Improving our Software: The Process Behind the Magic

Tasha Hunter, Technical Administrator - Utility Safety Partners

Over the years, you may have noticed many changes in our software. Utility Safety Partners is committed to making the locate process as user friendly as possible. In the past 20 years we have changed software providers multiple times, each change has come with its own challenges and perks, with the ultimate goal of gathering as much information as possible for the responding utility companies, while still making it easy for the excavator to use the service. Currently we are using the Pelican Corp software which has many benefits to both the users and the responders. We are constantly asking for feedback from the digging community and utility companies as to how to improve the experience, and many users have been invested enough to provide suggestions they would like to see. So what happens if a suggestion is submitted to USP? Where does it go? Who sees it and what is being done about it?

Every suggestion we get is first reviewed internally by the USP staff. Does this request make sense? Will it benefit everyone? These suggestions can range from such things as a simple text change to make a help bubble more concise, or be as complicated as including a new field that the utility companies want to see. One of the challenges we face is the fact that all four Western Provinces use the Pelican Corp software. This means that any change we make will affect not only Alberta but, British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Manitoba as well, so we need to ensure that the requests make sense and will benefit everyone. If we determine that yes, this change would be beneficial, the idea is then proposed to the Before You Dig Partners (BYDP). BYDP consists of parties from all four provinces. They will review the request and determine whether it’s a change that everyone would like to see. If everyone is in agreement, then the fun begins!

The next step is to send the requested change over to the Pelican team. They will determine the scope of work needed to implement the change. Sometimes these changes can be quick, like a straightforward text change. Sometimes these requests may take years to implement depending on the difficulty. The more complicated the change, the longer it will take. Some changes require reworking of code, which can be quite time consuming.

When the changes are complete they are first loaded into USP’s test environment. The Pelican team will do some testing on their end to ensure that everything works but the main testing is done by USP staff members. Having USP test the features extensively is a large piece of the puzzle. While Pelican does do some initial testing, they are not always familiar with the rules we have in place for our provinces, nor are they privy to how our users use the system on a daily basis. Having USP test the items is key to ensuring that everything is working to our expectations. Once the feature is approved by USP then more testing is needed!

USP is just one piece of the safety puzzle. Just because the feature tested fine on our end does not mean that other users and utility members can implement the proposed changes right away. Utility Companies, Members and Locate Service Providers need to time to review the changes and make any adjustments to their own systems before we make the new items live. This is the point where external testing happens. If the change is small, we may just send out an announcement to give folks a heads-up as to what is coming (like the text change mentioned above). However, if the changes are large, such as a new field or a different ticket format, then we reach out to our external users (Members and Locators) to provide samples, send test tickets and receive feedback. This process can take months as we need to allow time for people to format their own work flows to allow for the changes. If the changes are quite large, like the times when we switch software companies completely, then we break up the external testing into groups. We will have Alpha testers, these are the larger companies that use our software, such as Locate Service Providers, members who have registrations in all provinces, and companies with extensive networks. Then we move on to Beta testers. These are mid-sized users who will have less difficulties implementing changes than the Alpha groups but may still require some internal configurations to be completed before accepting the new items. Finally, we roll out testing to the rest of our users. This last group usually consists of utility companies who have small registrations and don’t use workforce management systems, companies who the changes will have little impact on.  Once everyone has had a chance to review the items and get their systems to be compatible with the changes, we’re still not finished!

Before we can put the changes live in our system, we need to educate the general public on how to use the new features and what the impact will be on them. Education can come in many forms from USP. The initial step is to send out mass communications to user via email, social media campaigns and posting information, such as links, on our website. At this point we will also put together webinars that the public are encouraged to attend. The webinars can be live or recorded sessions. The live webinars offer the chance for excavators to ask questions to the USP team directly for any clarification needed. We encourage all heavy users of the system to join the live webinars when possible, but the recordings are quite useful for those unable to attend the initial sessions. Any follow up questions can be directed to info@utilitysafety.ca

Finally, after our Education Campaign has reached all audiences, we will release the new version of the software! This is always an exciting day, to see the new items in the wild, working as expected and offering more benefits and ease of use, always brings a sense of accomplishment to all involved.

So, while we highly encourage folks to give us feedback and suggestions on the software, and we take every request seriously, getting updates to the existing site can take some time.  Rest assured we treat all requests equally, we love hearing new thoughts and truly believe there’s no such thing as a bad idea. Please continue to help us improve the software by emailing suggestions to info@utilitysafety.ca. Keep an eye out for announcements regarding some exciting new features coming to a software near you!