Keeping customers connected through major events by implement an efficient event-management system

SOLVING THE CHALLENGE

Assura helped MainPower, a North Canterbury electricity company, upgrade its event-management system to improve efficiency.

Running electricity distribution in North Canterbury and Kaikoura, MainPower supplies line services to approximately 33,000 customers via 4,000 kilometres of cable over 11,000 square kilometres.

They were looking for a new system to manage power related events and systemise actions required in different situations. Whether a planned outage or an unexpected incident, the right people needed to know about it, and have the information and tools to complete their part of the process, and then progress to the next step.

It was important each type of event was handled the right way, and always either completed or resolved.

A new system needed to be dynamic and flexible enough to:

  • Incorporate specific industry requirements to make sure incidents, defects, hazards, improvements and complaints were managed in line with regulations and requirements
  • Be adaptable as regulatory frameworks evolved and changed
  • Complement MainPower’s existing processes and procedures
  • Be able to be managed in-house
  • Provide effective management and reporting through status tracking capability
  • Allow ease of access via data pushing in web formats
  • Ensure events were managed in a consistent and timely manner

WITH RESULTS TO PROVE IT

MainPower’s project team looked at several off-the-shelf packages. Unable to find something that met their needs, they came to Assura to develop a system which would meet the company’s unique needs.

MainPower quickly saw the value in Assura’s workflow capabilities, which could facilitate the live tracking, consistent management and escalation of incidents and events they were looking for. The Assura system also provided them the ability to easily manage and record processes for audit and compliance purposes.

Working together, we implemented a range of tailored workflows and processes, that streamlined the management of events. Processes were often complex with multiple people and teams involved, or a specific actions required in order, before the next action could take place. A clear process was developed for each type of event, triggering required actions at each step, and notifying the right people, so jobs were managed through to completion.

Mainpower now has a system configured to their specific needs, where the right people know what they need to do, and when. Employees at all levels of the business are able to follow the correct processes to complete their part of the job, and progress to the next team or person.

Staff now know what they need to do, and when. Regularly updated with the status of events, changes and improvements, Senior managers have visibilityto what’s going on in real time.