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Prime Electrical is a leading contractor for Eskom in South Africa, Eskom generates approximately 95% of the electricity used in South Africa and approximately 45% of the electricity used in Africa. Prime Electrical leads Eskom’s projects that include “Minor Works” also known as the smaller jobs, located in the rural parts of South Africa.
When working with “Minor Works” there are many more processes, documentation and procedures that Prime Electrical must follow and complete. Prime Electrical has to get various documents and proposals filed accurately and quickly to ensure the work can be completed and projects can be funded. Without the necessary paperwork, per Eskom’s specifications, projects will not be funded and will therefore delay the start date. Valuable time gets lost on site trying to get the necessary documentation filed. By the time the documentation is compiled and assessed by the main office, 30% of the information is either missing or not completed. This means more time is lost, and crews have to return to the job site to finish the necessary paperwork.
Prime Electrical also consistently has crews in remote locations with an inability to obtain an internet connection. This limits the field crews’ access documents, maps, schematics and forms needed to complete the job. Everything has to be done in advance, and if something is needed on-site, it is impossible to obtain.
Prime Electrical evaluated the use of using proprietary devices and handhelds for their data collection, but found the cost and maintenance to be too high and it look months to train crews to use the product. Prime Electrical wanted a solution they could use now, with minimal to no training required.
With the introduction of TerraGo Custom Field Application, Prime Electrical immediately saw a complete solution to their issues with data collection, timeliness of getting information back to the main office for assessment and the ability to access information offline. They could also deploy it quickly, with no need for wide-scale crew trainings. Prime Electrical instantly saw an increase in the quality assurance process, quantities of work done and documents completed all with the proper information. They also saw a sharp decrease in the amount of time it takes to get the information back to the main office. Eliminating many hours of wasted time.
The TerraGo Field Application’s map view and geo-aspect is also extremely valuable. Prime Electrical is using the map functionalities to document where every time an input is made, in addition to the muti-media aspect. Crews can now take pictures of work being done, attach it to a form and project, and in turn, Prime Electrical can now supply accurate and informative information to their clients detailing stages, and specific locations of work that was done, where, and what time. This will not only streamline customer service, but also provide Prime Electrical with more robust information to allow Eskom to inquire at every stage of the “Minor Works” progress.