According to ClickSoftware, the Environment Agency will use ClickSoftware’s ServiceOptimization suite to manage its mobile workforce that is responsible for monitoring water quality and levels throughout the region. The initial order will support a few hundred people out of a workforce of several thousand that operate in the field.
The Environment Agency chose ClickSchedule to replace a manual scheduling system. The previous system allowed technicians scattered across multiple territories to make their own schedules for conducting a variety of samples in rivers, streams, lakes, tidal estuaries and beaches during the day.
The Environment Agency will integrate ClickSchedule, ClickMobile and ClickAnalyze into its enterprise resource planning system enabling real-time decision support and optimization. ClickSchedule will automatically schedule technicians’ days in advance, playing a part in reducing the carbon foot print by reducing unnecessary journeys.
ClickSoftware said that ClickMobile will deliver updated scheduling information and instructions, including the type of samples to take at each site. Technicians will use it to record the bar code for each sample they take to ensure accuracy. That information will go back to ClickSchedule and then to the Environment Agency’s sample management systems, which give lab technicians the information they need when testing the samples. Any necessary repeat samples can be targeted and conducted at the best time within a broader schedule of activity rather than repeating unnecessary batch sampling.
The tight integration between ClickMobile and ClickSchedule will ensure that when information is communicated from the field, such as tests taking longer than expected, ClickSchedule can automatically act upon this data to ensure that the schedule remains optimized, according to ClickSoftware.
ClickAnalyze will allow staff at the Environment Agency to create real-time operational performance reports, monitor field force performance in real time, control service operations, including service level, sampling trends and times, associated costs and revenues. These reports can be produced by each stakeholder easily within minutes, said ClickSoftware.
