Info on Jan. 9 Software Cutover

On the evening of January 9, 2019, Diggers Hotline will cutover to a new software package named GeoCall. 

Beginning at 6 pm on January 9, Diggers Hotline will only accept emergency tickets via phone until the software cutover is complete.  This will take about one hour.

The switch to GeoCall will affect how members of Diggers Hotline receive tickets and will affect how excavators use online ticket entry systems, such as ProPortal.  Some rules regarding tickets are also changing as part of the cutover.

Below are some changes that will apply to excavators and beneath that, some changes that will apply to member utilities or others receiving tickets. If you need more information or are having problems, contact the appropriate department:

Questions about Ticket Transmission: Diggers Hotline Command Center at (800) 722-4120

Questions about new Portal online ticket entry: Diggers Hotline Training Department at (800) 982-0299 ext. 1826

Questions about mapping or member polygons: Diggers Hotline Mapping Department at (800) 982-0299 ext. 5.

FOR EXCAVATORS:

• Portal ticket entry has changed, with updated interfaces and new links to access the portals.
• Ticket data will now show contact phone numbers on the actual ticket for each code included on the member list.
• When filing tickets, multiple tickets are no longer needed to cross a municipal boundary. However, there will now be a limit of 2 miles for stretch of road tickets. Anything longer than 2 miles will need to be a Project Ticket.
• A new “No Show Relocate” will be implemented as part of the new software. If there has been no response from a utility or utilities, and the excavator is on site or en route and it is within 10 calendar days of the start date and time of the ticket, the excavator may submit a No Show Relocate. If the caller identifies that some members companies have responded, those responding companies may be removed from the list of utilities that receive the No Show Relocate. Member utilities should respond to the excavator within one hour to let them know when the site will be located.

FOR MEMBERS:

Mapping:  Member polygon updates submitted after 4 pm on January 4 may not be activated until January 11.

Ticket Types: Ticket types will be identified in one field.  In the previous software, it was indicated by a combination of two fields, Header Code & Ticket Type. 

Here is the list of how ticket types will be identified in GeoCall:

1. Appointment
2. Cancel
3. Correction-Appointment
4. Correction-Emergency
5. Correction-Planning-Appt
6. Correction-Planning-Locate
7. Correction-Planning-Prints
8. Correction-Project
9. Correction-Standard
10. Emergency
11. Planning-Appointment
12. Planning-Locate
13. Planning-Prints
14. Project
15. Relo-24 Hours
16. Relo-Appointment
17. Relo-Appt-Crew On Site
18. Relo-Crew On Site
19. Relo-Emergency
20. Relo-No Show
21. Relo-Planning-Locate
22. Relo-Planning-Prints
23. Relo-Project
24. Relo-Project-Crew On Site
25. Relo-Standard
26. Standard
27. Update-Appointment
28. Update-Emergency
29. Update-Planning-Appt
30. Update-Planning-Prints
31. Update-Project
32. Update-Standard

To this point, Corrections and Cancels have kept the same number as the original ticket.  In GeoCall this will not be the case and every ticket will have a unique number.

A new “No Show Relocate” will be implemented as part of the new software. If there has been no response from a utility or utilities, and the excavator is on site or en route and it is within 10 calendar days of the start date and time of the ticket, the excavator may submit a No Show Relocate. If the caller identifies that some members companies have responded, those responding companies may be removed from the list of utilities that receive the No Show Relocate. Member utilities should respond to the excavator within one hour to let them know when the site will be located.

Ticket Transmission: Currently tickets can be sent via ftp, email, or fax.  In GeoCall the transmission methods are the same but adjustments must be made.  The ftp offered will be FTPS (ftp over ssl) which is a more secure method of ftp.  Email will continue to use the email server.  Faxes will now be transmitted over the web using the Faxage service rather than maintain a fax server in-house.

Ticket Parsing: For the members parsing, there will be two formats available.  “Lines” will be a text format that has each ticket field on its own line, one field after the other.  “XML” is the other.  Both are available using ftps or email.  If using email, Lines will come across with the data in the body of the email while XML will come as an attachment to the email. 

Tickets will now have the phone numbers associated with each code included on the member list.

Place Name: Place Name is going away with the transition to GeoCall.  The mapping department has been working with members using that for territories in the current system.  They are all being converted to member polygons.  Many are municipalities, but other members still were using a combination of part polygon and part place name to cover their facilities. 

For ticket-taking, this means the system will no longer lock a ticket at the muni border.  We will not have to have 2 or 3 tickets generated for work taking place along a border.  It can be done on one ticket as long as it meets normal ticket requirements.