European distribution system operators (DSOs) are increasingly expected to increase grid capacity without compromising on grid quality. But here’s the catch – grid managers are expected to do this without any meaningful increase in spending on employees! If you’re a grid manager at a European DSO, this may leave you scratching your head, wondering how to deliver on these expectations. You might end up using external workers more.
You may also try to figure out how to get your workforce to be more efficient so you can get more done with less effort and expense. Both of these approaches pose new challenges for how you manage your field service that you need to be aware of to find an effective solution and meet your goals. But first, let’s take a step back and revisit how you got into this high-pressure situation to do more with less in the first place.
Feeling the heat to do more with less
The increase in distributed renewable generation connected to power grids is one of the factors driving demand for increased grid capacity and more robust grid quality management. Another is more active customers engaging in demand-response and electric mobility. These two factors were underlined in Eurelectric’s report Distribution Grids in Europe - Facts and Figures 2020.
Additionally, the power industry has become increasingly competitive, with large companies bringing their job-creating activities to regions with more affordable and reliable electricity. As a result, pressure is mounting from the local communities you serve and their elected representatives to help attract business and grow industry while supporting sustainability goals.
At the same time, many DSOs have seen their on-staff field service workers decrease in recent years. Now, with tight budgets and high demand, all of these factors point in one direction: the need to do more with less.
The challenge of an increasingly blended workforce
The budgetary restrictions on increasing employees on your payroll mean you’ll be increasingly using a variety of external workers. These may include contractors, subcontractors and service organisations. Mixing large numbers of external and internal resources like this creates a blended workforce, which is usually more complex to manage than a traditional employed staff.
For instance, different types of field service workers may use different systems and solutions. This makes it more difficult for your back office to keep track of who is doing what when and harder for field service workers to find the information they need. These efficiency drains cost time and money but also result in deficient quality, SLA non-compliance and mistakes that can be costly and make it that much harder to stay on budget.
Where to find the biggest bottlenecks – case and work order management
If you want to succeed in doing more with less and getting your blended workforce on the same page, take a closer look at field service and how cases and work orders are managed. This is the area with the biggest bottlenecks, meaning that it could make or break your ability to increase grid capacity and assure quality.
Ask these three questions to evaluate how severe your field service case and work order management bottlenecks may be:
How well and promptly are all stakeholders updated on case progress? Valuable time could be lost waiting on updates, such as one worker not being informed that another has completed digging until three working days later. Don’t forget that customers are stakeholders, too, and keeping them in the loop improves the customer experience.
Do field service workers have access to the right information to perform a work order as effectively as possible? This includes up-to-date contract and asset information, inventory status for tools and parts, and measurement support on site.
How well can your back office track field service performance and SLA compliance? Your team might hear about it when a customer complains, but sometimes you won’t receive a complaint when work isn’t up to standard. In that case, if you can’t track performance of cases and work orders, how would you know about it so you can remedy quality defects and mitigate cost risks? How would you assure quality and improve business processes?
Discover what you need to overcome these bottlenecks in our article “Taking a strategic approach to optimising grid development and service”. An effective case and work order management solution is the best way to deliver what you need here, so we prepared a comprehensive guide on what to look for and what such software can do.
