Dynamic forms instead of paper

MVV Netze is the grid company for Mannheim. As a wholly owned subsidiary of the Mannheim-based energy company MVV, it manages the operation of Mannheim's electricity, gas, water and district heating grids.

In the city area and the surrounding municipalities, MVV Netze is responsible for a stable and sustainable supply to around 330,000 customers in the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region.

Around 450 employees ensure smooth network service throughout the country. Around 12,000 jobs are carried out here every year. These involve maintenance, fault clearance and repairs as well as the expansion of distribution networks and facilities in all four divisions. This also includes numerous annual collective orders with large object lists and maintenance orders.

Transparency through mobile solution

As early as 2007, MVV Netze decided on a mobile solution for the fitters to replace paper-based order processing. The aim was to improve transparency and data quality in order to derive better control options.

Leaner and faster job scheduling and simplified hourly feedback should optimize the overall fault clearance and maintenance process and reduce costs.

Integration of key users

The mobile solution was implemented at MVV Netze in 2008. Since then, employees have received their orders directly on their mobile devices and can set off to the site without having to coordinate with headquarters beforehand.

On the road, they can also access customer data, plant structure and device information offline. This means fewer telephone queries to the office staff and no duplicate trips.

The fitters fill in confirmations directly on the mobile device. When data is entered, it is already checked for validity before it is transferred to SAP PM. This increases data quality and saves costs and effort previously incurred in manual data transfer, queries and corrections.

With the migration to version 5.0 of MobileX-MIP for Field Service, MVV Netze is now also adding the current version of the Dynamic Forms module. In this way, the company is gradually replacing paper forms with digital forms. These are created centrally and filled out on site on the 60 Panasonic Toughbooks.

With the "Maintenance log cable distribution cabinet", the fitters record the condition, defects and material consumption in the field. The information is archived both as a PDF document and individually at the respective technical object in the SAP system. The factual data for master data maintenance as well as measurement documents can be processed immediately in SAP PM by the foreman level.

For the ongoing further development of the system, internal suggestions for improvement from both the project team and the company-wide idea management are important. For example, MVV Netze has enhanced the notification item system, including the catalogs stored in SAP PM, based on an individual suggestion.

In addition to the predefined messages on object part, cause and damage or defect description, users can also attach files, such as digital photos, to the ZA message.

The input of time confirmations, overtime and vehicle booking has been optimized using predefined time rules. In addition, the fitters now receive a PDF monthly report in the specific matrix format of MVV Netze with all information about their working hours per day, job and month.

Conclusion

"We held customized training sessions to explain the benefits of the system to employees and incorporated their feedback and suggestions.

As a result, the 180 users have accepted the MIP software as useful. And the good experiences that all those involved are having are also radiating positively onto the topics of networking and digitization of work as a whole".

sums up Marc Obenauer, project manager at MVV Netze.