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Project Overview
The internal JCS app has transformed the original, time-consuming, paper-based system that was in place for communicating details of detected water leaks between Thames Water and P.N. Daly.
Engineers out in the field now use the mobile app to easily log and send all required data. The GPS mapping feature helps users to locate and pin-point detected leaks and clients can now sign off the completed project there and then as well as provide feedback. In addition, engineers use the app to take photos and videos of the leaks which can be sent directly to back to admin staff.
Nomination Commissioner
P.N Daly
Nomination Creator
Red C
Team
The Red C team consists of dynamic individuals with a diverse wealth of experience, who share a passion for all things mobile. We relish a technical challenge and love to say 'Yes' to even the most complex brief. We are a company with integrity and deliver what we promise - we have a genuine interest in your project from conception to completion.
Our team is small and flexible, enabling us to respond quickly and provide personalised customer care, yet big enough to deliver enterprise-level projects for leading brands.
Project Brief
P.N. Daly Ltd. and Thames Water required a digital strategy to manage and optimise working practices between the two companies. A Thames Water contractor, P.N. Daly is an expert supplier of utility design, engineering, construction, installation and technical services with 40 years of experience working for the UK’s leading utility companies and developers.
The two businesses previously operated a time-consuming paper-based system and approached Red C regarding the digitisation of it's processes to reduce turnarounds and guarantee smooth operations going forward.
One backend challenge was to develop a framework that would be able to integrate Thames Water’s IBM SAP system robustly with the control panel in a real time mode – with hundreds of jobs per hour being managed at peak times.
The iPhone app required hundreds of data fields to work dynamically according to the nature of the task. Yet in some areas on-site engineers don’t have internet connectivity meaning the app needed to be able to work smoothly offline – so that all recorded data would automatically be saved until connectivity is restored.
Project Need
Red C built a bespoke intuitive back office system – named the Job Control System (JCS) by P.N. Daly – that has revolutionised business communications between the two companies.
P.N. Daly field staff now submit their reports via the iPhone app, which are uploaded to the JCS and, on approval by P.N. Daly, are sent on to Thames Water’s SAP system for authorisation. Once the JCS receives the go ahead, engineers are immediately alerted via the app and can begin work. Once the issue has been resolved they confirm the job’s completion, fill out a timesheet via the app and then upload the status and data to the JCS.
Whereas it could previously take days for projects to be authorised by Thames Water via the paper-based system, engineers can now be given the go ahead in minutes. The JCS also features an auditing level to allow P.N. Daly supervisors to authorise jobs and timesheets.
The back-office JCS uses three different types of web services to communicate with the Thames SAP system in order to receive a new work order, update an existing work order or to crea
User Experience
Field staff can quickly record complex project data via the iOS app’s intuitive dynamic interface – which, depending on the data set chosen on a certain page, will then only open relevant data on the following pages – again reducing the time required to report field issues.
The engineers also now capture data about the traffic management that will be required in order to fix the problem, take photos to
document the issue, can use the app’s mapping functionality to locate water mains and key location information, and use the app on site to fill out and submit their timesheets.
Red C built in specialist offline caching functionality, which checks whether an internet connection is available. Based on that response, the app either syncs the data with the JCS or stores it until connectivity is restored.
Project Marketing
As the app is an enterprise app primarily for internal use, all employees were provided with an iPhone hosting the pre-installed app.
Both the Thames Water and P.N. Daly teams are impressed by
the robustness, speed and efficiency of the JCS and iPhone app.
Staff at all levels find it intuitive and didn’t experience any problems adapting to a digital strategy.
Communications that could previously take days, now take
minutes on the whole – reducing staff time and resources wastage on numerous levels.
The iPhone app’s offline caching ensures that all mobile-recorded data is secure – so that wherever an engineer is and no matter how many jobs they have to attend, the recorded information can be uploaded as soon as they reconnect to 3G/4G or WiFi.
Due to its new efficient management system, P.N. Daly has greater capacity and has been able to scale up its operations for Thames Water.
Project Privacy
No user data was shared outside of the app and there is a secure login for the front-end app and the back-end system in place. A secure certificate was also implemented when building the back-end system.
In Field Services
This category relates to applications developed in order to aid and facilitate organisations requiring mobility whilst out of the office.
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