Work package preparation that checks every permit, locate ticket and material against the day the crew will work
Crews arrive with everything they need.
See one case, screen by screen ↓Before a crew can replace a ring main unit, a pole or a 300 mm valve, a work planner builds the job pack by hand: the scope and steps from the standard job plan, the single-line diagram and GIS extract, the road opening permit, the locate ticket and the customer notice, the materials from stores, the method statement and risk assessment, and the switching programme the control room will carry out. Each piece comes from a different system and is copied, printed or attached one at a time.
Nobody checks the finished pack against the day the crew will actually work. A permit that was valid when the pack was built ends two days before the job. A joint kit reserved last week goes to a fault. A locate ticket requested too early expires before the dig. The crew finds out at the 06:45 briefing, stands down, and 212 customers have been told they will be off supply for nothing. OSHA 29 CFR 1910.269(c) has the employer give the employee in charge all available information on existing conditions, and has that person brief the crew on hazards, procedures, energy source controls and PPE before each job. A pack with a gap in it should never reach the crew.
Estimated split for one planned job, in working days, from approved request to a pack ready to schedule — by hand and with the solution.
Seven agents assemble every job pack and check it against the job day; the planner releases it and the control room approves the isolation.
Lumina Utilities has to replace RMU-0417, an 11 kV ring main unit installed in 1987 with a condition score of 2 out of 10, at Kilnfield Lane on feeder KF-04. Crew 7 is booked for Tuesday 27 October, 07:00–15:00, with 212 customers off supply from 08:00 to 14:00 — two of them on the priority services list. Here is what happens, screen by screen, in the working solution.
Marcus Hale approved work request WR-77104 for planning on 12 October at 16:40. On the Requests screen, each request waiting for a pack — fault follow-ups, asset inspections, new connections, water network and treatment jobs — already shows its best standard job plan and a match score. For the LV cable fault at Ellery Close it is SJP-LVJ-01 v3, LV straight joint in the footway, at 97%, with the carriageway joint at 71% as the runner-up.
“Match from the asset class, the defect in the request and the last three jobs on this asset · Job plan matcher”
From WR-77104 the agents assemble the pack in 6 min 40 s, and the run log shows each step as it happens. The job plan matcher takes SJP-RMU-11 v4 at 96%. The drawings gatherer collects five sheets. The permit and consent checker finds four permits and notices. The kitting agent reserves 17 of 18 lines. The isolation planner drafts SP-KF04-118 and sends it to the control room. Then the date checker holds nine dated items against Tue 27 Oct.
“Date checker · Held 9 dated items against Tue 27 Oct — Permit RO-26-3317 ends Sun 25 Oct — 2 days short · TJ-185 order arrives 30 Oct”
Nadia opens the pack to six tabs — Scope, Drawings, Permits, Materials, Method statement, Isolation plan — each marked ready, at risk, missing or waiting. Under them the date line runs from today to beyond the job, with the job day as a vertical rule. Road opening permit RO-26-3317 is valid 12–25 Oct, so its bar stops two days short. Because her rule extends an existing permit automatically, an extension to Fri 30 Oct already went to Calder Bay Highways at 06:14; their decision is due Tue 20 Oct.
9 of 12 ready · “3 to resolve before the crew sets off”
The scope is copied from SJP-RMU-11 v4: 14 steps and 26 crew hours, from the pre-job briefing to redlining the as-built and logging the SF₆. Three hold points are marked — switching confirmation, proving dead and earthing, and tests signed before restoration. Below them, every crew member's authorisation is checked for the job day: Tomás Reyes as authorised person for 11 kV switching and earthing, Liam Doyle for HV jointing to 15 Nov 2026.
“Copied from the job plan; hold points cannot be removed”
The ring main unit, a Norvale NX3 from Westmere, is reserved and on site Mon 26 Oct. But Calder North has no TJ-185 transition joint kits, and purchase order PO-88412 delivers on Fri 30 Oct, three days after the job. Harbour depot holds four with none reserved. The kitting agent proposes moving three on the Wednesday stores run; it cannot do it alone. Nadia approves, and transfer TR-2291 arrives Wed 21 Oct.
“Joint kits TJ-185: none at Calder North; the order arrives three days after the job”
The method statement comes in the Lumina template, nine sections, as a draft for Tomás to review. The writer adds what only the site shows: the joint bay is 14 m from the Kilnfield Primary School entrance, so no vehicle moves during drop-off and pick-up and a banksman stands at the gate. A Calder Gas 125 mm PE main runs at 0.6 m, 1.1 m from the bay, so the crew hand-digs within 0.5 m.
