digiWork

The emergence of a mobile WFM system

Energie AG OÖ (more precisely the business unit Netz OÖ GmbH) decided in 2019 to introduce its own workforce management system. Manual workforce management processes have in the past resulted in high process costs for network operation, network construction and engineering, overlaps in activities and projects, and complex internal communication.

For this reason, a preliminary study was conducted on the cost-benefit analysis of WFM systems. This could prove that a mobile WFM system can optimize and accelerate processes after only a short time. A subsequent market analysis analyzed standard WFM systems. Due to the special requirements of Energie AG and the need to tender under the Federal Procurement Law, it was decided to specify and advertise an individualized system.

Since Energie AG OÖ has the highest quality standards, the expertise of ReqPOOL’s specialists has been drawn in. ReqPOOL has already gained experience with the hard quality criteria of Energie AG OÖ due to its long-standing cooperation with Energie AG in earlier projects. The common basis of trust facilitates project implementation.

An efficient request survey: The Scope document

The main requirement for the future WMF system was clear: it must be a work facilitation for the mobile employees in the field. So far, for example, on-site assembly workers had to check several job sources (such as e-mail accounts, etc.) to retrieve orders. To simplify matters, orders will now be combined in the digital WFM system. In January 2019, the first kick-off for the requirements specification with ReqPOOL took place.

Requirement survey: Due to the existing expertise of ReqPOOL with WFM systems in the field of energy it was possible to build on an existing catalog of requirements. Within just 2 months, regular workshops with the department requirements were tailored to Energie AG OÖ. They followed an iterative process to refine the specification. Thus existing requirements could be adapted for Energie AG OÖ, new requirements could be created or modules added or omitted.

One of the main objectives of the specification was to comply with the tight schedule of Energie AG and to start implementing it in early 2020. The best practices and template catalogs from ReqPOOL played a major role in this.

Tendering process:The award criteria for an EU-wide tenderer tender have been defined by ReqPOOL in purchasing workshops. Already at the end of March, the catalog of requirements had progressed so far that the 2-stage call for tenders could begin. As of April, applications for participation with concrete use cases were published. Already in May there was the first feedback from up to 30 interested parties. At the beginning of July, the complete tender documents, including all requirements, were completed and sent out.

After a presentation phase in September 2019, the selection of the converter took place. The kick-off can thus already take place in December 2019. For implementation 2020, the project is therefore on schedule. ReqPOOL assisted in the tender process both with hearings as well as with the offer evaluation and with the negotiation of the offers.

During the implementation phase, ReqPOOL will also support the project management of Energie AG with experts for requirements management, process management, agile procedures (SCRUM) as well as testing and acceptance. In joint workshops not only the project budget, but also the complete project setup is worked out. The aim of the management is a precise project implementation in terms of costs and schedule. Another important point is the design of the GUI. Again, ReqPOOL’s experience can be incorporated into the WFM project.

What will the solution all – Future prospects:

The mobile WFM system will cover the operational planning and order management of up to 500 employees incl. Make contractors in the field more efficient than before. It will provide on-site technicians the opportunity to create new orders, capture project-relevant data and times, and store them in environment systems such as the ERP system. Back office staff will have the opportunity to write meaningful reports and plan and monitor projects more easily. It thus facilitates the entire workflow and the communication of all employees involved in projects in the company.

Due to the success of the project, further follow-up projects have been agreed between Energie AG and ReqPOOL.

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