Instandhaltungssoftware für Industrie, Versorger und Windkraft
Reference Customer | Case Study
Case Study: The maintenance software for utility companies demonstrates its versatility.
Reference Customer | Hall AG
Multitalent – Multiplayer
The Hall AG group of companies manages infrastructure, assets, equipment, and processes with GS-Service. Every day, the people in and around Hall in Tyrol rely anew on their coffee machine starting up, the latest news reliably reaching their tablets, and enough hot water flowing from the tap for their morning shower. To make this possible, the city’s multiplayer – Hall AG as an association of utility, event, and leisure businesses – provides everything needed in the shadow of Innsbruck: electricity, water, heat, and fast internet. Hall AG even takes care of real estate and parking garages, ensures swimming fun on hot days, and also provides the perfect setting for art and culture on the side. The infrastructure, assets, equipment, and processes of Hall AG are managed using GreenGate’s operations and maintenance management software GS-Service. Quite the multitalent itself.
In this user report:
The key facts of the case study: GS-Service at Hall AG:
Industry:
Municipal utility and leisure operator covering electricity, water, wastewater, heat, cooling, IT/network services, real estate, and municipal infrastructure (parking garages, campsite, swimming pool, event venues, museum)
Software used:
GS-Service – GS-Manager
Unterstützte Prozesse:
- Anlagenverwaltung, Wartungsplanung und
Ausführung des technischen Betriebs unterschiedlicher Fachbereiche - Instandhaltung/Materialwirtschaft vor Ort
- Konsistente, personenunabhängige Verwaltung und Dokumentation von Objekten, Assets,
Betriebsmitteln und Instandhaltungsprozessen - Management, Dokumentation und Nachhaltung der Arbeitssicherheitsunterweisungen/ persönlichen Qualifikationen
- Effiziente Information, Koordination und Anleitung der fachbereichsbezogenen Serviceteams
Challenge:
- Creation of an interactive knowledge platform for the technical operations management of a municipal utility and leisure facility operator
- Digital management of asset infrastructures, properties, equipment, and maintenance processes
- Legally compliant documentation of assets and personnel / occupational safety
- Reliable on-site support through guidance and information for maintenance activities
Procedure:
Digital inventory of the asset infrastructure, mapping of objects, equipment, and personnel in GS-Service; assessment, analysis, and documentation of operational processes for managing operational activities; in-house GS-Service training conducted by Hall AG power users
Result:
Hall AG manages essential operational processes of technical facility management (asset management, maintenance planning, maintenance execution, documentation) based on GS-Service; the integrated software solution GS-Service provides support for: planning, work preparation, resource management, execution and follow-up of maintenance activities, documentation
Initiate, process, document
Via a pressure pipeline, the water flows into the Walderstraße and Halltalerhof elevated reservoirs and finally, via two transport pipelines, into the supply network of the town of Hall. On its way from the drinking water tunnel to the 1,800 customer connections serving 15,000 people, the water passes through four drinking water power plants, where it is also used to generate electricity.
Good to know: Both the results of the numerous bacteriological and chemical-physical drinking water samples and the maintenance and cleaning of the pipe network, water power plants and elevated reservoirs, along with the associated operating resources, spare parts and periodic inspections of all assets, are initiated, processed and consistently documented via GS-Service. “All tasks related to sewer inspections, wastewater analyses, measuring device inspections, etc. also appear in GS-Service,” explains power user Adrian Haslwanter (30) from Hall AG, “the results are also stored here so that everyone can always access them.”
The condition reports for the external wastewater treatment plant used are also made available from the GS.
"During the training week, I asked about everything"
The intensified use of GS-Service at Hall AG’s utilities and leisure facilities division can be traced back to Adrian Haslwanter’s initiative. Operational head of the Generation department since July 2022, the trained electrical engineer is living proof that even an inherently sound software deployment needs one decisive driving force within the company to make it a success. “We’ve certainly had the system in use for 15 years now. Eight years ago, we then switched support providers. For the individual training week at GreenGate, I brought along our database, so to speak, and asked pretty much every question that came to mind.”
The train-the-trainer approach paid off: since then, Adrian Haslwanter has been responsible for the in-house training of Hall AG’s 20 GS-Service users – clear commitment from management ensured that Haslwanter could train colleagues in-house: “I trained other departments at a basic level: logging faults, filing documents, adding properties, creating tasks, and so on.”
Usage in figures
90:10
is the ratio of planned to unplanned maintenance orders at Hall AG, which manages its infrastructure, assets, equipment, and processes using the operations and maintenance management software GS-Service.
4 times per year
the departments of Hall AG receive internal training on the use of GS-Service. Requirement: Every department must have at least one person who is able to process a task, configure activities, and create or modify objects.
1,200 meters
was drilled into the rock of the Bettelwurf massif near Innsbruck. Since 2001, Hall AG has been sourcing exceptionally pure drinking water here, which takes an average of ten years to seep through the 1,000-meter-thick geological formation of Wetterstein limestone and dolomite. Yield per second: 240 – 450 liters.
All work with GS-Service
It is precisely the basics that matter in day-to-day business. Virtually no department operates without GS, not least because every business unit—from generation and power grid to water/wastewater, IT, real estate, and event operations—has its own maintenance crew and digitally manages and documents its own specific processes. That is why, Haslwanter explains, the company is working on a decentralized rollout of operations management and maintenance planning with GS-Service and conducts internal training sessions four times a year.
“Every business unit needs a person who can process a task, configure activities, and create or modify objects.” As a system positioned downstream of the ERP, GreenGate’s GS-Service 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 frontend.