“Hold points are copied from the job plan and cannot be removed.”
The isolation planner drafted SP-KF04-118 from the network model: close the normal open point RMU-0419, open RMU-0418 and RMU-0416 towards the work, lock off and tag both points of isolation, prove dead and apply earths E1–E3. Grace sees the back-feed already checked — KF-05 carries 186 A of 400 A — and both priority customers listed for calls by 22 Oct. She approves, or returns it with comments.
The isolation planner never issues a switching programme — only the control-room authorised engineer approves.
The isolation plan shows the feeder during the work and the 212 customers off at TX-0417: 197 homes and 15 businesses. Kilnfield Primary stays on, fed from TX-0420. Two priority services customers are listed by address — a home oxygen concentrator and home dialysis — with a call booked by 22 Oct and a generator offered. The planned interruption letter to all 212 posts Mon 19 Oct, five working days ahead.
“Approved by Grace Lindqvist · Control-room authorised engineer · 13 Oct, 09:12 · SP-KF04-118 issue 1”
Eleven of 12 checks are ready. The permit extension is still open, so Nadia releases WO-48213 to Owen Mercer for Tue 27 Oct with one condition: RO-26-3317 extended to 30 Oct by Tue 20 Oct. If Calder Bay Highways refuses it, the date checker warns Nadia and Owen the same night, a week before the crew sets off.
“If it is refused — the date checker warns you and Owen the same night”
Tomás receives the crew pack the evening before: the cover sheet, five briefing points — the school entrance, the gas main, the three hold points, the 410 kg unit lifted by HIAB only, the priority customers already called — and the six sections behind them. He asks whether the HIAB is booked for 06:30 or 07:00 and gets the answer from the plant hire booking. Then he accepts the pack.
“06:30 at Calder North, driver Pete Lowry, HR-5521 · answered from the plant hire booking.”
The same job pack, seen by the five people who plan, schedule, switch, work and pay for it — what their week looked like, and what it looks like now.
Seven agents assemble every job pack and check it against the job day; the planner releases it and the control room approves the isolation.
Reads the work request, the asset record and the inspection notes, scores every standard job plan for the asset class and the defect, and copies the best plan's steps, hold points, crew and hours into the pack.
Pulls the current single-line diagram, a 1:500 GIS extract, cable records and the site layout for the asset, and searches for unposted redlines within 50 m.
Lists what the job needs — road opening permit, traffic management, locate ticket, customer notice, priority customer calls, landowner consent — checks each validity window against the job date, and requests an extension when an existing permit ends early.
Expands the job plan's bill of materials for the site, checks each line by depot for the day before the job including open purchase orders, reserves what is there, and proposes a depot transfer or an approved equivalent for a shortage.
Finds the points of isolation, the back-feeds that keep other customers on and the earth points from the network model, drafts the switching programme in the control-room format, and counts customers and priority customers off supply.
Writes the method statement and risk assessment in the utility's template — scope, access, hazards and controls, isolation, sequence, hold points, PPE, emergency arrangements, waste — adds site hazards from the drawings and the locate ticket, and writes five briefing points for the crew lead.
Collects every dated item in a pack — permit windows, locate ticket life, notice deadlines, material arrival, approvals due, crew authorisations, plant hire — compares each with the job date and the rules, flags any gap in days, and re-runs every night at 02:00.
Release, approve the isolation, accept. The agents propose; a named person decides.
Ask about any job pack, permit or material — or say what to change. Every answer points to its source.
What could stop the Kilnfield Lane job on the 27th?
Three things, and two are already in hand. Road opening permit RO-26-3317 ends Sun 25 Oct, two days before the job; an extension to 30 Oct went to Calder Bay Highways at 06:14 and their decision is due Tue 20 Oct. Joint kits TJ-185: none at Calder North, PO-88412 arrives Fri 30 Oct, and Harbour depot holds 4. Switching programme SP-KF04-118 is with the control room, due Fri 23 Oct.
Move the joint kits from Harbour depot
Done. Transfer TR-2291: 3 × TJ-185 from Harbour to Calder North on the Wednesday stores run, arriving 21 Oct, six days before the job. The Materials tab is ready. PO-88412 stays open to restock Harbour.
Which jobs in the next three weeks will break before their day?
