Consulting Home Direct Access Home Eskom improves Soweto electricity supply and cash management through Microsoft technology solution When Eskom Distribution needed a system which could be relied on to provide the kind of stability, flexibility and performance that would meet its supply management requirements in Soweto, it approached local Microsoft Solution Provider, Vircom, to design, develop and deploy the new system. Vircom selected Microsoft Visual Basic v 4.0 and Microsoft SQL Server v 6.5 as the development tools for the job and decided that Microsoft NT Server would provide the best performance platform with the necessary security and robustness for the system. Overview When Eskom Distribution needed a system which could be relied on to provide the kind of stability, flexibility and performance that would meet its supply management requirements in Soweto, it approached local Microsoft Solution Provider, Vircom, to design, develop and deploy the new system.
Introduction Operating in the Soweto region is difficult for most organisations.
The area's poor or non-existent infrastructure makes the environment unique. Issues such as cable theft and power outages have impacted on Eskom's ability to manage electricity supply, cash receipting and customer service in the region. Since the management of electricity supply by Eskom largely lies within the IT division of Eskom Distribution, the parastatal called on Vircom to formulate an IT solution. This information is vital to the development of management policy. This was difficult considering the unique conditions that the system was meant to operate under.