568 Part Four Building and Managing Systems Achieving Operational Ex Informat rements Software skills: Web browser software Business skills: Information requirements an 12 Visit the Web site of your choice and exp! a acca provided by that Web site and its infor questions: What functions does th and processes? What are some of its systems or systems of other organiza other design Collaboration and Teamwork Project 13-13 In MyMISLab, you will find a Collaboration and chapter. You will be able to use Google Drive, Goo! collaboration tools to complete the assignment, Pee eee A SourceGas Goes tt! ourceGas is a utility headquartered in Golden, Colorado providing natural gas service to over 413,000 customers in Arkansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming. The company has over 1,100-employees and operates nearly 12,000 miles of natural gas transmission and distribution pipeline covering a 332,437-square-mile area—about half the size of Alaska. ‘The number of work orders (authorizing specific work or repairs to be done) processed per mile traveled is a key performance indicator for utility companies, especially SourceGas. SourceGas's territory includes many large rural areas where re-routing work orders incurs very heavy fuel, maintenance, and other operational costs. The more work orders that can be processed per mile traveled, the lower the cost. SourceGas's predecessor had installed a mobile - information system in 2000 to dispatch approxi- mately 500,000 work orders to approximately 500 field technicians equipped with mobile devices. However, this work order and dispatch system was starting to show its age, and the work order and dispatch processes required too much manual effort. All work was dispatched manually, and there were no systematized scheduling priorities, making it difficult for service technicians to consistently be cellence Analyzin nalysis, Web site design lore it thoroughly. P' vation requirements. YOUr report should ans 1e Web site perfor tions? What value does thi Caen Sse hes g Web Site Design and repare a report analyzing they, im? What data does it use? What are its inputs, g specifications? Does the Web site link to any 3 Web site provide the firm? amwork Project dealing with the concepts in Sites, Google Docs, Google +, or other open sou Te gle Sate assigned workloads that were aligned with busins objectives, SourceGas dispatchers were highly experi enced and had the requisite knowledge to assign technicians with the appropriate set of skills to perform the work. However, to perform this process successfully, dispatchers had to commit to memory more than 225 different types of ot" that technicians performed in the field. SourceS# wound up spending a great deal of time and ello clarifying its scheduling policies. SourceGas's work order process starts with aa from a customer to the SourceGas call center Fayetteville, Arkansas. Under the companys, | system, the company's SAP CRM software creat! work otder that was sent to the SourceGas dsp] center, where dispatchers assigned the work (0 technicians whé received the assignments USTs Panasonic Toughbook mobile devices. Altioul* | Previous system integrated with SAP CRM sof?" to enable SourceGas to track a-work order from f to finish, the work order still had to be initiate? manually by the dispatchers. What's more, the outdated system could 8° longer be easily modified to keep up with Be requirements. SourceGas serves both regulat™? and non-regulated markets in four states ¥!" Scanned with CamScannersorent BUSINESS TUleS, 0 the oro accamodate rapid and conatant ‘rnancements t0 the system wore jure sourceGas needed a new system tay nets work order and schedulin Zavcould be updated and change csv. Management also wanted a systerm yceGas could malke these chan r intemal Tesources rather thin extern, snich the company’ had relied on heavily to na enhancements t0 its old system. ‘The software a the legacy system had been custom-prope one thit-party vendors, making the sy; fraintain and enhance inthe summer of 201), SourceGas initi- ged a requiroments-gathering workshop with clckSoftware, the external vendor the company System has to hg change, t00 costly, no. B Processes 'd much more here ‘stem difficult to and scheduling processes. SourceGas's biggest piorities were tol) automate work scheduling; 2) and 3) ensure minimal changé required for field technicians to use the new system. . For its solution, SourceGas chose SAP Workforce Scheduling & Optimization software package by ClickSoftware, which integrates with its existing SAP systems, including SAP ERP and SAP CRM. SAP Workforce Scheduling & Optimization by ClickSoftware is a real-time optimized scheduling solution for managing scheduling and dispatching, Supporting mobile service operations, schedul- ing service appointments, and monitoring service operations, The software includes capabilities for demand forecasting to determine how much "| York is set to arrive, when, and where; deploying Tesources based on knowledge of worker vice commitments, location, and customer prefer, ‘€nces; responding in real time Z ‘Such as wratte and cancellations;. and Cee Service performance by identifying pears and methods for improvement. Software UAT» xe able to meet anticipated workloads in ® OPN Sific ime frame with better capacity eral i a, *esource allocation..SAP Workforce Sch Zi ns prtintaation. software integrates airectlY P applications. 