Category: Formbird CLARITY

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How Formbird Ensures Your Business Wisdom Never Retires

Holding onto Corporate Knowledge: The Power of Operational Works and Asset Management Solutions

In the age of rapid employee turnover, one of the most significant challenges businesses face is the loss of corporate knowledge. When seasoned employees leave, they take with them not just skills but the invaluable tacit knowledge of business processes, often cultivated over decades. Enter solutions like Formbird FLEET and Formbird CLARITY. These aren’t just software solutions; they’re the guardians of institutional wisdom.

Formbird FLEET: Keeping the Wheels Turning with Knowledge

Consider the intricacies of fleet management. Every organisation has its unique set of rules, from vehicle maintenance schedules to driver protocols. Formbird FLEET allows organisations to encode the business’s practices and business rules into the software. 

For instance, a shire council with a fleet of trucks will have specific rules regarding vehicle maintenance frequency based on the odometer, the type of cargo carried or the terrain the vehicles have to access. Using Formbird FLEET, the council can embed rules, ensuring planned maintenance is prompted at the predefined intervals set by the business rules. 

For example, in a coastal shire council where trucks transporting quarried rocks to reinforce sea walls will be inspected for rust every 5000 kilometres due to its use near the ocean, another vehicle transporting park maintenance plant will only need to be inspected for rust every 10,000 kilometres. These unique business rules are part of the system. Even if the fleet manager retires, the system ensures that the next manager, or even a new hire, adheres to these established standards, preserving the organisation’s best practices.

Formbird CLARITY: A Clear Vision for Water Utilities Management

Water utilities present a different set of challenges. As seen in the example of the Bundaberg Regional Council, the transition from paper to digital was revolutionary. Before Formbird CLARITY, a leak in the water system was reported on paper, passed to a technician, fixed, and then recorded—often with delays and inefficiencies. The key business rule here? Rapid, efficient response to leaks to prevent wastage and ensure customer satisfaction.

Formbird CLARITY, embeds the entire process in the system. A digital workflow is triggered when anyone reports a leak; CLARITY assigns a technician, provides them with historical data on the site, and enables real-time updates from the field. The ‘paper trail’ becomes a ‘digital pathway’, streamlining operations. 

What’s more, the corporate knowledge, the specifics of how the team historically managed these issues, gets stored and can be accessed by new employees. They ensure their knowledge doesn’t go with them when a veteran employee retires.

The Future is Clear

The beauty of solutions like Formbird FLEET and Formbird CLARITY lies in their ability to streamline operations and capture and hold onto corporate knowledge. By embedding specific business rules, they preserve the organisation’s hard-earned wisdom. In an era where knowledge is power, these solutions ensure that organisations are efficient and satisfy customer needs.

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Water Utilities Conference 2023: Exploring Innovation and Adapting to Challenges

The annual Water Utilities Conference, held from June 26 to 28, 2023, provided a platform for key industry players to deliberate on water and sewer management issues. Among the attendees was Formbird, a leading innovator in water and sewer operational works management solutions, who keenly absorbed the plethora of insights from industry experts and policymakers.

The conference was inaugurated by Cr Ken Keith OAM, Mayor of Parkes Shire Council, and Scott Phillips, Chief Executive of Local Government NSW, followed by a pre-recorded federal minister’s address by Tanya Plibersek MP, the Minister for the Environment and Water.

Addressing the gathering, Vince Keogh of the Department of Planning and Environment and several other panellists examined the challenges of providing quality water supply to rural and remote communities. Naomi Schipanski of Tamworth Regional Council and Daniel Alexander from Beca HunterH2O explored strategic risk-based approaches to assess capital assets, demonstrating potential cost savings and improvements in water network resilience.

In a session highlighting innovation and technology in the water sector, Rohit Srivastava of Berrigan Shire Council illustrated the implementation and outcomes of smart water metering, followed by Doug Moorby of Narromine Shire Council and Derek Atkinson of Isle Utilities, who presented on the introduction of ceramic membranes in water treatment.

