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Mobile Solutions Bell Canada and Télébec team up with VIASAT GeoTechnologies to develop a new complete pole inventory solution. Information about the equipment found on each telephone pole is of business value to Bell Canada and Télébec. Owning a pole inventory system enables cost savings and better control of assets and increased efficiency that would otherwise be unachievable. This is the story of how a solution was built and delivered within 4 months by leveraging the telephony expertise of the customers and the mobile expertise of VIASAT GeoTechnologies.
The Business Case To you, telephone poles might look just like naked pine logs that keep wires in the air. This is how most people see them, but not telecommunications specialists. Look closer and you will see that they are made of various materials other than pine, that all sorts of equipment is attached to each pole, that the pole owners vary, and that various companies install their equipment on the poles. To a telephone company, owning an information system for poles lets them cut overall maintenance costs - costs that can be lowered by improving the available information for planning and performing maintenance activities. To maximize ROI (return on investment), Bell and Télébec were looking for an affordable means of building a pole inventory system. They turned to VIASAT GeoTechnologies, as we had previously implemented effective pole data collection systems for Télébec. For the purpose of this paper, we are going to refer to Bell Canada and Télébec as Bell, members of BCE and Bell Aliant. The Needs Bell has two existing information systems that they wanted to populate with pole data. The first one is a Web application server shared with other telecom and utilities companies to manage the common use of field assets. The second system is a GIS, based on Intergraph technology, that they use to map out the pole data. The new pole data collection system had to be able to supply both information systems. For mapping purposes, Bell wanted the poles to be geo-located within 30 cm accuracy. In addition, they needed to collect a variety of information about the poles, and they needed a data collection interface that would be fast, easy to learn, easy to use, and reliable. The system had to work on various models of mobile computers. Bell also required all data validations to occur in the field, in addition to a streamlined QA process at the office for entering extra information that could not be captured in the field but that was a prerequisite to staging the data as input to their information systems. They also required that the validations be the same as in the current information systems. Since the information systems owned by Bell are developed in-house by other consultants for Bell, they needed a clean, well-documented interface between the new pole inventory system and the information systems. Highlights of the Solution The solution was designed and developed within 4 months, and includes the following:
This kind of solution was developed at low cost and under 4 months by using the VIASAT MobileCycle SOLUTIONS platform. Bell was able to leverage our years of mobile GPS/GIS experience to demonstrate results quickly and to stay focused on business issues. The Team The proper technology and tools must be used to achieve success, but effective teamwork is equally important. Conducting the detailed requirements and functional specifications analysis as a team with people from Bell Canada, Télébec and VIASAT GeoTechnologies really helped keep the project focused on its key objectives, and aligned with the goal of having the best usability practices in the field and best data integration strategies in the office. On a project with an aggressive schedule such as this, it was important to get some expert advice, and VIASAT GeoTechnologies was able to fulfill that role, especially regarding the software development process and mobile GPS/GIS expertise. Software Development The software development activities were aligned to meet the requirements of the information systems through the use of formal data modeling techniques and, above all, through constant, effective communication with the software developers responsible for maintaining the Web and GIS systems. Using standard technologies such as Oracle Lite and MapInfo, coupled with the use of the VIASAT GeoTechnologies MobileCycle SOLUTIONS platform, enabled our team to focus its programming efforts on business logic, thus maximizing business value for Bell. Deployment and Moving Forward The pole data collection system was shipped on time and was used in the field on a pilot data collection project. In fact, the system was delivered much before Bell's software development consultants were available to implement the import utilities into the Web and GIS systems, so as we write this, we are on standby to see the full cycle being run. Sometimes, fast turnarounds take you by surprise! |
Highlights
1. The team The key to the project's success is that we were very successful at getting people from all parties to work together and document their work. This helped greatly in delivering the system in record time. 2. The design The key to the design process itself was the involvement of people very knowledgeable of pole inventories and people knowledgeable of mobile software, and how they were able to make decisions about the feature set that serves the business objectives while being realistically feasible within a very tight schedule. 3. The solution The solution included both field and office components that were delivered on time, performing as expected, reliably. The solution can now be used to effectively collect pole data and stage the data as input to Bell's information systems. 4. What's next The design of the solution is flexible, and we anticipate future development cycles to deliver even more business value.  The Timeline
Q4 2005 -
Inception (3 mo)
Definition of the project goal, cost proposal by VIASAT GeoTechnologies, and decision process by the customer to go forward with the project. We were all set to start the design and development process for the beginning of 2006. Q1 2006 - Realization (4 mo)Requirements analysis, functional analysis, development, testing and deployment of the solution, including mobile GPS/GIS application, office QA application with MapInfo integration and staging of pole data as input to two information systems at Bell. The process was fast and yielded a system that met expectations. The Solution in Details
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