Electrical Safety Authority

The Electrical Safety Authority in Ontario has chosen TourSolver to plan over 450,000 inspections each year. Thanks to the software, inspectors save time in the field and can more easily manage emergencies to ensure public safety.

Presentation

The Electrical Safety Authority in Ontario has chosen TourSolver to plan over 450,000 inspections each year. Thanks to the software, inspectors save time in the field and can more easily manage emergencies to ensure public safety.

Key figures

  • 300 field technicians;
  • 4 400 customers;
  • 30 000 installations requiring inspection;
  • 450 000 inspections performed annually;
  • 640 000m2 to safeguard;

The challenge

Optimizing visits by inspectors over a vast area

The Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) is a regulator and advocate for electrical safety in Ontario, Canada’s most densely populated province with almost 15 million inhabitants. ESA’s role includes oversight of electrical work, licensing electrical contracting businesses and their master electricians, identifying and targeting leading causes of electrical safety risk as well as promoting awareness, education, and training.

With a surface area of over 400,000 square miles, Ontario is one of the most geographically diverse provinces, ranging from major metropolitan areas to isolated rural zones. Inspectors have to contend with variable road quality and weather hazards, and sometimes spend hours on the road between sites.

Faced with these constraints, inspection schedules frequently need to be reorganized, sometimes at the last minute. The planning tool in place at ESA required many enhancements to meet evolving business needs and the architecture was approaching obsolescence. The application was not compatible with mobile devices so inspectors could not benefit from all features when they were in the field. ESA, as a modern and results-based regulator focused on burden reduction and providing business value to customers, began looking for a new, easy-to-use planning solution, to meet its needs for smart navigation, journey optimization and work schedules, as well as dynamic risk and constraint management.

Travel time

Reduction of travel time

Productivity

Increase in productivity

Safety

Improved public safety

Working conditions

Improved working conditions

The solution brought by Nomadia

The ESA considered multiple proposals, and after evaluation and demos chose Nomadia’s TourSolver.

“Our inspectors provided a comprehensive list of desired features, and TourSolver met all these requirements, and more: the customer communication features in particular were a significant benefit to our stakeholders. The software also ranks well in market research comparisons for current capabilities and future vision.”

Will Barrett RSE, ME, General Manager, Operations Planning and Support

TourSolver is a SaaS route optimization solution, which enables ESA to plan inspectors’ journeys, and to update them on the fly, a crucial capability should hazards necessitate rapid rescheduling in the field.

Each inspector has both desktop and mobile access to the solution. Routes and electrical installation information are sent with the mobile app directly to inspectors for real-time use in the field. At the end of each visit, they can directly schedule the next one within the tool while still with the customer. Thanks to the solution’s intuitive interface, implementation across ESA has been rapid.

Optimization of resources for improved public safety

TourSolver is a time saver for ESA. Its powerful algorithms save inspectors precious minutes on each call.

“The 10-15 minutes gained enable us to lower planning burden and boost productivity.”

Will Barrett RSE, ME, General Manager, Operations Planning and Support

Now that the inspection call planning process is more flexible, ESA can concentrate on what matters: making Ontario electrically safer for the welfare of its citizens.
The inspectors who were using the previous system have welcomed the new tool, which adapts perfectly to their often-unpredictable daily regime. ESA’s stakeholders also reap the rewards of optimization. They appreciate being informed by text message of the inspection’s approximate time, thanks to the solution’s sophisticated communication capabilities. The inspections go more smoothly, thereby improving the customer relationship.

“Nomadia listened to what we were trying to accomplish. They worked with us to create a solution right sized for the company and focused on our internal and external stakeholder groups. We successfully completed the project in less than 6 months and met the goals of our business case. Delivery of solutions at ESA includes a core principle that our IT services are available when and where people want to use them. TourSolver is a key component of our digital strategy. The ESA Digital Strategy is an organizational approach to maximize business benefits from modern technology and data assets.”

Kelley Irwin, Chief Information Officer