed Legend: red=CIS blue=GIS Work Orders Work Orders

FIGURE 3.1: Application Systems Interface Diagram. 32 – Section 3 3

have invested a significant amount of capital and to the workers in the field. The effective use of internal resources to effectively automate the in- MWM should allow an electric co-op to essen- ternal workflow processes and business functions tially extend its corporate office capabilities and of the company. The mobile workforce applica- functions into its service area. Many electric co- tions indicated by the blue color would be used ops have effective voice communications or two- by field personnel to manage external business way radio dispatch systems that are utilized to functions and automate field work. manage mobile work crews through the use of Many electric co-ops are beginning to recog- an internal SO-request process. Equipping service nize the benefits of extending internal CIS appli- vehicles and mobile field workers with the cations and business systems to the field work- proper wireless data tools can provide real-time force through the use of mobile data communi- or near-real-time communications with the corpo- cation technologies. The co-op also needs to rate office staff and networks. Field work priori- consider whether to offer its field workers un- ties and schedules can be changed very quickly, limited access to the Internet or limit the use to customer information can be updated in a real- Intranet access only for internal IP-based soft- time fashion, and solutions for field problems or ware systems. Extending the internal CIS net- issues can be developed more effectively with a work and associated business applications into mobile data solution. the field will allow electric co-ops to essentially SOs are typically requested by electric co-op equip their mobile workforces with the real-time customers to initiate new service, modify exist- tools needed to streamline processes, reduce ing service, or disconnect electric power service. costs, and improve customer satisfaction and SOs can be broken down by specific tasks and response time. Moving CIS network access and assigned to the appropriate mobile field team. real-time data capabilities for outage tickets and Specifically, these SOs are prioritized, assigned SOs out into the co-op service area will essen- resources (personnel, vehicles, required parts, tially create a mobile office for the field work- etc.), and delegated to the field teams based on force. job function, skill set, and area of expertise. This five-year technology planning, budget- Each SO task can be defined by three compo- ing, and phased-in execution should allow an nents—the resources required, time or duration electric co-op to put the latest mobile technol- for completion, and scope of work. The required ogy solutions into the hands of its mobile work- resources to complete a specific task will also force. This will effectively position the co-op’s include defining the human resources, and the business operations team to perform required location or availability may be critical to the updates to its mobile workforce systems to ac- completion of a specific SO assignment. Also, commodate new or enhanced features and capa- each SO task will usually be included in some bilities as soon as they become commercially sort of defined workflow process. In MWM available. The effective integration and deploy- applications, these tasks are assigned to the ment of MWM applications and technical solu- appropriate field team through the use of a tions will allow the electric co-op to continue software-driven work queue and subsequently to meet the needs and requirements of its field downloaded to a wireless device in the field. workforce and improve service to its member Once the task is completed, the results are customers. entered into the wireless device by the field team and updated real-time in the CIS. If this MOBILE WORKFORCE CAPABILITIES assigned task is not completed because of lack MWM refers to the technology systems that dis- of resources (parts and equipment), changes patch work wirelessly in real-time and that en- in priority, reassignment to another field team, able field personnel to effectively schedule and weather-related conditions, or customer avail- perform the actions required to complete an as- ability problems, it will be kept in the work signment. MWM is, more specifically, the soft- queue for future processing. Figure 3.2 depicts ware application that will automate the delivery a typical mobile workforce application work of SOs through a wireless communications link queue showing the SO status and task summary. Mobile Systems for Nearly Every Budget – 33 3

FIGURE 3.2: Screen Shot of a Mobile Workforce Application Work Queue.

Implementation When developing and implementing a mobile force application is identified, the bandwidth re- Considerations workforce solution, a number of major items quirements can be determined and the co-op need to be considered. These key considerations can select the required communication network include the operating system and application or a combination of wireless networks. The wire- software requirements; the type, number, band- less communication network bandwidth needed width, and availability of wireless communica- for the completion of real-time field updates tion links; and the personal computer or hand- can be tested for reliability and performance. held device hardware and configuration. In The use of near-real-time updates can also be order to determine the required wireless com- deployed; this would allow for updates to take munication link for the proposed MWM solu- place at the end of the day or overnight by tion, technical specifications need to be devel- plugging into an in-house network docking oped based on the vendor software application station if the required wireless communication and its operating system requirements. It is sug- network bandwidth is not sufficient for the gested that the co-op should not limit its mobile effective operation of the selected mobile work- workforce application selection to the currently force application. available wireless network bandwidth. The soft- ware application should be selected base on the SELECTING A SOFTWARE APPLICATION needs of the co-op field users, ease of interface The MWM software vendor will need to specify to existing in-house databases, and the co-op the required application bandwidth and the business requirements. Once the mobile work- maximum file size that can be transferred, as well 34 – Section 3 3

as the average file transfer speed. The vendor • Licensed private two-way radio (frequency also should outline the communication protocols bands: 800 MHz, 900 MHz,150 MHz, 220 MHz, that are supported by its software application, 450 MHz); such as the transmission control protocol (TCP) • Cellular or PCS, ESMR; or user-universal datagram protocol (UDP). Both • Satellite service provider; and are part of the Internet protocol (IP) communi- • Wireless hotspots or 802.11 wireless Internet cation suite for networking computers, and so service (Wi-Fi). are often written “TCP/IP” and “UDP/IP.” Of the two, UDP/IP is faster, but it is also more Some electric co-ops are choosing to use a prone to drop units of information (known as combination of the above wireless communica- “packets”). For this reason UDP/IP is used when tion systems to deliver real-time or near-real-time speed is paramount while TCP/IP is used when data to their mobile workforces. The maximum accuracy is more important. allowable file size may also degrade the perfor- mance of the selected wireless communication SELECTING A WIRELESS DATA network during normal operating hours. Some COMMUNICATION SYSTEM MWM applications allow for the most up-to-date The requirements of the MWM software applica- copy of the CIS database file to be loaded into tion will need to be determined and analyzed the MWM client each morning, and this may be along with the primary wireless data communi- a large file transfer requiring sufficient band- cation link for compatibility between operating width from the wireless communication net- specifications. Numerous wireless data commu- work. It is recommended that this CIS transfer nication systems are available and will need to take place with an in-house network docking be evaluated and selected based on the follow- station or Wi-Fi network in the service yard be- ing set of criteria: fore the field team starts a new work shift. The task files for a particular SO are fairly small in • Capacity (data throughput and maximum size and are typically transferred throughout the file size) day from the service vehicle on the wireless data • Message delay (data latency) network selected for field use. A number of the • Radio frequency (RF) coverage MWM applications now allow for disconnected • Feature capability work and updates to take place when wireless • Reliability (availability during storms) systems are unavailable in a given work area, • System maintainability (ease of system such as when there is poor wireless coverage. updates and migration) Disconnected work is essentiallySCADA being systems able provide to • Security and data archiving log/record work and enterreal-time updates into control the and • Costs (internal resources, time to implement, mobile application with intermittentmonitoring data of electricnet- solution requirements) work connectivity. This store-and-forwarddistribution systems. ap- Ac- proach automatically transmitscording the updated to IEEE Standard These communication link characteristics will records of completed SOs to1402-2000, the internalGuide CIS for need to be rated, prioritized, and agreed to by for further workflow processingElectric when Power the Substation the technical support and project implementa- wireless data network connectionPhysical is and once Electronic tion teams. This project team will need to con- again established. Security, “the introduc- sist of cross-functional members and include tion of computer systems representatives from the existing IT group, spe- SELECTING MOBILE HARDWAREwith online access to cific field workers and supervisors within this The number and type of MWMsubstation software information applica- is work function or task, workflow dispatchers, tions, along with the field workers’significant skill in thatsets, substa- will resource managers, business planners, finance dictate which mobile devicetion hardware relay protection, is eventu- representatives, and the MWM vendor applica- ally selected. Field workers withcontrol, task and requirements data collec- tion and technical consultants. Wireless data that regularly take them outsidetion systems the service may vehi- be ex- communi-cation system choices include: cle will need to have portableposed or handheldto the same data vul- Mobile Systems for Nearly Every Budget – 35 3

devices. The current wireless device market has hundreds of models available that can support Modifying your old way of doing business different functions and multiple MWM applica- and the associated workflow to match that tions. These wireless data devices have various of a chosen MWM application, rather than prices based on features and capabilities. Mobile asking a vendor to customize its software or devices can be purchased with and without a solution to match your co-op’s existing in- wireless data plan from any major service provider, house processes will save considerable time, wireless manufacturer, electronics store, depart- money, and the use of internal resources. ment store chain, or discount retailer. Based on the capabilities of these wireless devices, they can be categorized as a wireless PDA or smart- phone, a tablet or handheld computer, and, fi- ments, capabilities, wireless communication net- nally, a laptop or personal computer. work availability, and overall budget will need The MWM vendor application requirements will to be determined prior to soliciting bids and get- help determine device specifications, such as: ting quotes from existing or potential software vendors. MWM projects and solutions can fail to • Monitor resolution, be effectively integrated because a business de- • Processor speed, cided not to review and change its existing in- • Operating system and software applications, house work-flow processes and required the • Operating memory size (DRAM), vendor to customize the MWM software and ap- • Hard-drive space, plications. This vendor customization of mobile • CD or DVD read or write capability, and workforce solution(s) and software can become • Wireless interface and communication port too costly and may also take extensive time and compatibility. internal co-op resources to develop and inte- grate. Review vendor product and MWM imple- Laptop PCs can be purchased to support al- mentation references to see if a particular most any MWM wireless application, even for software application will meet the operating and ruggedized or environmentally extreme conditions, support requirements of the co-op field users. It with various operating systems and software ca- is recommended that the existing internal service pabilities. Keep in mind when purchasing these request process be changed or modified to wireless-capable products that a typical laptop match the selected MWM vendor application PC or electronic PDA device may follow Moore’s software. This will allow for the most effective Law; processing power capability may double MWM implementation and keep the overall costs approximately every eighteen months. The cost, and resource requirements to a minimum. capability, features, and device longevity all play a critical role when implementing a MWM appli- SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS cation solution; thus, performing an effective The security of the MWM wireless application, its needs assessment should be the critical driving associated communication network, and data is a factor. critical requirement and is paramount to the suc- cess of the project and its effective implementa- CHOOSING STANDARD PACKAGES tion. A multifaceted approach to security will An increasing number of the software vendors need to be included in the implementation of the that serve the outage management system (OMS), MWM application and system. Proper security graphical information system (GIS), CIS, and in- will need to include access to the client applica- ternal IT requirements of the co-op industry have tion, the network transmission of customer data- developed wireless add-on packages and field- base parameters, and the data device memory extendable MWM applications. These are designed and hard drive on which this information resides. to leverage existing investments in business ap- The implementation of field worker user-identi- plication systems and wired IT infrastructure. fication numbers and multi-character passwords The mobile workforce application require- will help prevent unauthorized access to the mo- 36 – Section 3 3

bile data device. The use of “Key-Fob” password the wireless network connection has been estab- generators has also become popular for remote lished by the field users. Finally, time-delayed de- access to internal data, business systems, and struction of the PC-resident database or wireless networks. This security approach utilizes what network disablement should also be considered field workers already know, their personal iden- as part of the security plan in the case when a tification number (PIN), with what they have, a portable mobile data device is lost or stolen. “Key-Fob” random security code. These two One of the lessons learned during the case numbers or components used together will give studies of mobile workforce applications involved a user access to the corporate network, while security measures and considerations. One of having only one component will not allow access. the case study participants initially deployed a Encryption of the MWM customer and re- military-grade encryption solution for the imple- source database is also required, and password mentation of its first mobile data application, protecting the client application will reduce and since it was transporting CIS data wirelessly into discourage unauthorized access. Encryption of the field. This particular co-op decided to imple- the wireless communication network on which ment a more user-friendly middleware encryp- this customer-sensitive information is transmitted tion application after the users had difficulty should also be evaluated as part of the MWM with authenticationSCADA (starting systems a new provide session) when security plan. A number of MWM applications the vehicle wouldreal-time enter and control exit and data network allow for a laptop database refresh to take place coverage or movemonitoring into another of electric wireless network every morning before the field team leaves the coverage area, suchdistribution as the Wi-Fi systems. operating Ac- in a service yard. The database contains the most up- substation or servicecording yard. to IEEE The lesson Standard learned to-date information and is updated throughout from this case study1402-2000, is thatGuide encryption for and au- the day in real-time as tasks are completed and thentication measuresElectric need Power to Substation be somewhat closed. These mobile workforce records are easy to activatePhysical by the field and users. Electronic Mobile work- stored in several locations on the laptop for force applicationsSecurity are supposed, “the introduc- to be useful backup purposes as well as being written to the tools that increasetion productivity, of computer not systems create extra corporate office CIS database in real-time, once work and aggravatewith onlinethe field access users. to substation information is significant in that substa- Mapping The electric co-op MWM project implementation tion. Some possibletion relay tasks protection, that could be targeted the Existing team will need to document the existing work- for an MWM solutioncontrol, include: and data collec- flow processes for each specific job function or tion systems may be ex- Workflow 1. Normal, requested electric meter disconnects; field task. This may seem like an arduous pro- posed to the same vul- 2. Disconnects for nonpayment; cess, but it can actually be quite interesting and 3. Reconnects; informative. The members of this project team 4. New electric meter connects; will need to include internal representatives and 5. Regular and off-cycle electric meter readings; stakeholders who support the field workers who 6. Location-based information for maintenance will be affected by the implementation of this and outage management; MWM solution. The book Re-Engineering the 7. Installation, removal, or replacement of meters; Corporation suggests personally accompanying a 8. Installation, removal, or replacement of paper SO request to effectively follow/map the transformers, load management equipment, required tasks to determine the resources and and poles; and average time for scheduling and completion. 9. Emergency restoration dispatches. The required tasks will need to be compiled into work-flow maps, which include the re- The resources required to complete a business sources required and notation of which job task or function will also need to be determined functions include the knowledge and responsi- by the cross-functional MWM project implemen- bility to complete these tasks. There are a num- tation team. In order to complete the business ber of electric co-op work functions and tasks tasks mentioned above, human resources—field that could be properly mapped and implement- and office workers, along with supervisors and ed using the appropriate wireless MWM applica- managers—will need to be assigned to functional Mobile Systems for Nearly Every Budget – 37 3

workgroups. After these workgroups have been real-time or near-real-time posting of customer set up for each type of task, the MWM applica- payments, meter readings, completion of meter tion can now “assign” one of these functionally exchanges, and disconnects. It will also allow defined workgroups, along with the required field workers to create, modify, and reassign equipment, to a specified customer service re- tasks based on current information and events. quest, such as an electric meter disconnect for These real-time SO changes could be the result SCADA systems provide nonpayment or performing a meter exchange. of customer and parts availability issues, job-site real-time control and Once the electric co-op project team has access problems, and changing weather condi- monitoring of electric effectively implemented the MWM wireless tions. Field workgroups can also perform such distribution systems. Ac- solution, the appropriate field users (crew) will tasks as transformer loading calculations to cording to IEEE Standard be assigned a particular SO based on their skill confirm sufficient electric power capacity for 1402-2000, Guide for sets, training certifications, equipment, and new electric meter connects. Field workers can Electric Power Substation inventory available in their service vehicle. These attach photographs, drawings, and notes to the Physical and Electronic selected field users will essentially have a real- assigned SO for future reference. Security, “the introduc- time copy of the customer SO residing on It will become readily apparent to the electric tion of computer systems their mobile computers which can be edited, co-op user groups and business managers that with online access to forwarded, delayed, or deleted based on the once the initial MWM application and functionality substation information is requirements and circumstances of the task. has been implemented, it can now be expanded significant in that substa- This MWM application should have the same to accommodate other work groups and func- tion relay protection, look (graphical user interface, or GUI) and feel tions as well. Figure 3.3 depicts a typical mobile control, and data collec- (form fields and soft-keys) as the in-house appli- workforce software application scheduler, which tion systems may be ex- cations and allow for additional field capabilities. allows the field worker to add, delete, and mod- posed to the same vul- Having CIS database access in the field will allow ify SO tasks to a daily calendar simply by using for, depending on wireless network availability, the drag-and-drop function and mouse.

JOHN DOE

JOHN DOE

FIGURE 3.3: Screen Shot of a Typical MWM Field Scheduler. 38 – Section 3 3

Justifying The cost justification required for the purchase 4. Supervisor sorts and schedules SO (10 min.). the Cost and implementation of an MWM system may also 5. Field personnel pick-up SO at the beginning need to be developed by the cross-functional of shift (10 min.). project team. Co-op management may want to 6. Field personnel work the task (varies by scrutinize the MWM application and its associated drive time and complexity of task). implementation costs, return on investment 7. Detailed information is written on the SO (ROI), the benefits of automation, and the elimi- (10 min.). nation of unnecessary tasks along with the cor- 8. Written SO report delivered back to workflow responding reduction in resource requirements. supervisor at the end of the shift (5 min.). The project team may also have to provide evi- 9. Workflow supervisor fills out cost portion dence for improvements in customer or member and delivers completed SO to the data entry satisfaction, outage response time, along with the team (15 min.) safety and efficiency of the mobile workforce; 10. Data entry updates the CIS computer and these intangible benefits are typically harder to completes the SO (5 min.). measure. It is recommended that the MWM pro- 11. The SO paper copy is stored and archived ject team take a phased approach during project for tax purposes (5 min.). implementation. This means initially planning for If we use this same methodology for a small “wins” to better gain momentum to accom- standard electric meter exchange using the plish more complicated tasks, building onto the new MWM application process, the following initial MWM investment and including the mo- process steps would now take place: bile workgroups in the project in order to better gain co-op acceptance. 1. Customer service team enters the SO into One method of providing cost-saving justifica- the CIS computer (10 min.). tions to senior managers and finance representa- 2. Workflow field supervisor is notified tives is to use cost-savings extrapolations. When electronically through group notification the MWM project team is going through the (part of step 1). process of determining tasks, workflows, and 3. Supervisor electronically sorts, schedules, resources (such as workgroups and equipment), and assigns SO to field personnel (10 min.) the average amount of time and associated costs 4. Field personnel work the task (same amount for completing these existing methods and tasks of time required as existing process). should also be determined. This co-op project 5. Field personnel electronically enters and team will need to determine the amount of time posts detailed information for SO (5 min.) and associated costs for the new MWM process SCADA systems provide The above cost savings example does arguably and compare the procedural steps and cost dif- real-time control and simplify a standard meter exchange task and there ferences with the existing manual method. Once monitoring of electric are probably a number of other subtasks, along this cost difference for a particular work task has distribution systems. Ac- with additional human resource and equipment been determined, calculate the number of occur- cording to IEEE Standard planning coordination that will need to take rences of this task during a weekly, monthly, or 1402-2000, Guide for place to effectively complete this work assignment. annual period and extrapolate the MWM applica- Electric Power Substation However, the required process steps and amount tion cost savings. An example of this cost-savings Physical and Electronic of time required are consistent between the exist- extrapolation method for a standard electric me- Security, “the introduc- ing SO manual method and the new MWM appli- ter exchange using the existing manual methods tion of computer systems cation process. This task summary demonstrates and procedures would consist of the following: with online access to that the process to complete a standard electric substation information is 1. Customer service team enters the SO into meter exchange with the new method has been significant in that substa- the CIS computer (10 min.). reduced from eleven steps to only five, but the tion relay protection, 2. Customer service generates multiple print- amount of overhead time and associated cost to control, and data collec- outs of the SO (5 min.). complete this task has been reduced by approxi- tion systems may be ex- 3. SO delivered to workflow field supervisor mately 70 percent! The above cost-comparison posed to the same vul- (5 min.). example only included a single SO; using a larg- Mobile Systems for Nearly Every Budget – 39 3

er quantity of similar tasks would yield more effi- electricity disconnect and make a payment? Anoth- cient results using both methods for a meter ex- er benefit of this MWM system is that it has the change, but the overall reduction in overhead ability to automatically cancel the SO and re- cost, time, and resources using the new MWM move the task from the field work team software application solution would be an order of magni- queue. Also, if the same customer-member were tude higher than that of a single SO. to meet the field team on-site and make a pay- SCADAThe sidebar systems titled provide “Typical Cost Savings ment to stop the disconnection process, the field Projection”real-time control demonstrates and what such a projection team could automatically post this payment noti- wouldmonitoring be for of an electric electric co-op with approxi- fication to the corresponding customer account. matelydistribution 14,000 systems. meters, Ac- 20 service vehicles, and Of course, customers realize that if they don’t acording small in-house to IEEE Standard IT support staff assisting the make properly scheduled payments, the cooper- vendor1402-2000, withGuide the implementation for of a mobile ative has every right to discontinue service. workforceElectric Power application. Substation However, until they witness or are notified that PhysicalThis same and method Electronic of cost-savings extrapolations this disconnection will take place, they may still canSecurity be used, “the for introduc- the task of disconnecting a cus- decide at the last possible moment to make a tomertion of member computer for systems nonpayment and will yield payment in order to stop this process, and this with online access to just as dramatic work efficiencies and cost reduc- MWM solution will accommodate this scenario substation information is tions using a MWM solution. A number of the on a real-time basis. If the disconnection task significant in that substa- procedural steps required for a standard electric does end up being completed by the field work tion relay protection, meter exchange would be similar to a disconnect team, it can enter and post a DNP alert on the control, and data collec- for nonpayment (DNP), but the field work re- customer’s account, and the MWM system will tion systems may be ex- quired would be significantly different for this automatically notify the CIS system that this ac- posed to the same vul- DNP task. What if a customer-member were to count has been disconnected and, subsequently, call or walk in before the execution of the planned complete the DNP process.

