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.
