Sept/Oct 2003

Having adopted a real-time data communications and management system from Telepartner Systems for its meter-servicing operations two years ago, Northern Ireland Electricity has now extended the capability to its emergency response team.

The new system allows engineers to receive and accept assignments, report progress and "close out" jobs in real time, using the same Vodafone-based mobile device for all these activities. It replaces the voice-based system they were using before.

The system is built round Telepartner's Mercury Server system, which is linked to the Vodafone mobile phone network and integrates with Northern Ireland Electricity's existing TroubleMAN computer. This aims to match available staff skills to jobs, prioritising repair work to ensure that failed electricity supplies are restored quickly.

In the field, the device carried by the mobile workers is a GSM phone-enabled 3800/3900 series iPAQ PDA from Hewlett-Packard. This runs software from a menu-driven interface, allowing engineers to receive, progress and report on jobs as they come in.

 

The service also complies with the requirements of the National Fault Interruption Reporting System, which is run on behalf of the Electricity Association to meet the demands imposed by the industry regulator. It gathers information on faults in a standardised form for subsequent analysis and reporting.