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Home My WebLink About11 Attachment 1 Sitka ITDamon Hess Sitka Technology Group 309 SW Sixth Ave, Suite 575 Portland, OR 97204 May 8, 2015 Hi Trey and Ian, YX s r..) ka technology group Thanks for offering us the opportunity to propose an upgraded system for Truckee Donner Public Utilities District to automatically notify its customers about water leaks. We understand that this is a time sensitive project due to the recent changes in California's water regulations and the potential fines TDPUD could face if you're found not in compliance. We appreciate the confidence you've shown in us and have prepared a proposal to satisfy the notification requirements you described during our May 6 conference call. We propose three deliverables for automating TDPUD's process for informing customers about water leaks. 1) The first deliverable is narrowly focused on transferring daily data collected about intermittent & continuous water flows through the Aclara Smart Network directly into NISC iVUE CIS. 2) The second deliverable automates notification through NISC SmartHub to send an email or text message alert customers about detected leaks. • If SmartHub turns out not to be the best system for pushing out daily alerts, Sitka would pursue using MyH2O for this purpose. This fall back plan is not covered in our estimated pricing. 3) The third deliverable will enhance the integration between your smart meters and CIS. A more elegant integration between the Aclara and NISC systems will allow TDPUD to use the customer billing fields as intended by replacing the current work around of charging and crediting a $.01 fee. TDPUD could then make use of the miscellaneous billing field should CA's changing regulations require TDPUD to assess new fines at some point in the future. In Sitka's experience, successful system integrations are designed for change. Data exchanges between systems must be flexible enough to accommodate software upgrades and business process modifications. There are approaches to automating customer notifications immediately that would be quick, but we are recommending a path that will hold up to changes around it. We propose that TDPUD engage Sitka in a time and materials contract starting in June of 2015 to integrate TDPUD's existing water metering, CIS, and customer notification software through an iterative development process. The target duration of the project work would be less than 60 days. Resources Sitka team will be composed of a senior developer, a junior developer as needed, and a project manager. No team member will be able to work on this full time, but instead will fit in this project, along with other project commitments, over a two -month period. Pricing -- $359200 - $559000 Total effort is 16-25 team days (aka, "points") For this project, our rate is $2200 per team day — includes all project overhead. Following is a breakdown of the work effort: Deliverable #1: 10-16 team days • Automate data flow between StarAMI and iVUE as a daily job using a mutually agreed upon job scheduler; • Maintain current implementation that uses iVUE's "Misc Fee" field/code; • Implement to be monitored by Paesller's TRPG; • Job will output a log file (either simple or verbose) to aid in troubleshooting; • Develop using XML to enable readability and easy customization/configuration. Deliverable #2: 3-5 team days • Attempt to get SmartHub to send notifications when water leaks are detected; • Treat as a "time -box" that results in leak notifications being sent by SmartHub to subscribing customers; • [If Sitka and TDPUD jointly conclude that SmartHub is not flexible/robust enough to meet the needs for leak notifications, we'll scope the second option of using MyH2O.] Deliverable #3: 3-4 team days • Improve current iVUE's implementation of leak notifications to be more elegant; • Must not violate NISC service/support agreement with TDPUD; • Includes testing of the CSR user experience; • Generate customer bills that appropriately notify customers of potential leaks. Sitka Business Proposal - TDPUD Water Leak Notification Page 2 of 3 Illustration of Project Context and Proposed Deliverables Today, this is manually done by Customer Service group once per week. It uses iTron format, which is supported by both systems. it Result is records are modified with codes that iVUE uses to display Continuous or Intermittent Flow warnings to CSRs and ultimatety to Customers on their water bills. I Mat is used to manipulate the export? I How is it done 7 Aclara NISC SWAM) anipu ate, ivue water usage metering import Oust. Info. System Receive 0 monthly bill Internal ---------- --------------------- ------------------ ----- 0 FxtPmal View & Pay NISC bill TDPUD SmartHub MyH2O Receive Cust. Cww. Portal notifications (txt. email) TDPUD Cus'omer View Water Usage. see Leak Notifications Deliverables OAutomate data flow between StarAMI and iVUE, but maintain current implementation that uses "Mist Fee" field 0 Send Customers near real-time notifications when water leaks are detected. There are a few options here. We will start with SmartHub, and if unsuccessful discuss and estimate option B. A. Attempt to get SmartHub to send notifications. B. Add a notification engine to MyH2O. 0 Improve current iVUE's implementation of leak notifications to be more scalable and elegant (stop using Misc Fee field). We appreciate the opportunity to work with TDPUD on this project. We would be happy to discuss in more details the approach we've proposed at your convenience. Sincerely, Damon Hess Business Development Sitka Business Proposal - TDPUD Water Leak Notification Page 3 of 3