Introduction  

Electric utility operations, Energy production, transmission, and delivery are complex undertakings. Effective operations rely on high volume, accurate data coming from the field to ensure asset uptime, detailed systems of record, and safe workers. Your field employees are busy, they have their hands full, and they would rather be doing work than spending 20-30% of their time on important, but time-consuming data collection.  

Introducing Datch, the first and most advanced Voice AI built specifically for the energy workforce. Datch enables workers to carry out company processes across different business units, such as notification raising, work order creation, real time history recording, safety logging and more by allowing workers to simply make conversational observations into their phone, tablet, or headset.  

Datch was designed to reduce administrative burden of your frontline workforce, increase incoming data quality, improve operational efficiency, and reduce downtime. Datch uses a highly adaptable artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) engine to allow field employees to create work orders and capture field observations in real-time using voice. Datch accurately structures spoken words, numbers and complex Asset IDs into a machine-readable format directly into your company databases, ready for analysis and insights  

Use Cases  (Solutions)

Datch has many use cases for different operational departments. Organizations may want to increase reporting compliance by their workers, have a better catalog of field worker interactions with customers, or increase the quality of data coming into the system. Datch can help achieve all these business goals and increase your employees’ user experience with field information capture.  

Here are some example processes using Datch in a variety of production, transmission, and distribution applications:

Search Work Orders/Search History

• Datch allows for frontline workers to search through work orders and maintenance history, without ever having to leave site.

• Workers can troubleshoot and maintain complex electrical, pressure, and mechanical systems.
• Service, maintain, and repair power generation and utility distribution and transmission equipment.  

• Follow established procedures in shutting down and disassembling equipment, replacing damaged or worn parts, and reassembling and testing equipment to required specifications,
• Search inventory lists.

Asset Data Capture / Asset Management

• Datch’s NLP technology is uniquely designed to capture detailed Asset ID information quickly and accurately

e.g. “Datch, create an issue log for insulator #523F4, the insulator fastener has broken and needs to be replaced”

e.g. “Datch, construction team #5 just installed 50ft of 4” plastic main at intersection of Grant and West St. and added 5 service laterals to No. 23, 25 and 27 Grant St.”

Pre/Post-job briefing knowledge capture

• Datch allows for real-time informal interaction capture between workers about current job tasks or observations that would have typically been missed or not recorded in a formal document

e.g. "Datch, Exterior gas main condition found upon exposure. Job may still proceed but the main condition may dictate additional work based upon the data logged on condition found”

Site walk inspections/Auditing

• Datch can pull detailed records from the company database and allow nuanced data capture of onsite audits. Inspectors can use the Datch ‘Play-by-Play’ functionality to talk through their observations, take pictures, and record a stream of critical information that can be recreated by other personnel or management.  

Safety/Incident reporting

• Safety and incident reports are difficult to capture, workers are averse to logging minor incidents to avoid the administrative task of filling out a form. Datch makes it easy and fast for workers to report incidents or safety concerns as they occur, allowing for a stronger and more detailed record of worker safety.  

e.g. “Datch, create an incident report, my truck collided with another vehicle on-site and my shoulder is bruised from the collision”  

Emergency Dispatching

• Emergency Response Operator teams can use Datch to rapidly capture information of incoming line ‘hits’ from third parties.

e.g. “Datch, create an emergency dispatch order, there is a hit on the main at 123 Grant St, dispatch team 6 to check site status”

Construction Data Capture

• Datch allows voice-based checklisting of detailed construction forms with as many fields as necessary. Datch has a deep voice search functionality as well as drop down menus if necessary.  

Create Work Orders/Notifications/History

• Datch allows for frontline workers to raise, update, and close work orders on site while working through a job, allowing for rich, detailed capture of information. Maintenance and reliability engineers can identify, quantify, and implement opportunities that will improve overall equipment reliability and performance.

• Create history and work orders for maintenance of haul trucks, light vehicles and similar utility equipment .
• Create history and work orders for maintenance & installation of pipeline, regulators, poles, and transmission towers.
• Report on repairs, rebuilds, and modifications of equipment and parts to suit operational requirements.
• Inspections and reports of conditions that may cause premature breakdowns or safety problems.
• Identifying and reporting reoccurring maintenance needs (conditions that lead to eventual failure).

Checklists, Handovers, and Transactional Work

• Datch allows for frontline workers to move through day-to-day procedures and checklists quickly, efficiently, and without the need for a physical paper trail.  
• Health and safety checklists.
• Daily field level hazard assessments for all activities.
• Vehicle safety checklists.
• Measurement points and calibration.
• Datch facilitates supervisor shift handovers through real-time observational data capture and easy access to the handover records.

Related Resources

• The Digital Voice of Today’s Utility Worker: An Instrument of Untapped Potential in T&D Operations and Maintenance

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Request a Datch demo for energy.