We hear a lot of buzz nowadays about the ongoing digital revolution. Smartphones and almost free internet have provided the oxygen for this spark in addition.
We do not worry nowadays about travels, cash payments, grocery purchases, bill payments, banking, etc. All things are available through handheld mobile devices in the form of smart apps, web portals, websites, and many more.
Things are becoming more accessible, and the comfort level of the common man has increased.
Now we do not wait for the morning newspaper to drop at our balcony; we have news apps to open our eyes towards what is happening around and all around us. We do not whistle now for an auto near the society gate for going to office or market; we have Ola/Uber/etc. available just a click away.
We do not stand in queues to pay bills; we have all utilities tied up with app payment gateways. We do not hustle to go or call for dinner on a lazy Sunday evening; we have tons of food delivery apps to get hot food delivered right at our doorstep. We do not fight now for the remote; we have live TV apps to enjoy our tastes separately.
In short, digitalization has made life fast and easy. Being a project professional in this fast-moving scenario, somewhere I also felt the need to add a little touch of digitalization in day-to-day needs of project execution.
In this article, I am exhibiting these small initiatives that have been implemented to ease routine work in project execution.
1) FindMyFeeder App:
This is an Android app with an online database in the background.
In a power plant, electrical power distribution is done with HT/LT switchgears/distribution boards/panels, etc. In a typical thermal power project, there are around 150+ switchgears/DBs/panels, and each switchgear/panel DB has 50+ various feeders in them. Identifying a feeder of a random load in this vast ocean is not an easy task.
In the erection-commissioning phase of a power plant, details of various load feeding points are required constantly. A lot of activities are carried out simultaneously at project sites, and a package in-charge cannot reach out everywhere. With the help of this app, the feeding point of any load is available just a touch away on a mobile.
Now your electricians will not disturb you every now and then to ask for feeder details for cable termination, feeder isolation, and switching on a load. The information is available without requiring drawings, Excel sheets, or PDF files on mobiles. If any feeder is newly assigned, changed, or modified at site, the information is updated in the database and up-to-date feeder details are available at your fingertips, without requiring markup drawings or handwritten notes. Searching for the right type and rating of a feeder for reshuffling was never easier without this app on such a large-scale project.
This app is extensively used at the Chhabra site by electrical engineers, supervisors, and electricians.
2) Digital Technical Diary:
Referring to technical data of equipment is required every now and then for erection/commissioning/planning/monitoring purposes at site. Storing all PDF files for datasheets, drawings, and manuals on a mobile device is the easiest way to get data handy. But how much data can you store, and even searching these files in a mobile when required at site is not easy at all.
The same data is now available in a systematically arranged manner in the form of an Android mobile app. You can navigate to minute details of various packages/equipment easily. After a year or two, when we are in other projects, referring to past project technical details becomes easy with this app. Equipment serial numbers, ratings, quantities, and more technical details are handy now.
3) Quiz Game App:
A weekly test was started at site by me to enhance the technical knowledge of our electricians and helpers at site. A test paper with 10 questions every week with objective answers was presented, and at the end of the test paper, an explanation of each answer was given.
However, gathering electricians from routine work every week was not feasible. Hence, the same initiative was converted into a mobile app. You can get the app here: Play Store Link
Sharing knowledge has been made easy with this weekly updating quiz app. Questions from day-to-day project activities are presented and explained through this app. This has enhanced the technical know-how of electricians, technicians, and supervisors, giving them a greater feel of involvement in the process. The app is available on the Play Store and is updated regularly.
4) StoreIT App:
Store management and getting information in stores in such a large-scale project is really a tough job to handle. The aim of this under-development portal-cum-webapp is to make material management at site handy and easy.
Material issue vouchers (MIVs) are generally being created in handwritten formats. With this, we either need to keep records of material stock vs consumption in Excel files or in discrete hardcopy files. But this becomes uncontrolled in such projects where a large quantum of material is handled daily in and out of stores.
The portal will enable package managers to create digital MIVs through the portal. Only defined package engineers/managers will be able to log in and make online MIVs. They will only be able to make MIVs of their scope of material from the stores. As MIVs will be generated within the portal online, paperwork will be reduced. Material stock availability will be automatically updated as soon as material is issued from stores. This will put control on material being issued randomly, will have on-time stock available on mobile to enable advance purchase action, and material reconciliation reports can be generated from the system as and when required since all data will be on a single portal.
5) Mess Manager App:
Managing food mess at sites is also a very challenging task. Presently, hard coupon systems are implemented at most sites. With this mobile app, the following things will be made digital:
1) Food being served on a particular day will be available on the app daily.
2) You can opt out of taking food for the day if you are not in sync with the food on that day or are out of station, etc. With this, advance information will be available with the cook as to how many persons will be having meals, enabling food waste control.
3) Online accounts will have records of meals/breakfasts, and bulk payments will be easy.
4) With the online app, all mess account data can be transparent to members.
5) Feedback and suggestions from members will improve and control food quality.
6) CCTV Camera:
In one of my articles, I have explored a homemade CCTV arrangement with the help of an old smartphone and internet connectivity. This has now been well incorporated at the Chhabra site by the customer. On a trial basis, the customer has installed one such self-made CCTV setup for switchyard control room monitoring on mobile on the go. This can be explored further so that all switchgear rooms, pump houses, and entry/exits can be monitored on mobiles anywhere, inside or outside the plant.
These are small steps being taken, and many more ideas can be transformed into digital portals to make routine processes easy.