KASSALA WATER BILLING SYSTEM
THE PROBLEM
There had been claims of unaccounted water usage of up to 30% and more leading to huge loss
of revenue. Parts of the losses were due to non-metering of all the supplied water. A system was
required to track the supplied and billed water by region as a measure to reduce part of the
losses. CSM’s Water Billing Solution was a versatile application which eliminated the problems
found in the whole distribution and billing system.
THE CLIENT
Drinking Water Corporation, Kassala was our client. Water Corporation is one of Kassala's
largest and most successful water service providers with more than $10 billion invested in water
services infrastructure. The Water Corporation enjoys an excellent performance record with
years of commercial and technical experience.
THE PROCESS
Requirements Analysis
During this stage, DWC’s requirement was ascertained with the software requirements
specifications
Design
In this stage the Detailed Design for the project was made. The conceptual and logical models
developed in the High Level Design stage were translated into Physical Data Models and
detailed design of each architectural component was taken up.
Development
This stage involved development of the software, which includes development of user interfaces,
business components, database creation and unit testing. The migration of existing data to the
new system was also be undertaken.
Testing
In this stage all the components, scripts and Database were tested in complete flow together,
different tools were used to create to do testing like stress testing etc.
User Acceptance Testing
In this Stage, the deliverables as per Contract/Project Charter was validated against the
implemented solution. Then a user acceptance testing was conducted after data migration using
the migration engine. DWC provided system test scripts and data for the acceptance testing.
User Training
We know the importance of training in the success of any implementation; hence we have
elaborated training system that ensures that the end users have the needed understanding of the
solution so that maximum benefits of the solution are harnessed. We are interested in providing a
solution that is proactive and able to meet the total solution needs of our clients, hence aside the
initial implementation training, we organized regular training to meet some exigency needs.
SOLUTION
Following technology was used in the development of this web portal:
•
ASP.NET 2.0
•
SQL SERVER 2005
The concept for developing the Web Based MIS for Water Corporation was to track the data
collected in different segment in the entire production process. The Web Based MIS projected its
core values and processes for different activities to reach out to different departments,
Management personnel etc. Our Web Based Management Information Systems mines data from
Legacy, Production applications to provide executives, management with comprehensive, real
time reporting, available at their finger tips. These features of our application provided
executives access to business critical information, in real time over a secure Internet connection,
wherever they are, in their office, on the road or at home. Information pools could include all
business critical data warehouses.
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SOLUTION
This application was installed at four different cities separately. They were linked to a central
system located at East Kassala. The application could run in both on line and offline mode and
information could be synched with the centralized system. Two rounds of training sessions were
held while implementing this project. Initially a level one training was given at all the four cities
individually (East Kassala, West Kassala, Girba, New Halfa). Thereafter, change requests were
received and resolved. Also master data was collected during this phase and information was
pushed into the system. After this another round of training was held.
RESULTS
•
Effective process management.
•
Data Accuracy.
•
Increased competitiveness and productivity.
•
Web Based MIS Administration.