AssetWorks Case Studies Case Study San Diego Gas & Electric

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	Case Study San Diego Gas & Electric AssetWorks

Case Study San Diego Gas & Electric

AssetWorks

Technology Category	Functional Applications - Fleet Management Systems (FMS)
Applicable Industries	Utilities
Applicable Functions	Logistics & Transportation Procurement
Use Cases	Fleet Management Regulatory Compliance Monitoring Remote Asset Management
Services	Software Design & Engineering Services System Integration
Challenge	San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) operates a fleet of over 2,000 units and 12 maintenance locations spread throughout the San Diego area. They manage and maintain 1.4 million electric meters and 873,000 natural gas residential meters across SDG&E’s 4,100 square miles of service area. SDG&E makes significant use of the AssetWorks FleetFocus suite, including EquipmentFocus and the Notification Manager module. As a utility organization, SDG&E uses one aspect of FleetFocus in a unique way: SOX compliance and invoicing. Before using FleetFocus for invoicing and SOX compliance, SDG&E originally developed an in-house process that populated an Excel spreadsheet when someone entered a part receipt or commercial charge into the fleet management system. However, this process was not secure and could be manipulated or altered. SDG&E needed a method that would be SOX compliant, which required that the same individual could not both submit an invoice and subsequently approve it. Read More
About Customer	San Diego Gas & Electric® (SDG&E®) is a regulated public utility that provides energy service to 3.6 million customers in the San Diego and southern Orange counties in California. SDG&E is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (Sempra), a San Diego-based energy services holding company whose subsidiaries provide electricity, natural gas and value-added products and services. SDG&E has been an AssetWorks FleetFocus customer for over 20 years and recently upgraded to the latest version of the system in August of 2020. SDG&E operates a fleet of over 2,000 units, including highly specialized trucks, trailers and standard vehicles, and 12 maintenance locations spread throughout the San Diego area. Through their work, SDG&E manages and maintains 1.4 million electric meters and 873,000 natural gas residential meters across SDG&E’s 4,100 square miles of service area. Read More
Solution	SDG&E launched with the custom FleetFocus Invoice Approval module and Unit Attachment Query functionality to target seamless compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act. The module needed to ensure that only users with specific administrative roles and privileges would have access to the approval center for these items. This included the ability to reject the invoice outright or to send it back for correction, like adding a missing attachment. This drastically cuts time down as well, as the database recognizes instant notifications. As a result, vendor payment processing can occur much quicker, which may incentivize vendors to provide discounts to SDG&E. The Unit Attachment Query within FleetFocus allows users to search through attachments of these orders, so that the user can find an attachment on an as-needed basis. For SDG&E, this functionality has drastically sped up search times. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Functional Applications - Fleet Management Systems (FMS)

Applicable Industries

Utilities

Applicable Functions

Logistics & Transportation

Procurement

Use Cases

Fleet Management

Regulatory Compliance Monitoring

Remote Asset Management

Services

Software Design & Engineering Services

System Integration

Challenge

San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) operates a fleet of over 2,000 units and 12 maintenance locations spread throughout the San Diego area. They manage and maintain 1.4 million electric meters and 873,000 natural gas residential meters across SDG&E’s 4,100 square miles of service area. SDG&E makes significant use of the AssetWorks FleetFocus suite, including EquipmentFocus and the Notification Manager module. As a utility organization, SDG&E uses one aspect of FleetFocus in a unique way: SOX compliance and invoicing. Before using FleetFocus for invoicing and SOX compliance, SDG&E originally developed an in-house process that populated an Excel spreadsheet when someone entered a part receipt or commercial charge into the fleet management system. However, this process was not secure and could be manipulated or altered. SDG&E needed a method that would be SOX compliant, which required that the same individual could not both submit an invoice and subsequently approve it.

About Customer

San Diego Gas & Electric® (SDG&E®) is a regulated public utility that provides energy service to 3.6 million customers in the San Diego and southern Orange counties in California. SDG&E is a subsidiary of Sempra Energy (Sempra), a San Diego-based energy services holding company whose subsidiaries provide electricity, natural gas and value-added products and services. SDG&E has been an AssetWorks FleetFocus customer for over 20 years and recently upgraded to the latest version of the system in August of 2020. SDG&E operates a fleet of over 2,000 units, including highly specialized trucks, trailers and standard vehicles, and 12 maintenance locations spread throughout the San Diego area. Through their work, SDG&E manages and maintains 1.4 million electric meters and 873,000 natural gas residential meters across SDG&E’s 4,100 square miles of service area.

Solution

SDG&E launched with the custom FleetFocus Invoice Approval module and Unit Attachment Query functionality to target seamless compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act. The module needed to ensure that only users with specific administrative roles and privileges would have access to the approval center for these items. This included the ability to reject the invoice outright or to send it back for correction, like adding a missing attachment. This drastically cuts time down as well, as the database recognizes instant notifications. As a result, vendor payment processing can occur much quicker, which may incentivize vendors to provide discounts to SDG&E. The Unit Attachment Query within FleetFocus allows users to search through attachments of these orders, so that the user can find an attachment on an as-needed basis. For SDG&E, this functionality has drastically sped up search times.

Impact #1	Document retention is much more streamlined.
Impact #2	The ability to manage document retention electronically instead of involving staff at each location to physically inventory and/or send off the documents for destruction.
Impact #3	The immediate access can grant us rapid responses to vendors.

Impact #1

Document retention is much more streamlined.

Impact #2

The ability to manage document retention electronically instead of involving staff at each location to physically inventory and/or send off the documents for destruction.

Impact #3

The immediate access can grant us rapid responses to vendors.

Benefit #1	SDG&E processes roughly one thousand invoices a month.
Benefit #2	Obtaining a copy of an invoice could take hours or even days, now it can be pulled up in a few seconds.

Benefit #1

SDG&E processes roughly one thousand invoices a month.

Benefit #2

Obtaining a copy of an invoice could take hours or even days, now it can be pulled up in a few seconds.

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Overview

Case Study San Diego Gas & Electric

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit