All water supply and sewage information in one solution in Linköping
Tekniska Verken i Linköping AB had a need for a common system for information on its networks, operational status, and customers for managing complaints. Since the existing system was outdated and its development and servicing had already ceased, the choice to upgrade or change it was easy. Tekniska Verken i Linköping AB attached particular importance to being able to manage customer information in a single system, and that it could be integrated with their billing system. That is why they chose Tekla Solution for water utilities.
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"Being able to manage customer information and integrate the network information system with our billing system means we can provide better customer service, faster responses to trouble reports and effectively monitor the distribution of responsibilities between the water and wastewater utilities and private network owners. Tekla's solution also provides better support for a range of operational and planning situations,” says Jörgen Lönnbring, Network Manager at Division Water of Tekniska Verken i Linköping AB.
Tekniska Verken i Linköping AB manages close to 720 km of water mains, 630 km of wastewater and sanitation pipes and 450 km of storm water drains. New acquisitions of water supply and sewage pipes cost between SEK 1,500 to SEK 10,000 per meter of pipe, depending on the location and position, and dimensions, which gives a total value of the network amounting to over SEK 5 billion. It is therefore important for Linköping that the tools used for geographical and technical analysis are of high quality.
The choice was between upgrading or replacing the old system. Three water and wastewater utilities (Linköping, the Municipality of Norrköping and Mälarenergi) began to jointly investigate a range of alternatives.
"During presentations of the alternative system solutions, Tekla was the only supplier who could show us the system using live demonstrations. Tekla's solution was therefore judged to be fully developed and therefore reliable," says Lönnbring.
Linköping have documented their network over a long period of time and they had 70 criteria in the area of documentation of the network and only three criteria for mobile usage, since they had not worked with mobile solutions previously.
"A dilemma when we were assessing the alternatives was to do it fairly. How do you weight requirements with respect to the system's capacity to manage documentation when you have plenty of experience and masses of detailed requirements there, against what you want with respect to the system's mobile solutions, where we have no experience and therefore no detailed requirements? One point per detail is probably not appropriate or fair,” says Lönnbring.
Linköping and Tekla conducted a pilot project in the spring of 2007 as part of the evaluation. Tekla converted part of Linköping's network information, which the customer then tested and test-drove for two months. During this time, personnel from the networks, customer service and documentation worked with the solution. The pilot project was deemed highly successful.
In conjunction with the evaluation, the need to develop a number of functions in the solution became apparent. These were developed by Tekla in conjunction with the delivery of the production system.
"The strengths of Tekla's solution were integration with the billing system, support for field computers, analysis tools, and that the system was fully developed for all areas of application. A big plus for Tekla's solution was also that Tekla Solution for electricity utilities is used by the Tekniska Verken group of companies,” says Lönnbring.
The decision to purchase Tekla's solution was made in September 2007, and test conversions were carried out during November and December of the same year. Tekla took on the responsibility for installation, migration of data, consultant services to adapt the system to Linköping's specific needs, and the training of Tekniska Verken's personnel. In conjunction with migrating the data from the old systems, the data was cleaned up and structured, which resulted in a significant increase in the quality of Linköping's water supply and sewage data.
A production conversion was conducted in January 2008. Tekla Solution, with Tekla NIS (Network Information System) as the core of it, was commissioned in Linköping in February 2008.
"It was important when replacing the system to structure the data, merging information that belongs together but had ended up in different places, taking apart information that was not sufficiently detailed, cleaning up and removing information that was not needed in the future, even making the most of forgotten information, maintaining control of what was left outside the conversion, and entered later manually, evaluating efficiently, and not looking at everything but rather taking random samples,” says Mattias Palo, water supply and sewage engineer at Tekniska Verken i Linköping AB.
After the conversion was approved, which Linköping was very satisfied with, the system began being used and users were trained.
"It's incredibly important to get the users up and running. You're never going to get everyone feeling unreservedly positive about this type of change," says Lönnbring.
Tekniska Verken is currently working on scanning and linking documents from the service archives and linking the consumer points and working drawings to the pipe networks. This will make it easier to evaluate the distribution of responsibilities between Tekniska Verken and property owners.
"Handling will be faster because you won't need to search for drawings in the archives," says Lönnbring.
Another objective was to widen the use of the mobile solution. Laptop or handheld computers will be used during inspections. Plans also include being able to load the field computers with work orders, give them to contractors to perform, and then get the reports back into the system in digital form.
Linköping is very satisfied with its choice of Tekla Solution. Mattias Palo is particularly pleased with the Spatial Analysis module.
“The best part of Tekla's solution is spatial analyses,” says Palo. An example of a report he has created himself covers which stretches of pipe have been so badly affected by tree roots that the roots have previously been cut out, but the pipes have not be checked with CCTV equipment in the past 5 years.
"It's very easy to find and analyze data for a range of purposes. It's also easy to create and generate your own reports for analysis that can be saved and used by others," he continues.
With Tekla's solution, Linköping has quite simply been able to identify and localize critical parts of the network that are at high risk of overflowing through systematic monitoring of root problems, for example. By finding these and preventing the problem, Linköping estimates that it will be able to save large amounts of money in labor and replacement costs that arise as a result of overflows.
Linköping finds Tekla's solution easy to use, even at the administrator level.
“Because the solution is easy to use and multifaceted, we have more users today with Tekla's solution than with our previous system," says Lönnbring.
"Personnel wanting to find information can find everything in one place, which saves time. Searches are easier because you can search by address, property ID, customer, etc.," he continues. "Being able to import the district heating and electricity mains networks into the water supply and sewage map is another benefit that arises from having Tekla NIS in use throughout the group of companies.”
It is easy to generate documentation of the network and details can be added rapidly. When the entire personnel start using the system, the quality of the water supply and sewage data will keep on improving and the benefits of the solution will keep on growing.
Tekla's solution has certainly met Tekniska Verken's expectations, but it has also resulted in a certain amount of positive frustration. The company is beginning to see a large number of possibilities that they have not yet investigated.
"The frustration comes from the fact that the solution provides many more possibilities than limitations," says Lönnbring.