Are your lights out?

It's seven in the morning and suddenly the light is out. She stands in her dark kitchen with a steaming cup of coffee in her hand and looks out the window. The street lamps on the foggy road are also off. Only the motor of the excavator can still be heard as it tears up the asphalt. He was probably drowsy and cut a cable, she thinks and then grabs her iPhone to report the incident to ewz.

From this moment forward a number of things happen at ewz simultaneously:  All reports on the incident are collected by the system, processed, and provided to the employees. In a matter of seconds everyone starts receiving up-to-the-minute updates so that they can make well-informed decisions, respond correctly, and inform the residents.

ESISplus optimizes the power supply service processes of ewz: our software uses intelligent processes to assist in monitoring incidents involving power distribution networks, helps those in charge in the control center to efficiently remedy problems, and ensures immediate, reliable communication on different channels.

Central information center for all events

ewz has been supplying the City of Zurich and parts of the Canton of Graubünden with power since 1892. ewz is one of the top ten energy service providers in Switzerland in terms of revenue. ESISplus improves the quality of service provided by the power supplier by ensuring that the new system handles outages and other events centrally and in a well-organized manner.

ESISplus provides the dispatcher with uninterrupted, comprehensive information. If something happens, all those responsible are immediately on the same page. This sophisticated technical solution is highly interactive. The use of standard web technology (browser) renders it especially flexible.

"The event and fault management system ESISplus guides our operators in the control center through automated processes. It informs all staff on current happenings in the power distribution grid and allows to respond within seconds. With Netcetera we found a partner who completely understood the complex requirements. Their agile methodology allowed to present the project progress as executable, growing software solution. Our employees' suggestions for improvement were always directly incorporated. This created great confidence during development and we are completely satisfied with the result."

Dr. Lukas Küng, Deputy Director, Power Grid Distribution, ewz

Recognizing relevant correlations for the correct response - at all times and in a matter of seconds

ESISplus provides the control center with analytical tools that bring together and graphically present relevant information from the different ewz peripheral systems. Incoming reports can be grouped while existing events are organized and shown on cards. This simplifies and improves decision-making processes and facilitates the targeted transmission of information to the network engineers.

With ESISplus the control center is informed of current developments in the distribution network around the clock, 365 days a year. If, for example, the electricity is cut at a power plant, the event is immediately detected.  A defined and visualized work process helps in resolving the problem. At the same time, the user has access to every manner of communication from integrated telephone, SMS, and pagers to e-mail.

Simplifying complex things

With our ESISplus, incidents are documented and actively integrated into the work process of the power distribution network control center. It brings together information from different communication systems and processes them in a user-friendly manner.

ESISplus, with 30 ewz control center operational processes, 5 different message types, and 23 different processes and analytical tools.