The conference’s focus shifted to resilience and recovery from drought, fire, and floods, with presentations on how communities and services, like the ones managed by Formbird, adapt and respond to these challenges. Speakers, including Brie Jowett of Tweed Shire Council, discussed building back better and creating resilient workforces in the wake of these events.

The second day of the conference opened with a panel discussion on the future water workforce, stressing the need for skill enhancement to ensure safe and reliable water services. Professor Stuart Khan from the University of New South Wales provided valuable insights on managing drinking water during extreme events. Cybersecurity issues in local water utilities were also underlined, highlighting the increased threat of cyber-attacks on government infrastructure.

The conference concluded on a high note with sessions on collaborative approaches to water management and the role of water as an economic driver. The Parkes Shire Council representatives shared their unique challenge of providing town water and securing water to attract business, indicating how water has become an economic driver for the council.

Formbird’s participation in the conference reinforced its commitment to innovative water and sewer operational works management, equipping it with the latest strategies to continue its growth in the industry.

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SaaS vs. Traditional Hosting: Embracing Efficiency, Flexibility, and Security

In an era characterised by rapid technological advancements, adapting and innovating is more critical than ever. Businesses globally increasingly opt for Software as a Service (SaaS) over traditional locally hosted solutions, and it’s easy to see why.

The Challenges of Traditional Local Hosting

While locally hosted software applications may offer a perceived sense of control, they come with unique challenges. Some burdens businesses have to bear are high personnel overhead, costly maintenance, and a constant need for IT expertise.

Moreover, data storage and security pose significant concerns. Local servers can be vulnerable to attacks, and critical business data may be at risk without robust protection measures. These issues become increasingly pronounced as businesses scale, necessitating a more flexible and secure approach.

The Unmistakable Advantage of SaaS

This is where SaaS comes into the picture. SaaS solutions offer businesses a way to break free from traditional IT constraints. By hosting Software on the cloud, SaaS providers eliminate hardware costs and make routine maintenance a thing of the past.

One of the most significant benefits of SaaS is that it ensures clients always use the latest version of the Software. Updates are seamless and automatic and require no intervention from the user. This continuous evolution helps businesses stay agile and adaptable, ready to seize new opportunities.

In addition, SaaS platforms offer robust data security measures, including data encryption, regular backups, and compliance with various data protection regulations. Scalable, flexible storage options mean that as your business grows, your Software grows with you.

Navigating the Future with SaaS

Embracing SaaS doesn’t just make sense for now – it’s a forward-thinking move that future-proofs your business. As technology evolves, SaaS platforms are continually updated and improved, ensuring – you never fall behind.

Moreover, the global nature of SaaS introduces businesses to the international stage. While this brings challenges, such as ensuring data sovereignty, top SaaS providers are committed to respecting local data storage requirements and protection laws, providing your data remains safe and compliant.

Opting for SaaS is a strategic decision with far-reaching benefits. By shedding the constraints of locally-hosted solutions, businesses can leverage the power of cloud technology to operate more efficiently, flexibly, and securely.

As one of the leading providers in the SaaS field, Formbird embodies these advantages, delivering a platform that grows with your business. Whether it’s data security, future-proof technology, or minimising IT overhead, SaaS solutions like Formbird offer a clear path to embracing the future of business technology.

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Delivering Benefits to Customers, Community, and Environment: A Testament to Formbird CLARITY’s Versatility

Discover the transformative journey of Bundaberg Regional Council’s Water Services Team as they transition from a paper-heavy environment to a digital one using Formbird CLARITY. This insightful video showcases the tremendous strides made by the team in data collection, customer service, and environmental stewardship, through the adoption of this innovative, low-code platform. Hear directly from team members Narelle and Sean as they detail the challenges they faced and how Formbird CLARITY helped them overcome these hurdles to deliver significant benefits to their community and their unique environment. It’s a story of innovation, resilience, and the power of efficient software in shaping the future of water asset management.

