Hawaii Pacific GIS Conference 2012: GIS for Utilities II - A Spatially Wired Operation

A Spatially Wired (Telecommunication) Operation

Building Processes that Create Spatial Connectivity

Neal Nakamura Oceanic Time Warner Cable Engineering Information Mgr

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Spatial Technology is great stuff. Can it be more than a specialty tool?

Can it join the Team?

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Old School Cable

Field Engineer

The NOF The Address Not On File Form

• Street Number • Street Name • Street Type • Apartment • City • Zipcode

Parallel Independent Processes The “Where?” and “Who?” don’t connect

Trouble Calls

• Single Call – schedule service technician visit

• 3 calls from the same street – send maintenance technician

Maturing Cable

Parallel Independent Processes The “Where?” and “Who?” don’t connect

The Divide Remained

Trouble Calls

• Single Call – schedule service technician visit

• 3 calls from the same street – send maintenance technician

A Key to Service Improvement

Leverage the system intelligence by documenting the tree-and-branch network relationship between the customer connections:

• Parent-child

• Sibling Sibling Network Locations

Parent Network Location

Create an Engineering to Billing Connection

• Add a new “OSP LAST ACTIVE DEVICE” Network ID column to the NOF

Modify the NOF Form

• Add a utility to generate a network ID in Billing

• Add a Network ID column in the NOF Form

Network ID & Address Connection Generator

• A Spatial Join Utility replicates an installer connecting a house to the nearest tap.

Network ID Encapsulates Network Genealogy & Spatial Data in the Account Records

Billing to Network Monitor Sync Passes Network ID for Processing

NETWORK ID processing detects customer associations: Differentiates SYSTEM OUTAGES FROM POWER and IN-HOME OUTAGES. Directs maintenance crews to the ROOT CAUSE

Trouble Calls

• Calls are programmatically matched to the monitor-detected system and power outages. Calls become more informative to the customer. Non event-matching calls are more likely to be in-home problems.

Create a Billing to Engineering Connection

• Train the GIS data entry group to match the billing system address syntax used in IT

• Setup automated utilities:

– Daily billing system imports into GIS

– Perform SQL join – match billing to GIS addresses

– Update GIS account number on match

When IT-GIS Addresses Sync, White Dots Turn Color to Indicate Reception Conditions

GIS, a Game-Changing Team Player with just 2 Adjustments

• 1. Modify the NOF Form – Engineering to IT link via Network ID transfer

• 2. Install an IT Account to Engineering Sync

Impact

• Network Operations

• Customer Service

• Field Operations – Service/Maintenance

The Octopus