Claims:
1. A system for automation of meter inspection activity for complaint management, said system comprising:
• a TAB comprising: a TAB-based application;
• a user interface configured to input data in the TAB-based application;
• at least one inspection module configured to contain at least one list of jobs allotted to a meter inspector along with preliminary details of a consumer;
• at least one instruments module configured to keep record of instruments used by the meter inspector during inspection process;
• at least one web-browser based software for monitoring, sorting and allocating of the jobs at a backend system;
• wherein the TAB-based application is having internet connectivity and securely connected to a data center; and
• wherein the meter inspector keys-in the data into the TAB-based application and submits it from the site itself and the submitted job is available in the browser-based software and simultaneously a feedback to respective consumer(s) is provided, without any time delay.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the TAB-based application comprises a data capturing module configured to capture the input data keyed in by the meter inspector.

3. The system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the TAB-based application comprises a drop-down menu comprising a list of selectable fields.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the web-browser based software comprises plurality of pre-defined logics weaved into the backend system.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the user interface of the TAB reflects the job allocated to the meter inspector.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the system comprises a history module configured to keep a historical record of the jobs done by the meter inspector.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the job list gets updated online and any job can be forwarded to any inspector at any given point of time.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the TAB-based application contains consumption pattern of the consumer.

9. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein scrutiny or validation of the submitted jobs is done at two stages.

10. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the system provides automatic calculation of the meter accuracy.

11. A method for automation of meter inspection activity for complaint management, said method comprises steps of:
• keying in data in a TAB-based application;
• maintaining a list of allotted jobs to a meter inspector along with preliminary details of a consumer;
• keeping record of instruments used by the meter inspector during inspection process;
• monitoring, sorting and allocating of the jobs at a backend system;
• wherein the method comprises a provision of keying-in data into the TAB-based application and submitting it from the site itself and simultaneously providing a feedback to respective consumer(s) is, without any time delay.

12. The method as claimed in claim 11, comprises a provision of checking and verifying the data to the meter inspector before finalizing.
, Description:TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of electrical engineering and in general to the field of utility meters, more particularly to a field force automation of meter inspection activity comprising of receiving, allocating and providing feedback for customer complaints.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The applicant herein took an initiative to digitalize and automate its meter inspection process which was predominantly manual and pen and paper based. A native android APP and a back-office web-browser based application were developed for the purpose. Meter inspectors were provided with Smart forces with the APP installed in them and the entire process from job allocation to site inspection report submission along with location guidance and customer information was made available in the app, while job validation, checking and remediation measures was facilitated through the back office application, making the entire process digitalized, paper free devoid of any manual intervention.

The document US7400264 B2 discloses an automated meter reading system, communication and control for automated meter reading, a meter data collector, and associated methods. The system includes at least one utility meter, at least one meter sensor interfaced with the utility meter, a meter data collector positioned adjacent the utility meter and positioned to receive data from the at least one sensor, and a remote automatic meter reading control center positioned to receive data from the collector such as through RF or other types of communication to gather and process usage reading data. Meter usage data is obtained by the collector from the meter sensor, date and time stamped, and stored in the collector until directly transmitted to the control center or a substation if within range and not blocked or impeded by a physical structure or other obstacle. If the collector is not in range, then the data is forwarded to another collector associated with a location closer to the control center or substation.

The document US20050119930 A1 discloses a system and method manages work requests used in reading and servicing gas, electric, or water meters in a utility system. A work request may originate at a utility system and is received at a data collection system. The work request may be generated based on an underlying data structure. The underlying data structure may be used in generating requests for multiple types of work events, including meter monitoring work events and meter servicing work events. The work request is then processed to generate a work order which is transmitted to a field device component or other component of the system so that work may be performed as directed in the request.

The document US20090146839 A1 discloses an automated meter reading system and method include a plurality of communication nodes forming ad-hoc mesh network. The plurality of communication nodes collects utility usage data from utility meters. A controller station communicates with the ad-hoc mesh network, which dynamically routes the utility usage data to the controller station. A central monitoring station communicates with the controller station. The central monitoring station receives and processes the utility usage data from the controller station for the efficient and accurate billing and other accounting and management operations.

The meter inspection process which has evolved continuously over time was primarily a paper-pen system requiring sorting and data entry at various steps. The inputs are received from internal as well as external customers and the count of such input is around 3000 cases per month in CESC. Various measures were incorporated over time for better control and visibility of the inputs received, which are plenty in number, and follows an upward trend in count. Though the receipt of input and providing feedback to the end customer was digitized way back but the rest of the system i.e. job sorting, job allocation, capturing relevant data during site inspection, submission of jobs by meter inspectors, validation of jobs submitted by section in-charge and sectional officer was manual and necessitated manual intervention at each step. Additionally, vital information pertaining to execution of jobs viz. location sketch of the premise to be visited, available in the organization’s intranet, had to be printed from a terminal wired to the intranet of the organization.

