OVERVIEW

Within the United States and Canada, 811 call centers (“Call Centers”) handle due dates in various ways. While each call center is different, generally there are two due dates for every locate request:

• The response due date (“Positive Response Due Date”) to the Call Center.
• The date in which the excavation or design work begins (“Locate Completion Due Date”).

The Positive Response Due Date is determined by the type of the locate request. Emergency requests have a short lead time compared to routine or lower priority requests. Meeting the Positive Response Due Date is done by sending response information to the Call Center’s automated positive response system (“PR System”). Most Call Centers have a PR System however some do not. For Call Centers that do not have a PR System, an email to the excavator may satisfy the Positive Response Due Date requirement.

It is important to note that satisfying the Positive Response Due Date does not necessarily mean that the locate request has been completed and excavation may safely begin. A response may simply be the acknowledgement of the request or a notification that the work to locate utilities has been started but not necessarily completed. These are typically referred to as “Ongoing”, “Project”, or "Rescheduled" locates. For more information on rescheduling, please refer to the "Rescheduling" section below.

The Locate Completion Due Date is determined by the excavator themselves, based on their desired work schedule. Call Centers establish minimum lead times for non-emergency work to begin. It is the excavators duty to ensure all facilities are properly accounted for prior to beginning work.

Meeting the requirements of the Positive Response Due Date is largely regarded as the most important measure of locating timeliness because many Call Centers and Public Utilities Commissions base their compliance metrics and non-compliance fines on it.

POSITIVE RESPONSE COMPLIANCE

While each call center’s compliance rules differ, DigTix provides several powerful ways to view and monitor positive response compliance to maximize on-time responses and minimize non-compliance.

DigTix Dashboard

The DigTix Dashboard provides the ability to continuously monitor the state of responses that are due soon and overdue. Clicking on certain figures in the dashboard will list the tickets that belong in the clicked figure.

• “PRs Past Due” lists the number of ticket member codes which have a Positive Response Due Date prior to the current time and have not been responded to.
• “PRs Due Today” lists the number of ticket member codes which have a Positive Response Due Date on the current day and have not yet been responded to.
• “PRs Late Today (OT%)” lists the amount of positive responses that have been sent today and were also sent late, along with the percentage of positive responses that were sent late on the current day.
• “Ticket Completions Due Today” lists the amount of unique tickets that have a Locate Completion Due Date on the current day and have not been completed.
• “Tickets Completed Late Today” lists the amount of unique tickets that were completed today and were also completed late, along with the percentage of unique ticket completions that were completed late on the current day.

Figure 1: Dashboard Due Dates Compliance

Quick Filters Panel

The Quick Filters Panel allows users to quickly filter out tickets based on Positive Response Due Dates or Locate Completion Due Dates have responses due on a particular date. You can find more information on the Quick Filters Panel in the DigTix User Guide.

Figure 2: Locate Response Date Quick Filters

Ticket Grid

In the ticket grid, the “Positive Response Due Date” column displays when the positive response for each ticket is due. The “Positive Response Compliant” column displays whether all of the member codes belonging to that ticket have issued positive response prior to the Positive Response Due Date. These columns can be filtered and sorted to navigate to the desired ticket data.

Selecting “Response Due” as the “Color By” option provides a thematic mapping of response status for each ticket in the grid and the map.

Figure 3: Ticket Grid Positive Response Compliance (White = Compliant, Red = Overdue)

Ticket Window

In the ticket window, the “Response Due” field on the “Service” tab provides the compliance status and a countdown of how much time is left before the Positive Response Due Date.

Figure 4: Positive Response Compliance and Countdown

On-Time and Work By Due Date Reports

The “On-Time” and “Work By Due Date” reports break down on-time performance during a specified time period. Each report can be run based on Positive Response Due Dates or based on Locate Completion Due Dates.

Figure 5: Reporting Selection of Positive Response vs Locate Completion Due Dates.

ON-TIME COMPLETION

On-time completion is accomplished by fully satisfying the utility locate request (painting, flagging, staking, etc.) before the Work Starts Date. This date is commonly on or after the Positive Response Due Date set by the Call Center. By default, DigTix sets the Locate Completion Due Date of the locate request as the Work Starts Date. DigTix provides the ability to extend the Locate Completion Due Date of the locate request via the Rescheduling feature described below.

Figure 6: Positive Response Due Date vs Work Starts Date

A countdown to the Locate Completion Due Date is displayed on the “Service” tab of the ticket window to the right of the Positive Response Due Date countdown. The calendar button at the right of the countdown provides the ability to reschedule the Locate Completion Due Date into the future.

Figure 7: Locate Completion Due Date Countdown on Service Tab of Ticket Window

It is important to note that meeting or extending the Locate Completion Due Date of a locate request has no impact on the Positive Response Due Date set by the Call Center or positive response compliance.

RESCHEDULING

In certain situations it may be appropriate to extend the Locate Completion Due Date of the locate request. Large or ongoing projects, for example, may be infeasible to complete prior to the excavator’s desired Work Starts Date. DigTix provides the ability to extend the Locate Completion Due Date through its rescheduling feature. Tickets may be rescheduled individually or through the bulk update tool. You can read more about the rescheduling feature in the DigTix User Guide.

Rescheduling a ticket effectively changes its Locate Completion Due Date. The act of rescheduling a ticket alone does not satisfy the Positive Response Due Date requirement for Call Centers - a Positive Response Due Date requirement may only be satisfied by issuing a positive response to the call center's positive response service prior to the ticket's Positive Response Due Date.

Finally, it is important to note that some Call Centers require written notice to the excavator while others require mutual agreement for rescheduling to take place.

Figure 8: Rescheduling a Ticket Changes its Locate Completion Due Date