Five of 41, from last night's check: Westmere Road, permit ends 16 Oct for a 19 Oct job; chamber lids arriving the day of the job; Kilnfield Lane, permit ends 25 Oct for a 27 Oct job; Quay Street, lane closure not booked; and pump station PS-07, a confined-space certificate ending 28 Oct.
Make permits stay valid two days after the job
Done. A permit must now be valid from the day before the job until 2 days after it, so a one-day slip does not void it. Re-checking the 13 permits, one more is now short — lane closure RO-26-3301 for WO-48190 ends Wed 21 Oct, one day after the job — and its extension is drafted for you to send.
13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.
How long a permit must outlast the job, when materials must be on site, how much notice customers get and what the agents may do on their own are settings chosen by the utility.
| Setting | Default | Choose from |
|---|---|---|
| Permits stay valid after the job | 1 day | Set in days, so a one-day slip does not void a permit |
| Materials on site | 1 working day | 1 working day · 2 working days before the job, at the depot or on site |
| Locate request timing | 2 days · 14-day life | Requested 2 working days before the ticket must be valid; ticket life 14 days (Calder One-Call) |
| Notice to customers | 5 working days | Planned interruptions; priority customers are also called 3 working days before |
| Switching approval due | 2 working days | Before the job, so the crew has the approved programme |
| Nightly re-check | 02:00 daily | Every pack in the next three weeks |
| Extend an existing permit when it ends before the job | On | On · Off — sent in the planner's name; new permits always wait for the planner |
| Reserve stock for released packs | On | On · Off — transfers and equivalents still need a person; purchases always do |
Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.
“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample utility's data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = worked out from the utility's own inputs ($1.05M = 612 stand-downs × $2,150 a crew day × 80% fewer; the split of a pack's days is our estimate) · “typical” = published figures: one-call locate ticket life of 14–17 days (Tennessee 811, OKIE811, Nebraska). Regulatory context: OSHA 29 CFR 1910.269(c) job briefing and (m)(3) de-energising; UK street-works permit schemes require 3 days, 10 days or 3 months' notice by works category. Lumina Utilities, and every person, place, council, supplier and record named on this page, is fictional — characters and sample data in the working solution.
Software that builds the job pack a crew needs for planned work — scope and steps, drawings, permits and notices, materials, method statement and isolation plan — and tells the planner whether it is ready to schedule. Work Package Preparation uses seven agents to assemble the pack from the work request and checks every dated item against the day the crew will work.
The date checker collects every dated item — permit windows, locate ticket life, notice deadlines, material arrival, approvals due, crew authorisations and plant hire — and compares each with the scheduled date and your rules. Anything that does not cover the day is flagged with the gap in days, and every pack in the next three weeks is re-checked at 02:00 each night.
Only where your rule allows. When an existing permit ends before the job and automatic extensions are on, the permit and consent checker requests the extension in the planner's name and logs it. New permits always wait for the planner, and customer notices are drafted and scheduled so they can be stopped before they post.
The isolation planner drafts the switching programme from the network model — points of isolation, back-feeds and earths — and counts the customers and priority services customers off supply. It sends the draft to the control room. Only the control-room authorised engineer approves or returns it; the agent never issues one.
Yes. The same planning board takes water network and treatment requests — a seized valve on a 300 mm trunk main, a passing non-return valve at a pump station — alongside electricity work, with their own job plans, permits, materials and crews on the readiness calendar.
Mainly the cost of crews stood down because something was missing or had lapsed. On the sample utility's own inputs — 612 stand-downs a year at $2,150 a crew day — an 80% reduction is an estimated $1.05M a year avoided. The design goal is a pack ready to schedule in 2 days instead of 8.
Yes. Agents read, draft, reserve and propose. The work planner releases each pack to scheduling and approves depot transfers, a design engineer approves equivalent equipment, the control-room authorised engineer approves switching, and the crew lead accepts the pack. Agents never buy, never move a job date and never remove a hold point.
The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents — your standard job plans, permit and notice rules, method statement template and a sample of past work requests — and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own planned work first.
Clean asset history from every closed job, with the parts in the photos booked.
1-min demoAs-Built Redline ProcessingFrom paper redline to GIS edit in days, not months, every edit traced to the pen.
1-min demoLocate Request ScreeningClears go back in minutes; every machine dig over a high-voltage cable gets a standby.
1-min demoWe'll run Work Package Preparation on a sample of your own work requests and standard job plans.