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CASE STUDY: Blytheville Water Works
OVERVIEW
Blytheville, Arkansas is home to over
24,000 residents, and 6,400 of those rely on Blytheville Water Works for
their water supply and services. Led by Manager Robert “Dink”
White, Blytheville’s source of
water supply is four wells with a pumping capacity of 6,000,000 gallons per
day (GPD) and a storage capacity of 1,600,000 gallons. The water supply is
approved by the State Board of Health and is rated as Alkaline, as being
very soft and fluoridated.
SITUATION
Seeking
to upgrade its existing system and expand its capabilities with a flexible
and dependable software solution, Blytheville Water Works selected ASI.
ASI
SOLUTION
ASI’s
software solution provides Blytheville Water Works with a reliable system
that expands their capabilities for work order cross-referencing, and
inquiries and billing options. The ability to easily track a work order and
to access customer history allows for immediate and accurate information to
customers, thus enhancing customer service.
BENEFIT
According
to Dink White, the billing system from ASI has not only met expectations
but exceeded them. Since installing the ASI system, Blytheville Water Works
notes the following benefits:
> Increase in
Customer Satisfaction
> Flexibility to grow as customer base grows
> Improved Efficiency
REACTION
“We
have seen an INCREASE IN CUSTOMER SATISFACTION since we went with ASI. We
are more efficient, and that’s making a BIG DIFFERENCE.”
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Robert “Dink” White, Manager of Blytheville Water Works
“We knew of ASI and their strong reputation in the industry. They are
an extremely knowledgeable and top-notch team of professionals.”
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Robert “Dink” White, Manager of Blytheville Water Works
CASE STUDY: Greenwood Commission of Public Works
OVERVIEW
Greenwood is one of the
larger cities in the South Carolina Piedmont region with a thriving
population of over twenty-two thousand people (2000 census) and an
estimated daytime population of forty thousand. The Greenwood Commission of
Public Works (CPW) serves over 26,000 customers, providing electricity
within the City of Greenwood and water and
natural gas for the Greenwood metropolitan
area.
SITUATION
Greenwood
CPW needed a solution to expand its capabilities and increase its
efficiency, especially as the organization looked ahead to deregulation.
ASI
SOLUTION
With
ASI’s billing system specifically designed for utilities, Greenwood
CPW has gained efficiency by automating its processes and utilizing the
power of the AS/400 server. Greenwood needed the
ability to add new levels of charges and service areas, and ASI’s
product is designed to allow for changes without sophisticated programming.
It’s a simple and quick process.
BENEFIT
The
ASI billing system is meeting Greenwood CPW’s needs and expectations
and offers the following benefits:
> Increase in
efficiency
> Flexibility to add and change system as needed
> Historical customer data to keep track of important details
REACTION
“The
ASI billing system has worked extremely well for us and is a very powerful
system. We didn’t have programmers on-board, and ASI was instrumental
in helping us install and implement the program.”
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Ken Barnett, Assistant Manager of Greenwood Commission of
Public Works
“We are very pleased with ASI, and their team has been helpful. They
have people on board that not only understand programming, but KNOW THE
UTILITY INDUSTRY and our day-to-day operations and
challenges…THAT’S A BIG PLUS.”
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Ken Barnett, Assistant Manager of Greenwood Commission of
Public Works
CASE STUDY: City of Warner Robins, Georgia
OVERVIEW
The
City of Warner Robins, located in Houston County in Georgia, is the largest
of the three municipalities in Houston County. According to the
2000 Census, the population of the City of Warner Robins was 48,804
persons. Houston County is located
approximately 120 miles South of Atlanta. The City of Warner Robins provides Water,
Sewer, and Natural Gas service, and arranges for Sanitation (trash and
recycling pickup).
SITUATION
The
City of Warner Robins wanted to implement a city-wide system, but
originally selected another vendor. That system did not work and caused
many difficulties and challenges. The Mayor requested a change, and ASI was
reconsidered and selected as the solution provider.
ASI
SOLUTION
The
City of Warner Robins acquired ASI’s software system in September
2000, and has seen numerous benefits. The work order system helps track
labor and keeps city staff on task and efficient, and the payment system is
fast. The reports are wonderful. The system also is useful because if we
have a specific need, our in-house programmer can pull information and
write queries for our specific needs. In addition, the City of Warner Robins is implementing
the accounting system in April of 2002.
BENEFIT
Since
the implementation of the ASI system, the City of Warner Robins has seen
immediate differences:
> Easy and useful
reporting, especially month-end reports
> Work order system tracks labor and keeps staff on-task
> Efficiency greatly improved
> Flexibility to grow with organization’s growth
REACTION
“ASI
WAS WONDERFUL. They did everything for the conversion and our business had
to operate manually for only one day. THE TRAINING WAS SUPER. ASI provided
trainers, and even set up printers and made sure everything was running
perfectly. Ultimately, the system has been very beneficial for everyone. It
is VERY EASY TO LEARN and to teach to others."
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Debbie Hancock, Office Manager, City of Warner Robins
“We chose ASI’s system, and it has proven to be easy to learn,
user-friendly and flows exceptionally well.”
