Brief
CenterPoint Energy’s key safety goal is to reduce total emergency response time to under 20 minutes by 2030. This project focused on the initial steps of emergency response: from receiving an emergency work order to dispatching an emergency technician to the site. The key design aspects focused on improving the call center rep experience by reducing the number of software tools used, simplifying and streamlining workflows, overhauling the front end UI to be integrate with broader data sources and platforms, and engaging in continuous development with the end users.
Goals
Tool Reduction
Reduce the number of tools reps used to dispatch and monitor work orders from 7+ to 1
Workflow Ease
Simplify the dispatch workflow to eliminate duplicate work, prevent ad hoc work around methods and enable easier historical tracking
Task Automation
Introduce a form of automated or semi-automated dispatching to handle common emergency work orders, with a full suite of controls and settings
Legacy Improvement
Use designs and design philosophies from the new E+ to improve the existing Dispatch Plus application
Outcomes
E+ Tool Launched
An efficient and robust web hosted platform to track, act on, and monitor emergency work orders. It is significantly modernized in look and feel, capability, and performance over the legacy platform Dispatch Plus
Reduced Response Time
Emergency response time from work order creation to dispatched technicians was reduced from 20+ minutes, to under 2 minutes on average
Task Automation
In collaboration with the back end team, an Auto-Dispatch feature was created, handling over 80% of new emergency work orders, significantly reducing call center reps’ workload
Screens
 Emergency+ Default View |  E+ Notifications |  E+ Technician Work Order Dispatching |  Work Order Detail View for Editing |  Map View with Technicians and Emergency Locations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Technician Detail Overlay on Live Map |  Technician Schedule for Emergency Planning |