USKO announces Faultrack

JSE-listed technology group, USKO has launched Faultrack, a fault tracking and operation management system that is aimed primarily at the utilities sector and promises to streamline the efficiency of all customer-service related activities in this field.

Tony Sparks, divisional director of development at USKO e-Commerce, positions the systems as being suited to any environment that requires fault tracking and monitoring of the quality of supply.

Faultrack is a Windows-based software package that can be integrated with existing legacy systems that include Internet, e-mail, financial packages and human resources applications, and is also compatible with any ODBC database. It initiates supply restoration by automatically notifying the relevant field staff via e-mail, fax, pager or SMS of reported faults, and incorporates a progress tracking facility for individual problems. Faultrack escalates unresolved faults to a higher level of expertise and also enables comprehensive fault management - a feature whereby the system registers more than one call from a similar area, and reacts by prompting the call centre operator to highlight the entire area as a fault, thus avoiding any duplication of fault recording.

"By raising all necessary work orders required to perform the repair, and by integrating this information with the existing business systems, Faultrack automates the entire process, thus greatly reducing the effort and costs required to meet the satisfactory service levels," he explains. This feature also enables the tracking of costs of faults, as well as equipment repair costs.

Sparks highlights one of the system`s biggest benefits as being its ability to automatically produce and distribute a vast range of reports and management information. From next year, all electricity undertakings will be required by Government to regularly produce reports for the National Electricity Regulator (NER). With Faultrack, providers of electricity can generate and distribute these reports to a predetermined list of recipients on a regular basis. Furthermore, the reports are presented in a format that complies with the requirements of the NER.

The system was recently showcased at an USKO event for the Greater Metropolitan Councils of Southern Africa, as well as at the Department of Trade and Industry`s National Export Week `99. Faultrack is already installed at the Durban Metropolitan Council, where, according to Aubrey Morris, senior project control officer, it has improved the quality of supply of electricity to its 660,000 customers, and re-allocated resources in the most cost-effective way possible.

"Faultrack offers a vast improvement on previous systems. Not only does it fulfil all requirements, it provides substantial additional benefits. With the systems in place, we now have the capability to track the allocation and usage of all resources to the very second," says Morris.

"Faultrack eliminates human intervention from systems processes and enables utility providers to deliver a high-level of service with potentially restricted resources and skills. The system is also designed with the call-centre agent in mind, and is thus extremely easy to use," adds Sparks.

Among its many features, the system also incorporates a "switching request" module that is ideal for planned outages of circuits, or equipment, allowing maintenance, servicing or repairs. It integrates with the fault recording system in the call centre environment, so that the staff is aware of all planned outages for the day, thus assisting customer relations.

Faultrack can be customised to suit individual working requirements, from small to large enterprise, and, according to Sparks, there will be ongoing research and development on the system.