Meet the Client
Western Virginia Water Authority serves over 69,000 customers across three counties with essential water and wastewater services. Their service area includes growing residential communities, expanding businesses, and rural properties that depend on reliable utility connections. For families moving into new homes and businesses setting up operations, getting water service installed quickly matters. The Authority’s team understood this. What they didn’t have was a system that matched their commitment to speed and service.
Daily Detour: Drowning in Spreadsheets and Phone Calls
When good intentions get buried in busywork
The process for new utility service installations was what the Utility Billing Supervisor called “an impossibly complicated process.” Residents and businesses requesting new water or sewer connections had no way to check their application status. Staff tracked every request in Excel spreadsheets that needed constant manual updates. The challenge touched multiple departments. Engineering had to review specifications. Field Operations needed to calculate costs and approve installations. Billing had to generate invoices. Customer service fielded countless status calls.
Between all these handoffs, critical details got lost. Customers called repeatedly, asking where their request stood or providing information teams had already requested. Staff spent hours on phone tag and email chains just trying to coordinate basic installations. One department would finish their part, then manually notify the next team. The Excel sheets grew. The phone calls multiplied. Meanwhile, customers waited. New homeowners couldn’t move in on schedule. Businesses delayed their openings.
The manual coordination created gaps that frustrated everyone involved. Internal teams lacked visibility into other departments’ progress. Customers felt ignored when they couldn’t get straight answers about timing. The Authority knew every stakeholder in this process deserved better. But improving service delivery meant fixing a workflow that spanned multiple teams and touched both internal operations and external communications.
The Solution: Seven Steps That Actually Connect
Building workflows that work like your team does
Western Virginia Water Authority partnered with MCCi to build a Laserfiche solution that connects every step of their service installation process. Instead of separate systems for each department, they created one digital workflow that guides requests from submission through completion. Here’s how it works now:
Request Submission: Customers complete an online form with their service details anytime that’s convenient for them. No more waiting for business hours to start the process.
Internal Review: Engineering staff receive automatic notifications and use internal Laserfiche forms to define the project scope and calculate initial costs. Everything stays in one system instead of scattered across emails.
Approval Process: Field Operations teams review and approve cost estimates through the same workflow. No more hunting for information or waiting for spreadsheet updates.
Customer Notification: The system automatically generates invoices and sends them to customers. No manual steps. No delays.
Installation Coordination: Field Operations water and sewer teams get automated alerts to schedule their work. Everyone knows what needs to happen next.
Status Updates: All parties can check the current status directly in the system. Customers get real-time visibility. Staff get fewer interruption calls.
Project Completion: Final documentation files automatically in Laserfiche where it’s accessible for future reference or regulatory needs.
The difference between before and after shows up in every interaction. Where staff once made manual entries in Excel, the system now routes work automatically to engineering. Where teams sent interdepartmental emails and made phone calls, Laserfiche forms capture scope and cost in structured data. Where approvals got stuck waiting for responses, automated workflows keep things moving. Where invoices required manual preparation and sending, the system handles it instantly. Where customers called repeatedly for updates, they now check status themselves through the portal. Where teams coordinated installations through scattered email threads, automated notifications tell everyone exactly when to schedule work. Where final paperwork disappeared into shared drives, documents file themselves in organized repositories.
The Solution: Faster Service Starts with Better Systems
What happens when technology actually helps
For Customers: Convenience and Visibility
Residents and businesses can now request new utility service installations anytime through the online form. The Program Manager for Customer Service and Billing Operations explained the impact: “The online form allows customers to reach us at their convenience, which isn’t always Monday through Friday 8-5pm. It also allows customers to provide all appropriate information so follow-up calls or emails are not necessary and the work can get done quicker.”
After submitting requests, customers receive automatic confirmation emails. The status checking portal lets them see progress in real time without calling staff. Less waiting. Less uncertainty. Less frustration.
For Staff: Everything in One Place
Internal forms replaced Excel spreadsheets for managing scope of work and calculating costs. The approval workflow ensures proper review happens before customers receive invoices. Automated notifications keep everyone informed based on their specific role in the process. All project documentation stays in one accessible location instead of scattered across email attachments and network drives.
The Billing Supervisor captured the transformation: “This new workflow has greatly improved efficiencies and nearly eliminated gaps in communication. When requests are updated, notifications are automated, keeping the customer and the Authority informed and saving time.”
Staff who once spent hours coordinating handoffs now focus on actually completing the work. Engineers define scopes faster when they’re not waiting for information. Field teams schedule installations more efficiently when alerts tell them exactly what’s ready. Customer service representatives answer questions confidently because they can see the same status updates customers see.