Thus, there is a dire need to provide an improved and efficient system for field force automation of meter inspection activity comprising of receiving, allocating and providing feedback for customer complaints, on the go to reduce the cycle time of entire activity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The following disclosure presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the present invention. It is not intended to identify the key/critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. Its sole purpose is to present some concept of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description of the invention presented later.

An object of the present invention is to overcome the problems of prior art.

An object of the present invention is to provide a system for field force automation of meter inspection activity comprising of receiving, allocating and providing feedback for customer complaints, on the go to reduce the cycle time of entire activity.

An object of the present invention is to provide a system for field force automation of meter inspection activity which provides cycle time reduction in handling consumer complaints.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a system for field force automation of meter inspection activity which eliminates data entry process by data entry operators, resulting in error free reports and consequently expediting the entire process chain.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a system for field force automation of meter inspection activity for digitization of age-old practices and ultimately reducing the paper usage thereby going green.

One aspect of the present disclosure is to provide a system for field force automation of meter inspection activity comprising of receiving, allocating and providing feedback for customer complaints. The system is a combination of mobile application installed in a device (TAB) having internet connectivity and securely connected to the organisation’s data center and people carrying out site inspections and back-end validation of inputs and outputs. The system comprises of a device (TAB) based application for meter inspection and web-browser based software for monitoring and control at the backend, the entire chain of activity has been made digital. The inputs, which are received electronically, after processing are being sorted by the section in-charge and jobs are allocated to individual meter inspectors. The sorting and allocating of jobs are being done in the browser-based software. Once a job is allocated to a meter inspector, it gets reflected into the TAB of the meter inspector with basic customer information like customer number, meter number etc. Other requisite information viz. customer contact details, location sketch etc. are also available in the TAB itself.

In one implementation, present invention provides a system for automation of meter inspection activity for complaint management comprising a TAB comprising a TAB-based application, a user interface configured to input data in the TAB-based application, at least one inspection module configured to contain at least one list of jobs allotted to a meter inspector along with preliminary details of a consumer, at least one instruments module configured to keep record of instruments used by the meter inspector during inspection process, at least one web-browser based software for monitoring, sorting and allocating of the jobs at a backend system.

In one implementation of the present invention, the TAB-based application is having internet connectivity and securely connected to a data center and the meter inspector keys-in the data into the TAB-based application and submits it from the site itself and the submitted job is available in the browser-based software and simultaneously a feedback to respective consumer(s) is provided, without any time delay.

In one implementation of the present invention, the TAB-based application comprises a data capturing module configured to capture the input data keyed in by the meter inspector and the TAB-based application comprises a drop-down menu comprising a list of selectable fields.

In one implementation of the present invention, the web-browser based software comprises plurality of pre-defined logics weaved into the backend system.

In one implementation of the present invention, the user interface of the TAB reflects the job allocated to the meter inspector and the system further comprises a history module configured to keep a historical record of the jobs done by the meter inspector.

In one implementation of the present invention, the system provides automatic calculation of the meter accuracy.

In one implementation, the present invention provides a method for automation of meter inspection activity for complaint management comprising steps of keying in data in a TAB-based application, maintaining a list of allotted jobs to a meter inspector along with preliminary details of a consumer, keeping record of instruments used by the meter inspector during inspection process, monitoring, sorting and allocating of the jobs at a backend system wherein the method comprises a provision of keying-in data into the TAB-based application and submitting it from the site itself and simultaneously providing a feedback to respective consumer(s), without any time delay.

Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses exemplary embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS
The above and other aspects, features and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure will be more apparent in the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 Shows the flow chart of elaborating the meter inspection process of the prior art.

Figure 2 Elaborates the chain of entire meter inspection process for complaint management, with TAB-based application and backend-browser based application implemented, according to one of the embodiments of the present invention.

Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and may not have been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figure may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbers are used to depict the same or similar elements, features, and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of various embodiments of the present disclosure as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding, but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the various embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of various embodiments of the present disclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

It is to be understood that the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, a reference to "a component surface" includes a reference to one or more of such surfaces.

All terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which various embodiments belong. Further, the meaning of terms or words used in the specification and the claims should not be limited to the literal or commonly employed sense, but should be construed in accordance with the spirit of the disclosure to most properly describe the present disclosure.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular various embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of various embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises" and/or "comprising" used herein specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, members, components, and/or groups thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, members, components, and/or groups thereof. Also, Expressions such as "at least one of," when preceding a list of elements, modify the entire list of elements and do not modify the individual elements of the list.

