| Industry team integral to rendering ENERGEX Australian leaders |
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Statement to the Media Industry team integral to rendering ENERGEX Australian leaders
An industry team made up of Integral Technology Solutions, ENERGEX, SPARQ, The LiTMUS Group, MDSI, and led by prime contractor TUSC, is the key to the success of this project. The solution uses Field Force Automation (FFA) technology, implemented with the latest release of the Advantex solution from MDSI and incorporates the integration of a number ENERGEX’s host systems, ENERGEX crews will now locate faults in the network faster through satellite navigation, tracking and dispatch. The FFA computer system provides field crews with unprecedented access to electronic information about outages and customer premises from their vehicle. The reduction in phone calls, travel time and paper will help increase efficiency significantly during storms and other peak periods. Millions of people - first on the Gold Coast and then, over the next six months, across more than 25,000 square kilometres throughout south east Queensland and northern New South Wales – will benefit from the new system that provides faster response times and more accurate information to field crews. At the FFA Launch on the Gold Coast, Queensland Minister for Mines and Energy, Hon. Geoff Wilson commended the project and the partners involved stating that this technology will bring ENERGEX on par with leading utilities in the United States and the United Kingdom who are also benefiting from the more efficient dispatch of work to field crews. Later, Terry Effeney, CEO ENERGEX, said “This system is the first step in the cutting edge $22 million FFA system which will assist in each step of the power maintenance and restoration process. The moment after ENERGEX receives notice of a power outage a case will be generated at our call centre, evaluated, and immediately dispatched to rapid response crews’ in-vehicle computers.” Integral Technology Solutions’ (Integral) role in this project was to integrate the Advantex FFA technology with the existing ENERGEX host systems. Integral’s Managing Director, Cameron Tuesley, said “This is a particularly rewarding project for Integral as it extensively uses our integration methodologies, intellectual property, and best practice based approaches to building a robust and scalable EAI [enterprise application integration] solution. Also, the entire project is based on BEA WebLogic Integration and we are specialists in this area. Integral integrated ENERGEX’s service call management system with the Advantex solution and is currently integrating a number of other host systems for the purposes of support asset management and Full Retail Contestability through Advantex. Integral’s work included analysis, design and implementation of the BEA WebLogic Integration based architecture using Integral’s in house Integration Methodology and industry standard architectural models. The solution uses messaging, XML, flexible business rules and a layered EAI architectural model to support a highly scalable and flexible integration solution. Industry recognition of Integral’s expertise in the key areas of integration and BEA WebLogic is the reason we were asked to join the industry team for this project.” TUSC Computer Systems Pty Ltd (TUSC) was prime contractor for the project. TUSC provided program management and implementation services and coordinated the integration activities of Integral Technology Solutions and other team members. John Avramidis, General Manager - Utilities and Resources for TUSC said, "Integral Technology Solutions have done a great job integrating the field force automation software with ENERGEX’s operational and back office systems. Working together, we have delivered a wonderful solution to ENERGEX and to its customers in Queensland. ENERGEX’s FFA Project will become the benchmark that all other utilities in Australia will measure against as they inevitably move to adopt field force automation as the key means to transforming and automating their field service organisations". “The Integral team have worked hard to understand and develop a flexible solution that truly meets the needs of the business.” Tom Kyle, Project Manager, Field Force Automation, SPARQ Solutions (The IT&T service provider to ENERGEX, Ergon Energy and Service Essentials)
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