Network tracing

A technician at a water utility is planning scheduled maintenance to replace an aging section of a water main pipe. The water supply must be shut off along the affected section to carry out the activity.

• Asset complexity: technicians must identify all customers and service connections that will be left without water supply due to the planned shutdown. The impact of this interruption goes beyond the road affected. The water network is a tightly interconnected one and closing a single valve may have a widespread impact.
• Regulatory compliance: pursuant to the regulations in force, the utility must notify all affected customers in advance to ensure compliance with Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and avoid penalties.
• Operational complexity: the utility must ensure that critical users (hospitals, schools, businesses) in the affected area are aware of the outage so they can make the necessary arrangements.

The network tracing feature allows technicians to digitally map the water network from the point of intervention. It identifies all downstream and interconnected customers who will be left without water supply during a planned scheduled maintenance, right on the mobile app. Therefore, by visualizing the affected network areas, the utility can notify all the impacted users promptly, ensure compliance with SLAs, and coordinate with critical service providers. Moreover, the feature can also help plan alternative supply routes or temporary measures to minimize service disruption.

An electric utility receives a report of a power outage. Customers are complaining they have no electricity, and some of them rely on powered medical devices that are critical to their health.

• Asset complexity: the primary challenge for technicians is tracing the fault back to its source, which may not be directly visible since electricity networks are complex, and rely on multiple feeders, transformers, and substations to deliver power to a specific area.
• Regulatory compliance: crews at the wrong location waste valuable time, which can lead to non-compliance with regulatory requirements for outage response times.
• Time constraint: any delay in identifying the fault location could have severe consequences for vulnerable users who rely on life-support equipment or have specific medical needs.

The network tracing feature enables field technicians to quickly visualize the electrical network on the mobile map and to trace it back from the fault location to the supplying substation. This also helps identify the affected areas and customers. In case of users flagged as critical, it prioritizes the recovery efforts that impact themfirst. This results in faster resolution and minimizes the impact on customers.

Imagine a residential area where a gas leak is reported by many residents. Gas leaks can be extremely dangerous as they pose a risk of fire and explosion. Technicians must respond swiftly to locate the source of the leak, stop the gas flow, and ensure the safety of the population.

• Asset complexity: the gas network is a complex web of pipelines, valves, pressure regulators, and metering stations. The source of a leak may not be immediately obvious, especially if complaints are reported from many different locations.
• Safety constraint: technicians must quickly determine which areas need to be evacuated. If the leak is near schools, hospitals, or densely populated residential blocks, the risk is (of course) higher.
• Regulatory compliance: in responding to the emergency and stopping the leak, the utility must meet the defined SLA not to cause great discomfort to thousands of residents, who would be unable to perform essential activities, such as heating their homes or cooking a meal, and potentially violate regulatory requirements.

The network tracing feature allows the utility’s emergency response team to visualize the entire gas network in real time on the mobile map. Field technicians can trace the flow of gas from the reported leak back to its origin, to pinpoint the most likely leak source. The tool also identifies the critical valves that need to be shut off to stop the gas flow without disrupting the entire network. It can also simulate potential gas flow scenarios to predict how closing different valves will affect supply, helping the utility make informed decisions quickly.