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Formbird CLARITY: Enhancing Customer Experience at Greater Western Water

Greater Western Water (GWW), a significant water utility servicing much of Melbourne’s west, including over 430,000 homes, has significantly enhanced its operational efficiency following an upgrade to its implementation of the Formbird CLARITY system. Renowned as a comprehensive mobile workforce and operational asset management solution, CLARITY has proved indispensable in tasks ranging from call-taking and dispatching to managing ‘Before You Dig’ requests and scheduling preventative and project works.

Consolidating Data for Enhanced Efficiency 

Central to GWW’s operation, CLARITY is their primary operational asset management system, seamlessly integrating data from internal property and GIS databases. It consolidates information about all assets, customers, and properties, both above and below ground, in a single location. This enables GWW to run more efficiently, swiftly responding to issues and scheduling preventative work by categorising tasks as ‘Cases’.

Facilitating Rapid Response and Problem Resolution 

Beyond mere identification and prioritisation of problems, CLARITY also proves invaluable in managing case resolution. Activities necessary to resolve a case, known as ‘Actions’, are meticulously recorded. CLARITY’s advanced system allows GWW to delegate these Actions to appropriate teams or individuals, ensuring that tasks are handled by the right personnel, enhancing efficiency and speeding up problem resolution.

Real-Time Data for Informed Decision-Making 

Crucial to the system’s efficacy is CLARITY’s ability to provide real-time data, empowering GWW to make informed decisions based on accurate and up-to-date information. This ability has enabled GWW to decrease the time and resources spent on manual reporting processes, allowing staff to focus on other essential tasks.

Aligning with Industry Standards 

Further augmenting its effectiveness, CLARITY aligns with models other water customers use in line with industry standards, simplifying system understanding and usage for GWW employees. This consistency aids in meeting the regulatory reporting requirements of the Essential Services Commission, contributing to GWW’s impressive compliance record and mitigating the risk of costly fines or penalties.

Prioritising Safety and Stakeholder Communication 

Of considerable importance is CLARITY’s capacity to track problem status and promptly notify stakeholders of changes or updates, which is particularly vital for customers potentially impacted by extended water shut-offs. The system also assists GWW in managing work-related hazards, enhancing crew safety.

Project Management Capabilities 

CLARITY’s operational works assignment and management capabilities are paramount to GWW’s project tracking, ensuring they are completed on time and within budget.

Formbird CLARITY: A Cornerstone for Greater Western Water’s Success 

Implementing Formbird CLARITY at Greater Western Water has brought about marked improvements in operational efficiency. By swiftly identifying and prioritising problems, managing resolution, and tracking work progress, the system empowers GWW’s staff to enhance their customer experience. Through the robust application of Formbird CLARITY, GWW continues to meet and exceed expectations in the water utility sector.

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Formbird’s CLARITY: Setting a New Benchmark at the 2023 LGNSW Water Conference

Formbird, a top-tier innovator in water utility operational management, has announced our participation as a sponsor for the upcoming 2023 Local Government New South Wales (LGNSW) Water Conference. The conference, a pivotal event in the water management sector, features a series of prominent speakers and stakeholders.

Every year, the LGNSW Water Conference is a crucial hub for industry leaders and experts to discuss and exchange solutions for enhancing water services across New South Wales. This year’s event, focusing on technology, sustainability, and customer service, is expected to host many high-profile attendees. They include policymakers, water utility executives, engineers, environmental scientists, and sustainability officers, to name a few.

Among the distinguished speakers confirmed for the event are Professor Emily Hilder, Director of the Future Industries Institute at the University of South Australia, Dr. Ian Wright, a renowned environmental scientist, and Sally Barnes, CEO of Water Corporation, Australia’s largest water provider.

