Case study
Halving abortive network shuts
An application that automated the scheduling of network shuts and water sampling for a Tier-1 contractor delivering mains renewal for a major water company — halving abortive requests and keeping customer commitments on track.
The challenge
Our client, a Tier-1 contractor to a major water company, faced significant pressure to meet AMP7 regulatory targets for leakage reduction. A key risk to delivering their expanding mains renewal programme, running at 50km a year, was managing the interface with the live water network through the water company’s network service technicians. Informal booking and communication processes for network shuts and water quality sampling were causing delays, abortive costs, permitting issues and customer impact — threatening programme delivery and operational efficiency.
Our approach
We automated the management of network service requests, building and operationalising a Power Apps application that carries each request from inception through network trace, customer lettering and execution of the shut. One workflow holds every request, so the collective team can plan and resource shuts collaboratively — including through the busy periods that winter events bring.
Outcomes
- Abortive requests reduced by 50 per cent
- Customer letters delivered within the required SLAs
- Evidence to right-size the technician team to the growing programme
- Collaborative planning and resourcing of shut requests, sustained through winter peaks
Facing something similar?
Get in touch to talk about your project.