There’s a lot of effort that goes into consolidating four separate sites into one location. Especially when it comes to planning for an organization’s technology needs. Meeker Cooperative’s Operations/IT Manager, Kevin Louis, was challenged with that responsibility when they moved to their new location in December 2005. Kevin looked at the move as an opportunity to update and implement new information systems to better serve their members.

Because of Meeker Cooperative’s past relationship with Marco, Kevin relied on Ann McCann, Marco Technology Advisor, to assist them in planning for and implementing technology solutions for their new facility.

Throughout the planning process, Kevin realized the many advantages that come with working with a single provider to integrate voice, data, document management, video, and print solutions.

Kevin explained, “Ann spent many days with me analyzing our data networking and voice needs and finding out what we were looking for from a customer service standpoint. She also put me in touch with the right people from Marco’s other divisions for things such as structured cabling, document management, and audio/video systems for our meeting and board rooms. Ann was my one-stop contact for all of these areas. She sat in on the meetings for each solution and contacted me two to three times a week to make sure we were taken care of.”

Kevin went on, “Ann is very knowledgeable and really understands the service side of the technologies as well. Throughout the process, if she didn’t think they’d be able to accomplish something, she’d say so and then find out and let us know. I can’t say enough about Ann – she is terrific and put me at ease when we made the move to our new building.”

Marco designed and implemented Meeker Cooperative’s wireless voice and data network to support a new computerized mapping system with GPS technology that provides them live coverage of power outages and when they are restored. The GPS technology allows them to track their 26,000 power poles and 2-3,000 underground structures. Their Global Information System (GIS) — a graphical database integrated with the mapping software — allows them to perform queries, searches, etc. The system also gives them access to customer information and allows them to zoom in on a customer residence, bring up power poles, and get the information they need to determine the problem. Four PCs in the dispatch/storm room are connected to a large projection screen for easy viewing of the information.

Kevin explained, “It used to be that I was the only person that had access to our system when power outages occurred. Now all of our linemen have access to the system and can come into the dispatch/storm room to get information to help restore outages.”

The linemen’s tablet PCs are configured with the mapping software so they can remotely access maps while in the field. This allows them to determine power needs for a designated location while on the road and around the pole yard. Marco configured the wireless access point on their tower for linemen to access the Internet from their tablet PCs.

Kevin said, “The tools we have in place allow our linemen to make better decisions, quicker. As the expectations of our customers increase, so must our customer service. We’ve been able to knock two to three hours off some power outages just because of the technology we have implemented.”

Tory Sonstegard, technical engineer for Marco, installed and configured Meeker Cooperative’s wireless voice and data network and helped them implement multiple software applications. He also helped move their servers to the new location. According to Kevin, “Tory was here one to two days a week for the first four to five weeks. We methodically worked through any issues that came up.” He went on, “Tory has had to be a jack of all trades – he has just been phenomenal!”

Wireless access is also used in Meeker Cooperative’s Community Center where members can conduct meetings, presentations, and events. Marco segmented their data, voice, and wireless network to allow for public and private access. Access rights were setup to secure the wireless network.

Marco also installed a Microsoft Exchange server which allows Meeker Cooperative to manage their email in-house. Tory provides them with data management once every two weeks for their nine Windows servers and Exchange server. iPrism – a content filtering software – is used to manage and monitor Internet use.
 

Meeker Cooperative is a member-owned cooperative that provides electricity and other services to more than 8,400 residents, businesses, and industries in six central Minnesota counties, including Meeker, Kandiyohi, McLeod, Renville, Stearns and Wright. In December 2005, Meeker Cooperative combined their four separate sites into a new facility on Highway 12 East in Litchfield.