Reference Customer | Case Study

Case Study: How a utility company aims to master the energy transition with the help of GS-Service.

Referenzkunde | Netzgesellschaft Lübbecke

We make the energy transition possible

Information source, work platform, and digital shadow for the electricity, gas, and water divisions: Netzgesellschaft Lübbecke manages its entire technical operations with the maintenance and operations management system GS-Service.

Energy transition. The largest modernization and investment project in human history is keeping the world on its toes. This raises the question of how municipal utilities and regionally operating network companies can drive the energy transition forward. How can resilience and future prospects be created for customers, the households and businesses supplied, municipalities, external partners, and the organization itself? What is achievable in day-to-day operations, and what are the prerequisites for the energy transition? True to its down-to-earth, practical, and considered local character, Netzgesellschaft Lübbecke (NGL) is rising to the challenge. A central building block of this transformation is the digital backbone of all technical assets and processes within the company: the maintenance and operations management system GS-Service, which the East Westphalians have been using since 2005.

The key facts of the case study: GS-Service in use at Netzgesellschaft Lübbecke:

Sector: Energy and Water Supply (Electricity, Gas, Water, Heating), Network Operations

Used Software:

GS-Service – GS-Manager, GS-Web

Supported processes:

Asset management: asset administration, maintenance/modification planning, execution of technical network operations, and documentation
On-site maintenance/materials management with mobile applications on various devices
Consistent, person-independent management of objects, assets, equipment, and processes
Effective and efficient information, coordination, and guidance for all service teams across the network area
Integration of functional relationship visualization in GIS with operations management in GS-Service
Legally compliant execution and documentation, including in accordance with TSM certification

Challenge:

Creation of an interactive knowledge platform for technical operations management
Digital management of employees (internal/external), asset infrastructure, equipment, and spare parts
Planning, control, and analysis of maintenance activities
Legally compliant documentation
Reliable on-site support through guidance and information for maintenance activities

Approach:

Digital inventory of networks, asset infrastructure, equipment, and personnel in GS-Service; assessment and analysis of operational processes, with an anticipated integration/coupling of the GS-Service operations management system with GIS and the ePilot customer portal solution

Result:

Netzgesellschaft Lübbecke has been planning, controlling, analyzing, and documenting maintenance activities with GS-Service since 2005. Low-code customizing of the IT system for technical operations management ensures maximum performance and efficient asset management. New task areas can be seamlessly integrated into the existing solution.

Energy transition at Netzgesellschaft Lübbecke

“Away from nuclear and fossil fuels, toward renewable energy and greater energy efficiency” – however central the energy transition and its guiding principle may be for a secure, environmentally sound, and economically successful future, it remains a Herculean task. What makes it unique: it affects every part of society without exception, because everything and everyone has a connection to energy. Under the slogan “We make the energy transition possible,” Netzgesellschaft Lübbecke (NGL) and its roughly 25 employees are tackling this challenge at the local level. Founded in 2008, NGL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Stadtwerke Lübbecke and, as a network operator, supplies people and businesses in the region with electricity, natural gas, drinking water, and heat. NGL also operates heating networks, a fiber-optic network, and smaller data communication links. As a service provider, the municipal company is additionally responsible for the technical operation of water extraction and treatment facilities.

In development: high-performance, intelligent energy networks

“As an electricity and gas network operator, we play a decisive role in implementing the energy transition by connecting renewable energy plants and combined heat and power installations to our supply networks,” the company states. It continues: “The electrification of heat supply and transport is also being pursued by us with high priority […] We are responding to this development through phased network expansion as well as appropriate sizing of our operating equipment in the low-voltage and medium-voltage network.” NGL Managing Director Michael Scherf explains why this is so urgent using an example: “Even now, we cannot immediately approve every newly planned PV system or wallbox without jeopardizing network stability.”

Network master Nico Brune from network planning adds: “In fact, we are already designing new transformer stations to be twice as large as before.” This means that more powerful energy networks are needed overall, but also more automation. That is why NGL, as the basic responsible metering point operator in the region, is taking on responsibility for introducing new metering systems, which will enable energy flows to be intelligently controlled and billed by 2032 at the latest.

10,700 connections

Netzgesellschaft Lübbecke supplies gas to the towns of Lübbecke, Rahden, and Preußisch Oldendorf via a pipeline network spanning 670 km.

In 2008,

Netzgesellschaft Lübbecke was founded as a wholly owned subsidiary of Stadtwerke Lübbecke. Today, NGL employs 25 people.

232 transformer stations

and three substations make up the electricity concession area (65 km²), with its 7,800 service connections and 765 km of network lines.

Smart data: the foundation of transformation

Rule of thumb: when you’re trying to square something as complex as energy-transition targets with on-the-ground realities using future projections, your results hinge on how solid and consistent your documentation of the current state is. NGL scores well here, thanks to a strong digital shadow built on smart data—every relevant asset, player, and process, from waterworks operation to the digital house connection, lives inside the GS-Service maintenance and operations platform.

