Another irth Solutions Success Story

Transcription

1 Another irth Solutions Success Story Synopsis Level 3 Communications trades in proprietary ticketing system for irth Solutions UtiliSphere ticket management platform, achieves improved results. About Level 3 Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE: LVLT) provides local, national and global communications services to enterprise, government and carrier customers. Level 3 s comprehensive portfolio of secure, managed solutions includes fiber and infrastructure solutions; IP-based voice and data communications; wide-area Ethernet services; video and content distribution; data center and cloud-based solutions. Level 3 serves customers in more than 450 markets in 45 countries over a global services platform anchored by owned fiber networks on three continents and connected by extensive undersea facilities. Situation In an effort to reduce the time and expense of building and maintaining proprietary software programs, Level 3 directed that its IT decision-makers use commercial, off-the-shelf solutions whenever viable, proven options were available. Response The job of selecting a new ticketing system fell to Scott Jirik, Senior Manager, Cable Protection at Level 3, who manages a team of fifteen specialists responsible for screening tickets. I can t say I was real happy when the directive came down, said Jirik. We d built a good ticketing system. People knew how to use it; it got the job done. Using his existing system as a starting point, Jirik and his team developed a list of capabilities they d need from any off-the-shelf solution. the team also agreed that a cloud-based ticket management solution would be a big plus. We figured if we had a cloud-based solution we wouldn t have to do any maintenance at all, commented Jirik. Anytime the system was updated, those new features or upgrades would be available immediately, with no disruption or downtime at all on our end. Following a thorough review of available solutions, Jirik and his team chose UtiliSphere, a cloud-based ticket management platform from irth Solutions. Results After using the irth Solutions platform for six years, there are no complaints. Quite the contrary. Although Jirik and his team were pleased with their proprietary system, they re even more pleased with the UtiliSphere platform. Where do I start? said Jirik. The solution fits our needs to a T. We get about 1.25 million tickets a year. Using UtiliSphere we screen and clear what we can, typically about 60%. Then, we use the system s irthnet module to push the rest out to our people in the field. The tickets are worked and closed out and we move on. It s a very efficient and effective system. And when we need help, the customer service is great. Additional advantages of the UtiliSphere platform cited by Jirik:

2 Tickets are clearer and more concise, enabling faster response times More accurate and up-to-date mapping than previously available in legacy system Immediate availability of system updates, upgrades and new features Improved reporting capabilities. We were a very productive department before UtiliSphere, added Jirik. But with UtiliSphere, we ve been able to take our game up a notch. And the irth Solutions team continues to improve its platform. I m especially looking forward to the UtiliSphere claims and damages module scheduled to be added next year.

3 Another irth Solutions Success Story Synopsis Plains All American switches to irth Solutions UtiliSphere ticket management platform, substantially improves efficiency of ticketing operations and gains valuable reporting capabilities. About Plains Plains All American Pipeline, L.P. is a publicly traded master limited partnership engaged in the transportation, storage, terminalling and marketing of crude oil and refined products, as well as in the processing, transportation, fractionation, storage and marketing of natural gas liquids. Through its general partner interest and majority equity ownership position in PAA Natural Gas Storage, L.P. (NYSE: PNG), PAA owns and operates natural gas storage facilities. PAA is headquartered in Houston, Texas. Situation Plains All American had a ticket management solution in place but wasn t fully satisfied with its ease of use and limited capabilities. Specifically, it sought a solution that would enable the company to efficiently archive and back up its ticket data while making it possible to easily retrieve that data for auditing purposes. It also sought more robust reporting capabilities and as company policy is not to screen a solution that would automate the process of accurately assigning tickets to the proper field personnel. Response After vetting several vendors and their solutions Frank Carden, Corporate One Call Manager at Plains, made the switch to irth Solutions UtiliSphere ticket management platform. Results UtiliSphere answered the company s needs for efficient ticket management and for archiving, backing up and retrieving data. The solution also offered improved reporting capabilities as well as the ability to automate field personnel assignments. In addition, Plains was able to leverage the damage prevention data in UtiliSphere s GIS for better integrity management and risk analysis. Because of UtiliSphere s ease of operation and added capabilities I m now able to do what it used to take a whole department to do in order to run our previous solution, said Carden. That s huge for me because right now we re running about 140,000 tickets a year and the number keeps going up. Carden derives substantial value from UtiliSphere s reporting capabilities: We ve been able to do quite a lot with UtiliSphere s irthnet module that we could never do with our old system. With that system, I had to run scripts against an SQL database. It was tedious, complicated, and time-consuming. Not anymore. Continued Carden: Take compliance, for example. With UtiliSphere and a few clicks of the mouse I m able to run a monthly report, by division, that shows me my total ticket volume, along

4 with how many of these tickets are past due and non-compliant. This way I can take corrective action before the problem gets out of hand and we rack up fines. In summary, Carden is thoroughly pleased with his choice of UtiliSphere and likes where [the system] is headed. One additional feature that Carden has been pushing for, and which is in the development stage, is a UtiliSphere PODS (Pipeline Open Data Standard) interface.

5 Another irth Solutions Success Story Synopsis Leading energy infrastructure company Williams standardizes on irth Solutions UtiliSphere software platform to power ticket management operations. Realizes cost-savings, productivity gains. The Company Williams is one of the leading energy infrastructure companies in North America. It owns interests in or operates 15,000 miles of interstate gas pipelines, 1,000 miles of NGL transportation pipelines, and more than 10,000 miles of oil and gas gathering pipelines Williams owns approximately 66-percent of Williams Partners L.P. (NYSE: WPZ), one of the largest diversified energy master limited partnerships. Williams Partners owns most of Williams' interstate gas pipeline and domestic midstream assets. The company's headquarters is in Tulsa, Okla. Situation Williams used a hodge-podge of ticket management programs throughout the company. After a new manager was brought in, the decision was made to standardize on a single-source solution with an eye toward cost-savings and productivity gains. Response Bruce Bevers, Public Safety, Sr. Engineer, Williams Gas Pipeline, came to the company with more than 15 years of industry experience, including six years spent with the Alabama One Call Center where he served on the Board of Directors. After an operational review, he formed a committee to select a one call ticket management system in November of 2009 and in February 2010 irth Solutions was chosen as the vendor. As Bevers relates it, Williams didn t have a broken system but it had an inconsistent system. Different operating units used different ticketing systems. All totaled, the company was using four different ticket management systems. As you can imagine, said Bevers, this probably wasn t the most efficient and productive approach. Bevers and his committee agreed on a set of best practices to focus on during the vendor selection process. After a thorough vetting of all major ticket management systems vendors, the committee settled on irth Solutions UtiliSphere platform as the system that most closely adhered to these best practices. Bruce Bevers on the vendor selection process: We considered at a lot of different factors. Obviously cost was a factor. Because we have different types of pipeline systems, versatility was important; and the ability to expand with us and adapt to our needs. The ability to document and audit, reporting capabilities, online access to the system, mapping capabilities and the ability to interface with our GIS system all of these factors played into our decision. And, this was very important, we wanted a vendor that had

6 traction in our industry and an established customer base. We needed to have confidence that the vendor was going to be around for a while. Results Williams rolled out the first phase of UtiliSphere in October 2010 and the system is now used company-wide. Standardizing our ticket management process on UtiliSphere has been a good move for us, stated Bevers. We ve enjoyed some cost-savings, we re more efficient, and our people are more productive as well. We re very happy with the system, and our people are very satisfied with irth s technical support. Bruce Bevers presented a session about his experiences, Implementing A One Call Ticket Management System, at the 2012 Excavation Safety Conference & Expo.