Utility companies face major challenges in today’s market. Industry deregulation, mergers and acquisitions, and increased competition placed many organizations at a crossroads. Businesses are choosing whether to deliver, produce, or do both. There are also industry segments, like nuclear energy, which must comply with Fitness for Duty requirements (NRC 10 CFR Part 26). To help save money and time, EmpCenter for Utilities helps optimize schedules, reduce costs, and ensure compliance with government regulations.

One of the most common issues for utility companies is the importance of tracking all costs to reflect detailed and accurate operating and capital expenses. In most markets, state regulators approve customer rates, which are based on the company’s operating costs. EmpCenter for Utilities automates and streamlines the process for collecting labor costs associated to all aspects of the company including operating unit, department, work order, etc. EmpCenter for Utilities supports all required labor distribution information for your company.

Another key issue is regulation, including those required to manage fatigue in the nuclear power industry. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s (NRC) rules governing fatigue management (10 CFR 26) were updated in March of 2008 to include provisions for work hour limits, required days off, self-declaration when unfit for duty, fatigue assessments, and annual reporting.  EmpCenter Fatigue Management solves these issues with a prepackaged rule set and reports for nuclear operators and contractors. 

Meeting the Requirements for Utility Organizations

EmpCenter for Utilities manages the unique requirements of specific areas within a utility organization, including:

• Finance
• Field Crews
• Work Order Tracking
• Management
• Fleet Maintenance Management
• Human Resources
• Payroll

Finance

• Labor Cost Time Tracking: Allocates labor expenses to the appropriate state, operating unit, department, etc., to ensure accuracy
• Budget Management: Maintains detailed budget reporting to verify operating costs for state regulators to approved rates

Field Crews

• Flexible Time Recording: Supports multiple time recording methods, from an online web clock, mobile PDA, or telephone interface, or high volume crew entry screens
• Labor Tracking: Access up-to-the-minute time tracking data on hours and minutes worked by an employee to avoid overtime expenses
• Overtime equalization:  Ensures all employees receive equal treatment for overtime opportunities, including tracking overtime worked and refused.

Work Order Tracking

• Flexible Time Recording: Allocates work order hours to specific activity codes to ensure accurate timekeeping
• Labor Budget Management: Manages time and costs associated to specific work orders, providing better budget information
• Work Order Systems Integration: Synchronizes all labor associated to specific work orders to ensure accuracy, eliminate redundant data entry, and manage fixed assets; and, offers pre-built integration to major asset management and work order tracking systems such as Maximo and Ventyx.

Management

• Workflow: Provides automatic notification to approve timesheets to significantly reduce time and allow the manager to focus on his/her job
• Absence & Tardy Tracking: Alerts managers in real-time when staff is absent or tardy, ensuring the appropriate resources are available
• Workforce Alerts: Automatically alerts management to exceptions, when labor thresholds are met, or when specified events occur so action can be taken immediately

Fleet Maintenance Management

• Maintenance: Tracks mileage per vehicle to ensure timely maintenance service
• Activity Based Costing: Allocates expenses for each vehicle by associating vehicle usage to the driver’s time and labor distribution

Human Resources

• Labor Law Compliance: Ensures compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
• Paid Time-Off (PTO) Tracking: Automates the tracking and recording of all absences and tardy events

Payroll

• Time Recording: Accurately collect hours worked, via timesheets, high volume web entry screens, badge readers, or other devices to ensure accurate pay
• Payroll Calculations: Automatically calculates hours worked and overtime for payroll
• Policy & Rule Management: Automatically calculates all premiums and other premium pay based on rules configured in the system
• Payroll System Integration: Synchronizes all time information with district payroll system, saving vast amounts of time
• Union Contract Compliance: Supports different pay rates, complex overtime and shift rules, and benefit accrual calculations
• FLSA Compliance: Automatically computes overtime payments based on business rules while ensuring FLSA compliance

Nuclear Regulatory Commission 10 CFR Part 26

• Work Hour Controls for Risk Workers: Manages compliance for employees in high-risk maintenance, operations, emergency response chemistry & health physics, fire brigade, security force, and individuals who direct risk-significant maintenance and operations
• Work Hour Limits: Ensures employees are limited to no more than 16 hours in any 24-hour period, 72 hours in any 7-day period, and 26 hours in any 48-hour period
• Break Requirements: Manages minimum break time of 10-hours between periods and limit waivers
• Day-off Requirements: Administers days off according to state regulations and regulated employee type
• Plant Outage – Day-off Requirements: Administers day-off requirements for plant outage. Examples include: 1 day off in any 7 days (maintenance workers); 3 days off in each non-overlapping 15-day block (operations, HP, chemistry, and fire brigade); and, 4 days off in each non-overlapping 15-day block (security)