The system, which can be individually and quickly adapted using no-code or low-code methods for planning, controlling, analyzing, and documenting technical assets and maintenance activities, serves as the “single source of truth” at NGL — whether for future energy scenario planning or as the foundation of operational processes in the here and now. As early as 2005, when terms such as “All Electric Society” and the 2030 target grid planning were not yet part of the conversation, the municipal utility began digitalizing its technical operations based on GS-Service as its sole work platform. The primary goal was to professionally pursue overarching objectives such as supply security, adequate cost-benefit ratios, optimized customer orientation, and legally and regulatory compliant utility operations.

Best practices and blueprints

Whether you have to master similar tasks in your company or face other challenges: check whether GreenGate software can help you. Here you will find related Blueprints that can handle maintenance tasks and solve problems.

GS-Service – the system

GS-Service by GreenGate, operating as a subordinate system to the ERP (Schleupen), integrates planning, documentation, and monitoring functions as well as business management applications into a single information and management system for areas such as workforce management, operations management, and maintenance. The object-oriented software — designed as a scalable client/server solution — is built on standard technology and runs on current Microsoft operating systems as well as a cloud solution with a web front end.

No other software is as flexible, allowing users to map their use cases exactly as they need them.

Thomas Bohnenkamp

Project Manager, Network Planning, Network Services, Metering Point Operation

Everything flows smoothly for food product No. 1

According to key user Thomas Bohnenkamp (43), “The team at the water treatment plant is thrilled with GS – they don’t want any paperwork in plant operations anymore, they want to run everything through the system.” As project manager in the NGL department for network planning, network service, and metering point operation, he has been responsible for handling, customization, and in-house training of the operations management system since 2005.
In fact, the Kutscherweg waterworks was the first unit to be digitally mapped in GS-Service under his leadership, later followed by the Masch waterworks and the six springs in the Wiehengebirge. Around 1.3 million m³ of water per year are channeled through 380 km of pipelines to 7,500 connections across the city area. How physical and digital processes interact dynamically in the water segment is evident even in the details. One example is lab report handling at the Kutscherweg waterworks, which draws groundwater from six wells. After the routine water sampling and quality testing by an external laboratory, the waterworks is notified of the results by email. “If the results are negative, the lab findings are automatically entered into GS-Service by filling in just a few fields, which usually triggers defined follow-up tasks. The health department is also notified directly from the system,” reports Thomas Bohnenkamp. This is where the “at the push of a button” principle comes into play: the results of the lab report can be displayed with a single mouse click on municipal utility letterhead with standard explanatory text, already addressed to the respective contact person at the health department, and attached as a PDF to an email that is likewise already correctly addressed with a pre-filled subject line. In this process, which also covers documentation, the to-do list for the waterworks team involves entering a few values into the GS-Service screen and two mouse clicks. Thomas Bohnenkamp: “In the past, this was a complex procedure involving a form that had to be filled out very carefully, sent by fax to the health department, and could only be sent by two authorized people. Now the system handles that.”

"No other software is this flexible"

Whereas network operations and their maintenance activities used to involve numerous binders and manuals, Excel spreadsheets on the PC, lists on clipboards, an orange timesheet booklet with a pen tucked into the side pocket, and a great deal of knowledge carried in people’s heads, everything today runs consistently on an IT-based system. This benefits everyone at NGL – the thirteen technicians, the three foremen, the water plant team, network planning, and QA during TSM audits: “GS-Service is the central tool that everyone accesses,” says Thomas Bohnenkamp. “Having everything stored in the system makes it easier for the technician on site – nothing gets forgotten, everything is entered, and time bookings assigned to the respective tasks are completed along the way. It also makes things easier for the foreman, who no longer has to think through, consider, and communicate everything from scratch each time – especially since GS-Service automatically alerts when maintenance is due and generates follow-up orders.” Thanks to its open system architecture, GS-Service can generally be connected to other systems such as GIS, ERP, DMS, PLM, CRM, or PLS via interfaces, even though NGL has not yet set up an interface to the Schleupen ERP system it uses or the AutoCAD GIS system currently in operation. The GIS interface in particular is currently being implemented.

Also, the new ePilot portal solution, which is designed to integrate customer communication into the processes, could also be used to establish end-to-end processes—connecting to the ERP system on one side and to GS-Service on the other. Thomas Bohnenkamp outlines: “Let’s assume that ePilot has flagged that a meter change is due because of a balcony solar system: we can enter that directly in GS. The technician goes out and ticks it off in the system: meter change completed.” Technically, this is entirely possible in GS-Service—as Bohnenkamp notes: “At the time, we compared two providers and immediately noticed that GreenGate’s system was far more thoughtfully designed. In my view, flexibility is the program’s major advantage: you’re no longer dependent on anyone. You don’t have to stick to predefined, rigid structures, and above all, you don’t have to deal with the issue, every time something changes, of what you actually need either not being possible or becoming extremely expensive through external programming. In GS-Service, I set up our objects, I set up our tasks, specific
Processes such as fault management or our connection contracts – whatever we want and need. I don’t know of any other software where I can say: I’ll add a completely new business area, with the fields I need and the process that goes along with it, and map the whole thing in a way that works in practice. No other software is flexible enough to let you, as a user, map your use cases exactly the way you need them. Whenever support is needed, the provider GreenGate is right there: “We are completely satisfied and happy with the collaboration,” says Bohnenkamp.

