Case Study

South East Water implements enterprise-wide asset management with the Maximo solution from Vetasi

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The Challenge

Following a major corporate merger, South East Water (SEW) wanted to consolidate to a single asset management platform that could manage both production and distribution assets for the whole business, enabling further improvements to the service provided to its 2.1 million customers.

The Solution

Working with Vetasi, an IBM Business Partner, SEW upgraded to the latest version of IBM Maximo Asset Management, and migrated data from the acquired company's asset databases into the new system. The team also developed a custom interface for mobile devices.

The Benefits

  • Single repository for asset- and job-related information on above- and below-ground assets gives SEW a holistic view of asset-related data.
  • Single company-wide system acts as a hub for all operational tasks and data, and provides the flexibility to respond to changing business requirements using native functionality.
  • Personalised dashboards and automated workflows help staff manage workload more effectively.
  • CRM integration gives call-centre staff direct access to information on the progress of reported problems.
  • Spatial integration will allow work orders to be generated against both above-ground assets (which exist as entities in the Maximo database) and below-ground assets (which only exist in the GIS). The spatial tab will give Maximo users a direct view of the GIS map information.
  • GIS integration also enables the production of accurate Highway Notices for locations that may be affected by works, reducing SEW's potential exposure to financial penalties.

Choosing IBM Maximo

"We performed a full review and decided that a solution based on the latest version of Maximo Asset Management was the right way to go," explains Martin Giel, Operations Systems Manager at SEW. "It had more out-of-the-box functionality and would need less custom development work to map our business processes. We also felt it was more versatile: it has support for Web Services, so it would be relatively easy to integrate with other systems. We wanted to go with a proven solution."

The implementation would involve the restructuring and migration of large volumes of asset data from existing Mid Kent Water databases, as well as a major upgrade from version 4 of the Maximo software to version 7. To assist with this complex project, SEW chose Vetasi, an IBM Business Partner with a specialist focus on enterprise asset management and a strong focus on the utilities sector.

Talking our language

"Successful asset management projects are less about IT capabilities and more about understanding and meeting the needs of the business users – whether they are engineers or managers," says Martin Giel. "The project team from Vetasi really impressed us; they had a solid background in engineering and could talk to us in our own language. They were quick to understand what we wanted from the solution, and together with IBM they had the technical skills to implement it successfully."

The project was handled in two main phases. The first was to support the business units that manage water production, which involves aquifers, treatment facilities, reservoirs and other above-ground assets.

"For the above-ground assets, Maximo already offered the majority of the functionality we needed, so there wasn’t too much need for customisation," comments Martin Giel. "Vetasi helped us migrate the data, and our in-house team used Web Services to integrate Maximo with a custom-developed application that enables our engineers to access the system from their laptops over a wireless network."

Going underground

Phase two was more challenging. The distribution side of the business, which involves the construction and maintenance of water mains, meters and other below-ground infrastructure, requires a more sophisticated asset management strategy. The successful integration of the new mobile application using the Maximo MEA was a critical factor in this phase.

"Both of the existing systems had been heavily customised to support the distribution infrastructure, so it was important to map out all the current capabilities and create a detailed set of requirements for the new Maximo solution," says Martin Giel. "Vetasi’s support was absolutely critical: they helped us create a very detailed plan for the implementation, and offered to complete it for a fixed price."

Realising the benefits

The second phase of the project has now been in production for more than six months, and SEW is already seeing significant results.

"The new version of Maximo is a real upgrade in terms of ensuring correct working practices are followed at all times: there are no short-cuts and every job is tracked from the initial work order through to completion," comments Martin Giel. "This not only helps us check that jobs are completed properly – it also ensures that we have all the correct reports and documentation in place. So when we are dealing with the regulators, it’s much easier for us to provide all the information they need."

Personalised dashboards

The Maximo Asset Management interface is personalised for each user, giving them a dashboard with a set of KPIs and tasks that need to be completed. This helps staff plan their workload more effectively: they can view the status of their current jobs and quickly see what needs to be done.

"The dashboards are also useful for managers," says Martin Giel. "For example, previously, if a manager wanted to find out whether a certain type of documentation had been completed for all relevant jobs, they would have to generate a specific report, which was time-consuming and sometimes required help from the IT department. Now, they can choose to display this kind of data on their dashboard in real time, so it’s much easier for them to find accurate information and make rapid decisions."

Looking to the future

By integrating the solution with its CRM solution, SEW also aims to improve customer service.

"The ultimate goal is to enable full data-sharing between the two systems. When a customer calls to report a problem – a burst water main, for example – the call centre team will be able to use the CRM system to create a work order in Maximo. They will also be able to access the work log, so if the customer calls back again later to check on the status of the job, they can see all the relevant information and answer the customer’s questions. This should help us to be more responsive and offer a better service."

The company also plans to enhance the integration between Maximo and its geographic information systems (GIS), to provide real-time access to spatial data from within the Maximo interface. This should significantly improve the engineers’ ability to check and update asset information when they are working on-site.

Celebrating success

"IBM Maximo Asset Management provides a mature, feature-rich foundation for meeting our current asset management needs, and offers great potential for integrating, extending and improving our processes in the future," concludes Martin Giel. "IBM and Vetasi deserve credit for helping us design a solution that is capable of managing our complex infrastructure and enforcing the standardised, traceable working practices that SEW needs to deal with the growing challenges of regulatory compliance."