In order to increase quality, efficiency, and safety, a public utilities company collaborated with us to implement a digital transformer inspection system as part of their efforts to digitally streamline their processes and ultimately reduce the risk of wildfires in the state of California. The integrated system based in the Cloud, allows for inspections in the field, whether online or offline, and updates on the fly providing tracking and reporting for the company to take further action.

Southern California-based energy company that provides clean, safe and reliable energy to the community including

• A workforce of over 4,000 employees and subcontractors which includes both in-office and out in the field workers
• Provides maintenance to a 4,100 square mile service area
• A company-wide goal of reducing wildfires in the State of California

• A mobile system to allow for inspection and reporting of transformers in the service area
  • System must allow for
    • Supports both iPad and desktop/laptop devices
    • Reporting while offline (no Internet access)
    • The capacity to receive new work orders while in the field
    • Visual review of transformers before performing inspection to allow for better preparation and planning
• An efficient and secure tool for tracking and reporting transformer inspections on both a visual fail and electrical fail basis
  • Must provide an overview of transformer fail rates across the company’s service area
  • Must provide tracking of fail rates in specific locations, including the ability to filter results by manufacturer
• A system that integrates seamlessly with existing Quality Control/Quality Assurance Platform (QA/QC)

• Utilized Microsoft 365 Power Platform (SharePoint Online, Power Apps and Power Automate) to create a fully integrated system including a mobile app for workers in the field to conduct and submit transformer inspections
  • Mobile App provides workers with a simple, streamlined, and user-friendly system to respond to work orders (inspection requests)
  • Sends reports back to main system in real time allowing for timely decisions to be made and action to be taken to ensure the smallest risk for wildfires
  • App can be used offline to ensure functionality throughout even remote parts of the service area
  • Provides workers vital information pertaining to requests including existing transformer issues and relevant drone imagery which is input through the main system and automatically attached to the corresponding work order
    • Eliminates need for workers to physically climb utility poles reducing risk of injury
    • Ensures preparedness before entering the field by letting workers know what to expect and what equipment is necessary
  • Allows workers to receive new requests once they’ve reached their homebase in the field so they can inspect all transformers in the vicinity at once instead of having to return to the area again and again, saving time and money
  • Ensures capacity for a quicker response time, reducing the risk of wildfires caused by electrical failures

• Utilized current investment in SharePoint Online as a centralized platform for tracking transformer inspections
  • Integrates seamlessly with existing QA/QC system, SAP, ProCore, and BlueBeam
  • Has the capacity to serve as an intake platform for all inspector forms
  • User-friendly and easy-to-read site provides quick access to overall pass/fail rates for transformers across service area
  • Provides capability to view transformer inspection over time
  • Allows for view of transformer inspection by location
  • Differentiates between overall fail rates, visual fail rates, and electrical fail rates
  • Filter feature allows for sorting results by manufacturer, permitting the company to make imperative supplier decisions
  • Fosters collaboration and clear communication between in-office staff and technicians in the field
  • Provides company with critical information pertaining to inspection responses and time spent on each work order empowering them to make important workforce decisions
  • Ensures company has provided necessary inspections to increase safety and prevent wildfires
  • Includes ability to export data to excel for further distribution