Typical Cost Savings Projection

• Cost—one-time I Total monthly cost for 20 mobile laptop PCs is

I Standard nonruggedized laptop computer with approximately $1,500 Microsoft OS @ ~$1,000 per service vehicle, multiplied • Time—6 months for MWM application field implementa- by 20 service vehicles = $20,000* tion (future implementations of additional MWM

I Floor-stand lockable laptop computer mounts applications should be much shorter with less internal @ ~$150 per vehicle = $3,000* project team labor and minimal one-time costs for only

I Mobile workforce application, including laptop the MWM client application) clients = $8,500* • Annual cost savings projections—meter exchanges only

I Wireless Aircard for public or private data I Average time saved for existing method versus MWM system = included with laptop PCs* application = ~55 min.

I Trimble GPS unit with antenna and cables I Average wage of $30/hour plus overhead for field @ ~$350 per vehicle = $7,000* workers; if the electric co-op performed 10 meter ex-

I Internal project labor—1,040 hours, research, changes per day = $275 cost savings per day with MWM

training, and development of required MWM applica- I Co-op performs 2,500 meter exchanges per tion multiplied by an average of $75/hour = $78,000 year = $68,750 cost savings

I Projected one-time cost is approximately $116,500 • Projected monthly cost expenses * These items could be deployed during a previous GIS

I Public or private wireless unlimited data package mobile mapping project implementation. The initial @ $50 per vehicle = $1,000 one-time cost of this MWM application can be reduced

I MWM application monthly software warranty and by approximately 40 percent if laptops were already support costs = $500 deployed to all of these service vehicles. 40 – Section 3 3

The cost savings thus recognized is a good placed SO card, unreadable SO instructions example of the ability to measure the tangible written on the cards, incorrect or incomplete benefits of deploying an MWM application for a address information, and indirect or wrong current business workflow process. The difficult travel directions given to the field workers on part of trying to understand the cost benefits their way to a job site. realized from the implementation of an MWM Another cost benefit to consider with the im- solution involves attempting to measure related plementation and introduction of a MWM system intangible benefits and trying to assign cost values. is the reduction in routine voice dispatch commu- Implementation of an MWM application would nications. Several co-ops have recognized reduc- essentially automate most of the tasks involved tions in voice communications by approximately with the execution of the standard SO workflow. 60 percent. This reduction in the number of voice An intangible benefit example could be the channels required may also allow for a corre- elimination of human errors introduced during sponding reduction in the base station/repeater the execution of this SO during the workflow infrastructure. Furthermore, the reduction in voice process. These mistakes and errors could have channel frequencies required may also allow the been introduced into the manual workflow co-op to use these available frequencies for data process resulting from improper radio commu- channel usage and the corresponding implemen- nication of the SO information, a lost or mis- tation of a MWM application solution.

Selecting Tasks Selecting and implementing the most beneficial field work can lead to significant cost-savings, for Automation MWM applications to automate is extremely im- workforce efficiency, and ROI improvements. portant; the electric co-op project team will need Building on and leveraging an existing MWM to perform a basic needs assessment, process technology investment will allow for a more mapping, and MWM application analysis, as well cost-effective installation, acceptance, and inte- as provide these evaluation results to the leader- gration for other mobile work groups within ship team for approval. Selecting the areas of the electric co-op. Additional mobile applica- field work that occur most frequently and have tions or tasks that can be automated for other a high volume of repetition (new connects, dis- field workers include staking, off-cycle meter connects, meter exchanges, etc.) will yield the reading, timesheet completion and tracking, best cost-savings results for a typical MWM pro- automatic vehicle location (AVL) with route ject implementation. Defining the existing task optimization, resolution of trouble orders, out- workflows and process steps for this repetitive age management, and automated vehicle routing. Future and Emerging Mobile Technology Trends – 41

Future and Emerging Mobile 4 Technology Trends

In This Section: Co-op Technology and Industry Trends Future Cellular and Mobile Broadband Data Technology Trends Future Land Mobile Radio Technology Trends Mobile Technology Disaster-Recovery/Business-Continuity Planning Conclusions

What developments in mobile workforce tech- solution. This fear can be manifested in selecting nologies will change the way that electric co-ops the wrong software or hardware platform that perform member service in the next five years? fails to become an industry standard and may What business trends will emerge by 2013 to help even become prematurely obsolete. This tech- cooperatives meet customer demands for power? nology may not be capable of being upgraded Over the past few years, an era of change has or can only be migrated for future use by certain begun in the electric power industry. The future technology firms and vendors, costing the co-op will bring increased demands for energy and nat- a significant amount of added investment. ural resources, and federal and local mandates It is because of these reasons that co-ops are for clean/green energy could have a huge impact typically averse to being the “first adopters” of a on what a customer member will pay for elec- new technology or software platform. This trepi- tricity. Electric rates have been increasing during dation may even be ingrained into the minds of the past few years and several industry observers co-op IT directors, engineers, and technicians. This are predicting that rates will double or triple in apprehension often stems from the old arguments the next 10 to 15 years. While the main focus of regarding video home system (VHS) verses Beta- the electric co-op community has always been to Max, global system for mobile (GSM) verses provide reliable, safe, and affordable electricity code division multiple access (CDMA) cellular, to its members, new demands for more reliable Microsoft Windows verses the Macintosh operat- and clean electric energy are beginning to take a ing system, and the list goes on. However, some critical role in the business and technology plan- electric co-ops have learned to achieve return ning requirements for these companies. on investment (ROI) goals with the implemen- There is a tendency for co-ops to be risk- tation of technology by taking smaller, more adverse when implementing large mobile or phased steps and using a combination of information technology (IT) projects and spend- mobile technologies. ing a great deal of the co-op’s capital budget Throughout this mobile technology report it and internal resources on a particular technical has been emphasized that co-ops are now using 42 – Section 4 4

a number of mobile data technologies—such as attaining a higher level of system reliability Wi-Fi, cellular broadband, private land mobile and less outage time. This 24-hour, seven- radio, and satellite communication networks— day-per-week (24/7) member-level service to implement feature-rich wireless Internet and will help to meet the needs of many of today’s field workforce applications. By selecting an commercial and industrial electric customers. effective middleware application and the corre- • An aging electric co-op workforce (with the sponding mobile network switch, rural co-op resultant loss of knowledge and experience) field users can move out of coverage of a partic- must be balanced with the need to effectively ular wireless network and into another without serve more customer members per co-op even detecting these network changes. This employee. mobile workforce “persistent connection” does • Co-ops need to continue to provide traditional not require intervention by the field user for personalized or handshake-style customer ser- authentication and security purposes and also vice to their members and communities, allows the mobile application to use the most particularly in areas that are more rural in preferred network in a given circumstance. nature. For example, a middleware device may select • Co-op mobile workforces need the ability to the cellular broadband data network in a given reliably communicate anytime and anyplace area because the cost of service is less than that after a storm has occurred, to access real-time of a satellite data network. When the service customer information during service restoration vehicle is located in the service yard, this device and to identify and resolve power outages. may choose a faster Wi-Fi network over a land • The use of energy automation tools (automatic mobile radio data network for uploading or electric meter readings, the ability to “ping” downloading geographical information system electric meters to determine if they are ener- (GIS) data files, operating system updates, com- gized or not, load management control pro- pleted electronic staking sheets, pictures, and grams, etc.) by remote field teams will make other data files. sure problems are identified earlier (proac- This small-step approach to the implementation tively) and power outages fully restored, be- of mobile workforce technology can allow the fore they move to their next job assignments. electric co-op community to become “early adopters” (not “first adopters”) of technology to Taking this phased approach—along with the meet the increasing demands for better customer use of disparate wireless networks for the imple- service and a more reliable electric distribution sys- mentation of mobile workforce technology—will tem. Below are some of the industry drivers that help reduce the unnecessary risks associated with can help to mitigate the fear of the risks involved selecting the wrong technology platform that may with the implementation of mobile technology. become prematurely obsolete. It will also help to avoid the inefficient allocation of a co-op’s finan- • Real-time response to customer outage situa- cial and human resources, or possibly avoid an tions, improvements in outage predictive increase in service order (SO) cycle time and the software, as well as effective problem identifi- resulting decrease in customer member satisfac- cation and resolution are contributing toward tion and confidence.

Co-op Technology Several electric co-op industry trends are start- 1. Customer information system (CIS) data has and Industry ing to emerge that will help in the evaluation been the traditional “mother-ship” of an Trends and selection of mobile workforce technologies. electric co-op’s ability to operate as effi- If an electric co-op can capitalize on some or all ciently as possible. Controlling this data set of these industry trends (listed below), it could by keeping it secure and up-to-date on a help create field efficiencies and improve cus- real-time or near-real-time basis will allow tomer member satisfaction. the co-op to meet the demands on its grow- Future and Emerging Mobile Technology Trends – 43 4

ing and changing member database. Sharing 3. Co-ops will need to manage energy demands appropriate portions of this database with all by providing incentives to customers to shift areas of the electric co-op’s business, includ- their electrical loads to off-peak hours. This ing the field workforce, will improve business will allow the power systems to operate more efficiency and customer member satisfaction. efficiently and lower the cost of electricity, Access to real-time customer information versus the huge demands that are taking a will allow the field team to look up an ad- toll on existing electric grids and require ex- dress or phone number, view payment his- pensive “peaking” generators. Co-ops will tory, and review the data from the latest need to develop a load distribution and gen- electric meter read from almost any remote eration model that will operate at more con- service-area location. Providing field force sistent demand levels throughout the day. access to pertinent portions of this data is This will make the electric system more effi- one of the keys to improving field force pro- cient and create pricing efficiency by mea- ductivity, eliminating paper, and providing suring real-time usage and projecting stan- much more timely data updates while reduc- dard customer usage demands. For example, ing the opportunity for clerical errors. owners of plug-in hybrid cars should be en- 2. Increase in the number of mega data centers couraged to charge their vehicles at night dur- (Web sites, Internet search-engine databases, ing off-peak hours. By 2020, it is projected gaming industry, etc.) throughout the United that 50 percent of all new vehicles will be States has created business customers that re- plug-in hybrids. Customer members also quire continuous electrical power 24 hours want a home area network (HAN) with smart per day, with backup power as a necessity. thermostats that can tell the user how much These customers have low tolerance for elec- energy they have consumed in a particular trical noise and power surges from the dis- month, week, or day, and estimate the cost. tributor. This is a perfect opportunity for This HAN can also tell them which circuit or electric co-ops to demonstrate their ability to appliance is costing them the most money to provide energy with enhanced reliability and operate at a particular time of the day. If co- a decrease in average outage times. The gam- ops can capitalize on fuel-cell technology, ing industry and Internet server farms now HANs, smart meters, and efficient electrical require full-backup capability and very high distribution systems, they may better meet reliability with regards to power, and are will- the future demand for highly reliable and ing to pay for it. “Always on” communica- safe electric energy for their customers. tions involve changes in the distribution 4. Distribution automation and automated cost-factor; the use of mobile workforce real- meter reading (AMR) supplied data points time communication, outage analysis, and can also help justify the business case for field restoration should be included in the deploying Wi-Fi technology—along with the business equation. Equipping the co-op field required transport (low-cost microwave, technicians with a mobile outage manage- fiber, etc.)—for use at all of an electric co- ment application or fault analysis tool op’s distribution substations. This Wi-Fi net- (SCADA) and using this in a real-time manner work can help accelerate access to the data will make the outage resolution and restora- needed for both outage analysis and restora- tion process more efficient and reduce the cus- tion for transformer failures and line faults tomer-member loss of sales revenue and the during and after a storm has occurred. In ad- resultant co-op loss of power revenue and dition, this same type of information can be service reliability rating. These business mem- used for engineering analysis and design ber power distribution requirements (which needed to increase system reliability on a involve +99 percent reliability) need to be- proactive basis. The installation of low-cost come part of the business case when per- video surveillance cameras that utilize this forming the engineering and analysis of a Wi-Fi network can help in the identification new installation for a customer of this type. of problems associated with storm damage, 44 – Section 4 4

wildlife issues, and thefts of copper and field capabilities, many vendors are switching equipment. Adding this mobile workforce/ their software applications to have either a transport equipment to a particular substation browser-based or “thin client” front end so may soon be either mandatory or at least con- they can be easily accessed by Internet- sidered to be a “best practice,” especially if it enabled field communications devices. is part of a large accounting business case to 6. The use and display of real-time or near-real- provide 24/7 continuous power distribution. time GPS data for project engineering, elec- 5. Real-time broadband data, e-mail, and Internet tronic staking, automated vehicle location access is becoming fairly inexpensive and is (AVL), outage analysis, and SO completion starting to become available on rural high- will also play a big role in the operation of ways, streets, and roads and in small towns. the field workforce in the future. Most electric This cellular broadband data network prolif- co-ops have seen the ROI benefits of convert- eration has created a huge market potential ing paper GIS maps to electronic format and for smartphones and devices that will bring are now making this data available to the mo- numerous data applications and tools to the bile workforce through the use of laptop field users. Mobile applications for location- computers in the field. Using Google Earth based services, video and picture transmis- with the street-view capability and Web 3.0 sion capabilities, field workforce tools, and application together creates an extremely de- local news and weather information can now tailed image of a particular service area, sub- be accessed in the field by the push of a but- station, or outage situation that engineers and ton. Mobile devices that are capable of bring- technicians can view when analyzing power ing the look and feel of the home or office outages or designing new installations for Internet browser to perform work and busi- customers. The integration of these Google ness functions in the field will bring about a Earth mobile applications and this GIS-rich significant change to the way field services data creates a real-time remote view of a par- are performed. In order to capitalize on the ticular location in the co-op service area that increasing availability of these Internet-based was impossible just a few short years ago.

Future Cellular According to a number of large technology and developed and learned over time. These mobile and Mobile wireless company CEOs, mobile Internet is the users don’t want a stripped-down version of the Broadband Data next big frontier for the wireless technology in- Internet to navigate or to use these wireless de- Technology dustry. These cellular and personal communi- vices for just downloading music, watching Trends cations services (PCS) companies have been video clips at the airport, and taking pictures. spending billions of dollars to deploy third- Most typical mobile Internet users want to use generation (3G) wireless networks to capture their wireless devices as a tool for reading e- high-speed data revenues and improve earnings. mails, talking on the phone with friends and These large wireless companies now have the clients, getting directions, or accessing the Inter- bandwidth to allow mobile users to surf the net for local news, weather, and various online Internet, but still want to control who provides telephone directories. Mobile Internet users the content and what Internet sites are available want to use these wireless devices as tools to to the mobile community. help them accomplish their daily personal and But the traditional PC-based Internet has business functions. changed the way that mobile users commu- nicate. Most mobile Internet users want to 3G LONG-TERM EVOLUTION (LTE) use their handheld wireless devices or cellular With services such as worldwide interoperability broadband-accessible computers much like they for microwave access (WiMAX) expected to offer do in the office or on their personal computer very high broadband data speeds, work on devel- at home; they want the same look-and-feel for oping the next generation of cellular technology has Web searches and applications that they have already started. The next-generation network be- Future and Emerging Mobile Technology Trends – 45 4

yond 3G, the universal mobile telecommunica- sung Choi, vice president of the LG Electronics tions system (UMTS) cellular technology upgrade, Mobile Communications Technology Research has been dubbed LTE, for long-term evolution. Lab. “Having common LTE specifications and The idea is that LTE will enable much higher achieving widespread interoperability across LTE speeds to be achieved along with much lower networks regardless of who designed, built, or packet latency (or delay)—a growing require- operates them will simplify the worldwide adop- ment for many mobile services—and that LTE tion of LTE. The network essentially becomes will enable cellular communications to move invisible to consumers, making connecting from forward to meet the needs for cellular technol- anywhere in the world as simple as turning on ogy to 2017 and beyond. your mobile device.” Although 3G technologies deliver significantly higher bit rates than 2G technologies, there is TECHNOLOGY CONSIDERATIONS FOR still a great opportunity for wireless service pro- HIGHER DATA THROUGHPUT AND THE viders to capitalize on the ever-increasing demand MOBILE ENVIRONMENT for wireless broadband by taking advantage of Today’s ubiquitous wireless local area network- technology innovations that improve the econom- ing—Wi-Fi (the IEEE 802.11 family)—has evolved ics of deploying such networks. Consequently, in several technology stages over time. The more there is an expanding revenue opportunity from a advanced versions of Wi-Fi utilize a technology growing pool of consumers and business profes- called orthogonal frequency division multiplexing sionals who are demanding the same experience (OFDM). Like code division multiple access and applications that they enjoy on a fixed land- (CDMA), OFDM is a generic term that describes line Internet connection, but instead over wire- a channel structure, the basic means by which in- less—anywhere, any content, stationary or mobile. formation is conveyed on a radio signal. But the In addition to enabling fixed-to-mobile migra- desire for higher data throughput rates and oper- tions of Internet applications—such as voice ability in the mobile environment is leading com- over IP (VoIP), video streaming, music down- mercial networks to focus additional technical re- loading, mobile TV, and many others—LTE net- sources and research on WiMAX technology. works will also provide the capacity to support WiMAX will effectively utilize OFDM to deliver an explosion in demand for connectivity from high data throughput in the fixed radio (non- a new generation of consumer devices tailored moving) environment, but the mobile environ- to these new mobile applications. This 3G LTE ment poses unique challenges. It is much easier technology was expected to be a fully ratified to control radio channel quality in fixed wireless standard by the end of 2008 or the early part of applications than in the mobile environment. 2009. Commercial deployments are expected to Fixed user terminal antennas can be placed on launch by late 2009 or early 2010, offering peak rooftops or towers where there is good signal data rates that are being touted as matching or quality from the serving base station and a mini- exceeding 100 Mbps. mum of interference from neighboring ones. A global group of LTE equipment vendors However, in the case of mobile WiMAX technol- and operators is fostering the development of a ogy, the typical mobile user will traverse loca- global LTE standards body to ensure that a wide tions where the radio signal of this network can range of LTE devices function consistently on be seriously impaired or blocked by buildings all LTE networks worldwide. They are defining and other objects. Multiple WiMAX base stations a common set of features for LTE frequency di- in this wireless environment might also provide vision duplex (FDD) and time division duplex similarly marginal signal levels to a particular (TDD) equipment. LTE interoperability tests mobile user. There could possibly be interference across infrastructure equipment, mobile devices, from these nearby base stations, which, in turn, and chip sets continue to take place throughout would cause signal fading of the WiMAX chan- 2009. nel to occur. Any one of these problems could “LTE is positioned to become a global stan- substantially impair the WiMAX data throughput dard for mobile broadband networks,” said Jin- to a particular mobile user. 46 – Section 4 4

Other technologies that alleviate specific In the Wi-Fi market, the most popular proto- channel impairments are being considered for cols are defined by the 802.11b and 802.11g increasing overall WiMAX channel quality in standards, which are amendments to the first order to effectively serve the data needs of mo- wireless networking standard, 802.11a. The bile users. Multiple input multiple output (MIMO) 802.11b and 802.11g Wi-Fi technologies use the and multiple input single output (MISO) trans- 2.4 GHz band, operating under Part 15 of the ceiver systems are being designed for effective Federal Communications Commission Rules reduction of interference and channel fading. and Regulations. The 802.11n standard is a pro- MIMO systems use multiple antennas deployed posed amendment which improves upon the at the WiMAX base station in both the transmit- previous 802.11 standards by adding MIMO ter and the receiver path. The MISO system has and many other newer features in the 5 GHz only one receiver antenna, but multiple transmit- and 2.4 GHz public spectrum bands. Depending ter antennas for transmit diversity. on the environment, 802.11n is being designed Both of these solutions are designed to create for a user throughput (TCP/IP) of 100 Mbps. multiple radio signal paths to the mobile user in This opens the way to far more Wi-Fi applica- order to create better reception and signal qual- tions, such as wireless voice over IP and more ity. These technologies will be applied to the videoconferencing. Wi-Fi and WiMAX marketplaces, evolving 3G Alternatively, mobile WiMAX, based on the systems, and the GSM-CDMA cellular technolo- IEEE 802.16e industry specification, is a broad- gies that are being designed for the 4G mobile band wireless technology that provides low-cost, broadband marketplace. They should reduce multimegabit, high-speed throughput for access- radio system complexity and cost. These new ing large amounts of data such as movies and technologies will help to extend signal range, multimedia content. Global mobile WiMAX increase quality of service, and make more adoption continues to grow. Deployment of effective use of channel frequency and band- mobile WiMAX networks in the United States width capacity. started in 2008.

