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Two years ago, MWork was introduced as a pilot program to improve the efficiency of field work. Now, it is being adopted across National Grid in New York and New England. The experience gained from the pilot program proved the value of this work management system.

Using pilot programs to test the waters before implementing new programs, processes, initiatives and technologies can help the success rate of these programs. Therefore, using this approach is a natural step in accomplishing all that is going on around the company – from the U.S. business review to the integration of KeySpan and New England Gas into the fabric of National Grid. To that end, many people are working to develop plans for how the company will function in the future, including the use of pilot programs to find ways to improve our efficiency and ultimately serve our customers better.

MWork, the mobile work management system that automates the way work and work-related information are received and reported in the field through computers installed in vehicles, certainly proved to be a successful pilot program.

“We started the MWork process by doing research with the U.K.,” said Mike Guerin, director of Customer Satisfaction and Strategic Planning. “Then we created a cross functional team here in the U.S. to review and evaluate various mobile work management systems.”

Once the MWork software was selected, New York’s Mohawk Valley became the testing ground for the new technology that allows for the electronic dispatch and management of field crews.

“The Mohawk Valley was ideal because it has a diverse geography and a mix of urban and rural areas,” explained Guerin. “It helped us develop plans for implementation across our service territory.”

Currently there are dozens of pilot programs underway across the company aimed at improving business processes and employee productivity. Here’s a look at a few of them.

Scheduling Pilot
In conjunction with the U.S. business review’s goal to improve business processes, New York’s Western Division is working to improve the scheduling of field crews.

“We realized that the process of scheduling work on a daily basis was time consuming and labor intensive,” said Glen Aichinger, manager of Operations Planning and Support for Western Division Customer Operations. “So we looked at scheduling work in weekly increments, eliminating daily administrative tasks which allowed for more work to be completed.”

The pilot program began with the realization that various industry dynamics compromised the anticipated usefulness of scheduling work to an individual on a crew within iScheduler (a program used to manage field work), particularly when scheduling work on a daily basis. In fact, in some cases, it duplicated the efforts of several functions.

Weekly scheduling along with the recommendation to schedule electric service request activity and short cycle work to a crew staffed with the appropriate resources to perform the work were all outcomes of the pilot program. The latter provided supervisors the flexibility to assign work already prioritized in the weekly increment more efficiently to meet established completion targets. Additionally, construction projects can be scheduled to a crew identified by a chief with all administrative functions managed at the data entry stage to avoid things such as individual crew member changes due to vacations, illnesses or rest time at the scheduling level.

Customer Outreach Pilot
In response to declining customer satisfaction and acknowledgement that planners and designers were inundated with customer phone calls that resulted in less time for design work, the New York Eastern Division Scheduling Group aimed to improve the process in which customer calls were answered.

“We needed a way to expedite and organize work for our designers while helping to prioritize work based on customer need dates,” explained Pat Thomas, manager of Operations and Planning for the Eastern Division.

Therefore, a centralized team of three office technicians was created to take ownership of all work ready to schedule and to answer customer calls, providing a single point of contact for customer inquiries regarding scheduling and work order completions for both gas and electric services. This team also became charged with taking a more proactive approach to coordinating and monitoring work requests entered into STORMS throughout the entire life cycle of the request.

“Through this process, we’ve been able to proactively schedule work based on dates that customers require the work to be finished rather than based on when it was received,’ added Thomas. “We’re able to better meet our customer’s needs by prioritizing the work.”

Homebuilder’s Association Meetings
Seeking ways to better serve customers in new home communities, Distribution Design began hosting homebuilder’s association meetings in Syracuse, N.Y., to develop and set guidelines for the placement of underground residential distribution (URD) lines.

“We needed to find a way to work with homebuilders to better streamline the entire construction process,” said Jim Williamson, supervisor of Distribution Design, New York Central Division. “Designs for sewer and water don’t always provide space for gas and electric service, homes were often ready for occupancy but we hadn’t been contacted to set up gas or electric service, and meter placements were inconsistent and sometimes too close to the front of the house.”

Hosting meetings with the homebuilders association has allowed for two-way discussions that ultimately provide better service from National Grid and the builder.

“It’s a win-win for everyone involved,” added Williamson. “The builders can share their concerns with us and we can explain why we need to be considered in the design of these new communities. Opening the lines of communication has significantly reduced the number of complaints we receive from builders and developers.”

In addition to the actual meetings, improvements have been made to the management of the URD process, including setting and managing builder expectations during the initiation and design phase, utilizing consistent communication between the URD project coordinator and the builders and better resource planning for the scheduling and construction of designed, shovel-ready URDs.

Mentoring Pilot
In an effort to improve employee perceptions of career development opportunities within the company and assist in identifying employees with special skills who may not already be recognized, a Mentoring Pilot was developed by Human Resources and Inclusion and Diversity last fall.

As part of the program, 10 mentorship relationships (five in New York and five in New England) were established to provide employees with mentors who could take an interest in the employee’s development and provide constructive challenges to push the mentee to think deeper, address uncomfortable issues and set higher personal ambitions.

“I had high expectations of the mentoring pilot and I was not disappointed,” said Daria Liston, analyst with the Project Management Services Group for Engineering Services. “I wanted to validate and develop my plans and concerns regarding my career and learn from a more experienced person.”

Liston’s mentor, Senior Vice President for Finance Marcy Reed, also found the experience rewarding.

“The program gave me the opportunity to share a couple decades of experience with the company with a newer employee,” commented Reed. “It also gave me the opportunity to see the company through someone else’s eyes – which has helped me in other aspects of my own job.”

The first mentoring program concluded this spring. However, plans are being developed to begin a new class of mentor relationships later this year.

Just the Beginning
As the business review results are shared and the acquisitions become finalized, more pilot programs are likely to be implemented across the company.

“The beauty of pilots is that they allow us to get out the bugs, fine tune processes and learn from mistakes made during the pilot process,” said Aichinger.