Compliance: Simply handled correctly

The right information at the right time in the right place. This is how GS-Service makes life easier for NGL employees, especially when auditors are on site. “Because they ask very specific questions about when a particular system was last function-tested. In the GS system, the data is immediately at hand, so there are no follow-up questions.” The TSM certification audits confirm that NGL’s processes meet the requirements of the VDE and DVGW regulations (Verband der Elektrotechnik Elektronik Informationstechnik e.V./German Technical and Scientific Association for Gas and Water). Thomas Bohnenkamp explains: “Particularly in the electricity and gas sector, we have to comply with numerous standards, regulations, and codes of practice—for example, the maintenance of a gas pressure regulating system: here, we work according to DVGW code of practice G 495. The technician needs to know exactly what to do in the case of a function test, an inspection, or maintenance. GS-Service has the corresponding tasks stored, along with the necessary result entries.”

The system also determines when action is required: in compliance with DVGW standards, an evaluation factor is calculated based on the parameters of the gas pressure regulation system in GS-Service, which, via a points-based score, determines the maintenance intervals according to the identified system class. NGL follows a similar approach for the maintenance of its 232 transformer stations (157 local grid stations + 75 customer stations) within the concession area (65 km²), which, in addition to 7,800 house connections, includes around 765 km of pipeline and cable network (130 km medium voltage / 635 km low voltage) recorded in GS-Service. How the assets of the network company, its customers, and partners are stored in GS-Service depends on the respective processes: either a structure tree is created for the individual buildings, or the objects classified as special structures are accessed via the individual divisions of gas, water, and electricity. Everything is recorded here — master data, tasks, photos, maintenance logs (including those from external service providers), operating manuals, and more. “The software handles all of that,” says Bohnenkamp, “and it’s intuitive to use: anyone who can operate Windows will also find their way around GS-Service with its tree structures.”

Meanwhile, NGL implements system extensions and optimizations in project groups. Having field technicians who work with the system on-site accompany the development process bottom-up increases both acceptance and effectiveness of the system right from the start. This approach is also advisable given the scope of tasks involved: with a strong GS-Service but a correspondingly lean workforce, numerous meter replacements need to be carried out, the rollout of smart metering systems has to be managed, house connections need to be set up and approved, fault management and on-call duty need to be organized, and regular maintenance of special structures such as gas pressure regulating and metering stations (GDRMs) and transformer stations needs to be performed. In addition, the many construction projects reliably documented in GS-Service, the stored buildings and properties, the management of equipment and assets, the coordination of external civil engineering contractors, the contracting of heating systems, as well as the operation of the gas pipeline network with over 670 km of pipelines and 10,700 connections, all need to be handled as efficiently and effectively as possible.

The future: Mobile maintenance with GS-Web

According to Thomas Bohnenkamp, everything will continue to run through GS-Service as usual there too – though soon more mobile than ever before: NGL is currently working with GreenGate Support to prepare the rollout of GS-Web. GS-Web is a browser-based portal solution (intranet/internet) for maintenance and operations management that fully maps processes in role-based modules: from capacity-based order planning, work preparation and scheduling, through mobile order processing, defect recording and event reporting, to the analytical evaluation of technical and commercial KPIs. Synchronization with the central database takes place automatically and in real time. Maintenance technicians, warehouse staff, external service providers, supervisors, plant managers and NGL’s management will then be able to work with GS-Web across all platforms.

To securely use the web application with its pre-structured processes, users authenticate via single sign-on and two-factor authentication. The GS-Web user cockpit is designed to be responsive, reducing the functions and information displayed — for example, on a tablet — to the essentials. Its ease of use makes the application ideal for integrating NGL service providers. They can view defined content on objects, processes, and resources and are guided competently through the maintenance processes. The same applies to external technicians carrying out house connections. The solution also addresses the building services provider commissioned by NGL, who currently still uses the GS-PDFSyncService to create fillable GS PDF work order forms and to automatically report completed work at the waterworks. Or the external civil engineering contractors who support the NGL technicians. Either way, Thomas Bohnenkamp envisions a lean, smart information and organization system that optimally supports daily work practice: “Everything is stored on the tablet in GS-Web — it’s where you can schedule everything, where all orders are recorded, where hours can be booked back, consumption values entered, and tasks ticked off along with all the associated questions and checklists. GS-Web provides everyone with complete support.”

The case study as a PDF

Click here to download the Netzgesellschaft Lübecke case study as a PDF. If you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to contact us. We look forward to your inquiry.

That’s why so many companies trust us.

Is this use case interesting for you? Contact us.

If you have further questions about this case, please call us or fill out the form here. We will get back to you promptly.