How do you safeguard revenue while maintaining efficient service delivery? This was the challenge faced by eThekwini Electricity’s Revenue Protection division, tasked with preventing revenue loss due to tampering and human interference.
Revenue protection and efficient service delivery are critical challenges for municipalities, particularly in the electricity sector. eThekwini Electricity’s Revenue Protection division faced an increasing threat of revenue loss due to issues such as meter tampering, illegal connections, and human interference. Their existing system was outdated, inefficient, and required significant manual intervention, leading to delays and inaccuracies in data management. To address these challenges, eThekwini Electricity sought a modern, fully electronic Work Order Management solution to streamline operations, improve data accuracy, and enhance service delivery.
Challenges Faced
Prior to the implementation of SmartGov for eServices, eThekwini Electricity relied on a legacy mobile application that presented several operational deficiencies:
- Outdated Technology: The previous system was built on aging technology, which lacked support and maintenance, posing a significant operational risk.
- Data Validation Issues: The absence of automated data validation resulted in frequent errors, requiring extensive manual verification and correction.
- Inefficient Work Order Management: Assigning, tracking, and managing work orders was a time-consuming process, leading to inefficiencies in service delivery.
- Limited Integration: The legacy system lacked integration with other essential third-party platforms, causing delays and operational silos.
- Time-Consuming Data Synchronisation: Data collected in the field required manual synchronization, leading to delays and inconsistencies in reporting.
Implementation and Impact
Over a period of just three months, Boxfusion successfully implemented a cutting-edge Work Order Management solution that replaced eThekwini’s outdated system. The new solution consists of a web-based portal for administrative functions and a mobile application for fieldworkers, creating a streamlined and highly efficient workflow.
Key Results Achieved
- Fully Electronic Work Order Management: The new system digitised the entire process, including:
- Creation of work orders via the web portal.
- Assignment of inspections to electricians using the mobile app.
- Submission and verification of completed work by fieldworkers in real-time.
- Enhanced Data Accuracy and Quality: The inclusion of data validation fields in the mobile app ensures that all required information is captured correctly, reducing errors and eliminating the need for manual data corrections.
- Improved Planning and Scheduling: The solution optimises work order assignment, ensuring fieldworkers receive tasks efficiently and according to priority levels.
- Seamless Integration with Third-Party Systems: The ability to interface with existing municipal platforms enables better data synchronisation, reducing duplication of effort and improving overall workflow efficiency.
- Better Management of No-Access Visits: Through the appointment scheduling feature in the web portal, fieldworkers can now pre-schedule site visits, reducing inefficiencies caused by unsuccessful inspections due to customer unavailability.
- Real-Time Data Synchronisation: Instant data transfer from mobile devices to the central system eliminates the delays associated with manual or batch data uploads, ensuring immediate access to updated records and reports.
- Increased Transparency and Reporting Capabilities: The digital platform provides managers with dashboards and tracking features, enabling real-time monitoring of job statuses, performance analytics, and compliance tracking.
By replacing the outdated work order system with Boxfusion’s SmartGov for eServices solution, eThekwini Electricity has achieved significant operational improvements, including higher data accuracy, more efficient task allocation, and better integration with municipal systems. This modernisation effort not only safeguards revenue by mitigating tampering risks but also enhances service delivery efficiency—ultimately benefiting both the city’s administration and its residents.
With the successful implementation of this solution, eThekwini Electricity is now well-positioned to handle revenue protection and meter management with greater accuracy, speed, and reliability.