The present invention discloses a system for field force automation of meter inspection activity comprising of receiving, allocating and providing feedback for customer complaints. The system is a combination of mobile application installed in a device (TAB) having internet connectivity and securely connected to the organisation’s data center and people carrying out site inspections and back-end validation of inputs and outputs. The system comprises of a device (TAB) based application for meter inspection and web-browser based software for monitoring and control at the backend, the entire chain of activity has been made digital to reduce the cycle time of entire activity.

With the developed system comprising of TAB-based application for meter inspection and web-browser based software for monitoring and control at the backend, the entire chain of activity has become digital. The inputs, which are received electronically, after processing are being sorted by the section in-charge and jobs are allocated to individual meter inspectors. The sorting and allocating of jobs are being done in the browser-based software. Once a job is allocated to a meter inspector, it gets reflected into the TAB of the meter inspector with basic customer information like customer number, meter number etc. Other requisite information viz. customer contact details, location sketch etc. are also available in the TAB itself.

During site inspection the data is captured into the TAB-based application. This data capturing module of the TAB-based inspection has majority of the fields selectable through a drop-down menu. Some fields are mandatory and shall have to be filled-in else the meter inspector cannot proceed with the inspection process. The drop-down menu and mandatory field have made the inspection activity devoid of manual errors. The TAB-based application also keeps track of the testing instrument used during the inspection process and automatically looks up values pertaining to the meter test based on the last available calibration values of the instrument. If the values undergo any change post calibration, changes are automatically reflected.

Once the meter inspector captures all the data from site and performs meter testing at site and enters the relevant data in appropriate fields, the calculation is done by the TAB-based application averting the need of a calculator to be carried out by the meter inspector. After the meter inspector submits a job from his TAB, the completed job is reflected in the browser-based software. This online report submission by meter inspectors abolishes a time consuming and error prone data entry operation, which on many occasions had resulted in erroneous reports. Every submitted job is scrutinized and checked by section in-charge as well as sectional officer and then the jobs are processed in batches for feedback to the internal or external customer.

The application developed for the meter inspection process in the TAB has the following features:

• Inspection Module - This module contains the list of jobs that has been allotted to the inspector along with the preliminary details of the consumer. This list gets updated online and any job can be forwarded to any inspector at any given point of time.

On selecting a particular inspection job, the meter inspector gets the following information at hand:
o Sketch showing the location of the consumer.
o List of adjacent consumers to track a particular consumer
o Nature of complaint and the consumer’s consumption details
o Detailed Checklist with options for noting the details. While some fields are subjective, most of the other fields can be filled using the drop-down option.
o Correctness and Completeness: Certain fields are made necessary without which the inspection can’t be complete thus eliminating the human factor in noting the essential details.
o Automatic calculation of the meter accuracy, once the details are filled thus eliminating the human intervention.
o Saving and updating options for the inspector to check and verify the data before finally freezing the data.

• Instruments Module - Keeps the record of the Instrument used by the meter inspector. The necessary calibration detail of the load box is updated at the back end, once the instrument list is updated which facilitates automatic error calculation.

• History Module - Keeps a historical record of the jobs done by the meter inspector

• Consumption Pattern (Last 2 years) – Consumption pattern of consumers is also made available in the TAB-based application. This data helps the meter inspector to answer consumer queries, which are inevitable at site.

The back-end developed for this application has been integrated seamlessly with the existing IT system in process without any loss of data. Additionally, the following systems were put in place:
• System for job scheduling and allotment
• Live monitoring of the jobs and showing the daily status of the jobs at hand.
• Complaint validation system with definite authorizations for both Section In-Charge and the Sectional Officer.
• With the digitization of the entire process, the browser-based system has been embellished with intelligent logics for validation and scrutiny of reports. When a submitted report meets some pre-defined logics weaved into the backend system, the report is automatically forwarded, without the intervention of section in-charge and/or sectional-officer.

In one implementation, present invention provides a system for automation of meter inspection activity for complaint management comprising a TAB comprising a TAB-based application, a user interface configured to input data in the TAB-based application, at least one inspection module configured to contain at least one list of jobs allotted to a meter inspector along with preliminary details of a consumer, at least one instruments module configured to keep record of instruments used by the meter inspector during inspection process, at least one web-browser based software for monitoring, sorting and allocating of the jobs at a backend system.

In one implementation of the present invention, the TAB-based application is having internet connectivity and securely connected to a data center and the meter inspector keys-in the data into the TAB-based application and submits it from the site itself and the submitted job is available in the browser-based software and simultaneously a feedback to respective consumer(s) is provided, without any time delay.

In one implementation of the present invention, the TAB-based application comprises a data capturing module configured to capture the input data keyed in by the meter inspector and the TAB-based application comprises a drop-down menu comprising a list of selectable fields.

