2. ITEM ENGINEERING SYSTEMS
COMPANY PROFILE
• ITEM Engineering was established in 2011 with the vision to
provide utilities support with specialized product and service
solutions in energy- and water metering
• In 2013 ITEM Engineering partnered with Utility Systems in South
Africa as products and solution service provider for the Namibian
Market and beyond
• The current products and solutions entails tried and tested
technology with over 700 000 electronic flow limitation devices in
the field in Southern Africa
• ITEM Engineering has presence in Walvis Bay, Ongwediva and
Windhoek

3. UTILITY SYSTEMS
COMPANY PROFILE
• Utility Systems was established in 2001 and has vastly
experienced product design and development teams
• Products are built in an ISO 9001 production facility
• Tried and tested technology-over 700 000 electronic flow
limitation devices in the field
• Extensive production capacity

4. • ITEM Engineering & Utility Systems’ vending partner in prepayment
metering is Utilities World
• Utilities World is a specialist prepayment vending company with key staff
members each having more than 15 years experience in the industry
• Systems comply to the latest standards and specifications,
such as STS and XMLVend
• Systems are designed for the on-line environment with industry standard
third party integration requirements while taking into account communication
technologies available in the environment

5. PRODUCT OVERVIEW
• The Utility Systems product suite comprises of :
– Water Management Device (WMD)
– User Interface Unit ( UIU )
– Bulk WMD
– Aquadata Automated meter reader
– Mobile Data Collector (MDC)
– Data Bridge Application (DBA)
– Field Support Terminal
(FST)
– Point of sale device ( POS )

6. PREPAYMENT PRODUCTS

7. WATER MANAGEMENT DEVICE (WMD)
• Is an electronically controlled valve which is
connected to a third party pulse output water meter
• Reads pulses from a mechanical meter, converting “
dumb ‘ metering technology into a state of the art
digital communicating metering system
• Is extremely cost effective, offering AMR, AMI and
prepayment at low cost
• In prepayment mode a User Interface unit (UIU) is
installed in the customer’s premises and is linked to
the WMD by means of short range radio

8. BULK WATER MANAGEMENT
DEVICE (Bulk WMD)
• The Utility Systems Bulk WMD is available in several diameter
options with all the same functionality as the WMD
• The electronics from the WMD are essentially adapted into larger
valves, so as to make the WMD available in the following
dimensions :
– 25mm
– 40 mm
– 50 mm

9. AQUADATA AUTOMATED
METER READER
• The AQUADATA automated meter reader is able to be retrofitted
to be installed with most makes of pulse output water meter
• It provides accurate digital meter readings by radio signal to
drive by /walk by or fixed network data collectors
• Some salient features
– 15 year battery life but very well priced
– Offers leak and tamper detection
– Has all the other features of the Water Management
Device, save for the valve
– Ideal for more affluent areas and gated communities

10. COMMUNICATION
– The system makes use of radio communications
between the Water Management Device (WMD)
and a Mobile Data Collector (MDC)
– The MDC then transfers the data from the WMD via a
Data Bridge
– into the water service provider’s prepayment system by
means of a flat file import

11. VENDING OPTIONS
• The prepayment system allows a number of options for the
consumer to acquire credit for the meter, should the utility
implement them.
• Utilities are not locked into proprietary vending system as the
solution is an STS, open standard based product .
• Being a numeric token based system vending may be distributed
widely using any medium such as SMS, internet, ATM
• The Standard Transfer Specification ( STS ) protocols were
developed for prepayment electricity and are now an IEC
standard (IEC 62055-41, IEC 62055-51)

12. • Utilities World Transact™ system
– On-line single database solution
– Web based interfaces
– STS certified
– XMLVend standard based for simple 3rd party integration
– Supports arrears collection, fixed charges, block tariffs
– PC based vending units connect over LAN/WAN/internet
– POS units connect over internet
– Third parties (banks/Post Office etc.) connect over internet/VPN
VENDING OPTIONS

13. VENDING ARCHITECTURE
EXAMPLE

14. • Web interface
• Can be secured by SSL certificate
• User access according to profile
• Add/edit customers
• Manage tariffs
• Manage users
• Manage infrastructure
• Issue and SMS engineering tokens
• View reports
MANAGEMENT CLIENT

15. • Reports easily customisable by SQL
dba or similar
• Standard reports include
– Low/no Purchase, Cash Collection, Sales by Area,
Transactions by VU/Customer, Month Management
Summary
• All reports exportable to Excel, PDF etc
• Set up auto-mailer to send key reports to
staff based on a reporting schedule
REPORTS

16. • Sell water
• Collect account payments
• Collect arrears
– Min payment per month
– Percentage
• Secured by mutually authenticated SSL.
User name and password
• Will run on GPRS connection
• Auto update of web application over the air
PC BASED VENDING

17. • Sell water
• Collect arrears
– Min payment per month
– Percentage
• Runs on GPRS connection
• Limited to sales and minimum arrears
payments only
POS VENDING

18. • Targeted at closed communities
that are responsible for their own
revenue collection
LOCAL DATA COLLECTION

19. REMOTE DATA COLLECTION

20. • Sales are made from the
Utility server
– Sales data is real time
• Feedback data is
collected from the WMD
using drive-by or via a
concentrator and GSM
• Feedback data is loaded
to the vending system
– Sales vs consumption
reporting
– Leak, tamper, valve status
PROCESS / DATA FLOW

21. • The USC product range has approval from the NRCS (formerly the SABS)
UNDER SANS 1529-9 for both Flow Limitation and Prepayment
• The prepayment approval is under class C, and not class B as with other
products.
• It also has approval from the STS Association in compliance
with IEC 62055-41 and IEC 62055-51 for prepayment.
• Approval numbers are as follows
– SA 842
– SA1453
– SA 1491
– SA 1490
– STS Certificate No STS-249
APPROVALS

22. • A WMD is a management tool that can ensure that utilities
– Detect leaks
– Detect tamper and by pass
– Perform accurate real time water balancing for audit
purposes- no more estimations
– Reduce unaccounted for water loss and non
revenue water
• Data is exported in a .csv format “ flat file “ so can be
– seamlessly integrated into existing systems such as
SAP and Venus
– extrapolated into Microsoft spreadsheets
– imported into the IMQS system.
BENEFITS

23. • An STS based system
– Can select from other STS vendors for both vending
and meters
– Not locked in to a proprietary system
– Distributed vending options make purchasing
convenient for customers
– Not having a physical token carrier allows for
transmission of credit vouchers over multiple
channels
• SMS
• Internet
BENEFITS

24. THANK YOU.