Future Land The electric co-op community will need to start Mobile Radio planning for the two-way radio systems of 2014, Technology after spectrum rebanding/refarming has been com- Trends pleted. It will also need to consider technology trends, standards, the regulatory environment, and productivity requirements. Current technolo- gy trends suggest that future private two-way ra- dios will be more integrated with other types of mobile devices. For example, GPS receivers are currently being integrated into mobile and por- table two-way radios to provide management with a tracking mechanism for location applications. This feature will allow cooperatives to more ef- FIGURE 4.1: A Handheld Garmin Rino Two-Way Radio with GPS Receiver. fectively position field teams to handle routine operations and perform outage restorations. Other features that are currently available with systems and the corresponding increase in the commercial mobile devices include instant mes- speed of wireless data transmissions should saging (IM), built-in cameras, small video screens, enable easy integration of these features into and other calling features that will eventually be the two-way radio industry. To further extrapo- integrated into private two-way radio system in- late the trend of integrating multiple technolo- frastructure. The increase in the number of digital gies, we may see traditional land mobile radio Future and Emerging Mobile Technology Trends – 47 4

(LMR) frequencies integrated into cellular de- future LMR devices to improve general produc- vices, allowing a single mobile device to be tivity among field users. used for all types of business and personal com- In addition, user applications for power-distri- munications, much like the enhanced special- bution-specific functions will be added to future ized mobile (or trunked) radio (ESMR) networks two-way radio devices, possibly using short- currently in operation. messaging or text capabilities to assist co-ops In the short term, mobile device manufacturers with field operations and communications. This are developing two-way radios that are capable of focus on new land mobile applications, along operating in several of the traditional frequency with the integration of technologies, will result bands. These products would improve mutual- in the development of numerous innovative aid operations and interoperability, as a single two-way radio products. radio could potentially work in the 150-, 220-, Fundamental mobile data applications will 450-, and 700/800-MHz spectrums. Figure 4.2 continue to evolve for the two-way radio mar- shows a quad-band-capable two-way mobile ra- ketplace. The LMR community will continue to dio; up to four frequency bands can operate on increase the high-speed data capability of exist- this device. As radio hardware becomes smaller ing two-way radio voice-only networks and will and more flexible, the software and applications use a combination of other wireless communi- will begin to drive the industry to develop com- cation networks (private two-way radio, cellular, mon mobile devices that will work with differ- Wi-Fi, satellite) to allow for the effective deploy- ent types of vendor infrastructure equipment. ment of new mobile workforce applications. The vendor software applications and program- This two-way radio community is already ming will determine which frequency band the using a number of wireless network middleware device is operating on and the system and user products currently available in the marketplace features available. Over-the-air programming that allow mobile workforce applications to (OTAP) will also be developed for two-way mo- continue to function even while these users are bile radio devices, allowing any user to operate traveling though this changing communications any two-way radio by just logging on to it. The network environment. This is what application user’s specific preferences (personality) will au- vendors are referring to as an application “ses- tomatically be loaded onto the device in real- sion persistence” or “persistent connection.” time using the OTAP feature. With session persistence, the mobile device The focus of the radio marketplace in the user is able to continue to run field applications near- and long-term future will be on software when driving in and out of the coverage of configuration and applications, not hardware. cellular, private radio, and Wi-Fi networks. These applications will focus on both general These mobile network middleware products and market-specific (i.e., electric co-op) produc- will continue to be improved, allowing IT tivity. Software applications such as daily plan- managers to eliminate user intervention and ners and organizers may be integrated into improve the overall operating experience, all while minimizing cost and mobile user frustra- tion. For example, the user may have a broad- band-capable laptop that can be used for VoIP and a mobile workforce program that includes a middleware application that selects the opti- mum communications wireless network at any given time. Because of this industry trend, these mobile workforce applications will need to continue to focus on transmission control protocol/Internet FIGURE 4.2: A Yaesu Two-Way Mobile FM protocol (TCP/IP) communications and security Transceiver with Quad-Band Capability. standards. From a developer’s perspective, creating 48 – Section 4 4

products that meet TCP/IP standards increases and conventional mobile radio use. And finally, the potential market for these products. Devel- DMR Tier 3 provides specifications and opera- oping proprietary systems often discourages tional requirements for digital mobile radios in buyers, because future upgrade capability and a trunked system configuration. technology migrations can only be performed by a particular vendor. FCC and Regulatory Requirements Finally, the security of sensitive co-op informa- The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) tion being transported over a wireless communi- has mandated the “refarming” or “narrowband- cation network is critical to the effective deploy- ing” of radio frequencies below 512 MHz by ment of these mobile data applications. The 2013. The management boards of cooperatives middleware providers continue to produce new should be funding and implementing the re- and innovative mobile data security applications quired changes during the next couple of years. (such as encryption and authentication) that cov- The current regulations dictate that failure to er all aspects of protecting the data, communica- have narrowband operations—12.5 or 6.25 kHz tions link, user, and network from outside threats. transmissions—by 2013 will result in the cancel- lation of the frequency operating license. Coop- Land Mobile Radio Standards eratives should have working narrowband and Upgrades systems in place by 2013 or earlier and should As electric co-ops upgrade and expand their ex- continue to monitor the FCC for updates and isting two-way radio voice communications sys- rule changes. tems, they will need to monitor and investigate Anticipating the completion of this narrow- the developments within the LMR standards banding requirement should allow the license bodies. The Association of Public-Safety Com- holder the time to justify the expenditure and munications Officials (APCO) Project 25 (P25) incorporate the additional spectrum created standards, which have been adopted by many (upon FCC approval) into existing land mobile industry groups with land mobile radios, are radio operations. The planned use of this addi- evolving from Phase 1 FDMA standards to Phase tional licensed spectrum may allow the electric 2 TDMA standards. co-op to reorganize its field forces and opera- The Phase 1 standards have been successful tions to meet disaster-planning requirements. at ensuring a competitive marketplace for sub- This new wireless communications frequency scriber radio devices, allowing different brands spectrum can be used to relieve congestion on of two-way radios to be used on P25-compliant existing voice channels and allow for the com- networks. Products that meet the Phase 2 stan- munication system to be expanded. These addi- dard should begin to enter the market in late tional channels may allow the two-way voice 2009. While P25-compliant systems may not be system to be easily upgraded to digital, by in- the right technical solution for a particular elec- stalling these new channels as digital-capable tric co-op, the standards help set benchmark and slowly phasing out the existing analog pricing for the mobile radio industry. mobile users and base station frequencies. Another new digital mobile radio (DMR) These new narrowband frequencies can be standard to ease the migration from analog radio deployed as either voice or data channels. systems to digital radio networks was developed While these changes are taking place in the by the European Telecommunications Standards traditional 150- and 450-MHz bands, the electric Institute (ETSI). These DMR standards include co-op community should also monitor the the digital mobile radio specifications and fea- changes that are taking place in the 220-MHz, tures for land mobile radio use for business and 700-MHz, 800-MHz, 900-MHz, and Wi-Fi fre- industrial use. DMR Tier 1 outlines the specifica- quency bands. These other band frequencies tions for radio use in direct mode without the should be considered for possible addition and use of a repeater site. DMR Tier 2 specifies use as mobile data channels. The FCC has recog- operational requirements for multisite access nized the value of selling frequency spectrum for Future and Emerging Mobile Technology Trends – 49 4

business use and may decide to refarm (reassign) video monitoring, and broadband applications). additional spectrum that would meet a coopera- PTP radios can provide both direct trans- tive’s operational needs during the next five mission of Ethernet and standard time-division years or more. multiplexing (TDM) data. Optical carrier no. 3 (OC3) Ethernet radios can provide a large in- PRODUCTIVITY AND LAND MOBILE RADIO stantaneous bandwidth for broadband content. ACCESSIBILITY PTP system design requires a thorough under- As legacy two-way radio systems move from standing of the fundamentals, as well as a de- analog to digital technology and the industry tailed knowledge of the entire design process. moves toward integrated devices that use the This includes conceptual planning, equipment new frequencies that were created from narrow- selection, transmission-link design, propagation banding, one could expect to see an increase in and frequency planning, and an analysis of the productivity of field workforces. Customer interference potential/mitigation. PTP systems service and repair crews will have better access are available for FCC-licensed and the license- to customer data and the line crews will have exempt spectrums. better information for constructing and repairing Licensed microwave has been around for many distribution circuits. Supervisors will have an im- years. This technology has evolved, first from proved understanding of where their crews are analog to digital, and now into IP-based digital. working and be better able to coordinate their Licensed microwave facilities can be expensive, next tasks. The efficiencies of additional frequen- due, for example, to the use of large antennas and cies may allow for the reduction in the number the heavy towers to keep the antennas solidly of field crews supporting a particular area by mounted to meet wind-speed requirements. increasing each crew’s productivity. However, the licensee is guaranteed interference The co-op would expect these productivity protection. Generally, licensed PTP microwave enhancements to come from improvements in technology is not used in situations where there work-flow processes and the addition of real- are many smaller locations to be served. time intelligence in the service trucks. As was Newer IP-based systems have tended to make mentioned above, the focus of these future radio use of unlicensed bands because of the greater devices will change from an emphasis on the bandwidths available, installation flexibility, and hardware or size of these mobile devices to that cost considerations. However, these unlicensed of software applications. The mobile/cellular systems can be less reliable due to radio frequency world has also witnessed a changing industry (RF) interference from adjacent (nearby) users. with a new focus on mobile application devel- The licensed bands allow for higher RF output opment and content availability. Cooperatives power and, consequently, less equipment infra- should be planning for the competitive advan- structure—such as repeaters and controlling tage that improved mobile communications and modules—while allowing for longer data field workforce applications will provide for transmission distances. them to more efficiently run their businesses. Fiber optic-based networks and licensed micro- wave systems are the two most reliable transmis- MICROWAVE POINT-TO-POINT RADIO sion mediums. Uptime or “link availability” for The largest application for the use of private mi- T1 leased lines is 99.985 percent, which means crowave point-to-point (PTP) radios is to trans- being out of service for .015 percent of the year. port data from the field without the huge cost of Free space optics (e.g., laser/infrared) is in the installing dedicated fiber optic transport systems 99 percent range for reliability. One percent of and with more reliability than leased circuits or downtime translates to more than three and a service provider solutions. PTP radio systems play half days in a single year. A microwave PTP key roles in networks of all kinds where geograph- connection that is properly designed will, at ically dispersed communication needs are best minimum, have “four-nines” capability, meaning met through the use of radio links (i.e., SCADA, 99.99 percent of the time it is operating reliably, 50 – Section 4 4

FIGURE 4.3: Unlicensed 6-GHz Horizon Compact Ethernet Microwave Transmission System.

and is often designed to meet “five-nines” FIGURE 4.4: Licensed System Using Andrew (99.999 percent) uptime reliability. This means 6-GHz Ultra-High-Performance Antenna. that the microwave link is not expected to go down at all, except from natural component death, and, in that case, the mean time be- standby microwave radios and path redundancy, tween failure (MTBF) approaches 55,000 hours while breaks in a fiber-optic based network or approximately 6 years between failures. often last for days (unless a SONET ring design A comparison of uptime for fiber optics and approach is utilized). Microwave systems give microwave over a 10-year period shows micro- companies full control of their network. How- wave has greater cumulative uptime. That’s be- ever, this is accompanied by the responsibility cause microwave downtime periods can be kept of system maintenance, operation, and regula- to a minimum or small duration because of hot- tory compliance.

Mobile Technology While the focus of this report is neither on and increasingly formal basis. A relatively new Disaster-Recovery/ cooperative-wide business-continuity planning significant “best practices” trend in the electric Business-Continuity nor on technology disaster-recovery planning, cooperative industry is the recognition that de- Planning it would be doing the reader an injustice if this veloping a viable technology DR/BC plan is just document completely overlooked the relation- as important as having an ERP. Furthermore, the ship between mobile technology and these two DR/BC plan actually complements the co-op’s important types of contingency planning. Virtu- ERP. The primary drivers behind this relatively ally all electric co-ops have some form of emer- recent trend include the following items: gency restoration plan (ERP) for restoring power to their customers in the event of an unplanned 1. Cooperative staff members’ general depen- electrical outage. dency on technology. Virtually all cooperative Due to ever-increasing reliance on technology “front office,” “back office,” and customer to support their day-to-day business functions “self-service” business functions are highly (and to comply with certain regulatory require- dependent on technology. This includes pro- ments), many electric co-ops have also em- viding co-op staff with reliable access to the braced the process of developing a cooperative- technology needed to effectively perform wide technology disaster-recovery and business- their day-to-day operations, regardless of continuity (DR/BC) plan, both on an informal whether they relate to maintaining high levels Future and Emerging Mobile Technology Trends – 51 4

of system reliability, delivering top-quality transmission (G&T) electric co-ops, as well customer service, or simply producing accu- as certain electric distribution cooperatives rate and timely billing for customer members. that fall under NERC’s jurisdiction. These new 2. A cooperative’s ability to effectively execute rules require that every electric power com- its ERP greatly depends on technology. In the pany under NERC’s jurisdiction have a formal event of electrical system outages—espe- disaster-recovery plan, an equipped back-up cially those that occur on a larger scale—a recovery site for its electric system operations co-op’s ability to effectively execute its ERP center and staff, and all key technology increasingly depends on its field force’s abil- needed for use by its system operators. In ity to leverage technology. Such technolo- addition, NERC is in the process of imple- gies include: outage management systems menting a requirement that all SCADA radio (especially those with predictive functional- communications must now be encrypted. ity), SCADA (both those that only monitor but do not control the distribution system, as This relatively new industry driver from well as those that both monitor and control), NERC is based on the fundamental principle that AMI/AMR systems (especially those with the cooperative-wide technology DR/BC planning is ability to perform outage detection and/or needed to ensure that, in the event of a disaster ping meters), voice/data communications or other unplanned business interruption: between field force workers and office-based support staff, voice and/or IVR communica- • The co-op’s most critical business functions— tions for customers to be able to report including its key supporting technologies outages to co-op staff, etc. such as SCADA and its telecommunications 3. The need to comply with mandatory RUS reg- system, dispatch radio, outage management ulatory requirements. On October 12, 2004, system, AMR-based meter pinging, etc.—will the Rural Utility Service (RUS)—which is the be restored and operational between fractions electric co-op industry’s largest financial of an hour to, at most, several hours following lender—began requiring all loan applicants the event. Some examples of those business to have a formal, documented DR/BC plan functions that are typically defined as the and ERP as a prerequisite to submitting any most critical relate to maintaining system reli- future loan applications. Please refer to RUS ability (SCADA), customer outage restoration 7 CFR Part 1730.28, entitled Emergency (outage management system, voice radio dis- Restoration Plan (ERP), for more specific de- patch), and receiving customer emergency/ tails regarding this requirement. Also, refer outage notification phone calls (IVR and PBX). to the following Internet link for a summary • Other critical co-op business functions— of this RUS regulation: http://law.justia. including their key supporting technologies— com/us/cfr/title07/7-11.1.2.1.13.2.2.9.html. will be restored and operational within the For more detailed information, please refer first day or two following the event. Examples to a PDF file entitled: “United States Depart- of those business functions that are often des- ment of Agriculture-Rural Utilities Service ignated as important but a little less critical Bulletin 1730B-2, Guide for Electric System include the ability to render customer bills, Emergency Restoration Plan.” This file can access to electronic customer data, and the be obtained at the following online address: ability to receive/respond to customer http://www.usda.gov/rus/electric/pubs/ account- or service-related phone calls. 1730b-2.pdf. • Non-business-critical functions and related 4. The need to comply with new and evolving technology will be restored in a reasonable NERC regulatory requirements. The North time period thereafter as determined by each American Electric Reliability Corporation individual co-op’s needs. Examples of these (NERC) recently implemented new manda- typically include many accounting functions tory rules affecting all generation and (financial management/accounting system), 52 – Section 4 4

human resource functions (HR system), and TECHNOLOGY DR/BC LIFE CYCLE delinquent customer account collections PLANNING OVERVIEW activities (the CIS and related “out-bound” The diagram in Figure 4.5 is of a “high-level” delinquent reminder calling tools). conceptual technology disaster recovery/ business continuity life cycle planning process Cooperative-wide technology DR/BC plan- methodology. It depicts a series of five stages— ning is needed to ensure that proper contin- comprised of eight major steps—that must be gency preparations and training are in place an integral part of any comprehensive DR/BC prior to a potential disaster or other unplanned planning process. The stages are designed to be business interruption. A co-op must be able to performed in a sequential manner, starting with demonstrate that it is in compliance with RUS stage one and proceeding a stage at a time until and NERC regulations, if required to do so. stage five is completed. Each stage depicts the Mobile technology planning is an important steps that can be performed in parallel with facet of any disaster or contingency planning each other. The box beneath the description of process and must be included as part of a coop- each step summarizes the major deliverables erative-wide technology DR/BC plan, rather than produced from that step. The length of the stages being viewed as a separate planning process. and the steps depicted in this diagram are not

8 Phases with Deliverables for Plan Development, Implementation & Testing

Vulnerability & Risk 1 Assessment (VRA)

Security & Vulnerability Recommendations 2 Assessments, Scoping & “Business Drive” 3 Recovery Requirements Develop Plan & Documentation PLAN Implement Changes 4 Scope, Approach, PLAN to Support Plan Business Impact Scope, Approach, Analysis (BIA); Developed & PLAN “In Place Recovery Time Documented with Ready to Test” Objectives (RTO), Refined Implement Development Cost Cost Est. and Implementation Plan Training 5 Cost. Extensive VRA on Proposed Recovery Site(s) Repeatable Training Program & Recovery Team Trained 8 Simulated Test: 6 Planning & Testing 7 Non-Simulated Actual “Table Top” & Test Planning +Testing Calling Tree: Testing Plan Maintenance & Recovery Site & Partial Re-Testing End-to-End Testing

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5

FIGURE 4.5: Technology DR/BC Life Cycle Planning Process Methodology Diagram. Future and Emerging Mobile Technology Trends – 53 4

intended to portray their relative execution time communications solution provider that can be or the amount of staff time involved. relied upon to “take over” in the event of a The reason this is referred to as a life cycle critical hardware or communications failure. planning process methodology is due to its The sample telecommunications diagram in iterative nature. The business functions and Figure 4.6 (produced as part of the cooperative- technology that the DR/BC plan is designed to wide technology plan described in Figure 1.2, recover are constantly changing and evolving Pyramid Layer 2, in Section 1 of this document), over time. Thus, the DR/BC plan must be con- depicts a mobile technology SPOF. Please note sidered to be a “living document” that must be that all mobile technology components in this updated on a regular basis, typically annually. diagram are blue, wired components are black, In order to effectively accomplish this, method- and the mobile technology SPOF is red. ology steps one through eight must be revisited each time the update process is performed. Step 2 — The second step in the DR/BC Thus, it is more accurate to refer to this as a planning process produces the following life cycle planning process methodology rather deliverables: than simply a planning process methodology, which tends to imply a one-time-only, start- • Delineation of the scope of the DR/BC plan. to-finish event. (For example, does the plan cover the loss of district offices or just the corporate office?) DIAGRAM OVERVIEW • Definition of the approach to be used for the The following is a brief explanation of each planning process, including defining the project step in the conceptual technology DR/BC life team and an executive steering committee, as cycle planning process methodology diagram well as deciding whether to employ the services depicted in Figure 4.5. of a disaster recovery consultant or to per- form the planning process entirely with in- Stage 1 house staff. Step 1 — In order to minimize the effects of a • Determination of the recovery time objective disaster or other type of unplanned business (RTO) for each business function/unit and its interruption, it is important to perform a associated technology. The RTO is the maxi- vulnerability and risk assessment (VRA) mum length of time allowable before a given and to mitigate any identified hazards and business function and its associated technol- susceptibilities deemed to be unacceptable to ogy must be operational again following a the co-op. A VRA typically encompasses: all disaster or other unplanned business interrup- deployed technology; every aspect of physical tion. In essence, these RTOs collectively define and electronic access security to both data and the business requirements for the recovery plan. physical records; data/physical records backup The process used to determine the RTOs is and storage both on-site and off-site; all facilities commonly referred to as a business impact where technology is deployed, including service analysis (BIA). The BIA operates under the centers and district offices; and exposure to key assumption that the greater the negative busi- technological single points of failure (SPOFs). ness impact, the shorter the RTO must be for The term “key technological SPOFs” most each business function and its related sup- commonly refers to a key component of a porting technology. Typically, a co-op’s most co-op’s technical infrastructure whose failure business-critical functions/technology will would have widespread negative impact on the have RTOs that are measured in hours. co-op’s ability to perform one or more of its key Table 4.1 contains a number of real-life business functions. It is often prudent to mitigate examples depicting just how widely the RTO a critical SPOF by investing in spare or redundant values can vary across cooperatives. technology equipment or an alternate There is no magic formula for making 54 – Section 4 4

District Office A

Wi-Fi GIS Laptop (1) Cornet T1 802.11g In Truck For GIS Microwave

Individual CO Trunks 1 - Line Published 8 Telephones 1 - Line Private 1 - Fax Line Siemens HiCom 150 PBX 1 Modem 1 Fax

District Office B District Office C

(1) MCI LD T-1#2 Wi-Fi GIS Laptop Wi-Fi GIS Laptop 802.11g In Truck (1) Cornet T-1 802.11g In Truck For GIS For GIS Microwave Microwave Individual CO Trunks 1 - Line Published (1) T1 Cornet Individual CO 1 - Line Private Trunks 1 - Fax Line 1 - Line Published 13 Telephones 1 - Line Private 1 - Fax Line Siemens Siemens HiCom 150 PBX HiCom 150 PBX 13 Telephones 1 Modem 1 Fax 1 Fax

Co-op’s Corporate Office

(2) MCI T1’s from CO Office (1 to Corporate, 1 Via District B) 36 - Corporate 800 8 - Outbound Long Distance Trunks (3) T1 Cornets Wi-Fi GIS Laptop GIS System 3 - AMR Meter Line (1) MCI LD T-1 #2 802.11g In Truck 1 - TeleCom RAS Microwave (1) SS T-1 For GIS (5) Sprint Local CO 3 - Emerg CO’s 24 Ports 2 - Local Private CO

(1) Embarq PRI Siemens Xpressions Siemens DID’s Voice Mail HiCom 300H PBX • Outage reporting 32 Ports • Customer Service • Transfer to Extension • Co-op Info Intervoice 125 Telephones 3 Modem 3 Faxes 1 Fax Interactive Voice (Not attached Response (IVR) to PBX)

FIGURE 4.6: Sample Telecommunications Diagram.

these determinations. Each co-op must evalu- Others do not have SCADA because they rely ate its individual situation. A good example is on their G&T power supplier to monitor their the widely differing manner in which co-ops system for them and inform them of prob- look at the importance of SCADA. Some lems. Other co-ops have SCADA systems that co-ops do not even have a SCADA system. can only monitor, but not control, their elec- Future and Emerging Mobile Technology Trends – 55 4

TABLE 4.1: RTO Comparison Among Cooperatives.

Business Processes & Supporting Technology Components/Systems Co-op No. of Electric With an Assigned RTO Management Approved RTO Length ID No. Customers Served Total RTOs Assigned < 1 Hour 1 to 24 Hours 24 to 48 Hours 1 100,000 to 200,000 88 15 86 2 100,000 to 150,000 35 24 5 3 25,000 to 50,000 32 10 04 4 25,000 to 50,000 29 83 0 5 25,000 to 50,000 29 21 3 6 10,000 to 25,000 32 22 5 7 10,000 to 25,000 30 25 2 Medians 29 22 4 Averages Including Co-op #1 39 6 3.5 4 Averages Excluding Co-op #1 31 43 4

tric distribution systems. Of course, there are I How much “catch-up” or “clean-up” work a number of co-ops that operate SCADA sys- needs to be done because of things over- tems to monitor and control their systems as looked or created by the reduced capacity well. Some, but certainly not all, of these co- operational mode? ops will choose to forgo the added expense • Identification of a suitable recovery location, of having a “hot standby” backup SCADA sys- including estimating what modifications will tem that can take over the SCADA functions need to be made to the site in order to prop- in the event the primary SCADA system is de- erly prepare it for use as a DR/BC site based stroyed or otherwise fails. on the co-op’s identified business requirements. In examining the importance of SCADA to • Cost estimates for developing and implement- the various co-ops involved in the discussion ing the DR/BC plan, including recovery site above, it becomes readily apparent that their preparation costs. perception of its importance varies widely and it can be tempered further by the eco- Stage 2 nomics of the contingency options available Step 3 — The third step in the DR/BC plan- to them. ning process involves constructing the plan In many cases, the RTO boils down to the document by: answers to the following questions:

I Could the business still operate in some • Developing possible disaster scenarios; reduced capacity without the technology or • Defining how the overall recovery would systems that support the given function? be organized, including a series of clearly

I Is the reduced capacity of the operation defined recovery teams; acceptable and, if so, for how long? • Defining and assigning responsibilities to

I When must the reduced capacity operation each recovery team; be returned to full capacity? 56 – Section 4 4

• Assigning qualified staff for each responsibility Stage 3 on each recovery team, including an alternate Step 4 — The fourth step in the planning person to backup the assigned primary person; process is to implement the changes necessary • Developing documented recovery procedures to support the DR/BC plan. These typically for each recovery team; include: • Developing documented recovery procedures for each business unit; • Physical upgrades to the designated disaster • Developing several different recovery strate- recovery site so that it is physically capable of gies to match the previously determined supporting a greater number of staff than disaster scenarios; would typically be deployed there; • Identifying and documenting employee, • Telecommunications upgrades to the disaster- vendor, and emergency agency contact recovery site to support a larger workforce information; than normal that would be operating out of • Identifying and documenting backup strate- that location; gies for data and physical records based on • Negotiation and execution of contracts with business-unit-defined recovery point objec- third-party vendors for disaster-recovery ser- tives (RPOs represent the maximum amount vices, such as receiving outage calls from the of data and physical records that are accept- co-op’s customers, remotely backing up criti- able to lose in the event of a disaster); and cal co-op customer data, upgrading servers, • Finally, the estimated cost for implementing databases, and other technology components the DR/BC plan is updated to reflect the most to support data replication, dual databases, current information available. hot “fail over” technology, etc.; • Upgrading/installing building power genera-SCADA systems provid An important component of the recovery pro- tors and UPS devices both at the corporatereal-time control and cedures is the development of temporary “work location and at the disaster recovery site, ifmonitoring of electric arounds” that are used so the co-op can con- necessary; and distribution systems. Ac tinue to operate in a reduced, but acceptable, • Implementing enhanced data and physicalcording to IEEE Standa temporary capacity until full operations can be records backup procedures, including using1402-2000, Guide for recovered. Some examples include: the services of third-party records-manage-Electric Power Substatio ment storage providers. Physical and Electronic 1. Estimate consumption for billing purposes until Security, “the introduc- actual meter readings can be obtained again. Step 5 — The fifth step in the planning processtion is of computer system 2. If SCADA communications have failed, to develop a set of repeatable classroom trainingwith online access to deploy field service crews to each substa- sessions for recovery-team members and thensubstation to information tion and have them follow the distribution provide this training to everyone assigned tosignificant any in that subst system lines from the substation into their of the DR/BC plan’s recovery teams. Every tion relay protection, electric system looking for causes of cus- person on every recovery team should be control, and data collec tomer outages. trained regardless of whether he or she has beention systems may be ex 3. If internal payment remittance processing designated as the primary or the alternate personposed to the same vul- equipment is destroyed or otherwise for each responsibility. rendered inoperable, either have non-busi- ness-critical employees enter them into the Step 6 — The sixth step in the planning process CIS system manually or have preset arrange- is to have one or more simulated tests involving ments with an outsourced remittance pro- all of the members of the recovery teams. cessing company to handle this work for the Often, the term table top test is used instead co-op in an emergency. of the phrase simulated test. In either case, Future and Emerging Mobile Technology Trends – 57 4

everyone involved is in the same room and temporarily troublesome to business, an actual practices collectively a specific disaster run-through of procedures at the designated scenario, including going through “phone disaster-recovery site may be the only way of tree” procedures. uncovering flaws to the plan that may prove The purpose of this type of test is two-fold. vital to fix before a real emergency. First, it is designed to identify flaws or omissions in the plan so they can be corrected. Second, Stage 5 the test serves as a real-world type of training Step 8 — The eighth and final step in the exercise for the recovery-team members. planning process involves maintaining the recovery plan over time to reflect changes Stage 4 in the overall organization, the individual Step 7 — The seventh step in the planning business units and their processes, as well as process involves planning and executing some the constantly changing technology deployed form of limited-scope disaster-recovery test throughout the cooperative. This should be using the actual disaster-recovery facilities. The done on at least an annual basis. Further- scope typically is somewhat limited because of more, each time the DR/BC plan is reviewed concerns with potentially disrupting normal and updated, the recovery-team members must business operations, as well as the extreme be retrained and the plan must be retested. If difficulty in switching from production any defects are found or improvements identi- systems/databases to backup ones, and then fied in the testing or retesting process, the moving back over to the production systems DR/BC plan should be updated to reflect again without losing any data changes or the lessons learned. additions that occurred during the test. Although

Conclusions As part of the research for this report, numerous In addition, more co-ops than ever before are co-op case studies involving the deployment of realizing the need for cooperative-wide technol- wireless technology were examined. As an indus- ogy plans and are using this larger process as try, electric co-ops have been making good deci- their vehicle for performing effective mobile sions in deploying mobile technology and have technology planning. A number of electric been prudent in reaping the benefits available co-ops are now engaged in formal DR/BC from the use of a phased deployment approach. planning to ensure that emergency contingen- It appears that “hybrid” solutions, or “quick hits,” cies for their deployed mobile technology solu- that maximize the leveraging of existing mobile tions and functionality are included as part of technology and wireless networks are often the the annual planning process. most cost-effective and easiest to deploy.

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Mobile Technology 5 Case Studies

In This Section: Coastal Electric Cooperative, Georgia Cobb Electric Membership Corporation, Georgia Delaware Electric Cooperative East Central Energy, Minnesota and Wisconsin Nashville Electric Service, Tennessee Wheat Belt Public Power District, Nebraska

This section includes six mobile workforce Several of the feature-rich and scalable MWM management (MWM) case studies detailing a solutions are available off-the-shelf and require number of scalable low-cost wireless solutions minimal customization, but may involve higher to suit the various requirements of the electric prices for licensing based on the number of field co-op industry and its associated business prac- users. Some of the smaller MWM solutions offer tices. Many of the MWM applications discussed many of the core features at reasonable costs, in the case studies are feature-rich and scalable, but the internal electric co-op project implemen- while others offer simple technical solutions tation team may have to take on a larger role that adequately meet the needs of small and during the installation and customization of this mid-size co-ops. MWM solution.

Coastal Electric Mobile Field Service Automation members happy and manage the work of seasonal Cooperative, References and support: J. Mark Bolton, Vice or part-time residents and the risk associated with Georgia President of Marketing and Customer Service the possibility of large storms and man-made disasters. This type of risk/reward thinking and Coastal Electric Cooperative is a small 15,000- strategy has made Coastal an “early adopter” of member electricity provider located on the south- technology that has enabled its staff to serve east Georgia coast. The leadership team at Coastal customer members better and more effectively. was presented with the opportunity to provide customer service to one of the fastest-growing ABOUT COASTAL regions in the nation. Working along a coastal Coastal Electric Cooperative has an operating area can be an extremely ideal and fulfilling staff of 59 employees who are responsible for career, as long as you can keep your customer providing exclusive service for roughly 573 60 – Section 5 5

HOW COASTAL REACHED ITS MOBILE TECHNOLOGY DECISION Remote Dispatch Office Dispatch Coastal wanted to give its members the ability to Connection Connection request any service or status change on the Web that they could perform in person at the co-op’s CSR Creates the Order Dispatcher Application Online FSRs local business office. This technical capability will give its customer-members the ability to Intranet order new service, request a final meter reading, Wireless ask questions about or pay an electric bill—with- Mode XML out having to worry about showing up during regular business hours and burning the extra gas IP Based Mobile Application and corresponding time by driving to the Coastal UPN Server Network Service-Link business office. When Coastal improved the effi- Service Order Server Application ciency of the customer service request process, it only made sense that the mobile field workers would have to improve the effectiveness of the customer service order (SO) fulfillment process FIGURE 5.1: Mobile Field Service Via the eMobile Data Service-Link. in order for the utility to survive. Coastal has been implementing “mobile office” applications and tools that will track SO completion, allow square miles in one of the fastest growing regions for the effective dispatch and delegation of SOs, of the south. The physical plant of Coastal Elec- and improve the efficiency of existing field re- tric consists of approximately 1,446 miles of line sources. in Bryan, Liberty, Long, and McIntosh counties, with headquarters located in Midway, Georgia. OVERVIEW OF COASTAL’S SYSTEM Incorporated in 1941, Coastal provides electric IMPLEMENTATION distribution service to more than 15,500 homes Coastal selected eMobile Data Corporation’s Ser- and businesses located in southeastern and vice-Link product for its wireless application fea- coastal Georgia. Coastal had operating revenues tures and capability. The eMobile Data Corporation exceeding $45 million and total kilowatt-hours is a leading developer and provider of Web- of 362 million for 2006. based mobile workforce automation (MWA) and dispatching software applications. Service-Link’s SO, dispatcher, and mobile applications are being used by the Coastal field service team to automate and streamline their SO fulfillment processes. This deployment has resulted in reduced operating costs, access to accurate up- to-date information through a real-time or near- real-time data communication network, reduced manpower and overtime costs, enhanced cus- tomer service, and improved response to remedy customer outage conditions.

HOW COASTAL OPERATES ITS MOBILE WORKFORCE SYSTEM The member service representative (MSR) cre- ates the SO in the traditional way by clarifying or entering any missing information into the Service- Link online form that has been previously filled FIGURE 5.2: Creating a Mobile Service Order. Mobile Technology Case Studies – 61 5

FIGURE 5.3: Service-Link Dispatcher Application Screen. out by the customer-member accessing the Web also can indicate when he/she is out of the ser- site. However, instead of using the “print to vice vehicle and working on the service request, paper” feature and routing it by the traditional so that if the customer-member decides to call to method, the MSR selects the “route to mobile” check on the status of the order, the most up-to- feature (see Figure 5.2). This SO is automatically date information can be conveyed to the caller. routed to the dispatcher application program This feature also allows a customer-member to operating on the two-way radio dispatcher’s check on the status of an electric service recon- desktop computer. nect or disconnect if he/she is in the process of The dispatcher “drags and drops” the SO onto returning to or leaving a vacation property. When the available field service representative (FSR) the FSR returns to the truck after completion of Service-Link software queue based on the FSR’s the turn-on or turn-off service request with the existing workload and availability (see Figure 5.3). latest in/out meter reading, he or she can immedi- The FSR receives the newly assigned SO and ately enter the details into the Service-Link appli- can sort and arrange the work in the most effi- cation and will mark the SO as complete. cient manner based on customer-member loca- This Service-Link mobile workforce system tion, scope-of-work, and the priority of the allows the FSR to “close” the SO from the field, service request. The dispatcher application which will initiate final order processing. This shows that the FSR has received and accepted application also allows business office oversight the SO request. and verification before the SO is processed and The FSR can also click to update the status of a new/final customer bill is generated. SOs that the SO to let the dispatcher know that he or she cannot be completed can be “returned” to the is en route to fulfill this service request. An FSR mobile dispatcher and rerouted to another FSR 62 – Section 5 5

FIGURE 5.4: Dispatcher and Mobile Application View of a Cancelled Service Order.

for completion. The dispatcher application or parts”—to keep the customer-member updated. service representative also has the capability to Any notes that are added to the SO by the field “take back” an SO and send it to another FSR technician will be immediately available to the for completion. dispatcher application and any service represen- The member service representative also has tative. The MSR also has the ability to cancel an the ability to modify an existing SO even after it SO, even after it has been routed to the mobile has been sent to the field technician for comple- system for completion by the field technician tion. For example, a customer-member may call (see Figure 5.4). The dispatcher and FSR will the business office and request that the field ser- immediately receive an indication or message vice technician “show-up after 3:00 p.m. so that that this SO has been cancelled and will need they can return home and let their dog into the to refresh the Service-Link software queue to house” to allow for meter access. The MSR can view this specific update. add this note to the existing SO, which may al- ready be in process, and it will update the dis- HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE COMPONENTS patcher application and the FSR laptop computer OF COASTAL’S SYSTEM in real-time and flag this change for immediate The field and office equipment hardware and attention. software requirements were determined based If unable to “close” the service request, the field on the cost, experience-of-use, and the eMobile technician can add notes to the SO to indicate Service-Link vendor recommendations. Coastal its status—such as “will return with additional selected non-ruggedized vehicle laptops based Mobile Technology Case Studies – 63 5

2. Office client (dispatcher workstations) • Minimum—2-GHz Pentium 4; 512 MB RAM • Recommended—2-GHz Pentium 4; 1 GB RAM 3. Mobile client (FSR mobile laptop) • Laptop PC • Minimum—866-MHz Pentium 3; 256 MB RAM • Recommended—2-GHz Pentium 4; 1 GB RAM

Coastal also installed Verizon Wireless AirCards in all of its field laptops for use of the evolution-data optimized (EV-DO) mobile network for its high-speed broadband Internet access capability. This Verizon Wireless public FIGURE 5.5: A Ruggedized Pedestal Holds broadband data network provides adequate and the Non-Ruggedized Laptops Used by Field reliable radio frequency signal coverage for the Crews. major streets and roads throughout the Coastal electric service area. on experience with field computer use and the Broadband data access for all of the field reduced cost of buying these reliable laptop com- laptop computers now allows for real-time SO puters through local sources and outlets. Coastal updates to take place throughout the Coastal also decided to select an extremely durable electric service area and the AirCards have also ruggedized laptop mount/pedestal to allow the been proven to work in some areas where a FSRs the ability to adjust the mount for ease-of- voice call on the same cellular network is unable use and proper viewing (see Figure 5.5). to obtain service and connect. Coastal selected In addition, a DC power supply/converter the Radio IP Mobile gateway application from was purchased from the laptop manufacturer Motorola for its middleware solution to manage and installed in the service vehicle to allow op- the Verizon Wireless private data network con- erating power to be provided by the 12-Volt bat- nection, protect the data through the use of en- tery while the vehicle is in use. This eliminates cryption, and allow the user to roam between the problem of overcharging the internal laptop different types of data networks (cellular, 802.11 battery and having to replace these on a regular Wi-Fi, satellite, etc.). This Radio IP application basis. Listed below are the hardware require- utilizes IP addresses that remain static and will ments for this Service-Link mobile application as allow the field users to switch networks without recommended by the eMobile Data vendor. having to re-authenticate. If the utility vehicle enters a poor broadband data network coverage Hardware Components: area, the Service-Link application data will be accumulated, or buffered, until the vehicle re- 1. Service-Link server turns to a major road or street with good net- • Minimum—2-GHz Pentium 4; 1 GB RAM work connectivity and the data transmission • Recommended—Dual, 3-GHz Pentium 4; automatically takes place without the field user 2 GB RAM ever knowing it. This Radio IP application main- • The size and power of the server (i.e., tains an open socket connection to the network, number of processors, memory, disk space) giving the field user’s session persistence by depends on a user’s requirements (e.g., buffering the data in poor coverage areas, until number of orders, number of dispatchers, a new connection is automatically established months/years of history, MSRs, etc.). to the wireless broadband network. 64 – Section 5 5

BUSINESS BENEFITS REALIZED “live” inquiries on an account to receive up-to- The Coastal management and field teams are ex- date account balances and other critical informa- tremely pleased with the number of business ef- tion required to fulfill a pending service request. ficiencies that have been created after the implementation of this eMobile Service-Link ap- CONCLUSION plication and mobile field service system. There In addition to all of the efficiencies created are no more paper SO tickets to route and track. throughout the Coastal organization with regards All pertinent and real-time information from the to effectively fulfilling customer-member re- member database is transmitted to the field lap- quests, these mobile field service applications top computer for efficient order fulfillment. and tools have also created additional account- There is no longer any need to dispatch long ability among the 59 Coastal employees. Every strings of SO numbers and characters over the customer-member service request that is as- two-way radio system, which also creates less signed by this mobile dispatch application must opportunity for error. This has also allowed for be completed. These service requests will re- the more effective use of the two-way radio sys- main in the Service-Link software queue until it tem channel resources and allows these SO re- is acted upon by a representative of the Coastal quests to remain private from outside staff. There are no more open SO reports to an- eavesdropping. alyze every morning to determine which re- This Service-Link application has allowed for quests were not completed; it is all tracked in easy coordination of a disconnect/reconnect if real-time in the Service-Link mobile application. they were to occur on the same day. The ser- Every Coastal dispatcher and FSR is now able vice representative no longer needs to match to filter and perform a real-time search of the paper orders for these two activities to be sure service requests from the previous day. The cur- that the member database reflects the correct rent status or any updates for “returned” or “not final status. Service requests no longer get lost, worked” service requests can now be easily ex- damaged, or misplaced with the help of the Ser- amined and prioritized when the staff arrives at vice-Link application report function for real- the beginning of each shift. There is no longer time SO tracking. any lost or incomplete paperwork which would An FSR now knows the real-time priority of have previously resulted in customer member service requests, even when a new SO comes dissatisfaction. The completed SO can now be into his/her Service-Link software queue, such as permanently stored or archived for multiple when a member pays a bill for a disconnect that years in order to meet the federal/state tax and has recently taken place and now requests an legal documentation requirements. These SO immediate reconnection. The FSR can also sort records can also easily be searched by member the SO by meter cycle or map number for easy number or date-range for historical information route and trip planning. The FSR can initiate requirements.

Cobb Electric Outage Management System (FAAR), which eliminated the need for field Membership References and support: Corbitt Clift, Manager teams to use paper maps. Approximately 85 Corporation, of Special Projects vehicles were equipped with standard laptop Georgia computers, locking stands, and mounting Cobb EMC has continually implemented new pedestals. and upgraded existing mobile workforce appli- This mobile workforce management (MWM) cations since installing its first mobile laptop project occurred in two distinct phases: (1) ex- computer in a service vehicle back in 1994. tending the existing outage management system These mobile laptops were implemented with a (OMS) to the field, and (2) deploying a modified geographical information system (GIS) applica- version of the OMS for completing SOs for elec- tion called field access to automated records tric meter connects and disconnects. Mobile Technology Case Studies – 65 5

The initial plan to bring mobile data applica- exceeding $367 million. Cobb EMC’s customer tions to the Cobb EMC field workforce involved base is 89 percent residential. utilizing the co-op’s existing seven-frequency, 900-MHz, trunked radio system. Cobb’s engineers IMPLEMENTATION OF MOBILE TECHNOLOGY were able to get the data communications chan- PHASE I FOR OUTAGES nel working for the MWM application that was The first phase of the mobile technology migra- optimized for shorter data message length and tion for Cobb EMC extended its existing Inter- transmitted at approximately 4800 baud. When graph outage management system (OMS) to its this data communications system was tested field workforce. The Cobb EMC Technology Ser- with a full load of 25 mobile laptop computers vices Team worked with Intergraph for the im- sending SO messages at regular intervals, how- plementation of “I/Mobile TC,” a computer-aid- ever, it failed to properly handle this level of ed mapping and dispatch system which routes message traffic. The results of this bandwidth outage tickets to the field crews for resolution. test helped Cobb EMC decide to move to a pub- This new outage and workforce management lic wireless data broadband communications system has multiple interfaces to the in-house network that was now available and provided databases, such as the customer information good signal coverage in its service area. system (CIS), GIS, and SCADA. The OMS is One of the major building blocks to this MWM controlled from a dispatch center with operators system was added in 2003, when the Cobb EMC managing outages and workforce assignments IT department implemented a Wi-Fi network for on a real-time basis, 24 hours a day, 7 days the utility maintenance facilities where most of per week. the service vehicles are stored during non-use. I/Mobile TC provides the field workforce with Adding Wi-Fi to the existing service yard and a wide variety of tools that can be used from the corresponding laptop computers was ex- within their service vehicles, allowing for a num- tremely easy to do and represented a very low- ber of control room functions to be remotely cost procurement. All of the laptop computer available. This software module provides capa- software application updates, Windows operating bilities for voiceless dispatch, status updates, system patches and updates, anti-virus and GIS and messaging. I/Mobile TC also interfaces with mapping software changes are performed wire- automatic vehicle location (AVL) hardware, pro- lessly overnight, when the vehicles are parked vides extensive mapping capabilities, and allows in the service yard. car-to-car, car-to-CAD, and CAD-to-car messag- ing. The program uses Microsoft Windows for a ABOUT COBB EMC familiar operator interface. A nonprofit, customer-owned utility, Cobb EMC was formed in 1938 and currently has more than 190,000 members, making Cobb EMC one of the largest electric cooperatives in the United States. Cobb EMC’s service area covers some 400 square miles of territory. The physical plant of Cobb EMC consists of over 10,000 miles of line within portions of the metro- politan Atlanta area and also in- cludes parts of several counties in southwest Georgia. In 2007, Cobb EMC sold over 4.1 billion kilowatt- FIGURE 5.6: A Mobile Laptop Installed in a Cobb EMC hours of electricity, with revenue Service Vehicle and Displaying the OMS Software. 66 – Section 5 5

When dispatch changes the priority of jobs HOW COBB EMC OPERATES ITS MOBILE and sends outage ticket status updates, field per- TECHNOLOGY SYSTEM sonnel are instantly aware of changes to their The Phase I mobile workforce deployment in- schedules and list of task assignments. Mobile volved the installation and use of the mobile worker-initiated outage ticket updates have al- broadband wireless network data and the inte- lowed for an improvement in accuracy, because gration of the I/Mobile TC outage management of the validation of field-entered information. client into 74 service vehicles and the training of This I/Mobile system reduces the amount of pa- approximately 160 field personnel. These 160 perwork and allows for the population of field field workers included members of the line reports using real-time mobile dispatch informa- maintenance and service construction group, tion. The I/Mobile TC application also supports forestry team, field supervisors, and other Cobb both private radio networks as well as cellular EMC customer service personnel. digital packet data (CDPD), because the applica- This new I/Mobile TC outage management tion is independent of the transport layer. process still starts with the work assignments or The next step involved getting real-time out- outage tickets being entered and posted into CIS. age ticket updates from the utility field crews, These outage tickets are automatically sent to building on the fact that they already had in- the dispatcher’s workstation and loaded into the stalled and working GIS laptops in their fleet of corresponding work crew and service vehicle service vehicles. Cobb EMC started working with folder. The dispatcher reviews the outage ticket, Verizon Wireless in 2004 and ended up purchas- performs any required workload balancing, and ing a broadband access device, along with an approves the pending outage ticket for dispatch unlimited monthly data access plan, for each to the corresponding service vehicle laptops. laptop and vehicle in the fleet to connect to this Field crews start their work shifts by signing high-speed mobile broadband data network. onto the laptop computer and the assigned out- age tickets are formally dispatched to the service vehicle computer to com- plete the OMS process. Cobb EMC field crews can manage their outage tickets—such as closing out the ticket upon completion and changing the status of an assignment—on a real- time basis. These outage ticket real-time changes get immediately updated in the CIS network for supervisors and dispatchers to view. Supervisors can now check the status of open outage tickets for each field crew in the mid- dle of the work shift and change or alter assignments to rebalance the workloads. The dispatchers can also intervene on a real-time basis to change the priority of an outage ticket, alter an assignment based on any changes in personnel status, perform weather-related changes, or give required part delivery and resource FIGURE 5.7: Screen Shot Listing Outage Jobs by Number and Type. updates to the field team. Figures 5.7 and 5.8 represent two Mobile Technology Case Studies – 67 5

field technicians and customer service and man- agement personnel with real-time information and makes for a very efficient Cobb EMC field organization.

SYSTEM COST The following analysis includes the total cost for the implementation of this Intergraph I/Mobile TC application, monthly recurring cost per tech- nician, and the overall timeline required to put this mobile solution into use.

DOE, JOHN • Cost: one-time XXX I Standard non-ruggedized laptop computer XXXXXXX with Microsoft OS at $1,200 per service vehicle multiplied by 74 service vehicles = $88,800*

I Floor-stand lockable laptop computer mounts multiplied by $150 per vehicle FIGURE 5.8: Screen Shot Showing Outage Details for a Particular Job. = $11,100* I Intergraph I/Mobile TC application multi- plied by ~$1,000 per laptop = $74,000 Verizon Wireless AirCard multiplied by different screens of the I/Mobile outage manage- I ~$80 per laptop connection = $5,920 ment application as it would be displayed on Trimble GPS unit with antenna and cables the laptop PC inside a Cobb EMC service vehi- I multiplied by ~$350 per vehicle = $25,900 cle. Double clicking on “JOBS” (shown in Fig- Internal project team labor—research, train- ure 5.7) will launch the “Outage Details” screen I ing, and development of I/Mobile TC and shown in Figure 5.8. OMS—at 1,430 hours multiplied by (aver- age of $75/hour) = $107,250 PHASE I BUSINESS BENEFITS REALIZED Total one-time cost is approximately The integration of the I/Mobile TC application I $312,970 solution addressed most of the workflow and • Cost: monthly per service vehicle management requirements of the Cobb EMC Verizon Wireless unlimited data package outage ticket and line maintenance process. I = $50 Additionally, a number of intangible benefits re- I/Mobile TC annual software warranty and sulted from the deployment of this I/Mobile TC I support costs = Included application that cannot be measured in terms of Total monthly cost for 74 mobile laptop cost. This OMS application proved to be very I PCs is approximately $3,700 easy to use for the Cobb EMC field technicians, • Time: six months for I/Mobile TC field extremely cost-effective, and had a very quick implementation payback in terms of operational effectiveness and improving customer service. The standard outage ticket process steps have been reduced * These items were deployed during the initial GIS significantly, workflows have been optimized, mobile map project. Because of the age of these and the time it now takes to respond to outages laptops, it was necessary to replace them during and maintenance orders has been dramatically the Phase I portion of this project. The initial reduced. The number of work ticket entry and one-time cost of the I/Mobile application can documentation errors has also been significantly be reduced by approximately one-third if the reduced. This geographical-based mapping, out- laptops were previously deployed. age response, and workflow application updates 68 – Section 5 5

IMPLEMENTATION OF PHASE II FOR extremely cost-effective and only involved the CONNECTS/DISCONNECTS addition of the I/Mobile TC application, Verizon Phase II of the project involved deployment of a broadband wireless data connection, and a modified version of the I/Mobile TC application corresponding mobile AirCard for these 15 field to approximately 15 more field service techni- service technicians. These disconnect and recon- cians who are responsible for completing SOs nect field technicians and their assigned service for electric meter connects and disconnects. vehicles were previously equipped with a mo- The existing I/Mobile TC configuration had to bile laptop PC and mounting hardware in order be slightly modified in order to accommodate to utilize the GIS mapping system. the assignment of SOs relating to electric meter connects and disconnects. PHASE II BUSINESS BENEFITS REALIZED These SOs follow a similar process to that A number of intangible benefits were also recog- mentioned above for outage tickets; however, nized during this Phase II MWM migration, in- the field technician will see a slightly different cluding the reduction in meter reading entry er- screen or view showing his/her list of pending rors, rebalancing the daily workloads among the assignments. The Cobb EMC technician just se- available technicians based on completion rate, lects the SO from the list of jobs (see Figure 5.7 as well as increases in member satisfaction. This for a screen shot) to view the required tasks and Phase II implementation also helped Cobb EMC information for that assignment. This group of improve cash flow for electric meter connects and Cobb EMC technicians will typically be assigned disconnects by dramatically reducing the process a daily average of 150 SOs, with significant in- steps and the average time for a service techni- creases or peaks in the SO daily average to- cian to perform this function. This new MWM wards the end of each month. application has allowed Cobb EMC to schedule Adding SO disconnects and reconnects to and fulfill an electric meter connect or discon- the existing Cobb EMC mobile workforce was nect customer SO approximately four days sooner. This means that member customers can start using their electric service sooner and Cobb EMC can also bill them four days sooner. Figures 5.9 and 5.10 represent different map views of the I/Mobile application as it would be displayed on the laptop PC. A Cobb EMC service truck is indicated by the red vehicle and unit number.

UNDERGROUND CABLE LOCATION BENEFIT One of the other mobile workforce applications that was a side benefit of the installation of the AirCards was access to the Georgia Utilities Pro- tection Center (UPC) by the underground cable locate team. This underground cable locate process is defined by the Georgia UPC for all utility operators and typically starts with a cus- tomer or contractor request. Georgia UPC re- ceives a call or e-mail request for an underground cable locate and assigns a unique ticket number for each request. Georgia UPC e-mails these locate tickets to all Georgia utility companies FIGURE 5.9: Screen Shot of Street Map Showing Cobb EMC operating in the underground cable locate Infrastructure and Service Vehicle. request area. Mobile Technology Case Studies – 69 5

The Cobb EMC supervisor reviews these Georgia UPC tickets, makes assignments based on the field technician’s territory, performs any required workload balancing, and forwards the locate ticket e-mail to the corresponding service vehicle laptop. The Cobb EMC locator technician will just need to select the locate ticket from the list of e-mails in the INBOX to view the required ticket and information for that assignment. The locator technician drives to that location, uses his laptop to access the Georgia UPC Web site, views the marking diagram, performs the locate markings assignment, and closes the locate ticket on the UPC Web site. Once again, adding these underground cable locate tasks to the existing Cobb EMC mobile workforce was extremely cost-effective. This capability only involved the addition of the Verizon broadband wireless data connection, corresponding mobile AirCard, and the Trimble GPS unit in order to utilize the GIS mapping system for the service territory. Figure 5.11 shows a screen shot of the home- FIGURE 5.10: Screen Shot of Real-Time Map of Cobb EMC Service page for the Georgia UPC. The Cobb EMC locate Territory Showing Service Trucks in the Field. technicians will view the same exact Web page layout that anyone would see when it is ac- cessed from a home or office computer.

LESSONS LEARNED One of the Cobb EMC lessons learned during the early implementation stages involved the as- signment of Internet protocol (IP) addresses. The initial private two-way radio solution used a sta- tic IP address configuration. However, moving to a public network required the I/Mobile applica- tion to deal with IP switching, which is standard for a public data network. IP switching by the Verizon public network resulted in the regular loss of the mobile broadband connection and the associated real-time entry of data updates by the field utility teams. This proved to be a multivendor interface issue between Verizon Wireless and Intergraph that had to be resolved before field workers could effectively access this wireless broadband data service network. Broadband data security was a problem using a static IP address. Once FIGURE 5.11: A Screen Shot of the Georgia UPC Homepage. the broadband data connection was lost and would drop, the laptop computer required re- connection and authentication before message 70 – Section 5 5

transfer could take place. The Verizon broadband connection and start the wireless connection to data network would assign a new IP address upon the Wi-Fi network once they entered the service reconnection (IP switching) and the I/Mobile TC facility. The laptop computer doesn’t have the application client was unable to reinitiate com- ability to select the most appropriate network munications using this different IP address. based on its coverage availability, network ca- One solution was to have Verizon use the sta- pacity, and throughput, and would often require tic IP network protocol, but this would require direct user intervention. The laptop is unable to Cobb EMC to pay an additional monthly fee to handle simultaneous data connections using Verizon Wireless. The other alternative was to both Wi-Fi and the Verizon broadband data have the I/Mobile application modified to han- network, and the ideal situation would be to dle IP switching on the public broadband data prioritize the Wi-Fi connection if it is accessible, network. The Technology Services Team worked because of its superior download and upload with Intergraph to develop a software solution capacity and speed. for the I/Mobile TC application to maintain con- The typical mobile utility crew training sessions nection during IP switching and the project lasted approximately three to four hours and 80 moved forward. Once this security and connec- percent of the technical material involved man- tion solution was developed, if the vehicle went aging the wireless network connections of this out of broadband data network coverage, it I/Mobile TC application. A middleware wireless would essentially reconnect automatically once switch solution was selected that maintains a the mobile utility team drove back into a good “persistent connection” throughout the entire signal-strength area. This allowed the mobile I/Mobile TC session and independently manages utility team to make SO and outage manage- all of the encryption and authentication require- ment updates and not have to worry about ments, undetected by the mobile user. Another losing the connection back to the Cobb EMC advantage of this middleware wireless switch so- hosting server. lution includes a significant reduction in training A private mobile data network can maintain because the wireless data connection is now a static IP connection at all times, since the being managed for the field users, as this wireless operators of this network can control the IP switch device will make the actual connection assignments required for its mobile workforce transparent to the mobile workforce application. applications. However, a public network like the Verizon Wireless broadband data network CONCLUSION will randomly assign a new IP address for every The important thing to remember about getting new data application session. this wireless solution into the hands of the Another lesson that was learned once the electric co-op’s mobile workforce at Cobb EMC mobile portion of this real-time outage manage- is that it is a very low-cost solution to imple- ment solution was rolled out to the Cobb EMC ment. These utility field crews now get their utility field teams involved the computer select- outage tickets and SOs downloaded into their ing the appropriate wireless network connec- vehicle in the morning and can make and re- tion. The initial rollout of the mobile OMS using ceive real-time updates to jobs when they are the Verizon broadband data network involved out in the field. They can now spend more time training the utility field crews to turn on the Wi- in the morning figuring out the scope-of-work, Fi network access when returning to the service procuring parts, coordinating manpower, and facility and turn off network access when leav- discussing schedule modifications if any changes ing this facility. This allowed updates and data to weather, resources, and outage tickets or SOs to be retrieved from these mobile utility crew may have occurred during the overnight hours. laptop computers automatically during vehicle These outage management and workflow appli- non-use hours. cations are based on the Microsoft Windows The problem encountered involved the field operating system, are very easy to use, and are crews forgetting to turn off the broadband optimized for smaller message lengths and Mobile Technology Case Studies – 71 5

