Oracle Announces Availability of Oracle Utilities Mobile Workforce Management 2.0

By ORACLE
Saturday, May 1, 2010

Redwood Shores, Calif. – May 3, 2010

News Facts

Oracle announced the availability of Oracle Utilities Mobile Workforce Management 2.0 (www.oracle.com/us/industries/utilities/046894.html) , with new enhancements in scheduling, dispatch and field communication.

The new functionality includes:
Improved field work planning and scheduling without artificial boundaries: A computational grid feeds up to a year’s worth of planned maintenance and inspection field activities into the system to assign the right crew at the right time, in any area the utility serves. Crews closest to the job can now respond without the restriction of artificial time, work-type and geographic boundaries imposed by older technologies. In the field, the application helps shorten routes and reduce truck rolls. In the office, multiple departments can share the same view, breaking down work silos and helping to share field resources.
Automation of routine assignments and full-context decision support for dispatchers: The application creates schedules based on complete data sets about each technician’s qualifications, experience, availability and work history, as well as utility work rules and key performance objectives. This enhancement helps optimize assignments by allocating the best qualified, most cost-effective crew to the task, while improving customer service. When situations require human judgment, the application passes the decision to a dispatcher with full context. This new “context-oriented dispatching” helps each field task address a utility’s strategic business objectives, while also significantly decreasing the dispatcher-to-field worker ratio.
Easier communication: Oracle Utilities Mobile Workforce Management 2.0 lets dispatchers and supervisors use a single interface to communicate with field workers, regardless of the device in use. Utilities can upgrade all devices at one time, regardless of device or network. Also, the ability to communicate via SMS/text messaging lets utilities use common, low-cost, low-maintenance devices like mobile phones.

Supporting Quotes

“Utilities of all sizes are focused on enhancing customer service, controlling costs and ensuring a safe workplace and a reliable network. Oracle Utilities Mobile Workforce Management 2.0 will help utilities meet these objectives more easily, as they prepare to make the transition to the smart grid. This release should significantly strengthen Oracle’s competitive position in the mobile workforce management solution space,” said Warren Causey, vice president, strategy, research and analysis, Five Point Partners, LLC (www.fivepointpartners.net/) .
“One of the key enhancements we deliver with Oracle Utilities Mobile Workforce Management 2.0 is an end to the artificial boundaries that other mobile workforce management applications impose on a utility’s ability to plan and schedule field work. We provide the foundation for an enterprise approach to utility field work that can improve efficiency, cuts costs and gives utilities full visibility into mobile workforce performance,” said Stephan Scholl, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Utilities.

Supporting Resources

Oracle Utilities (www.oracle.com/industries/utilities/index.html)
Oracle Smart Grid Software (www.oracle.com/us/corporate/press/018637)
Oracle Utilities Blog (blogs.oracle.com/oracleutilities/)
Oracle Utilities on Facebook (www.facebook.com/pages/Oracle-Utilities/113690131739?v=wall)
Oracle Utilities on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=159460&trk=hb_side_g)
Oracle Utilities on Twitter (www.twitter.com/OracleUtilities)
Oracle Utilities YouTube Channel (www.youtube.com/oracleutilities)

About Oracle Utilities

Oracle Utilities delivers proven software applications that help utilities of all types and sizes achieve competitive advantage, business performance excellence and a lower total cost of technology ownership. Oracle Utilities integrates industry-specific customer care and billing, network management, work and asset management, mobile workforce management and meter data management applications with the capabilities of Oracle’s industry-leading enterprise applications, business intelligence tools, middleware and database technologies. The software enables customers to adapt more nimbly to market deregulation, meet ever-evolving customer demands and deliver on environmental conservation commitments. Additionally, Oracle Utilities helps utilities prepare for smart metering and smart grid initiatives that enhance efficiency and provide critical intelligence metrics that can help drive more-informed energy and water usage decisions for consumers and businesses. For more information, visit www.oracle.com/goto/utilities.

About Oracle

Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL) provides the most complete, open, and integrated business software and hardware systems in the world. For more information about Oracle, visit oracle.com

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Contact Info

Caroline Yu Vespi
Oracle
+1.650.506.8920
caroline.yu@oracle.com (mailto:caroline.yu@oracle.com)

Janice Hazen
O'Keeffe and Company
+1.770.938.4753
jhazen@okco.com (mailto:jhazen@okco.com)