DATA SYSTEM INTEGRATION

Bringing it All Together

For better or worse, there are many choices when it comes to software in the water industry. Regardless of whether your utility is considering an MDMS, a new billing system, a work order management platform, or a customer portal, you won’t have a lack of options.

 

But with so many choices comes challenges. There is an unfortunate lack of industry standards when it comes to data formats and communication protocols which often makes integrating different software systems quite difficult. A wide range of proprietary file formats and data interfaces mean that nearly every integration requires new software coding, additional costs for Application Programming Interface (API) licenses, or professional fees to various vendors to export data in easy-to-use formats.

 

All this complexity adds cost and time to the implementation of a new system and pushes the potential value of the software further into the future. This is where SET data system integration services come into play.

Doing the Heavy Lifting

We know that most water utilities don’t have in-house software developers or other IT experts with the experience to get complex data systems to speak to each other. You have a full-time job ensuring safe and reliable water services.

 

This is why SET provides data integration services to make sure that all your critical software systems are working together. Siloed information or data transfer errors just make it harder for you to do your job. When you invest in a new software system you expect that it will provide the value you are looking for by exchanging information with out existing systems.

 

For a modest fixed fee per system, our team of data integration engineers will help you map out what information needs to be shared, what interfaces are available from existing systems, and coordinate with any third party vendors to make sure data is flowing smoothly between your various systems. We want to make sure you unlock the maximum amount of value from your investments, and aim to provide not only a full suite of technology solutions, but a complete service offering to support all your goals and dreams.

Use Cases

You can probably imagine how you want your various systems to work together, but to help you visualize some examples, we thought we would share some common use cases we see again and again.

Real-Time Bill Presentment

Every customer wants the ability to see the amount of their bill when they log-in to a customer portal. Passing bill amount information to a customer portal when the customer logs-in gives your end-users access to the most current billing information available, reducing possible shut-offs due to delinquent payments and improving customer satisfaction.

Automated Work-Order Management

Manually entering work requests into a work-order management system is time consuming and prone to human error. By automating the creation of work orders by passing relevant information from billing systems or customer interfaces, field staff have more current and accurate work requests and office staff save time to focus on high-value exception management.

Geographic Meter Analytics

Utilities use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map pipes, pumps, lift gates, and sensors. The data in these GIS files are useful for system rehabilitation planning and general asset management. By integrating consumption, flow, pressure, and other meter system data with GIS data, utility operators can make more informed decisions on asset management and more quickly identify leaks and other potential system failures using predictive analytics.

Customer Portal / CIS Mirroring

Your CIS is the primary source of data for your customer service team. You want to capture up-to-date information on your customer’s email address or mobile phone number, billing methods, mailing address, or other pertinent data. By integrating your customer portal in real-time with your CIS you can provide a bi-directional communication flow that keeps your team current and also let’s customer’s have a real-time view of their account data.

Learn More

There are many other cases where it will be important to share data between various software systems and SET can be your trusted partner to ensure all systems work together. We also provide our own suite of meter data management,

 

To learn more about how we can help you with your data integration needs, contact us for more information and a demonstration of our systems and software.