bandwidth requirements. The Technology Ser- outage tickets and SOs based on the GPS vices Team at Cobb EMC was proud of the fact information from the Trimble unit. A digital that when the remnants of the last hurricane camera can also be assigned to these field came through its service area during 2006, and crews, which would allow them to take before- over 30,000 members were without electric and-after pictures that can be used to assess power, this mobile outage management data storm damage. This digital camera-application network worked extremely effectively and was software can be loaded onto the laptop PC and highly reliable. the pictures downloaded from the camera onto Additional mobile technology capabilities the hard drive and attached electronically to an are now available to Cobb EMC since portable outage ticket or e-mail message. By implement- laptop computers are now installed in most of ing additional MWM applications, Cobb EMC the service vehicles and a reliable wireless has essentially turned this service vehicle and broadband data connection is readily available. associated field crew into anSCADA effective systems and provide Mapping and navigation software can now be efficient mobile office. real-time control and loaded and used to provide directions for monitoring of electric distribution systems. Ac- cording to IEEE Standard Delaware Electric Low-Cost “Quick Hit” Cellular-Based Mobile approximately 70,000 customers1402-2000, and 80,000Guide for Cooperative Applications: Leveraging Existing Co-op electric meters spread acrossElectric 1,100 square Power milesSubstation Technology Investments of service territory. The co-opPhysical maintains and 6,200 Electronic References: Gary Cripps, CFO/CIO, and Walt miles of electric distributionSecurity service lines, “the that introduc- Henderson, IT Manager carry more than 1.1 gigawattstion of ofenergy computer annually systems to the homes and businesseswith DEC online serves. access The to Like many of its fellow co-ops, Delaware Elec- service territory terrain is relativelysubstation flat informationand is tric Co-op (DEC) is taking a phased approach densely populated. Thus, DECsignificant requires in only that a substa- toward implementing mobile technology solutions single central office, warehouse,tion relayand fleet protection, loca- for its field workers. Thus far, DEC has imple- tion to serve its customer base.control, Its power and data supply collec- mented five specific MWM field applications for needs are provided by Old Dominiontion systems Electric may be ex- an extremely low investment and operating cost Cooperative (ODEC), locatedposed in Glen to the Allen, same vul- with high post-implementation acceptance rates Virginia. from the field workers using this new mobile technology. This resulted in improved customer OVERVIEW OF DEC’S MOBILE TECHNOLOGY service, fewer errors, more timely access to bet- IMPLEMENTATION ter information, as well as a more efficient field Table 5.1 summarizes the five MWM applications workforce. deployed by DEC, including a brief discussion The key to Delaware’s mobile deployment of the mobile technology infrastructure and ap- strategy involves leveraging its existing investment plication strategy employed, the benefits real- in hardware, operating system software, staff, and ized, and the frequency of the data updates to business application systems to gain benefits from and from the field workers. “quick hits” involving rather minimal investments by DEC. The term “quick hit” refers to the MWM HOW DEC REACHED ITS MOBILE TECHNOLOGY applications, technology, and data transport IMPLEMENTATION DECISION methods that target specific field workforce tasks, Before delving into a deeper discussion of the functions and workflow for the implementation MWM applications deployed at DEC, it is impor- of automation and real-time communications. tant to understand certain background information needed to establish the proper context for under- ABOUT DEC standing the circumstances surrounding these DEC, based in Greenwood, Delaware, was formed deployments. DEC is fortunate to have virtually in 1936. Today its 139 full-time employees serve complete cellular voice and high-speed data 72 – Section 5 5

TABLE 5.1: Comparison of DEC’s Five MWM Applications.

Business Mobile Mobile Data Function Technology Technology Application Benefits Update Impacted Infrastructure Strategy Employed Realized Rate 1 Underground Verizon Wireless Access Browser-Based “Miss Utility” Send/Receive Near Service Locates AirCards in Laptops Statewide Utility Locate System Completions Real-Time from Field 2 Field Verizon Wireless Connect Client-Based Software Via Fewer No. of Real-Time Collections AirCards in Laptops Wireless VPN Connection to CIS, Unnecessary E-Mail & Credit Card Payment Cut-offs Gateway 3 Meter Reading Laptop-Based GPS Off-Cycle Meter Reading Route 3 Hour Savings/ Real-Time Optimization & & Route Optimization Optimization & GPS-based Meter Reader/ Navigation Directional Routing Day 4 Digital Pictures Verizon Wireless Route Optimization & GPS-based Less Time & Real-Time of Poles in Field AirCards in Laptops Directional Routing for Field Workers Fewer Miles & GPS Taking Digital Pictures of Poles for Driven to Get GIS & Pole Attachment Billing Pole Info 5 Update All Private Wi-Fi Access Wirelessly “Transmit” Current GIS All Field Staff Real-Time “Remote” GIS Points & GIS Laptop Database to Laptops in DEC Using Current On-Demand Databases in Databases in Vehicles Vehicles Via Wi-Fi Access Points GIS Database DEC Vehicles in Yard & Garage Areas

coverage from Verizon Wireless throughout its en- laptop computers. Verizon represents only one tire service territory. In early 2003, DEC deployed of several national wireless or cellular carriers non-ruggedized IBM ThinkPad laptops in all of its that offer high-speed broadband data access service and other fleet vehicle types to provide with extremely good network reliability. field access to its GIS database for all field work- DEC had a one-time cost of less than $100 ers. Initially, these vehicle-based “remote” GIS per laptop for these AirCards and associated databases were kept up-to-date by periodically application software, plus a monthly recurring removing them from the DEC vehicles and re- fee of $60 per laptop for unlimited data access. loading the entire GIS database using a network- This allowed DEC’s underground locators to attached docking stations located at their central access the “Miss Utility” application from any- office facility. These field laptops are replaced where within DEC’s service territory. on a regular four-year rotational cycle using Upon completion of a locate request, DEC’s standard off-the-shelf non-ruggedized laptops in locator accesses the browser-based “Miss Utility” order to keep costs down. database, designates the corresponding locate request as completed, and, at the same time, Application 1: Underground Service Locates retrieves any new locate requests that have oc- All of the utilities within Delaware are required curred since he/she last synchronized with the to use the state-approved “Miss Utility” clearing- “Miss Utility” system. If any of these new locate house system for fulfilling underground service requests apply to the locator’s current geograph- locate information requests. Since the “Miss Util- ical location, they may be processed before ity” underground locate clearinghouse applica- he/she leaves the area. tion is browser-based, DEC installed Verizon This system greatly reduces paperwork, Wireless AirCards into each of the field locators’ eliminates the need for completed locates to Mobile Technology Case Studies – 73 5

be data-entered by back office clerical staff, • Using a credit or debit card via the wireless makes the locators more productive, and speeds credit/debit card interface that is also part of up the process of communicating completed lo- NISC’s CIS system functionality (any payments cates back to the initial requestor. Thus, locates made in this manner post on a real-time basis are designated as being complete in the “Miss to the customer’s account record stored on Utility” statewide database by the responsible the CIS master database); or utility locator on a near-real-time basis, while • Paying in cash. The collector enters the pay- new locate requests can be retrieved periodi- ment amount into the wireless CIS payment cally throughout the work day every time a screen, which posts to the account on a real- completed locate is transmitted, as well as at time basis, and provides the customer with a the beginning of each work shift. handwritten payment receipt as an additional form of proof of payment. (Some customers Application 2: Field Collections have been known to tape envelopes to their Field collectors and delinquent customers both electric meters containing sufficient cash to benefit from DEC’s mobile CIS application and cover their delinquent amounts in order to this real-time information being available outside avoid disconnection.) of the main office. At the beginning of the work day, each field collector is given a list of delin- In each of these methods, payments are posted quent accounts that are to be disconnected for on a real-time basis to the customer’s account nonpayment. Upon arriving at the delinquent record stored in the CIS master database (via customers’ premises, but prior to initiating the the aforementioned wireless VPN-connected physical disconnection process, collectors take CIS system connection) before the collector two last steps before proceeding with the dis- leaves the premises. connections. If the collector is unable to collect the delin- First, field collectors use the AirCards installed quent amount, and thus is forced to disconnect in their GIS laptop PCs for wireless VPN-based electric service, the collector again utilizes the Internet access to the e-Business portion of the CIS system—via its client-based “Reflections” National Information Solutions Cooperative’s software over a wireless VPN connection—to (NISC’s) CIS application system. Then, using the indicate that the disconnection SO is complete “Reflections” client-based software on their lap- and the customer’s account status now reflects tops, they access the customer’s account to see the disconnection. Because of the mobile nature if a last-minute payment has been made by the of these field activities, the CIS system reflects customer, which would cause the collector to the payment or electric service disconnection in abort the process of disconnecting the cus- a near-real-time manner. tomer’s electric service. Using the mobile solution described above, Second, if there is no record of any pay- DEC’s field collectors not only have a 40 to 50 per- ment in the CIS master database, the collector cent success rate in their field collection activities attempts to contact the customer at his/her now, but have experienced a significant decrease premises in order to make one final attempt to in service terminations of customers who have try to collect the delinquent payment. If the cus- made last-minute payments earlier that same day. tomer is present, as well as willing and able to There are three key elements (and one addi- pay, the following three methods are available tional benefit) that make this a workable MWM for making the payment: solution for DEC. The three factors are:

• Paying by telephone using DEC’s interactive • The co-op’s CIS system must support online voice recognition (IVR) system, which will bill payment processing and allow the bal- post the payment to the customer’s account ance owed to be viewed in real time. on a real-time basis, where it can be immedi- • The co-op’s CIS system must also be able to ately verified by the field collector; support real-time or near-real-time payment 74 – Section 5 5

posting in general from all available electronic payment sources. (Of course, this excludes U.S. Postal Service, pay station, and drop-box- based payments.) • Since this mobile solution has no “store and forward” capability, it is important that DEC has virtually complete wireless coverage within its service territory.

The additional advantage of this mobile solu- tion is that the collectors already had GIS laptop PCs deployed in their vehicles prior to the im- plementation of this mobile collections function FIGURE 5.12: Size Comparison of an in the field. Thus, the incremental cost was lim- Earthmate GPS to a Typical Cell Phone. ited to the purchase of a Verizon AirCard for each field collector’s laptop PC. port. Please refer to Figure 5.12 to see the physi- Application 3: Meter Reading Optimization cal size of the Earthmate GPS unit relative to that and Navigation of a typical cell phone. DEC has been in the process of gradually con- It should be noted that all of DEC’s electric verting to Cannon Technology’s power line car- power meters are resident in its GIS system, which rier automated meter reading system (PLC-AMR) contains the X/Y coordinates for each meter’s since 2004. While the PLC-AMR system’s percent exact location. Upon determining which meters of successful reads is very high, there are still a were missed by PLC-AMR, the GIS department certain percentage of non-reads occurring. In generates a list of meter numbers and their re- order to bill the customers where the PLC-AMR spective X/Y coordinates. The unread meters are system has failed to obtain a meter reading, DEC divided according to the normally assigned meter deploys meter readers to go to the customer’s reader routes in order to group them closer to- premises and manually obtain a meter reading for gether. XMAP plots each point as a stop on the billing purposes. The meters requiring a manual route. It automatically optimizes the route, along reading are random and typically scattered with projected distance and drive time. across DEC’s 1,100-square-mile service area. Once the route-optimization process is com- In order to facilitate the most effective use of pleted, the meter readers take the laptops to the its meter readers and leverage its existing field fleet vehicles they will be driving that day, plug technology, DEC purchased a product that works the Earthmate GPS LT-20 units into the laptops, with the GIS laptop PCs currently being used in and activate their optimized trip routes for the each meter reader’s company vehicle. The prod- day. The DeLorme system will display the driving uct is DeLorme’s XMap 5.2 GIS system with an directions to the meter reader for the duration of Earthmate GPS LT-20 at a cost of approximately the entire route. This navigation system will also $350 per laptop. speak, if the meter reader chooses to activate the DeLorme’s product physically consists of two DeLorme’s ability to verbalize the directions and components. The first is a digital video disc (DVD) has six different voice options available. If any containing navigation software, a database of X/Y meter readers stray off course, the DeLorme sys- coordinates for data points throughout the conti- tem will notify them and provide real-time cor- nental U.S., route optimization software, and a rected directions to get them back on track. data-import application with the capability to After completing the route, the day’s activity support various commonly used data formats. The can be reviewed on the laptop, if necessary. The second is a small but powerful GPS unit that actual distance, time, rate of speed, and length mounts on the vehicle’s windshield and attaches of time stopped can be downloaded and archived to the laptop via a universal serial bus (USB) for later analysis. The screen shot in Figure 5.13 Mobile Technology Case Studies – 75 5

FIGURE 5.13: Screen Shot of a DeLorme Navigation and Route Optimization System. depicts the turn-by-turn directions needed to fol- They would collect these items prior to depart- low the optimized route. The house icons repre- ing from the yard and garage area to perform a sent electric meter customers, the green line rep- job involving a particular pole, such as attaching resents the DEC electric distribution system, and new or replacing malfunctioning electrical the red dots are power poles. equipment, wiring, and connectors. Second, DEC decided to begin vigorously Application 4: Digital Pictures of Poles in enforcing the previously neglected process of Field: Route Optimization and Navigation billing for third-party pole attachments, such Beginning with the initial implementation of its as cable, fiber, and wireless service providers. GIS system in 1999, DEC has always included its Thus, the digital photographs not only allowed utility poles and associated pole data (including them to determine what to bill for, but also photographs of each pole) within its GIS system. provided irrefutable proof to support the The impetus for this was twofold. pole-attachment billing process. First, it provided DEC’s crews with visual in- In 2006, DEC revamped its mapping process, formation regarding the configuration of the which provided a means to eliminate the back- pole-attached electrical system components that log of completed jobs that were not yet mapped could potentially aid them in bringing the cor- from over 1,200 to 0. Part of that process was to rect parts and equipment for the required task. separate the maintenance of current pole and 76 – Section 5 5

FIGURE 5.14: Screen Shot of the DeLorme System’s Route Optimization Process.

equipment photographs from the initial mapping 1999. This occurred prior to the implementation process. Now that the mapping backlog has of any of the mobile workforce initiatives dis- been eliminated, there remains a need for the cussed in this case study. Initially, the access- field operations staff to visit the poles, verify the based “remote” GIS databases were updated GIS data, and photograph the equipment. periodically by removing the PCs from their lap- The solution was very similar to that de- top vehicle mounts and taking them to DEC’s scribed in Application 3 above. Since each pole crew room where they were updated via a net- was included in the GIS system database and work-attached docking station and finally re- represented by X/Y location coordinates, this in- turned to the laptop mounts located in the formation was imported into the field worker’s associated service vehicles. existing GIS laptop, containing a copy of the More recently, DEC changed over to a wire- DeLorme software. After using DeLorme to less method for updating these “remote” GIS create an optimized route, the field worker fol- laptops. The co-op deployed Wi-Fi 802.11g lowed it using the directional navigation features wireless cards in the GIS laptops, along with im- of the DeLorme system coupled with the Earth- plementing a series of network-connected Wi-Fi mate GPS. DEC estimates this saves each of its 802.11g access points or “hot spots” (54 Mbit/sec field workers at least an hour per day. The per access point) throughout its centralized screen shot in Figure 5.14 depicts the results of vehicle yard and garage facilities. Each of these DeLorme’s route optimization process. access points can cover an outdoor radius of up to approximately 140 meters (525 feet) of maxi- Application 5: Updating Remote GIS mum wireless coverage. This maximum distance Databases in Service and Fleet Vehicles is reduced based on the number and type of im- In 2001, DEC began deploying laptop PCs in all pediments that the broadcast signal encounters, of its service and fleet vehicles as the second such as the number and type of building walls. stage of its GIS system rollout, expanding the The access points were strategically placed use of Chapel Mapping’s GIS system it began in throughout DEC’s yard and garage area so there Mobile Technology Case Studies – 77 5

would be considerable overlap to reduce the workers targeted for these MWM applications to possibility of wireless performance bottlenecks. provide feedback in the form of voluntary con- All access points are connected—via DEC’s local structive criticism, so that the work processes area network—to a “shadow copy” or mirrored and use of mobile technology can be quickly version of DEC’s production GIS database. This “fine-tuned” and adjusted for optimal results. is done in order to avoid performance degrada- Another benefit afforded by this phased, tion on the production GIS system that would “quick hit” approach to mobile technology negatively impact the productivity of DEC’s deployment is the co-op and its technology Mapping Department. support staff are learning the “dos” and “don’ts” For more information concerning pre- involved in deploying mobile technology, as sent/future Wi-Fi options, as well as perfor- well as getting a feel for what will and what mance data, please refer to Table 2.2, “Wi-Fi will not work for their co-op. Options and Performance Data,” in Section 2 of this report. FUTURE MOBILE TECHNOLOGY Because DEC’s production GIS system does ENHANCEMENT PLANS not support transferring incremental updates to In 2008, DEC implemented automatic vehicle the remote GIS databases, the entire production location (AVL) in all of its service and fleet GIS database must be reloaded onto each re- vehicles by deploying Verizon AirCards in these mote database and associated laptop to ensure remaining laptops. DEC will also plan and de- that it is up-to-date. Since using the 802.11g pri- sign the input needed to implement the work vate wireless infrastructure requires a continuous management functionality contained in National connect time of approximately 15 minutes to Information Solutions Co-op’s (NISC) iVue CIS complete the full database transfer, the crews product. This is a prerequisite to the planned themselves choose when to perform these data- implementation of iVue’s Mobile Workforce base refreshes, rather than allowing the updates Management System that is scheduled to begin to happen automatically whenever the service sometime during 2009. and other fleet vehicles are within range of an With iVue, DEC plans to begin undertaking a access point. DEC’s field staff can control the much larger and more far-reaching MWM project process of refreshing its remote databases that will affect all types of SOs and trouble tick- through the use of Chapel Mapping’s “Smart ets, as well as potentially some work orders. Truck” map reader application to add and re- DEC will now be eminently more prepared to move new or existing meter and pole locations. tackle an undertaking of this size and breadth This helps reduce the total concurrent load on based on both the “lessons learned” and the the wireless access points at any time through- successes realized from its previous phased out the day. “quick hit” MWM deployment strategy. Over the next several years, DEC will be con- FIELD WORKER ACCEPTANCE AND FEEDBACK tinually examining its existing work processes, The mobile deployments listed in Table 5.1 looking for additional mobile technology “quick often involve significant changes to existing field hits,” as demonstrated by the aforementioned work processes. The key to their success is that five DEC MWM applications. If an additional DEC’s planning and deployment process re- mobile technology deployment opportunity quires considerable involvement from the field presents itself during this timeframe, DEC will workers who will be impacted and receive the seriously consider implementing it, especially if benefits of this MWM technology. Thus, the it helps them achieve their cooperative-wide key post-implementation acceptance rate from the performance indicator (KPI) goals and assist field workers utilizing the newly deployed mo- with providing more efficient field service to bile technology is exceptionally high. Further- its customer-members. more, there is a real willingness among the field 78 – Section 5 5

