GIS and SAP for Utilities

One of the presentations at SAP for Utilities that we enjoyed greatly was Elizabeth Mueller's on "GeoSynergy." The City of San Diego uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to improve customer service and increase operational efficiency.

By integrating GIS into its SAP EAM infrastructure, San Diego is better able to anticipate potential maintenance issues even before customers call to report problems. And when people do call in—for example, to report a street light outage—the City can pinpoint the specific lamp that's broken based on the customer's address, determine if it belongs to the City, and then repair it and close out the work order promptly. Huge ROI here.

GIS also helps field teams to work more efficiently by presenting the relative location of different work orders spatially; instead of relying on a basic list of addresses, crews can see their target sites overlaid on detailed maps, thereby making it easier to understand where to go next to make the best use of the day. We'd expect to see more utilities integrate GIS with their SAP systems to capitalize on opportunities like these, as the business case for them seem highly compelling.