Human SCADA: The Future Of Enterprise Mobility
By Damien Moriarty, International Delivery Manager, Retriever Communications
Historically, industrial enterprise mobility and field force automation have focused on the ability to capture information from the field. Work completion was recorded and transmitted from mobile devices to a central system providing overall management of field workers. In recent times, it has progressed to record and manage information during the work day. Automatic time capture and remote sensors such as GPS, recently extended to include Wi-Fi assist and now beacon assist for more detailed location tracking, are just two examples of technologies that identify when and where field events occur. Then we have the emerging wearable technologies.
Fitness bands have increased the amount and diversity of information they can capture to include heart rate and galvanic skin response (how much someone is sweating). While not completely accurate, these technologies could be promising for managing perceived effort and fatigue. Remote video streaming and augmented reality views allow remote guidance and connection from experts to field staff. While still in emerging stage, this technology offers a promising glimpse into the future.
All of these new capabilities can create a complete view of the health and activity status of a field worker and, when coupled with a dispatch function, a chance to improve that field worker’s condition or a situation as a whole. If we can remove the emotional roadblock of viewing a field worker as similar to remote equipment and systems, we essentially have the foundation of a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. Viewing enterprise mobility in this way gives us insight into the current and future trends.
Firstly, as discussed above, this year will see an increase in remote field worker monitoring. While wearables are still emerging, there will be a strong requirement for an “unconscious carry” of the remote device. When we leave our homes in the morning, we tend not to think about picking up the keys, wallet or phone before walking out the door. This happens automatically. Tablets and laptops can easily be left in the car. Once we have a remote device on the field worker’s person throughout the work day, we can start to reliably tap into the sensors available on that device. More granular views of the location and status are certainly achievable with current technology and will continue to be implemented. Naturally, this will be tempered with field worker visibility of tracking status to prevent the privacy concern outside of work hours.
Once we have the additional information, the next step will be to effectively use that information for managing resources and affecting a change. Current trends are to automatically allocate and reallocate work based on data collected. Interestingly, while SCADA system may automate some responses to conditions, they are often achieved manually through skilled operators. In much the same way, work allocation for field workers will also need to operate in this mixed-mode scheduling style. Visibility of field tasks, worker status and worker location will assist staff in assigning work but, in many cases, there will still be conditions where human intuition will result in a performance boost over system automation. The limitations of completely automated scheduling are understood; this year will see a better integration of mixed-mode scheduling.
Finally, there is also an opportunity for better management of field workers’ health and safety. Remote telemetry from the mobile device can provide input for fatigue management. Location awareness on the mobile device can prompt for required checks and protective equipment. Automatic time tracking can ensure that rest breaks are taken regularly, if required. While wearable technology may have a future in this space, this next year will see a starting point of health management with mobility systems assisting field workers in doing the right thing.
It is no stretch to consider most industrial enterprise mobility systems running today as a human SCADA system. While this view may feel like dehumanizing field staff, remote monitoring can provide greater level of care and better assistance in completing their daily tasks. Ultimately, the goal is to being more connected to the staff in the field. Why not reuse what we have already done with SCADA?