East Central Location-Based Electric Meter Solution electric co-op members per mile—and an oper- Energy, References and Support: Linda LaTourelle, ating staff of 180 employees to support this large Minnesota IT Manager territory. ECE gets its power supply from Great and Wisconsin River Energy, based in Elk River, Minnesota. East Central Energy (ECE) has developed a rather unique approach to customer service in HOW ECE REACHED ITS MOBILE that it has implemented a program of customer- TECHNOLOGY DECISION service guarantees that provide assurances to its The IT team at ECE was tasked with developing members that ECE will keep its promises regard- wireless applications and toolsSCADA that couldsystems be provide ing new services, service transfers, appointments, used by its field teams to makereal-time them control more effi- and security light repairs, billing questions, and cient, enhance worker safety,monitoring and help ofsave electric meter replacements. If ECE fails to deliver any costs for the company. Selectingdistribution mobile systems. work- Ac- of these six services within the period promised, force technologies that wouldcording operate to effectivelyIEEE Standard the customer is entitled to a penalty payment. without real-time RF coverage1402-2000, from a publicGuide or for Herein lies the problem: how does ECE become private wireless network wasElectric the main Power goal Substation of more efficient in providing these customer this effort. ECE also wantedPhysical to be able and to Electronic build services with the same number of employees, on the successful deploymentSecurity of these, “the wireless introduc- a rural customer base, and a limited financial applications and tools, withouttion having of computer to justify systems budget? Furthermore, the overall service territory the expense of implementingwith a large online private access to covers a large geographical area within two mobile voice and data systemsubstation for field information use. is states and is served by several cellular carriers The ECE team selected thesignificant Garmin StreetPilot in that substa- which have different levels of radio frequency 7200 GPS navigation systemtion for its relay ability protection, to load (RF) coverage, meaning no one cellular com- GIS map data and import thecontrol, associated and datacus- collec- pany is able to provide service for the entire tomer member information.tion ECE’s systems plan is may to in- be ex- ECE customer base. stall 70 of these GPS units—atposed a cost to ofthe around same vul- The introduction of mobile workforce tools $800 per unit—in line trucks and other fleet and applications in a situation such as this can vehicles used by the field service teams. make the field teams more effective and allow “We see this as an interim solution to our goal the office team to view updates of SOs and pro- of getting laptop-based maps in the truck,” said vide member information requests in a real-time Linda LaTourelle, the IT manager at ECE. “Most manner. Conversely, MWM applications and sys- line personnel will use this device in the field to tems are much easier to implement if a public or navigate to a site that they will remain at all day, private wireless data system is available for most as in construction. Others will use it when navi- of the electric service area, which is not the case gating to an outage location.” for ECE. The use of the StreetPilot 7200 GPS navigation solution now allows the field service teams to ABOUT EAST CENTRAL ENERGY just enter the customer account number or meter ECE is a member-owned electric cooperative address and the unit provides the most efficient that provides electricity, Internet access, and turn-by-turn audio directions to the work site. long-distance telephone service to homes, farms, This low-cost wireless tool allows ECE to enter and businesses in east central Minnesota and its entire list of more than 57,000 electric meters, northwestern Wisconsin. ECE, founded in 1936, customer account numbers and corresponding serves more than 57,000 customers in 14 coun- information into the unit for quick access and ties, making it Minnesota’s oldest and third- reference during travel to a work site location. largest member-owned electric cooperative. By providing real-time navigation for the dri- Operating revenues exceeded $84 million in ver, the GPS unit enables the ECE field workers 2007 and total kilowatt-hours were approxi- to become much more efficient when traveling mately 937 million. The co-op has more than to a work site. They no longer have to stop by 8,000 miles of distribution line—serving seven the office to get directions or read detailed Mobile Technology Case Studies – 79 5

maps; it also improves safety by allowing the ogy solution that could effectively solve the is- driver and crew to focus on the road conditions, sues that are important to the field organization driving hazards, and vehicle operation without or found on the list provided above. having to worry about getting lost. The addition There are also the technical issues that need of a tracking device (and associated wireless to be considered with the selection of field- data service to relay information back to a dis- based tools and services. These technical issues patch or central location) provides real-time may include: tracking of each vehicle’s current location as well as a historical record of where it’s been. 1. Cellular or private wireless data system The purchase considerations for adding MWM service area RF coverage, solutions, tools or applications to the existing 2. Internal IT infrastructure application and co-op field organization need to include an eval- interface challenges, uation of the current business requirements and 3. Integration of this mobility solution with workflow process. First, the leadership and field the existing work-flow process, and management teams will need to assess any 4. Use of wireless encryption and data problems with the existing fleet and mobile security measures. workforce. They can start by analyzing the needs of the field organization using a list like The cross-functional project team at ECE se- the one below to identify trends, opportunities lected the Garmin StreetPilot 7200 GPS naviga- or concerns. tion system for its ability to load the co-op’s GIS map data and customer member information. 1. Are our fuel costs out of control? They felt the device would make field work 2. Are our SO routes inefficient? teams more efficient and avoid most of the tech- 3. Do the field teams waste too much time nical issues referenced on the above list, and reading paper maps, plotting directions, etc.? that the seven-inch touch screen display with 4. Do we have vehicles and equipment audio instructions would be easy-to-use. getting stolen? 5. Do we have too many vehicular accidents OVERVIEW OF ECE’S MOBILE where employee safety is a concern? TECHNOLOGY IMPLEMENTATION 6. Do customer-members complain about The StreetPilot 7200 comes right “out of the our service? box” with numerous points of interest (POIs)— 7. Do we have new or inadequately trained including hospitals, parks, schools, restaurants, employees? gas stations, and other public locations—already 8. Do our vehicles and equipment get torn loaded. In addition, the device accepts custom up and require a lot of maintenance? POIs, and ECE decided to use a third party (Star 9. Is dispatching and rerouting service and Energy Services) to add its entire list of 57,000+ trouble orders inefficient? meters and the corresponding GIS latitude-longi- 10. Are experienced field workers retiring, tude coordinates. which will take additional knowledge and This unit also allows downloading of other experience out of the field workforce? reference information—such as customer ac- count numbers and addresses, associated circuit The next item for the co-op leadership and numbers, and system devices—for inventory management teams to perform would be to purposes. Having the GPS coordinates linked establish a cross-functional project team with or correlated with the internal GIS data helps representatives consisting of field workers, to confirm the exact location of a particular operations and maintenance personnel, internal customer member’s electric meter. ECE plans telecommunication and IT staff, engineering, to perform annual “refreshes” or updates of the and vendor support consultants. This team will StreetPilot map data, public-accessible POIs, and need to develop and evaluate a mobile technol- the customer-member data residing in these 80 – Section 5 5

The 7200 comes configured with a quick-re- lease dash mount and ECE plans to hard-wire its GPS devices directly into the vehicle’s electrical system to avoid potential issues with loose ciga- rette lighter connections as a result of road and terrain vibrations. This StreetPilot 7200 GPS unit also includes a one-year warranty and is typically priced in the $700 to $1,000 range, depending on the features, accessories, and quantities purchased. This price does not include the loading of ECE custom data-points/POIs by Star Energy Services. Several GPS devices, including the StreetPilot 7200, allow the user to listen to MP3 music, audio books, or instruction manuals and view JPEG photos. These media files can be stored on a removable secure digital (SD) memory card, which can be easily plugged into the USB port of the GPS unit. Including a digital camera with the field crew would allow them to take several pictures of site hazards, the electrical equipment before and after SO completion, or to perform damage surveil- lance of a particular location after a storm has passed. These pictures can be stored on an SD memory device with a file name corresponding to a customer or meter number and with a date/ time stamp on the file for future reference. These FIGURE 5.15. Two Views of the Garmin StreetPilot 7200 GPS photos can be reviewed by the field crews on the Navigation System. This wireless mobile device can list step-by-step StreetPilot 7200 prior to arriving at a work site to directions (top) or show the route to be taken on a map (bottom). complete a customer service request. The pictures can also be placed on an in-house server to doc- ument utility poles for pole attachment billing, Garmin units to accommodate infrastructure work performed, and equipment as required for changes and the addition of new customers. cost documentation purposes. They can also be The ECE project team plans to install approxi- used for inventory and asset documentation that mately 70 of these StreetPilot 7200 GPS naviga- may be required for insurance purposes related tion units in line trucks and other fleet vehicles to storm damage, fires, or man-made disasters. to give field workers turn-by-turn directions to the customer location to provide the required FUTURE ENHANCEMENT PLANS service, perform maintenance, or resolve out- The mobile workforce solution outlined above is ages. This unit also has the capability to speak strictly a location-based navigation tool versus a street names when giving directions. So instead tracking or AVL system that requires GPS data to of telling the driver to “turn right in one mile,” it be delivered wirelessly to a fixed location, such will speak something more specific, such as, as an electric co-op dispatch and operations cen- “turn right in one mile onto Electric Boulevard.” ter. ECE plans to deploy AVL and the StreetPilot A number of users prefer to hear the name of 7200 navigation solution at the same time. Sev- the street read out loud, so that drivers never eral AVL system vendors are developing inter- have to take their eyes off of the road to look at faces with GPS navigation units to an AVL the Garmin map to read the name. control box using a direct connection and soft- Mobile Technology Case Studies – 81 5

ware interface to send text messages and work- • Group 1 – AVL only; order instructions. • Group 2 – AVL and turn-by-turn directions The AVL system module inside of the service with some GIS data; vehicle will also collect real-time GPS informa- • Group 3 – AVL/mobile SOs; and tion, along with vehicle speed and diagnostic • Group 4 – AVL/complete mapping data. data. At regular co-op-specified intervals, it will transmit this data back to the co-op dispatch op- CONCLUSION erations center through the use of a public or The StreetPilot 7200 GPS navigation solution is a private wireless data system. This real-time infor- low-cost wireless tool. As used by ECE, it con- mation will be collected and analyzed on an tains the co-op’s entire list of 57,000+ electric AVL server and displayed onto a corresponding meters, customer account numbers, and corre- GIS map and land-based topographical com- sponding information for quick access during puter screen showing the location and speed for travel to a work location. This has allowed ECE the entire fleet of ECE service vehicles for work- field workers to become much more efficient flow and outage-management tracking purposes. when traveling to work sites and also improved ECE will transmit vehicle location information safety by allowing crews to focus on driving using “OnComm Rocket” AVL units produced by without having to worry about getting lost. Utility Associates in Atlanta, Georgia. The vehi- Also, because of the co-op’s incorporation of cle’s coordinates are wirelessly transmitted over this GPS navigation device, ECE improved on the Verizon Wireless network via external ex- fulfilling its six service guarantees in 2007. That press AirCards deployed in these Rocket AVL year there were more than 27,000 calls from units. Along with the ability to transmit AVL customers (about 74 calls per day, including data, the Rocket acts as a transport for field weekends) related to transactions for which ECE SOs submitted through a laptop equipped with has service guarantees; the co-op failed to meet a wireless AirCard connection. ECE plans to de- its standard on just 33 of those. The total guar- ploy mobile SOs using these express AirCards antees paid out to ECE customer members was and by subscribing to an unlimited data plan $366. This is a very remarkable accomplishment from Verizon Wireless. for an organization with 180 employees and the One of the advantages of this near-real-time need to provide continuous electric power to its AVL solution is that it does not require complete customer members on a 24-hour-a-day, seven- RF coverage throughout the service territory. The day-per-week basis. ECE field service vehicles just transmit or report The important thing to remember when im- the location information at regular intervals when plementing almost any mobile workforce solu- they are traveling between work sites. The AVL tion is getting early participation by the co-op unit does not need to transmit location data when field workers. If the mobile workforce applica- the vehicle is stationary. The vehicles using AVL tion is hard to use, unreliable, or creates more only will subscribe to a limited telemetry data work for end-users and support teams alike, it is plan offered by Verizon Wireless. The folks at probably not worth the effort to implement and ECE have also developed a hybrid solution to the project will eventually fail. The implementa- solve the field location-based computing needs tion of an MWM tool may prove to be a frustrat- required by the various departments and func- ing experience at times with the discovery of tions. ECE has broken down the field depart- technical problems or complex issues. The for- ments and support functions and placed all of mation of a cross-functional project team that the field personnel and associated vehicles in can remain focused on the end-goal of the mo- the following four categories delineated by loca- bile workforce application, as well as the major tion-based requirements: advantages of the solution, will be the key to the successful implementation and completion of the project. 82 – Section 5 5

Nashville Wireless Dispatching for Meter Services nessee Valley Authority (TVA). NES serves ap- Electric Service, References and support: Keith Wheeler, proximately 342,000 customers. Residential cus- Tennessee CIS Group Leader tomers account for 37 percent of kilowatt-hour sales. This case study involves the use of a location- based mobile business application by Nashville HOW NES REACHED ITS IMPLEMENTATION Electric Service (NES). NES collaborated with a DECISION FOR DISCONNECTS national wireless carrier for a mobile product The NES disconnect group has approximately application and cell-phone service that enables 20 field technicians, all on a single shift during the utility to better manage its existing meter normal business hours. The electrical disconnect services. process previously used by NES involved the NES meter services are broken down into following steps: separate disconnect and reconnect groups. NES currently has a liberal disconnect policy for 1. The field technicians arrived at the main nonpayment accounts and has a commitment office in the morning and typically started to reconnect a customer within two hours of a to review area maps for directions to the payment made on a delinquent account. scheduled customer locations. Both disconnections and reconnections in- 2. Routes for all technicians were prepared volved separate bubble cards distributed to each and sequenced in advance as part of a field technician at the beginning of his/her shift. workflow process. The cards were hand marked as jobs are com- 3. Technicians received a stack of optically pleted and returned to be scanned at the end of marked (“bubble”) cards. the shift. Frequently, cards are damaged enough 4. As customers were disconnected, technicians during handling as to be unreadable by data marked the meter reading and other codes entry personnel. on these optical cards. For reconnects, competition for two-way 5. Cards were returned at the end of the shift, radio use left crews idle while they awaited scanned, and processed in batches. instructions. Multiple entries of data meant nu- merous chances for error. Both these problems Historically, a NES customer “in danger of dis- made the two-hour customer commitment connect” would usually decide to pay at the last guarantee difficult to meet. minute and the NES field support team would NES focused on upgrading its system for re- go through a considerable manual process to connections first. GPS-enabled cell phones and a radio the field technician to cancel the pending software application that integrated the utility’s disconnect order. This NES disconnect team was existing CIS system increased efficiency, de- also faced with a number of other issues associ- creased data-entry errors, and freed up the two- ated with that process that were ineffective and way radio system for other needed services. costly. One of these issues involved the problem of the technicians transporting and keeping ABOUT NES track of the optical SO cards and not damaging, NES was established in 1939 as a separate ad- losing, or somehow corrupting the cards during ministrative agency of the City of Nashville to the normal field work process. operate the electric distribution system. Based Another concern involved the cost of labor on the number of customers served, NES is required for additional administration and data the eleventh-largest public electric utility in the processing personnel to scan these optical cards United States. Its service area, which includes into the CIS system on a timely basis, after the all of Davidson County and portions of six sur- completed cards were returned to the main of- rounding Middle Tennessee counties, is approxi- fice from the field technicians. On numerous oc- mately 700 square miles. NES has no generating casions, these optical cards were returned with capacity and purchases its power from the Ten- smudges or were wet, wrinkled, or damaged Mobile Technology Case Studies – 83 5

enough as to be unreadable by the card scanner. new customer accounts, and the cancelation of The data-processing personnel had to try to in- planned electrical disconnections. The radio dis- terpret the data, track down the technician as- patchers usually had to dispatch the SO, receive signed, or, if unavailable, get the field supervisor the order completion information from the field involved with these types of problems. team, and enter or key this information into the CIS system on a real-time basis which resulted HOW NES REACHED ITS IMPLEMENTATION in a significant use of the two-way radio re- DECISION FOR RECONNECTS sources. The NES reconnect process was somewhat dif- This level of radio usage and field activity ferent. It also included approximately 20 field- would often result in the technicians having based technicians, but their work shifts were to wait on the dispatcher to schedule a new staggered to match the workload associated with customer SO and transmit the final information the number of reconnect orders received on a upon completion. Errors also were introduced given day. The reconnect process involved com- into this process from either the incorrect infor- pleting all SOs within two hours of receiving a mation having been dispatched to the field delinquent customer payment and electric ser- workers or the incorrect order completion vice request and included the following proce- data being recorded by the field technicians. dural steps: NES MOBILE WORKFORCE 1. All technicians received a small stack of SOLUTION IMPLEMENTATION optical mark (“bubble”) cards for scheduled The overall MWM application solution required electrical service reconnects. for this NES electrical disconnection and recon- 2. For all other orders, as customers paid, the nection process had to be inexpensive and easy system printed a reconnect order on a slip to implement for this extremely busy and cus- of paper and routed it to the dispatcher and tomer-focused service organization. work-flow team for processing. After months of product and vendor evalua- 3. The dispatcher had to radio the SO informa- tions by an internal project team, NES selected a tion to an available field technician to product called eTrace from Gearworks for this perform the electrical reconnect. mobile workforce solution. Gearworks provides 4. When the SO was completed, the technician location-based mobile business applications in radioed information back to the dispatcher, collaboration with several national wireless carri- who keyed this information into the CIS ers (Sprint Nextel, AT&T Wireless, Verizon Wire- system. less, etc.) that enable service providers to better manage their field workers. Gearworks provides This reconnect process was also plagued with mobile application solutions that are used by a number of issues involving low productivity, companies to remotely supervise field personnel incorrect data or errors introduced during the and optimize workflow processes in real-time process, and a constant battle for two-way radio from the main office. system resources. The low-productivity aspects The eTrace application is a simple, real-time, of the reconnection process involved the com- secure Web-based, wireless carrier-hosted model petition for radio-dispatch resources when a that works in conjunction with a cellular phone customer paid an overdue bill and the clock with built-in global positioning system (GPS) capa- started on completing the reconnection within bility. The information about each mobile worker’s the two-hour customer satisfaction goal. time, location, and activities can be used to ef- Throughout the course of a normal NES fectively dispatch real-time SOs and generate workday, the two-way radio resources were be- fuel efficiency reports; the software also inte- ing used for the dispatching of outage-response grates with the existing in-house CIS system. field resources, electrical reconnection for re- This eTrace mobile application also provides cently paid delinquent accounts, connection of for navigation, including turn-by-turn driving 84 – Section 5 5

directions to quickly guide field workers to cus- pad characters. Figure 5.16 shows three different tomer locations. eTrace application screens as seen by the field users. The biggest challenge for the internal NES TRANSFORMING THE project team was integrating this eTrace mobile RECONNECTION PROCESS application with its current CIS software and NES decided to initially target the electrical re- business systems. connect process because this involved the most Reconnect SOs are now transmitted back and dispatcher and field worker communication and forth in real-time between the customer service information sharing for each individual SO. Each team and the assigned field technicians. Service field technician was assigned a Sprint Nextel orders and the associated electric meters are i615 push-to-talk cellular phone with GPS capa- geo-coded and displayed on a large computer bility and with the eTrace software application. display screen on the electrical service area Sprint Nextel was selected as the mobile phone map. The reconnect field technician assigned service provider because most of the field tech- to this geo-coded SO meter, along with his/her nicians liked the two-way radio feature of the location-based phone, is also displayed on this handset units. service area map (see Figure 5.17). The NES internal project team had to spend a If a field technician is currently working great deal of time learning about and developing on an electric reconnect job, his or her existing solutions for the use of Web services applications. location is polled every few minutes and dis- Web services design layout (WSDL) application played as a blue service truck on this service software and formats were used for the develop- area display map. If the field technician is wait- ment of the .net Web-based interface and data ing for a reconnect assignment, he or she will exchange between the eTrace-capable field units show up as a yellow service truck. If any tech- and the internal CIS applications. The eTrace nicians are out of Sprint Nextel wireless service software application allows for an open area for coverage, their last locations will be displayed the customer to essentially define and create a as red service trucks on this service area display data form that has specific locations available map. for the field technicians to easily populate and The customer’s business or home requiring an answer questions with their standard phone key- electric meter reconnect is also color-coded on

FIGURE 5.16: Three Views of Field Technician Cell Phones Using the eTrace Program for Reconnects. Mobile Technology Case Studies – 85 5

Job Status Legend Work Status Legend

Job has no worker assigned Worker has phone off

Worker has phone on Job has worker assigned & connected to eTrace

Job has been acknowledged Worker has signed into eTrace

Job is being worked; Worker is awaiting job In Transit or On-site

Job is complete Worker is currently working job

FIGURE 5.17: NES’s eTrace Service Area Map Showing Status of Every Job and Worker.

this service area display map. An electric meter SO is color-coded as green on the service area reconnect that is assigned an NES field technician display map. and is currently being performed is color-coded The dispatch operator and workflow manager as a blue house to correspond to the blue service can graphically view these 20 reconnect field vehicle. A completed electric meter reconnect technicians moving around on this service area 86 – Section 5 5

map on a real-time basis. A small amount of I Total monthly cost per technician is data entry is required by the field technician approximately $85 upon completion of the reconnect SO and must • Time: 7 months from concept to field include the completion code number and cur- implementation rent electric meter reading. This eTrace application also offers additional ADDITIONAL MOBILE WORKFORCE mobile capabilities, such as turn-by-turn direc- ENHANCEMENTS tions much like a hands-free car navigation The NES internal project team has also devel- system, just by utilizing the speaker phone oped the eTrace applicationSCADA for the systems electrical provide capability of the i615 handset unit. disconnect SO process andreal-time implemented control this and solution for field techniciansmonitoring in early 2008. of electric MOBILE WORKFORCE APPLICATION: Additional mobile workforcedistribution implementations systems. Ac- SYSTEM COST for other NES field teams shouldcording require to IEEE much Standard The following analysis includes the total cost for less time and less internal project1402-2000, teamGuide labor. for the implementation of this eTrace application, Electric Power Substation monthly recurring cost per technician, and the CONCLUSION Physical and Electronic overall timeline required to put this mobile This eTrace mobile applicationSecurity solution, “the was introduc- able solution into use. to address most of the workflowtion of and computer manage- systems ment problems of the NES electricalwith online reconnec- access to • Cost: one-time tion process. It proved to besubstation very easy information to use for is I Phone, cigarette power adapter, dashboard the NES field technicians, extremelysignificant cost-effec- in that substa- mounting: $200 per field technician, multi- tive, and had a very quick paybacktion relay in protection, terms of plied by 20 technicians = $4,000 operational effectiveness andcontrol, improving and datacus- collec- I eTrace software set-up = $500 or less tomer service. This graphical-basedtion systems mapping may be ex- I Internal project team labor: 1,176 hours for and workflow application updatesposed to field the techni- same vul- research, training, and development of cians and customer service and management required Web services, multiplied by personnel with real-time information and makes (average of $75/hour) = $88,200 for a much more efficient NES field organization.

