Digital cockpit for disaster situations: EnergieNetze Mittelrhein rebuilds gas supply in the devastated Ahrtal region in record time – the Workforce Management system…

The flash flood in the Ahr valley following extreme heavy rainfall on 14 and 15 July 2021, which claimed 134 lives, also destroyed the natural gas network in large parts of the region. After the floodwaters receded, devastating damage to the network became apparent, including 133 km of destroyed or damaged natural gas pipelines, 14 damaged or destroyed gas pressure regulating stations, eleven destroyed Ahr crossings, and thousands of affected network connections. It was clear the day after the flood that reconstruction would be a race against time – specifically against the winter of 2021/22.

A major task fell to Energieversorgung Mittelrhein (evm). It is the largest energy and service company in Rhineland-Palatinate and is responsible for gas supply in the Ahr valley through its network company, Energienetze Mittelrhein (enm). The timeline was met: by winter, almost all consumers were reconnected to the gas network. DIGITAL FUTUREmag spoke with Martin Friedrich, Team Leader Workforce Management in the Technical Information Systems department at enm. In the interview, he outlines the solutions implemented and describes the role of IT in restoring gas supply in the particularly hard-hit lower Ahr valley.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: From the network operator's perspective: what was the first sign of the scale of the disaster?

Martin Friedrich: Water and mud intrusions and the washing away of entire pipeline sections by the flood caused major gas losses in the affected area on the night of the disaster. As it was no longer known where gas was flowing under control and where it was uncontrolled, the valves were closed. With the shutdown, the pressure in the pipeline dropped, allowing water to enter the gas pipelines and, in some cases via heating systems submerged in water, also into household connections.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: What was your core task in the weeks and months after 15 July 2021?

Martin Friedrich: In addition to rebuilding the pipeline network, our focus was on making gas connections in domestic, commercial and industrial sectors operational again. This means taking connections out of service, repairing or converting them, and putting them back into service. We are responsible for ensuring that gas is available as quickly as possible. The heating system itself then falls within the customer's area of responsibility.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: What do you do on day 1 after the flood?

Martin Friedrich: Staff were deployed from various locations. First, we assessed all external damage – particularly to the local pipeline network. We quickly began disconnecting the supply in the buildings. To restore supply, all gas connections must first be closed. In the lower Ahr valley, we are talking about over 7,000 connections. Each house must be visited, the tap closed and sealed so that pressure can be restored to the line once it is operational again.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: Over 7,000 gas connections to be inspected in the lower Ahr valley: What parameters were used to prioritise this?

Martin Friedrich: No prioritisation was required for the disconnection. We could only work on the areas where access was possible. Much of the area was so destroyed that there was initially no access. For recommissioning, however, we focused on the pipeline network and then on which area could be brought back online with the least effort and in the shortest time. If life and limb are immediately at risk, proper documentation of disconnections is secondary. However, the situation in the lower Ahr valley after 15 July 2021 was different: the flood and the associated danger to life were gone, but the destruction was just as real, as was the almost unimaginable volume of tasks that had to be completed quickly, safely and in a coordinated manner by winter.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: How did you approach this?

Martin Friedrich: At the beginning, we tried to orient ourselves using the paper-based plan: This marked where we had been to carry out the disconnections. However, this approach quickly reached its limits because the number of connections and the number of employees deployed was so large that it was difficult to keep track. There are simply a lot of tasks that need to be coordinated simply and promptly.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: What conclusions did you draw from this – the clock was still ticking?

Martin Friedrich: To get the situation under control quickly, we opted for a solid combination of geographic information system and the GS-Service operations management system. This has proven itself well over many years of day-to-day business in deployment planning, maintenance and documentation of our maintenance, repair and maintenance work. Even though we often work with an object tree in our daily operations, hierarchically structured by municipality, street and house number, we decided on the map option: Water knows no streets and simply goes where it wants to go.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: How would you describe this blend of GIS and workforce management?

Martin Friedrich: First, we placed a clustering over the flood area and divided the "Bad Neuenahr – Ahrweiler" region into zones or sectors so that everyone knew what was being discussed. The entire process was visualized using QGIS maps – this enabled the dispatch team to work very efficiently, as the map displayed pressure levels, individual objects, and their processing status precisely. We were also able to filter out the flooded connections because, through area overlay, we could view the house connections in the flood zone. The GIS was fed with current data from GS-Service. The dispatchers could see from the display who was working where and when.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: How were the technicians provided with the correct information?

Martin Friedrich: By synchronizing the orders in the mobile app on the tablet. Our own staff were already equipped, and external helpers were provided with devices during a briefing at the start of their deployment. This meant that everyone could start immediately without having to meet centrally in the morning. With an additional 70 tablets prepared for deployment, we had a maximum of 45 devices in use, equating to 90 people working in the field. The app on the tablet is GS-Touch, our mobile solution for the GS-Service Workforce Management System. GS-Touch covers standard workflows for tasks, activities, and events. In addition to a map, the application also provides a daily overview of tasks. You can record defects, take photos, and report completed tasks from the field. The information is synchronized with the database continuously or after the shift.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: How were the field information transmitted back to the coordination center as quickly as possible? How did the dispatchers and technicians communicate?

