Integrating GIS-Based Asset Management with Utility Billing

Typically there’s not a lot of excitement or fanfare involved with integrating applications. However, there’s recently been quite a bit of interest in the integration between the Elements GIS-based asset and work management software and CUSI’s UMS.net utility billing application. With that in mind, I thought it would be beneficial to shed some light on the integration and discuss some of the available functionality.

Here’s what makes the integration unique.

The integration is not a tool that was developed by a third party to pass data back and forth or otherwise synchronize information between the two applications. This project was designed, completed, and is maintained solely by the development teams at CUSI and Novotx, working together to create an integration that would take advantage of the best features in both applications without data duplication or synchronization. The asset management software directly accesses information from (and passes information to) the utility billing application in real-time and vice versa.

And here are a few reasons it’s attracting so much interest.

Using the integration, office personnel can dispatch a technician to read or replace a meter, for example, and the meter-related information can be collected using the asset management application then saved directly to the utility billing database.

The integration gives field operators access to GIS data, asset management information, and important customer and meter information directly from the utility billing application in real-time.

Service Orders can be generated in the asset management application using information from the utility billing application – for example, a batch of Service Orders can be created to shut off a group of customers who have not paid their bill. These Service Orders can then be completed using the asset management application, which will post the required meter information and associated fees directly to the customer account in the utility billing database.

Lastly, the integration expands the functionality of the utility billing application by adding a complete work management system that allows users to create and manage work orders for any geographic location, assets, GIS assets, facilities, heavy equipment, and much more.

GIS-Based Asset Management, Utility Billing, and Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge

I love the sound of an electric guitar.  I’m also a software guy.  So when CUSI invited us to team up in Nashville to show a fully integrated utility billing and GIS-based asset management solution I jumped at the chance.

The plan was simple: we would use our API to combine CUSI’s UMS .NET utility billing software with our GIS-based asset and work management software to provide a clean, GIS-based, fully integrated solution for medium to larger utilities.

Homerun.

The software was a rock star and booth #219 looked like Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge on a Saturday night (minus the purple paint).  For those of you aren’t familiar with Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge, it’s small – and it’s the most rockin’ place in town.  Stop by on a Saturday night and you can bet it will be standing room only, jam-packed with people spending money faster than they can pull it out of their wallets.

Small, rockin', and jam-packed with people, the CUSI booth at CS Week resembled Tootsie's Orchid Lounge.

Showing the software was a blast and the CUSI staff was incredible.  Product demonstrations ran back-to-back nearly the entire conference and utility systems across the US and Canada were able to see firsthand the advantages of combining utility billing with asset management in a GIS-centric environment.

I would say that showcasing the integrated utility billing and GIS-based asset management software was my favorite thing about CS Week, but like I said earlier – nothing beats the sound of an electric guitar.