Utility companies have shown significant activity in recent years where service management systems are concerned as the many advantages have become apparent. Since privatisation in 1989, water companies in particular have had to consider the requirements of their shareholders combined with scrutiny by industry regulator OFWAT.

Bristol Water, owned by the Spanish company Agbar since 2006, is the UK’s second largest ‘water only’ operation, with sewerage services supplied by Wessex Water. Approximately 1m people are supplied in the Bristol area. In addition to OFWAT, water companies are also observed by other government bodies such as the Environment Agency, Consumer Council for Water and the Drinking Water Inspectorate.

The high level of regulation means that all changes to the business structure are highly scrutinised and therefore require considerable research before they are approved. Not only is each water company’s performance assessed and compared against other similar organisations, prices are set five years in advance and companies have to show they are doing their utmost to keep water prices as low as possible.

With this in mind, Bristol Water initiated a project 21/2 years ago with a number of objectives. These included improving the efficiency of its service operation while providing a system that could adapt to its future requirements and maintain the company’s high standards.

It was decided that mobile communications would provide many of the answers to its requirements, replacing the paper-based system used at that time. Initial investigations showed that a 20% improvement in efficiency could be gained simply by removing the need for engineers to drive to the office to receive their work schedules at the start of their day.

Research began in the latter stages of 2006 followed by tenders in early 2007 which led to the company finally choosing the GE Field Force Automation (FFA) system implemented by Aspective. The project began in September 2007 and was rolled out to 60 of Bristol Water’s field staff at the beginning of this year, with the next phase due to start in September.

Project manager Matthew Stephenson was involved from the beginning and explained the detailed processes involved. The company had installed SAP in 2001 and continues to use this for raising service calls initially. It was therefore essential that any new system would have to integrate seamlessly to provide the best benefits.

Stephenson explained that the initial process began with the involvement of the consultancy company Leadent (now part of Abeam) in 2006, which had previously been involved in a similar project with Anglian Water. This proved to be a decisive factor in the way Bristol Water approached the project from the outset: ‘We saw that it was not just about the various aspects and advantages provided by the technology, but more about change management,’ said Stephenson. Leadent’s involvement provided understanding of how all Bristol Water’s working processes combined and resulted in high level process mapping to show how it could modernise and streamline its operations.

This meant that the company looked at many more aspects of the project than it originally envisaged. A change management strategy was implemented, driven by Manu Cermerón, one of the company’s new Spanish directors, to run alongside the company’s commercial development aims. The services of another consultancy company, Business Transformation, were also engaged to help Bristol Water understand the psychological aspects affecting employees when faced with significant changes to working practices that, if not addressed, could lead to resistance.

‘We spoke to the staff and listened to their concerns after giving presentations to key groups to prepare the workforce for the various changes,’ said Stephenson. ‘This resulted in a lot of different views in one pot, but Business Transformation rationalised these and helped us to identify the key issue, which was essentially people’s fears caused by loss of control.’

Although tracking was one of the most frequently voiced concerns of the workforce, another of the key aspects determined through staff consultation highlighted reduced personal contact with the main office as another issue. The benefits of an engineer being able to start work immediately, rather than having to call into the office first, are obvious, but Bristol Water did not want its engineers to feel they were missing out. Their response was to create a company newsletter featuring interviews with staff and the latest updates.

It also encouraged employees to submit opinion to make them feel more involved in the process. These are posted on the company’s intranet and can be viewed remotely. Despite all Bristol Water’s efforts, however, Stephenson still describes implementing the system as a ‘painful process’ and, with the benefit of hindsight, thinks that the company was over enthusiastic in its pre-roll out promotion.

He said: ‘We spent a lot of time telling people how good the system was, but on reflection we should have managed their expectations differently and been more realistic with what it could do and how long things would take to bring in.

‘You’re changing things so much, picking people up and putting them back down again in a different position and people generally don’t like change,’ Stephenson continued. ‘And, of course, non technical people expect technical things to work first time and in the real world, it doesn’t. Each project is different and that’s one of the challenging aspects.’

The company also learned that it had initially set SLA requirements too high on the system’s agenda of priorities. After six weeks it was clear that other work priorities needed to combine with SLAs and, when these were included, things quickly began to improve.

The process of examining its service operation in considerable detail has allowed the company to be far more accurate in predicting job times and has shown considerable improvements in productivity as a result. Perhaps the best example is the fitting of water meters, which previously were fitted at the maximum rate of 10 per day using the old paper-based system. The company states that it has achieved a 100% improvement through understanding work completion times and efficient job scheduling.

Two teams were established using volunteers to drive the new system’s implementation, consisting of various managers to oversee the design side – tailoring the system to match Bristol Water’s requirements – and a user group to test and fine tune the design team’s ideas. Stephenson states that the two will be more closely linked for the second stage of the system’s roll out. It was decided that Panasonic CF19 laptops fitted with Vodafone SIM cards would be used by field operatives.

These combine with a touch screen device mounted in the ceiling of the vans involved in high volume daily calls that can be used from either driver or passenger positions. Fitted by Tempus, the touch screens fold into the roof lining for practicality and security reasons. The vans also carry a Box Telematics vehicle tracking device. The system uses CoPilot satellite navigation to direct engineers to the call site, with maps that include the location of various pipes, drains and access points, etc.

Although none of its staff have been made redundant, the company has reduced its workforce by more than 10% through natural wastage. It estimates that a figure of 17% is achievable and expects to reach this within three years as the benefits of the system take effect. The work schedule, previously agreed between managers and engineers, will eventually be handled entirely by the system and the person in charge of scheduling.

The company states that there were no issues from workers’ unions, due to the fact that several other utility companies had installed similar systems in recent years and had gained acceptance. With many of the initial glitches removed, response from the workforce is now far more positive.

The various processes engaged by Bristol Water have combined to allow it to change its business practices and provide savings in efficiency, with more to come with the second phase of its roll out. This will include further adjustments to FFA combined with two further systems of database management and the Laboratory Information Management System to log the 15,000 water samples tested each year. The company is also considering the use of ultra mobile PC devices for use in the field.

Bristol Water company timeline

•         1846 – Merchant Bankers in Bristol decide that the city requires clean water supply.

•         Victorians develop majority of public water works and piped network in major cities

•         1989 – Privatisation. 10 water and sewerage, and 14 water only companies formed. Economic regulator OFWAT created.

•         March 2000 - Competition introduced for industrial consumers

•         July 2006 – BW purchased by Agbar (Aguas de Barcelona)