"A new solution for Latin America allowing us to be more efficient, more effective, to improve the quality of our information and increase the security of our operations." This is how the head of the eOrder project for the Enel Group in Latin America described the achievements resulting from a new workforce management system aimed at optimizing the works of staff in the region.
The eOrder system includes an operational planning software that automatically assigns targeted activities to the teams of technicians working for Enel Group companies in the field of distribution service maintenance. A mobility component allows transmitting the information required in order for the operational teams to carry out their work by offering technological support (electrical and geographical mapping, road navigator, augmented reality). Once the operations are completed, it sends the result of the activity to the scheduler, together with data regarding its execution. The result benefits both customers and companies: greater effectiveness and timeliness, better use of resources and materials, less time wasted.
Five Group companies operating in Latin America are involved in implementing the project, which is based on a digital platform shared by Edelnor (Peru), Codensa (Colombia), Chilectra (Chile), Coelce and Ampla (Brazil). In order to better support the technicians working in the region, the project involves the implementation of two versions of the system: one for technical operations in the field of distribution – construction of new plants and maintenance of the ones already operational, repairing system failures – the other focusing on customer relations, from requests for new supplies for the sale of goods and services to payment management.
The numbers achieved by eOrder in Peru show the scope of the project launched by Edelnor in this Latin American country in December 2014:
- 10 supplier companies involved
- 750 operational technicians enlisted from firms working as contractors
- 17 Edelnor employees working on the project
- 10,796 hours of training involving 31 specialists
- 550 devices handed out to staff members
- Over 530,000 requests managed by the system from December to June.
The origins of eOrder date back to early 2000 because the development of the Latin American project was based on expertise gained by the Group in Italy. In fact, Enel Distribuzione started adopting the first workforce management system based on digital and communication technologies in concert with its installation of the first electronic meters in Italy. As time went on the first applications gradually evolved, together with the technological and digital innovation of computer systems, introducing increasingly effective functionalities such as, for example, augmented reality systems that make it possible to track substations even under difficult conditions, and a biometric electronic signature that eliminates the use of paper for technical operations.