September 15, 2015

Kiamichi EC Chooses Futura Systems

Kiamichi EC Chooses Futura Systems for GIS Mapping and OMS

After a couple of particularly harrowing seasons of ice storms, Kiamichi Electric Cooperative upgrades from AutoCad maps to Futura GIS Mapping and Futura OMS to improve member services.

Kiamichi EC, located in eastern Oklahoma, is accustomed ice storms, with the past few winters being particularly active and very challenging. Severe storms have driven Kiamichi’s management to seek better, faster ways to improve response times while reducing outage duration. Futura was chosen in part based on the integraton with SEDC’s billing and accounting software, bringing the whole cooperative together like never before.

“There are many vendors in the GIS market but we were particularly impressed with the response time from Futura,” said Jim Jackson, General Manager at Kiamichi Electric Cooperative. “Combined with the integration to SEDC’s billing/accounting system, the choice was very easy. A surprising bonus has been the interaction with employees. Futura has been on top of the game in terms of building relationships to make the transition as easy as possible.”

Futura’s core Esri mapping software, featuring powerful data validation routines and quality control, offers Kiamichi EC user-friendly tools developed for the utility industry. Data integrity is no longer an issue with upfront verification and simple options to edit the map with electric-specific features. Using Esri’s ArcGIS platform, Futura offers utilities unlimited power to use maps in every aspect of operating the utility.

Keeping customers informed in an outage is important to satisfaction ratings, and this is where Futura’s Outage Management System really performs. FuturaOMS, with network connectivity and AMI integration, helps identify probable failure points in the field so Kiamichi crews can act faster and more accurately. Outage reporting can be completed in a couple of clicks rather than days of spreadsheet entry. FuturaOMS’s exceptional integration with SEDC’s utility software allows the entire cooperative to stay informed, in real time, so customers can be too. The most convenient feature could be the customer facing web map that allows Kiamichi customers to see outage information as it occurs, directly from the cooperative’s website. The map is automatically updated as events occur so customers have the same information as crews, employees and even staff. It just doesn’t get much better than that.

About Kiamichi Electric Cooperative

Kiamichi Electric Cooperative is an electric distribution cooperative located in Wilburton, Oklahoma. Kiamichi EC was established in 1945 to serve rural residents in the counties of Latimer, LeFlore, Pittsburg, Pushmataha and Atoka. Today, KEC provides electric service to over 21,000 meters and maintains over 4,000 miles of line. Learn more at: www.kiamichielectric.org.