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Public utilities company in Borken (Westfalen)

The Stadtwerke Borken public utilities company in Borken/Westfalen achieved certification with the aid of KANiO®

The required standards were very high. Stadtwerke Borken/Westfalen set themselves the objective of obtaining technical safety management certification according to G1000, W1000 and S1000 for their operations. An ambitious objective; after all, the project could not even begin until data enhancement and systematic collection and networking of all operational documents, software and work processes were in place. And throughout the process, of course, the safe, reliable, cost-efficient supply of electricity, natural gas and water to the town of Borken and the surrounding communities must not be compromised at any time. So the task was extremely challenging since prior to that time many software solutions were in use in Borken. Applications such as the Navision commercial system, the Autodesk Mapguide geographic information system, the process control technology and the standard Office applications supported workflows throughout the company.

But as reasonable as these software solutions were individual: Over the years, problems had arisen more and more frequently as a result of technical advances and the corresponding extensions. The main reasons included the increasing volume of data and data sources and a lack of standardisation. For this reason, the public utilities companies were initially sceptical as well: Can there be an operations management system which is able to merge the existing quantities of data, spreadsheets, documents and other working aids, so that all facilities and plants can be run efficiently and safely? How can the various paper forms for capturing data and documentation be replaced by one software program which simultaneously manages all data capture via mobile field devices in conjunction with a graphical mobile planning component? And: Can it be used to enhance the entire data stock and so help Stadtwerke Borken achieve its certification objectives?

Ideally, the new operations management system should be capable of being integrated into the existing system environment and offer a high standard. Connection to the existing Autodesk Mapguide GIS assumed critical importance. For this reason, the first step was to examine the existing systems. However, it became evident very quickly that the systems in place were only capable of satisfying a fraction of the functional scope required. An IT-supported operations management system was imperative. It should also be a standard application, with the great advantage over stand-alone developments of enabling the existing functions to be used directly. This is perfectly in keeping with the general trend: away from individual solutions and towards proven standard developments.

Now the next step was to test the operations management systems available on the market. The decision was finally made in favour of KANiO® from HST. Within a very short time, the entire operations, servicing and maintenance management system for electricity, gas and water supply in Borken with all facilities and technical equipment was switched to KANiO®. In view of its successful deployment, it is already planned to extend the use of KANiO® to other areas of the company, such as swimming pool operations management and street lighting.