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Debbie Hancock, Office Manager, City of Warner Robins
CASE STUDY: Viterra
Energy Services
OVERVIEW
Viterra Energy Services (www.viterrausa.com)
needed a reliable and leading edge Interactive Voice Response solution to
replace an older system. Viterra began their search and assembled a list of
several voice response vendors. "For me, what really set iMessaging
apart from the rest was the excellent follow-up and follow-through of our
sales representative. Follow-up was always consistent but not
intrusive," states Michelle O'Dea, IT manager for Viterra's US operations.
"In the final review, we had boiled it down to two products with
similar costs and capabilities. We went with iMessaging
because of the excellent service we received."
Increasing the complexity of the project was Viterra's desire to
consolidate two voice systems into a single platform. Viterra maintains two
primary IT operations, one on the east coast in Jacksonville, Florida, and the other on
the west coast in San Diego, California. Both sites run
very similar operations, including the iSeries 400, ASI's EasiBill
software and call center environments.
SITUATION
Once the decision was made to go with iMessaging's iVoice
solution, the implementation team was given a very aggressive schedule that
had been established by the Viterra management.
ASI is the vendor and consultant supporting Viterra's iSeries 400-based
utility billing software called EasiBill. To complete the
implementation, the iVoice system needed to interface directly with ASI's EasiBill
software.
ASI
SOLUTION
Collectively,
the team devised a communications architecture utilizing the iSeries 400's
DDM (distributed data management) capabilities and Viterra's VPN. The idea
was to have a single iVoice platform to service calls for both locations,
with the added advantage of saving on the initial cost of the system,
implementation and system maintenance.
Jose Cintron, Viterra's east coast Network Manager acted as the customer
link for the project and notes, "I was very pleased with the speed and
efficiency of the installation. iMessaging came in on a Sunday and
installed the hardware in about an hour. We then worked with ASI on some
programming issues for about 6-1/2 hours, and the system was up and
running. On Tuesday, we had test calls going into it, and by Wednesday, it
was already servicing customer inquiries for both locations!"
BENEFIT
Viterra's voice response applications provide account status information to
their client base of tenants from across the country. "The voice
applications we use today are working very well, and the future offers
unlimited possibilities," noted Mr. Cintron. "We are already in
the process of adding support for Spanish, and we are considering the
possibility of eventually passing all calls through the iVoice system to
collect tenants' account numbers up front, thereby assisting our customer
service reps in handling the calls." Total elapsed time from order to
the time the system was servicing calls was 21 days!
CASE STUDY: The
Villages
OVERVIEW
The Villages in central Florida is a retirement
community and home to over 17,000 residents. "Florida’s
Friendliest Hometown" was developed in 1973 as a golf and leisure
community. Since its creation, the community and its surroundings have
grown tremendously. The developer handles the billing, customer service and
maintenance of the water, sewer and trash collection for all the residents
of The Villages.
As part of its rapid growth, the development felt it was necessary to
explore expanded utility software options, while keeping its current AS/400
system.
SITUATION
The Villages was seeking to upgrade their in-house software and interface
the new system with their current JD Edwards financial software. The
Villages chose ASI because it offers flexibility for future growth, is easy
to use, and it included enhanced options that would allow employees to
perform their jobs at a higher level and offer better customer service the
town’s residents.
"We are now able to generate more detailed reports, which in the past
would have been done by a programmer," explained Kathy Logel,
assistant controller for The Villages. "We can also create work orders
on the fly instead of manually. This new software enables us to pull
reports, estimate a bill and locate history faster and more
efficiently."
ASI
SOLUTION
ASI’s software solution has given The Villages flexibility to grow
and service its customers. The system has met all the billing requirements
and given The Villages G/L interface with detailed information that they
did not have access to before.
"We looked into this system for our future growth and the possibility
of combining our in-house billing on one statement," stated Logel.
"By combining our bills we will reduce our postage costs dramatically,
thus saving money."
BENEFIT
Since installing the ASI software, the system has helped with customer
needs, work orders, meter inventory, customer history and reports. The
Villages biggest benefit, according to Logel, lies in the future growth of
the development and the software’s inherent capability to integrate
and expand with that growth.
CASE STUDY: The
Villages
OVERVIEW
Home to over 17,000 residents, The Villages is a development located in
central Florida. Established as a
golf and leisure community in the early 1970’s, The Villages has
experienced tremendous growth and change.
The developer of The Villages handles the billing, customer service and maintenance
of the water, sewer and trash collection for all of the residents and
businesses in the community.
SITUATION
The Villages had been running the AS/400 for years with an in-house team of
programmers and software, but because of the development’s rapid
growth and imminent future growth, the need for a more flexible and
expanded system became apparent. "We went with ASI based on its
capability with the AS/400 and the fact that it had a Work Order system
already incorporated into it, which we were lacking before," explained
Eunice Young, system programmer and author of the previously implemented
software.
ASI
SOLUTION
ASI’s
software solution not only addresses The Villages immediate needs of a
flexible system, but has also freed up programmers who now can focus on
implementing other technologies rather than spending time running reports
and pulling customer history.
"We are now able to generate our own reports, pull notes on a
customer’s account and create work orders within the system, all of
which could not be done single-handedly with our other software,"
stated Young.
BENEFIT
ASI’s software solution has opened the doors of possibilities for The
Villages. Young says the following benefits are why they chose to install
ASI’s software, and have been very pleased with the results:
> Ease of
interface with current JD Edwards accounting system
> Flexibility to grow as customer base grows
> Availability of information ( ie., customer history, notes, audit
trail, reports etc.)
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