Formbird will be on hand to demonstrate its operational asset management solution, CLARITY, during the event. Known for its unique approach to managing water utilities, CLARITY will attract attention. It’s an all-encompassing solution for planned and reactive maintenance, ensuring the smooth functioning of water systems and bolstering customer satisfaction.
Formbird will also take the opportunity to engage with conference attendees at its exhibition stand, providing a deeper understanding of how CLARTIY’s innovative features could redefine its approach to water utility management.

The conference and Formbird’s participation testify to the concerted efforts to improve water services across New South Wales. The sector is poised to offer more reliable and efficient customer services by harnessing advancements.

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Navigating Change: Harnessing Technology for Business Continuity Amid High Staff Turnover

As the CEO and Founder of Formbird, I am acutely aware of how changing times and demographic shifts can profoundly impact organisations. The COVID-19 pandemic and the fast-approaching wave of Baby Boomer retirements have fundamentally disrupted career timelines and workforce dynamics in regional councils across Australia.

Demographic Shifts and High Staff Turnover

In typical times, we’d expect a turnover rate of around 15% in rural councils. However, we are not in regular times. The pandemic and demographic shifts, particularly the trend of older workers, including many Baby Boomers, opting for early retirement, have seen turnover rates surpass 25 per cent in some councils, such as Moyne Shire Council in Victoria. It’s worth noting that when one partner retires, it’s common for the other partner to follow suit, adding to the churn.

This high turnover rate presents significant challenges in maintaining the quality of services, work efficiency, and retention of institutional knowledge. While factors like compensation and work culture play a role, it’s clear that the major driving forces behind this trend are primarily external and reflects broader societal changes.

How do we navigate these challenges and ensure business continuity in the interim? This is where innovative solutions like workforce management solutions come into play. These systems are critical for maintaining corporate knowledge, as they store essential data about a council’s operations, schedules, and maintenance. New employees can quickly access this information, reducing training time and ensuring operational knowledge is retained within the organisation.

Moreover, these systems can reinforce existing policies and procedures, which is vital for a council to ensure service delivery to ratepayers. By providing a consistent and reliable source of operational guidelines, workforce management solutions can ensure that service delivery quality and consistency remain unaffected even with a high turnover rate.

At Formbird, leveraging technology is critical to creating a more consistent and efficient work environment. By automating tasks and providing reliable data, workforce management solutions management systems can help new employees adapt quickly, ensuring council services run smoothly despite staff changes.

Beyond Technology: Enhancing Employee Satisfaction and Retention

However, technology alone is not the answer. Improving communication channels with employees, encouraging regular feedback, and offering flexible working hours and telecommuting options can also significantly increase employee satisfaction and retention.

As we navigate these tumultuous times, we must view these challenges as opportunities for growth and improvement. By implementing strategic changes and harnessing the power of technology, regional councils can ensure effective operations, continuity of services, and sustainable development.
Change can be challenging but can also catalyse innovation and progress. We can turn these challenges into opportunities, creating a more resilient and effective public service.

Mark Hosking

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Optimising Operations: Greater Western Water’s Implementation of Formbird CLARITY

Greater Western Water (GWW) is the water utility that reaches much of Melbourne’s west with over 700 employees and servicing more than 430,000 homes. 

GWW utilises Formbird CLARITY as a “mobile workforce and operational asset management solution” for a range of tasks, including:

  • Call-taking
  • Dispatching
  • Before You Dig requests
  • Preventive and Project Works Scheduling
  • Asset condition and Document actions
  • Documenting actions/activity and consumptions
  • Staff safety such as confined space entry 

CLARITY is their primary operational asset management system, pulling data from their internal property and GIS database. This keeps all the necessary information about their assets (above and below ground), customers and properties in one place, making their operations more efficient.

CLARITY categorises works as “Cases”, which can be in response to issues (responsive) or planning for preventive (planned) work with further categorisation for below-ground network assets and above-ground site assets. This system allows them to quickly determine the criticality of problems and their impact on customers and prioritise them efficiently together with planned cases.

