Fulcrum > Case Studies > Telecom Engineering

Telecom Engineering

Customer Company Size

Large Corporate

Region

America

Country

United States

Product

Fulcrum

Tech Stack

Mobile Data Collection
API Integration

Implementation Scale

Enterprise-wide Deployment

Impact Metrics

Productivity Improvements
Digital Expertise

Technology Category

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Connectivity Platforms

Applicable Industries

Telecommunications

Applicable Functions

Field Services
Logistics & Transportation

Use Cases

Remote Asset Management
Real-Time Location System (RTLS)

Services

Software Design & Engineering Services
System Integration

About The Customer

Tilson is a company that provides Outside Plant (OSP) engineering, permitting, and construction management in the Telecom and IT industries. They are involved in large-scale fiber-optic network builds, which involve pole surveying and desktop make-ready engineering (MRE). As the company was being awarded larger and larger engineering contracts, they realized the need for a scalable and better mobile data collection solution. They were recently awarded a statewide fiber construction project for the state of Kentucky to provide broadband access across the state. This project involved surveying 10,000 utility poles and providing an MRE solution for each pole in order to apply for an attachment license for the fiber cable.

The Challenge

Tilson, a company providing Outside Plant (OSP) engineering, permitting, and construction management in the Telecom and IT industries, was facing a challenge. They had recently been awarded a statewide fiber construction project for the state of Kentucky to provide broadband access across the state. The project involved surveying 10,000 utility poles—including attachments, spans, and specific attributes—and providing a make-ready engineering (MRE) solution for each pole in order to apply for an attachment license for the fiber cable. Tilson had been utilizing several other data collection apps, with mixed results. The collection process often involved taking photos with a camera and a GPS unit, writing records in Excel, then joining them back up in the office. Tilson needed a solution where data was only keyed in once, could be monitored remotely, and exported in a variety of methods easily.

The Solution

Tilson was in need of a data-centric solution that allowed for user-defined fields. They wanted a highly customized, relational database, with child records and grandchild records, which is especially needed in the world of utility pole inspections. They also needed an engaged company that had a product that was actively being upgraded. Fulcrum’s Data Share feature quickly became invaluable for creating an end-to-end solution for Tilson. Now Tilson’s project managers have the ability to monitor their progress in real time and anyone back in the office or on the client side can monitor the work in near-real time. Using Fulcrum’s API documentation, Tilson has gone on to develop a proprietary backend that seamlessly integrates with Fulcrum, giving them a distinct competitive advantage on the technology front.

Operational Impact

Engineers and project managers now have access to data from the field immediately.
Tilson can guarantee the data remotely and is able to assure team members don’t under- or over-survey a given pole.
The learning curve for their crew members was low, making it easy for quick adoption by new team members.
Tilson has developed a proprietary backend that seamlessly integrates with Fulcrum, giving them a distinct competitive advantage on the technology front.