Since it was set up in 1988, the public entity BALTEN has become the main irrigation water utility in Tenerife, supplying more than 90% of the water used for agriculture. It provides its services to around 12,000 users who farm around 4,000 hectares on this Spanish island.
BALTEN manages 21 irrigation water ponds and regulating tanks with a total storage capacity of over 5 hm3, three desalination plants, a pipeline network of 1,500 km, three wells and one underground water gallery.
Challenge
BALTEN needed to modernize its outdated infrastructure and software platforms, so it could optimize its irrigation water transportation system and improve the overall performance of its irrigation water service.
A new, modern business management system (ERP) was implemented to replace the previous complex software used. This was part of the comprehensive Digital Transformation Project undertaken by the utility, which kicked off in 2023.
Unlike other utilities, BALTEN faces the complex task of establishing service prices. This is a major challenge due to its resource mix, which varies each year as do the costs of each of its water sources, as they are highly dependent on energy prices. These sources draw on groundwater, surface water, and reclaimed water.
Solution
This project included the implementation of the Xylem Vue Billing and Customer Portal applications. The Billing solution helped BALTEN to parametrize its commercial processes based on previously established rules and criteria (e.g., the definition of billable concepts and price rates), whilst the Customer Portal application enabled customers to access a virtual office where they can view and manage contract information, thus eliminating the need to travel to a physical office, which may not be located near the irrigation areas.
The connectivity layer of the Xylem Vue platform, also known as Domain Master Data (DMD), was also implemented to enable the ingestion of any current or future signal, variable or device that requires its use and exploitation. This tool facilitates all the processes BALTEN requires, thanks to the optional integration of smart metering, a GIS, and work order tasks, to name just a few improvements, thus replacing a large part of the utility’s outdated software.
Results
The project focused on optimizing the utility’s management and billing processes to increase its efficiency and revenues, as well as speeding up decision-making. Thanks to this project, BALTEN has obtained the following benefits:
- Improvement of irrigation water service efficiency
- Optimization of management and billing processes
- Enhanced customer service
- Implementation of smart metering management
- Virtual office for customers to manage contract information
- Ability to parametrize the utility’s commercial processes
The applications implemented are part of the Xylem Vue platform, which means that other Xylem Vue applications can be deployed and interconnected in the future, helping BALTEN overcome other challenges further down the line.