In one implementation, the present invention provides a method for automation of meter inspection activity for complaint management comprising steps of keying in data in a TAB-based application, maintaining a list of allotted jobs to a meter inspector along with preliminary details of a consumer, keeping record of instruments used by the meter inspector during inspection process, monitoring, sorting and allocating of the jobs at a backend system wherein the method comprises a provision of keying-in data into the TAB-based application and submitting it from the site itself and simultaneously providing a feedback to respective consumer(s) is, without any time delay.

The TAB-based meter inspection system as provided in the present disclosure, not only brings about digitalization of the entire complaint handling process by obviating any requirement of paper, which otherwise was required in bulk in the old process, but has also ameliorated the entire process by significantly reducing the entire cycle time for meter inspection and lowering the probability of errors by minimizing manual interventions.

A meter inspection requirement originated either from a docketed consumer complaint or back-end commercial logic is available in a repository. This repository accumulates jobs from various inputs and the jobs are fetched from the repository, through backend processes, once in day (or as per requirement). These jobs are arranged based on geographical demography by the section in-charge through the web browser-based system for monitoring and control, which otherwise would have demanded printing voluminous pages, manually searching and sorting of the printed papers and subsequently allocating them to the individual meter inspectors. The browser-based system apart from allowing convenient job allocation to individual meter inspectors also restricts printing of relevant information viz. location sketch, which now is available in the TAB of individual meter inspectors. The calibration status of measuring instrument is also available in the TAB of the individual meter inspectors.

Once a job is available in the TAB of the meter inspector, he is ready to execute the job without bothering about other information. Hence jobs can be allocated on-the-go. The meter inspector after carrying out the physical activity at site keys-in his observations into the TAB and can submit the same from site itself. The earlier system demanded the supervisor to come back to office to submit his observations.

Once submitted, the job is available in the browser-based system and the feedback to respective customer(s) (internal only) is provided, without any considerable time delay. In the earlier system, data entry of the site observations was required for final feedback to the customer. For operational purpose, scrutiny or validation of submitted jobs is done at 2 stages, first at section in-charge level and other at sectional officer level.

The overall reduction in cycle time of a particular job happens primarily at the allocation and submission stages. Allocation and submission both can now be done on-the-go. The errors in keying-in information by field personnel are minimized through drop-down options, available in the TAB-based application.

A typical example: Let us consider a consumer complains about high-billing on any particular day at 11:00 hours (let’s call it Day 0). On Day 0, commercial executive forwards the complain to testing department through online process and is available in the repository. On Day 0 evening, the particular job is fetched from the repository and is available in the browser-based system. Section In-charge allocates the job on Day 1 to concerned meter inspector and the meter inspector carried out the job and submits his observations on the same day itself i.e. Day 1. The feedback of the job is sent to the commercial executive latest by Day 2, and the end customer will be notified about the outcome of the complaint on Day 2 itself.

In the present invention, the findings are forwarded to appropriate authority. The defective cases with exchange clearance flow to TD meter exchange system, defective cases without exchange clearance are forwarded to SBU for exchange advice, site action required cases are forwarded to concerned district engineer, suspected pilferage cases are forwarded to loss control cell. All the cases are tagged to SBU and commercial call center for reference.

Stages of Development:

The invention has been undergone following stages of developments and trials before coming to the present system:



Planning: Specifications and requirements, derived from the basic paper and pen system, were laid down for the software to be met. The flow-chart of the activities, being very crucial for the entire system to work in harmony, was also prepared.

Execution: A TAB-based application was developed in tandem with a web browser-based monitoring and control system. The entire system developed was combed to the fullest extent and it was ensured that the requirements laid down were met to the tee.
Implementation: Perhaps the most difficult stage of the entire project, owing to the fact that the end users were senior meter inspectors, median age being more than 48+. The change management was critical and making the senior meter inspectors acquainted to the digital platform was of utmost importance for the entire activity to work. Meter inspectors were trained for good number of days at a stretch and all their queries were answered. All the components the meter inspectors had in the paper and pen system were provided in the digital platform, without it being too complex. Once the training was over, the meter inspectors were advised to carry out the inspection activity in both the traditional way as well as through the TAB-based application to enhance their confidence and to detect any improvement in the application.

Some of the non-limiting advantages of the present invention are as follows:

The novel features are as follows:
o Amalgamation of software (TAB-based and browser-based backend system) and process chain for reducing cycle-time of a meter inspection process
o Allocation of job on-the-go
o Receipt of feedback on-the-go
o Easy and quick retrieval of old reports to answer consumer queries

Those skilled in the art will recognize other use cases, improvements, and modification to the embodiments of the present disclosure. All such improvements and other use-cases are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein.