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April 6, 2016

Marshall County REMC Selects Tools from Futura Systems

Marshall County REMC Selects FieldPro™ Automated Mapping and Outage Management Tools from Futura Systems

No more paper maps for Indiana Co-op; field crews will visualize and record power infrastructure repairs with web-based GIS and iPads

Marshall County REMC in Plymouth, Indiana has selected award-winning FieldPro™ software from utility-centric enterprise software provider Futura Systems, Inc. to modernize its approach to maintaining safe, reliable power infrastructure for its nearly 8,000 customers.

Over the past year, the utility’s tech-savvy field and operations teams have been migrating away from the old paper-map approach, embracing faster, more accurate geospatial information systems (GIS) technology. Marshall County REMC, which has successfully implemented FuturaStaking and GIS maps, found the enterprise approach and connectivity an important factor in the selection of the new tools.

“The thing that attracted me, in addition to getting good reviews from other people who are using it, was the cross-functionality, was the way it worked with our SEDC/Futura customer analytics system already in place. It kind of made it a seamless installation,” said Marshall County REMC General Manager Mark Batman.

The addition of Futura’s FieldPro and a GIS-based outage management system (OMS) will allow crews to see and update the state of grid infrastructure in real-time; allowing them to work in either disconnected or connected mode so workers can use and edit utility GIS data anywhere while maintaining data integrity and security.

“Our board is very interested in the OMS because they want to make sure that our members, when we have outages, receive the best possible information,” said Batman.

“When crews are out doing restoration work, or just performing safety inspections, there may be times they’re working without network connectivity,” Batman said. “With FieldPro, mobile crew members can record and access data in a cached environment. That should help us maintain and even improve on our commitment to reliability and efficiency for our customers.”

FieldPro is a core Esri application that provides secure, ubiquitous mobility from an iOS device, enabling real-time geospatial information systems (GIS), outage management (OMS), and infrastructure inspection updates directly from the field.

Marshall County REMC plans to activate two additional modules to seamlessly perform outage and inspection functions.

The outage module interfaces directly with FuturaOMS, to:

  • View, dispatch and manage outages from an iOS tablet.
  • Better analyze outage data in order to accurately dispatch and assign crews.
  • Work, update, and close outages from the field with direct integration back to FuturaOMS.
  • Increase productivity and improve time management for CSRs, Dispatchers and Emergency staff.

Using the inspection module, mobile workers can:

  • Simplify data collection, inspection and verification in the field.
  • Synch damage assessment, system inspections, vegetation management and joint use audits directly with GIS.
  • Safeguard consistent data entry through field validation.
  • Quickly assess storm damage, import inspection photos, and track and manage right-of-way clearance.

Learn more about Marshall County REMC by visiting their website at http://www.marshallremc.com/.

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