Victorian utility Western Water is mobilising its field force with a service and document management system from ViryaNet.

The ViryaNet system enables the firm's field force to efficiently respond to water and sewer related customer service requests, and perform emergency and planned maintenance duties.

The system also allows engineers to remotely access Western Water's on-call roster and business systems 24/7.

ViryaNet's system has been successfully interfaced with Western Water's CRM, GIS and document management systems, and has been deployed in the field on ruggedised laptops with touch screens.

Western Water's decision to deploy the ViryaNet mobile workforce management system was based on six core business objectives:
provide real time information to field staff;
replace printed map books of Western Water infrastructure;
automate manual processes associated with documentation of water and sewer service requests;
improve customer service by providing enhanced tools to the field crews;
introduce mobile computing capability across the region; and
improve reporting timeliness, and reduce paper and manual systems

"Western Water is now rolling out this technology across the business," said Paul Louws, manager for asset management at Western Water.

"It delivers new capacity and efficiencies that will service us well into the future. It will also provide improved information and knowledge to both office and field asset management teams, resulting in improved decisions being made," said Louws.