Martin Friedrich: When the technicians needed new tasks, they called the dispatch team. The dispatchers then marked and filtered the system, assigned the work package by selecting it and entering the name, and saved everything. The work allocation was complete and appeared on the tablet on-site – this proved extremely effective for both decommissioning and recommissioning. To put it more clearly: The dispatchers assign tasks to the tablet, the technician receives a notification that they have new tasks, presses the button, and synchronizes the task list, which is then available offline – an advantage when there is no network. All in all, this was exactly what we needed.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: In what way?

Martin Friedrich: The app was quick to set up and easy to modify as needed. It included work packages with short, clear checklists that displayed and documented the most important information. Above all, however, the information ended up exactly where we needed it every day for scheduling and controlling: in the central data pool in GS-Service.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: With a cool head and a passionate heart: You received a great deal of help from all over the country, but particularly, fitters from neighboring suppliers were quick to lend a hand. Did they also use the Workforce App?

Martin Friedrich: Especially them. Without the app, we wouldn’t have been able to integrate the external colleagues at all. Everyone received a brief training session and was quickly able to operate the system. We conducted a lot of training sessions because employees on-site often changed. All tasks were then handled using GS-Touch, where task acknowledgment also took place. It’s clear that a predefined checklist in the app also controls the tasks to be completed on-site. This is so self-evident that it’s easy to forget, but it’s a crucial aid when providing support with external personnel.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: You mentioned the app’s easy adaptability. Why was this necessary?

Martin Friedrich: Because we didn’t know right from the start what we would need. The situation was new for us as well. We could easily and quickly modify the task lists in GS-Touch ourselves. In any case, getting started with the work by taking systems out of service was a relief. The first area was manageable because much of it wasn’t affected by the flood. We were able to assign entire sectors that were quickly processed. It was also helpful that we assigned tasks and objects to people from the very beginning using the tablets. An identity card that was scanned allowed us to easily assign results to the fitters. If there were any issues, we could also intervene afterwards by coordinating with the external fitters based on the data in the system. That was perfect.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: Did you only send your own fitters to the central flood area?

Martin Friedrich: Not always. In some cases, regulators and meters had to be removed or the connection completely disconnected due to water in the network connection line, etc. The fitters could then add notes in the app and document everything with a photo. At the same time, we also recorded the meter data in GS-Touch during the out-of-service process.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: The race against time was omnipresent: How did you optimize the work to operate even more effectively?

Martin Friedrich: In addition to the map view and the app on the tablets, the dashboards from GS-Web were certainly our real jokers. GS-Web is also a mobile application, browser-based, from GreenGate. You go to a website, log in with a password, and get started. In GS-Web, we could display the status and progress, analyze the processing progress per area with criteria such as number of tasks, scheduled, open, completed, etc. This allowed us to score points in planning the fieldwork. The monitoring options with GS-Web were very well received, also because everyone immediately understands where we stand and what is being done. Very optimal for a utility provider. It is also clear that we had a valid basis for continuously informing the public with this data. In this context, it should be noted that it was certainly noticed in our company that software provider GreenGate increased the mobile licenses free of charge for six months to 250.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: How did you approach the restart from an IT perspective?

Martin Friedrich: For the restart, we once again created a task definition on the tablets in GS-Touch. The work steps and documentation were based on the object properties that we had stored for each object based on the findings from the shutdown. This included, among other things, documenting the venting, whether meters/regulators were present, their possible removal, resealing of systems if the heating behind them was broken, and recording data about the system.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: How did the restart go in retrospect?

Martin Friedrich: It was easier for our area because the people were already familiar with the tools we had: GS-Web and GS-Touch. You could see from the acceptance that we had something up and running that actively supported the entire process. With slips of paper or Excel lists, such a mammoth task would not have been feasible at all. If you have current, consistent information from the operations management system at hand, you are already very well positioned. With GS-Web, we always had the current status and progress of the work in the respective area in view. In addition, it was possible to derive a reliable plan and forecast for the upcoming work.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: To what extent are regulations relevant in this context?

Martin Friedrich: We are very precise when it comes to regulations: whoever was last at the system ultimately bears the responsibility. For systems where we were able to carry out the commissioning ourselves with an installer, the lines were checked for usability. This is followed by exhaust gas measurements. The primary goal was, of course, that the customer had heat again. This is why we cooperated with supporting installers from various guilds to get the system back up and running. No exceptions were made in this situation either. Finally, an assessment was recorded in GS-Touch to get an overview of the overall situation.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: Please give us a brief conclusion. Based on the experiences from the Ahrtal region, what requirements must be met to act quickly and precisely in the event of a disaster?

Martin Friedrich: First, you should always pay attention to consistent data, i.e., maintain a current, digital shadow of the infrastructure and processes. Second, you need flexible IT systems that can be adapted to the situation. Third, pragmatically minded colleagues who act accordingly are indispensable. They are ultimately the real key to success.

DIGITAL FUTUREmag: Let’s just say thank you for this insight into your work.