Digitalising asset inspections while strengthening safety culture

About the company

Tasmanian Networks Pty Ltd (TasNetworks) owns, operates and maintains the electricity transmission and distribution network in the state of Tasmania. They provide over 295,000 residential, commercial, and industrial clients with a safe, cost effective, and reliable electrical supply. They also ensure everyone’s safety by providing regular inspection and maintenance of their network of assets worth A$3.5 billion (US$2.5 billion).

Problem Statement

How can we digitise the pole inspection process on a mobile device that simplifies asset inspections while reinforcing safety standards in a truly usable way.

Services

User research

Personas

Journey mapping (current)

Ideation/concept definition

Prototyping

Usability/user testing

Architecture design

User stories

Build

Build testing

Quality assurance

Technology

SAP BTP

SAP S/4HANA

Xamarin

JAVA / nodeJS

CAP framework

Achievements

Best Run SAP Industry Disruptor 2022 – Winner

Challenge

Managing 231,000 electricity poles led to time-consuming inspections and imprecise defect identification. Their exisiting fieldwork software was not customisable to the specific user demands creating additional manual effort to capture data in the field. Asset data was not captured regularly and synced in real time, leading to suboptimal data quality. Defects were identified on a nearby pole, which degraded the defect report, making it difficult to pinpoint assets requiring maintenance.

Solution

Working with TasNetworks, we developed a mobile app tailored to the way asset inspectors work. The app leverages SAP Business Technology Platform to deliver important offline access to SAP S/4HANA data and geospatial data from Esri ArcGIS, providing real-time data synchronisation in the field. The app guides inspectors through a logical field inspection flow using map-based navigation.

Outcome

Instant access to view and update data in the field

Inspectors now have access to data when it’s needed most, increasing their trust in the inspection process and advancing safety in the field.

Focus on safety compliance

Job risk assessments have been embedded into the inspection process to increase safety compliance.

Streamlined inspection process has reduced business risk

Digitising asset management processes speeds up inspections, mitigates risk to the business, and ultimately leads to reduced electricity downtime for consumers.