In addition to identifying and prioritising problems, Greater Western Water also has a system for managing the resolution of the cases. The activity to resolve a case is recorded in  “Actions”. Actions include shutting off water, inspections, repairs, reinstatement and traffic management. CLARITY allows them to assign these Actions to different teams or individuals as necessary; this ensures that the right people are handling the right tasks and that the problem gets resolved quickly and efficiently.

CLARITY also includes reporting and tracking these actions and their resolution, allowing the GWW team to track what has been done and is still needed. It also allows them to see how long it takes to resolve both the Case and the Action, which can help them identify areas where they can improve their processes.

Moreover, CLARITY provides real-time data, enabling GWW to make informed decisions based on accurate and up-to-date information. The ability to quickly access and analyse data has allowed GWW to reduce the time and resources spent on manual reporting processes, freeing up staff to focus on other important tasks.

CLARITY matches the model used by other water customers in line with industry standards, making it easy for their employees to understand and use the system, which helps to ensure standards are consistent and can be benchmarked with other water utilities. It also ensures the capture of the data required to meet the regulatory reporting requirements of the Essential Services Commission. This has helped GWW maintain a high level of compliance, while also reducing the risk of costly fines or penalties.

CLARITY tracks the status of a problem and notifies stakeholders of any changes or updates. This is especially important for customers, keeping them advised of impacts such as extended water shut-offs.

Greater Western Water also uses the system to manage hazards related to the works, such as abnormal voltages and aggressive behaviour of customers. Other OH&S processes include confined space entry, and traffic management to mention a few. This allows them to appropriately prepare for potential safety hazards and protect their crews.

CLARITY handles operational works assignment and management for GWW. They use CLARITY to track these projects’ progress and ensure they are completed on time and within budget.

Greater Western Water’s use of Formbird CLARITY has improved its operations in several ways. The system helps them to quickly identify and prioritise problems, manage the resolution of these issues, and track the progress of their work.

The system’s flexibility and ability to handle any problem a water network can throw at them and assign them to different teams, including running complex tasks such as operational works with multiple people, groups or outside contractors involved. 

Ultimately the goal is to handle all of the organisation’s operational works management, empowering the people of Greater Western Water to improve their customer experience.

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Predictive operations solutions – Software that sees the future

The best software solutions are invisible: their fit is hand-in-glove. The software becomes part of the “every day”.

Your operational software should not add friction to what you do. It should be value-adding and incentivise people to enter data and share information to the point where that process becomes automatic.

Great software automates many mundane back-office processes and moves an organisation from focusing on data management to data-supported decision making and communication.

Managers should spend their time making good decisions and increasing productivity, not managing data.

Great software should also connect directly with people on the ground, engage them and distribute the workload.

As opposed to someone having to report something and someone else having to translate their message and enter the data that creates a message to someone else instructing them to complete a task.

For example, when there is a problem with a vehicle and someone in the field has to say,

“I have a problem with my vehicle. Here are the details of it and here’s the photo. Can you email it to the mechanic to ask them what I should do?”

Great operations solutions do not waste your time and effort

The vehicle operator communicates directly with the mechanic when the maintenance request is lodged in the software, rather than sent to admin and the workshop supervisor and then to the mechanic.

With great software, the mechanic — once notified — can directly request more information and schedule the repair in accordance with the urgency.

Software that communicates within an organisation can also communicate beyond the organisation; Automated messages are sent to external stakeholders when a resident’s request has been completed. A simple SMS notification sent to residents that the rubbish truck has been delayed could save hundreds of unnecessary communications with residents.

Great software solutions become a team’s single source of truth. It tells everybody in the group what has happened, what is happening and what might happen.
And great software is needed to help managers meet some of the significant challenges looming on the horizon:

  • Integrating technology into the business process
  • Transforming data management into communication
  • Continuous improvement

Great operational software will transform an organisation’s information into communication.