No code to top-tier application
Thomas Zapp, International Sales Manager at software manufacturer GreenGate, considers GS-Service an ideal system for decentralized, individual use: “With GS-Service, users can design IT solutions using a no-code approach that are perfectly tailored to their own needs, eliminating the need for time-consuming programming.” The underlying no-code principle is easy to explain: GreenGate apps can be assembled by combining components from existing toolkits and libraries, without requiring initial custom programming to adapt them to company-specific needs. Zapp continues: “In principle, anyone can implement use cases for their department independently, although, as with Hall AG, it has proven effective to entrust coordination to a central unit within the company.”
Test reports, fault logs, planning documents, service reports, technical documentation, maintenance documentation, and of course current photos are all stored here in the system.
Ing. Adrian Haslwanter, Generation Department, Hall AG
Virtually everywhere
This is how the Generation division independently manages the maintenance of the biomass heating power plant via GS-Service, just as it does the technical operational management of the drinking water network with its six hydropower plants and the photovoltaic systems located on power plant grounds. “For example, we are a central hub for district heating, precisely because we are located relatively in the geographic middle.” With a seven-person maintenance team, the Generation division at Hall AG certainly stands out — this is also where Adrian Haslwanter is based, who knows exactly why the company relies on GS-Service: “Fundamentally, an energy provider is always a maintenance operator, which is why we have all relevant trades represented within our operations team.”
The colleagues handle all major maintenance and repair orders through GS-Service. “The inspection reports, fault lists, planning documents, service reports, technical documentation, maintenance documentation, and of course current photos are all stored here in the system.” When it comes to infrastructure, there is almost nothing that isn’t stored consistently and up to date in the system: “Any and all pipelines, gate valves, valves, street lighting masts, substations, cable runs, power distributors, traffic light controllers, water shafts, pumping stations, pumping station lines, etc.”
The operating resources, from PPE to wheel loaders, Unimogs and forklifts, are also neatly recorded, complete with technical details and deadlines. Here, the GS system reliably provides information on periodically required inspections: “The system ensures that, for example, we test and overhaul high-voltage test rods annually, as they are critical measuring devices for verifying the absence of voltage in the high-kV range. The same applies to personal protective measuring devices for hazardous atmospheric conditions.” This is also of interest to external testing and supervisory authorities conducting audits for certification according to ISO standards: “Just two weeks ago, the auditors were here and asked: Where do you create your maintenance orders, and where do you store these documents? Can you show me a report on last year’s inspection of emissions measurement xy? Then you look it up in GS-Manager under Documents Emissions Measurement and present it. That makes the audit much easier.”
Just two weeks ago, the auditors were here and asked: Where do you create your maintenance orders and where do you store these documents? Can you show me a report from last year’s review of the emissions measurement xy? Then you simply look it up in GS-Manager under Documents Emissions Measurement and present it. That makes the audit much easier.
Ing. Adrian Haslwanter, Generation Department, Hall AG
"Turn on the PC, log in, check for yourself"
At Hall AG, digital operations management with GS-Service is deliberately linked to the principle of personal responsibility for every maintenance technician, from locksmith to electrician. Haslwanter explains: “Our technicians actively go to the PC themselves, log in, open GS-Manager, and the Today view then shows which maintenance tasks are open and when they’re due. Everything is stored there, so our technicians can see at a glance: What still needs to be done, and within what timeframe? Every technician can and should find this out for themselves – there’s no need for someone to print out and distribute work orders; every technician can look it up in the system themselves.”
This also makes things more independent: “Suppose a maintenance technician is working alone at the heating power plant: he simply checks the system, sees the open work orders, picks them up, and works through them from a list.” Work here is hybrid, alternating between clipboard and stationary computer: “We have PCs on site at every facility. This allows the technician to pull up a plan or enter values directly back into the database, sometimes transferred from the clipboard. But always by the technician themselves, never by the foreman or supervisor.” This promotes the reliability and consistency of entries, also because every entry in the system can be traced later in case of incidents. “Incidents such as technical defects, drive malfunctions, blockages, or broken bearings are rather the exception, though. For planned versus unplanned maintenance orders, we have a ratio of 90 to 10.”
Maintenance rounds on Tourenski
How versatile GS-Service can be thanks to its simple, individual configurability is demonstrated by its further use beyond power generation or water supply: Hall AG maintains all its properties, such as apartments, buildings, playgrounds, and parking garages, via GS-Service. Even the stage technology—from spotlight rigging to equipment such as lifting platforms, carabiners, and cable hoists—is inspected, serviced, and documented in GS-Service. This immediately increases data availability: “It’s quite different from working with a binder containing an illegible, deteriorating four-ply carbon copy form.” If necessary, Hall AG will also extend GS-Service with a GIS link to assets. Haslwanter: “In the power plant sector, this is less necessary, but it’s needed in the grid system—it’s also possible and feasible in the electricity sector, where it makes sense.”
Such an interface-based integration would undoubtedly be an asset during Tyrol’s harsh winters, when three meters of snow or more cover the higher elevations of the supply area. “Some maintenance rounds are then done on touring skis or snowshoes – our staff certainly enjoy that.” One enjoyable maintenance task takes place every year regardless: “Once a year, we have to walk the entire water supply area on foot: every mountain around Hall, a huge hiking day – actually more like several.”
Image credits/photographers: Thomas Steinlechner, Lukas Schmied, Markus Hauser, TVB Hall-Wattens, Lackner, Jakob Strassl
The case study as a PDF
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