7 ster An SAP NetWeaver Process Integration Ne Automatically handles the messaging PETE Ty ihe SAP Workforce Scheduling & Optimist atin SAP CRM system, Work orders are NOW | cally scheduled and dispatched usin eS Using its own, al consultants, programmed by dused in the past to make system enhancements, re objective was to establish system requirements and develop business rules to guide the work order maintain the company’s existing timesheet process; skills, set- to on-the-spot issues e company’s Chapter 13 wuitding intormation Systema” 569 Dusiness rte ie the oe Configured in the syatern, with excep- Te te for dispatchers to handle yatemeger ft BrOceas of implementing the nex trating itthtements analysis, development, Sonne taining, took a ule over one year. Fe neg led out the system in phases, with Dent division going Hive withthe syatern in cember 2012, {n implementing the SAP software Package, SourceGas faced some speci® challenges because it had to design the system and configure the software 10 account for all the special conditions Of its unique service area and complex rules for (yes of work, Some of the questions that had to be addressed were: Are work order priorities the same in an urban area, such as Fayetteville, Arkansas, as they are in rural Wyoming? What constitutes an emergency work order? ° The SourceGas system had to be designed to schedule and route all the field technician work according to these various rules and conditions. ‘The design also had to make the system as familiar and easy to use for SourceGas mobile workers as possible, with the new mobile app user experience’ mirroring field workers’ existing user experience as much as possible. This was especially critical for time reporting, which required some simplification while adhering nevertheless to company business rules for proper accounting. SourceGas was able to enhance the software while maintaining the same user experience. To improve technician efficiency, the software was enhanced to tailor service order completion data sent back to SourceGas's ERP system for each type of service order rather than displaying all data fields onall orders. Another important enhancement was to add audio alerts for dispatchers and technicians’ mobile devices to the SAP Workforce Scheduling & Optimization software so that emergency orders receive proper attention. An additional safety feature is the capability for technicians to set a timer to alert dispatch if they haven't returned to their vehicle by a specified time. SourceGas used an iterative approach and agile development methodology and took user inpyt and user training very seriously. The system project had a committee of super-user technicians as well as an operations team to make sure the system was. built to the right specifications. Its technicians had provided important input during the requirements- gathering and design stages of system-building, and they began training on the new application in June 2012. SourceGas trained 20 percent of its workforce to obtain their feedback about the new system (to Scanned with CamScanner570 Part Four Building and ttanaging Systems make sure it met their expectations), and used the experience to create training materials for when the system went totally live, This approach helped ensure users would buy into the new systém and that no business process was overlooked. The testing process had end users on SourceGas's operations team perform all of the approximately 225 types of service orders handled by the company using the new application to make sure the system was able to handle every single business scenario. For example, to test the process of a technician closing out a work order for a meter exchange, the new systern must be able to move data from a final reading of the old meter into SourceGas's SAP ERP system, and the system has to perform certain steps before the new meter is recognized and synchro- nized to a customer account. What benefits have been prodiiced-by the lew ‘system? SourceGas's management has received Positive feedback about the new system capabilities - for automated scheduling, timesheet preparation as well as its improved usability compared to the Previous system. Managers can more accurately Bauge their workload in their divisions. SourceGas dispatchers can see their workloads more accurately and determine the appropriate resources. The company has already used the new system to complete 400,000 work orders and pay 900,006 timesheet records. However, management would like to see moré manpower study reports before it can determine the extent of the new system's operational efficiencies and benefits One key benefit that is already apparent, however, is the company's ability to keep a lid on the costs of maintaining and updating the system because it is doing most of that work with in-house staff rather than turning to external vendors, as it had in the past. The SAP Workforce Scheduling and Optimization software package has made it possible MyMISLab : Go to myimislab.com for the following Assisted-graded writing questions 13-20 Describe four system conversion strategies, 13-21 Describe the role of end users in developing systems usi tion software packages, and end-user development. for SourceGas to rapidly make changes in-hoys, which makes it easier for the company to to rapid changes in the utility industry. SourceGas will be further enhancing its sap Workforce Scheduling and Optimization softwan, focus more directly on serving customers, Poterg: changes to the system include allowing custome, to place orders online, sending text messages inform customers when technicians are on they, and processing payment from customers direct the field. Sources: www-sourcegas.com, accessed June 30, 2014 Murphy, Ken ‘SourceGas Takes the Driver's Seat in Workinee Scheduling,” SAP InsiderPROFILES, July 1, 2013; and ‘*SourceGas Implements SAP Workforce Scheduling a Optimization,” www.youtube.com, May 14, 2014 CASE STUDY QUESTIONS 13-14 Analyze-SourceGas's problems with its old system. What management, organization, and technology factors were responsible for these problems? What was the business impact of these problems? . 13-15 What role did end users play in developing SourceGas's new work order and dispatch system? How did the project team make su Users were involved? What would have happened to the project if they had not done is? - 13:16 What types of system-building methods ant tools did SourceGas use for building its system? Discuss the issue of software package customization at SourceGas, What other steps did SourceGas take to mt ‘sure the new system was sticcessfill? 13-19 What were the benefits of the new system? How did it change the way SourceGas ran is business? How successful was this syste™ . solution? . Tespons 13-17 13-18 ing the traditional’ systems life cycle, prototyping. Scanned with CamScanner