Powel’s solution integrates with existing business systems and eliminates dual data entry
St. Paul, Minnesota August 9, 2006 - Powel, a world leader in Operational Resource Planning (ORP) solutions, today announced the City of Richland, Washington has chosen its StakeOut software as an enterprise solution for its utility work order management, cost estimating, and field design. Situated along the Columbia River, Richland serves 21,000 utility customers with a service territory of 50 square miles.
Utilities use StakeOut software to efficiently manage and streamline their entire work order process – from field design to work order tracking to close-out. StakeOut’s enhanced mobile editing functions allow users to take the essential geospatial information into the field for design, maintenance, and construction. This functionality, combined with StakeOut’s work order management capabilities, provides significant productivity enhancement to electric, gas, and telecommunication utilities.
“Like a lot of other utilities, we are looking for more efficient ways of doing things,” said Mike Murray, Power Analyst for the City of Richland. “We have implemented a new financial system that lacks a cost estimating and work order tool that fits our needs as a construction utility. StakeOut will provide those tools.”
“We needed to revamp our work order system. We required a tool to allow us to better track our estimates versus our actual charges versus our budgets. We now will have the visibility enterprise-wide to review our project estimates and actual costs and develop reports to validate that.”
According to Murray, StakeOut also provides a platform to use with other business systems including accounting, customer information systems, utility billing and inventory management. “We are going to get this in the hands of our field crews and eliminate the dual data entry throughout the organization. If we can get away from hard copy maps, we can begin to approach our data on a near real-time basis. We can manage with same-day data instead of two-to three-week-old data.”
According to Murray, Richland will see a cost savings of 30-40% in eliminating the dual data entry done by field and office personnel. “We also expect savings from reducing the outsourcing of engineering design work. Through the efficiencies we’ll gain with StakeOut, we’ll bring more of that work in-house.”
“StakeOut is a very intuitive tool,” said Corey Maple, CEO of Powel, Inc. “Richland’s in-house engineers will be able to access the information they need, right when they need it, quickly and easily. Our operational resource planning solutions are comprehensive, simple to use and deliver measurable operational improvement.”
The StakeOut solution will be implemented over the next nine months. “We chose Powel because we were comfortable with their ongoing support of our new system,” said Murray. “The other options we looked at didn’t have the support that would serve us into the future. Powel is advancing technology in the utility management area.”
About Powel:
Powel ASA, headquartered in Trondheim, Norway, delivers software solutions and related services designed to help energy companies and public utilities work smarter, and to increase their operational efficiency and service quality. The company is a market leader in Scandinavia, and has established offices in Sweden, the U.S., and Canada. Founded in 1996, Powel ASA is a publicly traded company and has grown from 37 employees to more than 250 in its 10 years of existence. Growth opportunities for the company remain strong in both the energy industry and the public sector.
About City of Richland:
The City acquired its electric system in 1959 when ownership was transferred to the City by the United States Government. The current population of Richland is approximately 44,000. The electric utility is operated by the City’s Energy Services Department and has approximately 21,000 active accounts in and around the City. The City Council serves as the governing body of the electric utility.