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Enterprise-ready App in 6 weeks – A low-code victory

Bundaberg Regional Council works and asset management app 

We talked to Sean Askew, the Network Planning Engineer (Water Services) at Bundaberg Regional Council. Our mission: To discover just how fast he and Formbird got up and running with their new “works management app”. We find out how they are now reaping the benefits of their quick build solution. And how their “works app” continues to bring business value through flexibility, with the Formbird low-code development platform. 

Tipping the scales at over six thousand square kilometres, Bundaberg Regional Council is one of the largest councils in Queensland. Three hundred and sixty kilometres north of Brisbane, the region is a booming hub of agriculture and industry and a popular tourism/lifestyle destination. The regional council employs close to nine hundred employees. 

Getting started with Formbird

After an intensive six weeks, Formbird were live with the first phase of an asset and works management digitisation project for the regional council, starting with the water and sewer department. The reticulation team are now rolling Formbird’s works management out across all of the Water Services delivery teams including; Treatment, Mechanical and Electrical. As well as being extended outside Water Services to Trade Services.

Because Bundaberg Regional Council had already implemented an asset management system, they had a good idea of what they wanted. They also knew what they didn’t want. 

Mark Hosking, Formbird CEO, said, “Local government has traditionally been a challenging problem for a broad-based works and asset management app to solve.”

“A local council has a unique process in every corner of the organisation; you could say a council represents 50 small businesses.”

“When we replace an existing system as we did in Bundaberg, it is always surprising how often we see a solution designed by one area and then implemented in another. For example, designed by accounts and used in operations. The fit is never quite right.”

Because the Bundaberg Regional Council team had already implemented asset management software, they were knowledgeable; they had the experience; they were battle-hardened or maybe scarred. Their expertise gave Formbird a great base to build on. 

“Formbird built a strong working relationship with Sean Askew and Sharyn Williamson, first starting with water and now moving into trade services and other areas of the business.” CEO Mark Hosking said. 

The Formbird Advantage

Bundaberg Regional Council Water Services wanted a solution that would meet their needs in a hurry for today and be flexible into the future. 

Looking at what was available, they soon discovered that most solutions on the market were “set in stone”. They required organisations adhere to a massive flowchart with everything already mapped out. Maybe this would work in a perfect world. 

“We needed to digitise our field staff and our business, we know the current state of play, and we know things could grow and change.”

Sean Askew

An organisation’s needs won’t match how they operate when a specification is signed off twelve months prior.

Sean knew that the potential for cost blowouts of a twelve-month development cycle would be high; if circumstances changed in that time, the end solution would be useless. 

Sean Askew asked Formbird, “What can we do now? What could deliver business value from day one?”  

He continued, “if you asked any other organisation to digitise your field operations teams in six weeks, they’re going to laugh at you. There’s no way that’s physically possible … we needed something on the ground, working, it doesn’t need to have all the bells and whistles, but we need to get it done.”

“In six weeks, we had the guys starting to use it. Was it the end product? No. There were many things that we could add, but the core value was there. After six weeks, we could demonstrate that some of our teams had gone digital.”

Compliance Assessment: Rapid development saves the day

Bundaberg Regional Council Water Services had an upcoming hazardous chemical compliance assessment. An inspector came to see all their safety data sheets. The information was in a legacy system that needed to be made current.  

Bundaberg Regional Council had to get an updated list of the chemicals. They had to respond to the request within the week. 

They quickly made a form in Formbird and pushed it out to all the teams. The field teams went out and captured the detail of every chemical they had stored, including adding photos and then generated the report.

They can now use this new tool to inspect and build a process to keep the hazardous materials register up to date.  

Bundaberg Regional Council was able to turn this around in under a week, getting the data sheets up to date and having a new tool to do it. 

The information captured was a crucial step in meeting the recommendations by the auditors. 

Thanks to Sean Askew, the Network Planning Engineer (Water Services) at Bundaberg Regional Council, for his assistance in preparing this article. We look forward to hearing more from Sean soon.

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