I Total one-time cost is approximately The eTrace mobile application solutions will $92,700 continue to evolve with additional features and • Cost: monthly per technician capabilities as Sprint Nextel develops new smart

I eTrace Workflow package = $52 ($39 app, phone devices and data applications as wireless $10 unlimited data, $3 IP address) network capabilities are enhanced by the next

I Airtime: unlimited two-way, 400 pooled generation of technology. phone minutes, free nights and weekends = $32.79

Wheat Belt Public Mobile Technology as the Enabler of within its service territory. The PPD had an older Power District, Field Workforce Applications analog radio system that was unable to provide Nebraska References and support: Tim Lindahl, IT Specialist adequate voice coverage to all areas of its system and lacked any type of data transport capability. Wheat Belt Public Power District (WBPPD), serv- Cellular coverage was inadequate and construc- ing 5,000 customers in rural Nebraska, desired to tion of a private mobile data/voice communica- improve system reliability, customer service, and tions network would be a very expensive option. field staff productivity by implementing various In order to solve this dilemma, WBPPD de- field-based mobile technology solutions. Initially, ployed a cost-effective, multifaceted, IP-based the greatest challenge was lack of sufficient mo- mobile communications solution in order to bile data and voice communication networks achieve the following goals: Mobile Technology Case Studies – 87 5

• Deploy and maintain laptop-based GIS/map The total cost of implementing IP-based mo- data for field service vehicles; bile communication for all 22 substations and • Install digital IP-based substation meters and three offices required $14,000 of initial invest- provide communication to these meters, as ment, plus a recurring $750 monthly usage fee. well as to additional system-monitoring The key benefit derived from this project was equipment planned for deployment in each the deployment of a system-wide mobile com- of its 22 substations; munication network that became the required • Supply the data collection, outage detection, enabler or “backbone” for WBPPD’s planned and meter reading communication needed by deployment of a plethora of field and mobile Cannon’s power-line-carrier-based AMI/AMR workforce-based technology improvements. system; and These planned deployments encompassed: • Provide Wi-Fi “hot spots” at all office and substation locations for improved data and • Providing wireless updates to laptop-based voice communication with mobile field work- GIS data in company vehicles; ers for responding to customer outages and • Replacing existing analog-based substation completing SOs. meters that must be read manually from within the substation with IP-based digital ABOUT WHEAT BELT meters read remotely from the corporate WBPPD, located in Sidney, was founded in 1946 office; and provides electric distribution service to ap- • Deploying electric distribution system proximately 5,000 homes, farms, and businesses monitoring equipment; in seven counties in southwestern Nebraska. • Implementing substation premises security Operating revenues exceeded $18 million and monitoring equipment; total kilowatt-hours were approximately 160 mil- • Supporting Cannon’s power line carrier lion in 2007. Wheat Belt has more than 2,300 (PLC) AMI/AMR system and enabling its miles of distribution line—with approximately outage detection function; two electric meters per mile—and an operating • Providing VoIP communications for field staff staff of 29 employees to support its 2,500- at or near substations that have little-to-no square-mile service territory. Wheat Belt’s radio or cell coverage; and wholesale electric supplier is Tri-State Gen- • Leveraging Google Earth’s functionality to eration and Distribution Association located provide near-real-time outage management in Denver, Colorado. and meter location map information for mobile field staff. This information is updated OVERVIEW OF WBPPD’S SYSTEM whenever field workers are at or near one of IMPLEMENTATION WBPPD’s Internet access points, which are WBPPD built and implemented the required com- located at all utility offices and substations. munication networks in two steps. First, Wi-Fi ac- cess points using 802.11g protocol were deployed HOW WBPPD REACHED ITS MOBILE in the vehicle yards at corporate headquarters TECHNOLOGY DECISION and two outpost service-only offices. Then, each WBPPD is taking a phased approach over time substation was connected to the corporate office to leveraging this new mobile field infrastructure via one of the following wireless solutions: network and the deployment of the aforemen- tioned planned field-based and mobile work 1. WildBlue satellite access; force applications. Interestingly enough, the 2. WBPPD’s private data radios from total financial impact of these deployments was Motorola and 3Com Corporation using not the primary reason for utilizing a phased ap- 802.11g protocol; or proach. The two primary reasons were internal 3. Public Wi-Fi access points that use the staff resource constraints for deployment and 802.11b protocol. 88 – Section 5 5

the need to supply sufficient time for the end communication infrastructure (via one of the users of this technology to adapt to it, which aforementioned wireless data network solutions), typically also involves reengineering the affected the old analog substation meters were replaced work processes to maximize the benefits avail- with new digital IP-based meters from SATEC, able via the new field-based technology. Inc., at a total cost of $25,000, including the re- quired internal labor and support. WBPPD esti- THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF THE mates that being able to remotely read these new WBPPD MOBILE SYSTEM substation meters from its corporate office will In 2003, WBPPD deployed non-ruggedized Dell save its field staff hundreds of hours of travel time Latitude laptops in each of its three service per year and reduce fleet miles traveled by at trucks, its three meter department vehicles, and least eight to ten thousand per year. An added its engineering/staking vehicle at a cost of ap- benefit is that the new meters now provide numer- proximately $1,000 per laptop (including the cost ous types of additional data points that were ei- of the dash-mounting bracket and installation). ther unavailable or had to be manually calculated The initial purpose was to provide a relatively (i.e., power factor) from the analog meter data. current copy of its CAD-based GIS/mapping Also in 2007, WBPPD began deploying Can- system for use by its mobile field-based staff. non’s PLC-AMR system, which uses its IP-based The GIS data on the laptops are currently up- substation communications system to transmit dated once a month by removing the laptops customer meter data from the substation to Can- from the vehicles, physically plugging them into non’s application server, which resides on the a docking station connected to the corporate corporate network. Furthermore, WBPPD has network, and reloading the laptop’s database enabled hourly polling of every meter in its while the field crews are attending WBPPD’s system to proactively detect customer outages. monthly safety meetings. Often, the utility detects that a customer is not In 2005, WBPPD developed its initial version receiving electric power before the customer ac- of a data warehouse using FileMaker Pro’s rela- tually finds out. Under certain circumstances, tional database product. A copy of this database this provides the opportunity for restoring a was deployed on each laptop in order to better customer’s power before that customer is even meet the information needs of its mobile field aware that a power outage occurred. staff when working outside of the office. In 2008, WBPPD leveraged its investment in The data warehouse has continued to evolve this mobile communication network—along with over time. Today it contains specific business its Cannon AMI/AMR outage detection function and customer information, GIS data (including and its data warehouse—by combining this data GPS coordinates), AMI/AMR data, current/his- and telecommunications capability with Google torical outage data, and numerous data points Earth’s aerial maps, weather displays, “display obtained from the IP-based meters at each sub- layering” function, and the ability to visually zoom station. This data warehouse database on each in or out for a screen image. WBPPD pings all of laptop is also updated on a monthly basis at the its meters hourly to detect outages and immediately same time and in the same manner as the afore- updates its data warehouse with the most current mentioned GIS database. WBPPD has future outage information. This process then triggers the plans to convert the method of updating the lap- extraction of the following data from the network- top-based GIS and data warehouse databases to based master copy of the data warehouse for each an automatic wireless process through the use customer meter in WBPPD’s electric system: of the existing Wi-Fi access points located in the vehicle yards at the corporate office and the two • Customer/meter location coordinates, outpost service offices, as well as at each of its • Any outage information for each customer, substations. • Customer name and account number, In 2007–8, after all 22 substations were • Last valid meter reading, and connected to WBPPD’s system-wide mobile • Meter reading reliability percentage. Mobile Technology Case Studies – 89 5

Once these data are extracted, they are reading reliability percentage, and provide the passed as a simple extensible markup language option to obtain driving directions to or from the (XML) file to a WBPPD Web server that can be meter location. accessed via the Internet by any laptop/desktop A user who selects the option of obtaining PC having a copy of the Google Earth client driving directions is prompted to enter his/her software resident on it. (XML is a specification current location in a form similar to that used in used for sharing data between systems.) Google Maps or MapQuest. Note the user must Each meter location and its associated data have an active Internet connection for this option are superimposed onto the Google Earth aerial to function. Thus, at the present time, mobile map using different colored symbols to differ- field users must be located at one of WBPPD’s entiate customers receiving electricity (yellow- Wi-Fi “hot spots” in order utilize this option. colored “push pin”-shaped symbols) from WBPPD refers to this functionality as its out- those that are not receiving power (red- age management and meter location Google colored triangular-shaped symbols). This takes Earth application. Figure 5.18 shows an example advantage of being able to see exactly where of this application. each customer/meter and outage location is For mobile laptop users, the most up-to-date situated relative to Google Earth’s aerial maps Google Earth map can be displayed—along with that depict roads, buildings, trees, bodies of its associated data—anytime they enter one of water, etc. WBPPD’s Wi-Fi access points, which are located If the user places his/her cursor directly on a at all of its substations and office locations. map symbol denoting a meter/outage location Presently, if a customer reports a power out- and clicks on it, the program will display the age by means of a telephone call, WBPPD’s op- associated customer’s account number, customer eration’s dispatcher must still use the voice radio name, last valid meter reading (including the system to notify one of the field service crews. date and time the reading occurred), and meter Once the field crew locates the meter on the

DOE JOHN

FIGURE 5.18: WBPPD Data Superimposed on a Google Earth Map. 90 – Section 5 5

FIGURE 5.19: Weather Data Superimposed on a Google Earth Map Showing WBPPD Data.

Google Earth map displayed on the laptop in storm clouds throughout the utility’s service their vehicle, they will still have access to all of territory. This provides them with the option of the associated information simply by clicking using this weather information to strategically on the meter’s icon located on the map. position or reposition field service crews to help An additional feature of WBPPD’s Google minimize their response time in restoring poten- Earth application is the ability to activate a tial weather-related outages that may be caused “weather layer” onto the aerial map view, as by the more severe storm activity. shown in Figure 5.19. The green objects on the map in Figure 5.19 FUTURE ENHANCEMENT PLANS represent storm clouds. The darker green repre- WBPPD has future plans to deploy EV-DO sents areas of greater thunderstorm intensity. AirCards in all of its field laptops so field crews Non-storm clouds appear as semi-transparent can start using the increasingly available and and white in color. Using Google Earth’s zoom robust cellular broadband data network through- function allows WBPPD staff to zoom in under- out its service territory to obtain more frequent neath the clouds to view the areas being af- updates to weather and outage information. This fected by the storm clouds. Customers located will also allow field crews to make greater use in these areas typically have a greater than of the option to request directions to and from normal probability of experiencing weather- a specific meter location through the use of the related power outages. Google Earth application. During normal business hours, WBPPD’s cen- As part of the forthcoming project to deploy tral operations dispatch or mobile field supervi- EV-DO cards into the field laptops, two changes sory staff located at one of the Wi-Fi “hot spots” will be made so the outage data appearing in can continuously track the movement of these the Google Earth application will be kept more Mobile Technology Case Studies – 91 5

current. The first change will be to reduce the to WBPPD’s field staff in order to help im- frequency for automatically pinging all of the prove customer service and reduce outage- Cannon AMI/AMR meters from every 60 minutes restoration times. to every 15 minutes. Thus, the frequency for extracting the outage data from WBPPD’s data CONCLUSION warehouse into the XML file used by the Google WBPPD firmly believes that one of the critical Earth application will also be reduced from elements to improving customer service and every 60 minutes to every 15 minutes. field staff productivity comes from having a reli- The second change will be to allow the dis- able, robust, and cost-effective mobile technol- patch operations staff to manually update the ogy network for use by its field staff. Leveraging XML file—extracted from the data warehouse its field mobile technology capability greatly im- and used by the Google Earth application— proves its ability to get reliable, accurate data to whenever they receive an outage call from a its field staff, which makes them more effective customer. These changes are intended to im- in carrying out their job functions and improving prove the value of the electronic data available member satisfaction.

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A Acronyms

2G Second Generation Cellular/Personal ERP Emergency Restoration Plan (also used Communications Services Technology for Effective Radiated Power for radio 3G Third Generation Cellular/Personal or wireless signals) Communications Services Technology ESC Executive Steering Committee 4G Fourth Generation Cellular/Personal ESMR Enhanced Specialized Mobile Radio Communications Services Technology EV-DO Evolution-Data Optimized, a type of AMI Advanced Metering Infrastructure CDMA, a telecommunications standard AMR Automated Meter Reading for wireless transmission of data through radio signals APCO Association of Public-Safety Communi- cations Officials FAAR Field Access to Automated Records AVL Automatic Vehicle Location FCC Federal Communications Commission, the United States government agency BIA Business Impact Analysis/Approach that supervises, licenses, and controls CAD Computer-Aided Design electronic and electromagnetic trans- CDMA Code Division Multiple Access mission standards CDPD Cellular Digital Packet Data FDD Frequency Division Duplex CEO Chief Executive Officer FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access, CIS Customer Information System the division of the frequency band allo- cated for wireless cellular telephone CO Central Office (Mobile or Land-line communication into 30 channels, each Telephone Switch) of which can carry a voice conversation COTM Communications-on-the-Move or, with digital service, carry digital CTIA Cellular Telecommunications and data; each channel can be assigned to Internet Association only one user at a time DID Direct Inward Dial FSR Field Service Representative DOD Direct Outward Dial FSS Fixed Satellite Service DR/BC Disaster Recovery and Business G&T Generation and Transmission Continuity Plan Gbps Gigabites (or billions of bits) per DVD Digital Video Disc second, a unit of measuring the speed of data transfer 94 – Appendix A A

GIS Geographical Information System MWA Mobile Workforce Automation GPS Global Positioning System MWM Mobile Workforce Management GSM Global System for Mobile, a communi- MSR Member Service Representative cations cellular phone standard NERC North American Electric Reliability HDTV High-Definition Television, the high- Corporation resolution type of digital television OC3 Optical Carrier No. 3 IDEN Integrated Digital Enhanced Network OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division IDS Intrusion Detection System Multiplexing IM Instant Messenging OMS Outage Management System IP Internet Protocol OTAP Over-the-Air Programming IPS Intrusion Protection system PBX Private Branch eXchange (or Private ISP Internet Service Provider Business eXchange), a telephone exchange that is owned by a private IT Information Technology business, as opposed to one owned IVR Interactive Voice Response, a software by a common carrier or by a tele- application that enables callers to enter phone company data on a telephone keypad or input PC Personal Computer information by voice and usually is used for specific information lookup, PCS Personal Communications Services call forwarding, polls, and simple order PDA Personal Digital Assistant, a small, entry transactions handheld computer Kbps Kilobits (or thousands of bits) per sec- PLC Power Line Carrier ond, a unit of measuring the speed of POI Point of Interest data transfer PPP Point-to-Point Protocol KPI Key Performance Indicator PTP Point-to-Point Microwave Radios LAN Local Area Network RF Radio Frequency LMR Land Mobile Radio ROI Return on Investment LTE Long-Term Evolution RPO Recovery Point Objective Mbps Megabits (or millions of bits) per sec- RTO Recovery Time Objective ond, a unit of measuring the speed of data transfer RUS Rural Utilities Service MHz Megahertz SCADA Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output, trans- ceiver systems using multiple anten- SD Secure Digital nas deployed at the WiMAX base SMS Short Messaging Service station in both the transmitter and SO Service Order the receiver path SONET Synchronous Optical Network, a fiber MISO Multiple Input Single Output, trans- optic transmission system using TDM ceiver systems using only one receiver for high-speed (51 Mbps to 40 Gbps) antenna and multiple transmit antennas digital traffic over multiple data streams MPH Miles Per Hour simultaneously, which can be built in a MSS Mobile Satellite Service “self-healing” ring that uses two or more transmission paths between nodes, al- MTBF Mean Time Between Failure lowing for rerouting if one path fails Acronyms – 95 A

SPOF Single Point of Failure VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol SSL Secure Sockets Layer VPN Virtual Private Network, a private or T1 A leased high-speed digital communi- secure data network that makes use cations line, also known as DS-1, com- of the public telecommunication monly used to connect large LANs to infrastructure, such as the Internet, the Internet, carrying a digital signal at maintaining privacy through the use a rate of 1.5 Mbps of a tunneling protocol and encryption for security TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/ Internet Protocol VRA Vulnerability and Risk Assessment TDD Time Division Duplex WAN Wide Area Network, a computer net- work that spans a wider area than does TDM Time-Division Multiplexing a local area network (LAN) TDMA Time Division Multiple Access digital WAP Wireless Access Point technology Wi-Fi Wireless Fidelity, the popular generic UHF Ultra High Frequency, 300 to 3,000 term for the 802.11 wireless Ethernet MHz (3.0 gigahertz), which includes standard, which is the current technol- the TV UHF band, which goes from ogy being used to provide wireless 470 megahertz (channel 14) to 806 access today megahertz (channel 69) WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications Microwave Access System WSDL Web Services Design Layout UPS Uninterruptible Power Supply WWAN Wireless Wide-Area Network USB Universal Serial Bus, a type of connec- tor for peripheral devices found on XML Extensible Markup Language most computers today VHF Very High Frequency, between 30 and 300 megahertz, the range used by police, fire, aircraft, etc., as well as TV channels 2 (54 megahertz) through 13 (216 megahertz) www.crnweb.org

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