Overview

Turnkey projects for both commercial and technical departments are also carried out. Such projects may entail a combination of EDAMS Management Systems implementation and consulting. For example a Commercial Improvement program project will include the implementation of EDAMS Billing and Customer Services system as well as the Billing data validation exercise. Sample turnkey projects offered are described briefly below - more detailed documentation is available on request.

Improvement of Commercial Management
Commercial Management deals with all the business processes that relate to revenue management and customer care – business processes that should be performed within a policy framework that is based on commercial principles. Effectively managing the commercial function requires the use of an information system, such as EDAMS Billing & Customer Information, that integrates the revenue function with customer care and that covers all facets of both disciplines, including meter reading, customer services, billing, debt management and meter maintenance.
An accurate consumer database will result in accurate consumption bills, and will have a direct impact on revenue. It is therefore imperative that the commercial database be as accurate and up-to-date as possible – which can only be achieved by systematically and continually improving the overall data quality through data evaluation and validation exercises, enabled through EDAMS Commercial Data Analysis.

Maintaining data integrity and quality through EDAMS Billing & Customer Information is much easier: the system enforces user discipline and consistency, and maintains the relational nature between all relevant data entities such as customer, connection, meter, property and plot/building. It also geographically references the consumer through its GIS interface, which makes it easier to optimise walk routes and manage illegal, un-metered and unregistered connections. The main benefits derived from Commercial Management are improved customer service and increase in revenues.

Improvement of Network Management

Network management is fundamentally concerned with service delivery – supplying acceptable quality water in sufficient quantities and in a cost-effective and reliable manner to the consumer. Meeting these objectives involves business processes that deal with all facets of network management, ranging from network data management and network rehabilitation to operations and maintenance. It also requires specialised information systems such as EDAMS Operations & Maintenance and EDAMS Network Asset Management that will provide the necessary integration with other management functions and deal effectively with the idiosyncrasies of network data.

Improvement of Utility Management

The Improvement of Utility Management program comprises of four steps, the second and third steps being the Commercial and Network Improvement programs described in the sections above.
The first step is the Institutional Framework study described under consulting services – institutional studies. Before the serious business of overhauling the commercial or network management environments can be tackled, it is important that the organisational structures, business processes and operational procedures be reviewed to ensure that they are in line with business objectives.
The Improvement of Utility Management program is a comprehensive exercise that results in the full computerization of the Utility and, at the same time, produces a reduction in losses, commercial and network rehabilitation and optimisation. The main steps and main deliverables in the program are depicted in the diagram above.

The Demand Management Program

The traditional way of producing master plans has resulted in static plans that are out of date the moment they are completed. The static nature of such master plans has resulted in many instances of unnecessary capital expenditure and underperforming distribution systems. The introduction of an integrated system, such as EDAMS Demand Management, has made a different approach possible. This approach is based on a live master plan that is updated dynamically as data becomes available from both the commercial and technical functions – including consumption and bulk meter reading data from the billing and network asset management systems respectively. Such a dynamic master plan enables network optimisation and upgrading to be conducted in an optimal and timely manner. Prior to implementing a Demand Management Program it is imperative that Commercial and Network improvement programs are carried out. Activities in the program include the implementation of EDAMS Management Systems and Services shown in the diagram.

Reduction and Control of Non-Revenue Water (NRW)

The Hydro-Comp methodology for the reduction and control of non-revenue water innovatively makes use of new generation network and demand management systems to effectively reduce and control apparent and physical losses in water supply systems. The methodology is an extension of the International Water Association’s model for non-revenue water, and addresses distribution as well as institutional issues of the water supply function in order to solve both the symptoms and the underlying causes of non-revenue water.

The Hydro-Comp approach will result in the following tangible benefits:

• Both apparent (commercial) and real (physical) losses will be reduced by addressing institutional as well as distribution problems in the network.

• The most cost-effective approach towards the reduction of unaccounted for water will be adopted; namely one that fully utilises and optimises existing network infrastructure before embarking on unnecessary and expensive upgrading or rehabilitation projects.

• Both the causes (e.g. high pressure) and the symptoms (e.g. leaks) of unaccounted for water will be addressed.

• Emphasis will be placed on increasing revenues by reducing operating expenses and increasing billable revenue.