Queensland Urban Utilities transforms data into ops gains

Queensland Urban Utilities has created a platform that aggregates data from business systems into a single location to help operations staff better manage its sewer and water networks.

The Javascript, browser-based Q-Ops platform - built with the help of Esri Australia - pulls data from QUU's systems to paint a picture of network control information, maintenance work orders, work permits, network shut plans and vehicle GPS data related to the utility's water and sewer assets.

It means control room operators can organise, filter and analyse the network information using geospatial viewing and analysis tools to do things like track vehicles and work orders to support field maintenance crews.

It also means they can access in a single screen data they would previously track across several systems, thanks to the department's enterprise services bus and point to point data connections.

The platform goes beyond a standard snapshot of geospatial data typically involved in network management operations by integrating geospatial layers with disparate, non-spatial business systems for real-time access to network information.

Importantly, it means QUU no longer has to deal with traditional problems associated with asset management - disparate systems and data not designed for integration, a lack of geospatial network management tools, and ineffective field crew scheduling and dispatch.

This approach has resulted in much more effective operational decision making, according to QUU CIO Nina Du Thaler.

"[Q-Ops] is able to display the 2.2 million work orders available in QUU’s non-spatial Ellipse-based asset management system, for example," she said.

"The integration of this data and services has facilitated QUU managing these disparate systems as an integrated entity, knowing that each is engaged and used to manage the network’s performance daily."

Additionally, QUU can now proactively trace customers connected to parts of its network and contact those impacted by any outages or maintenance work.

"Using the integration of legacy and new information and presenting this information via its location, has enabled the entire organisation to work from one view of our customers, our assets, our crews, and our network," Du Thaler said.

Du Thaler and the QUU are finalists in the Utilities category of the iTnews Benchmark Awards. The winners will be announced at a gala dinner at Melbourne's Grand Hyatt on February 17.