Eliminate Data Gaps and Disconnected Systems for Optimized Information and Improved Decision Making
For electric and gas utilities, water and wastewater providers, and the field operations leaders who run them, data matters now more than ever. Utilities around the world rely on enterprise systems and mobile applications to perform daily work, from scheduling to long-term infrastructure planning, construction, asset maintenance, repair and replacement.
Yet for many organizations, the ability to capture, validate and distribute accurate field data to the right business units remains an unsolved challenge. Field crews use one app, GIS teams use another, work management lives in a third system and the back office is perpetually catching up with what happened days, weeks or even months past.
TRC’s Lemur mobile mapping solution was built to solve this problem. As a single, enterprise-grade platform that unifies GIS, work order management and asset documentation into one seamless field experience Lemur closes the loop between field crews and every department that depends on their data. The result is faster, more accurate decision-making across field operations, engineering, compliance, customer service and beyond.
The Challenges: Why Getting Data to the Right Teams Is So Hard
Field operations teams at utilities are caught in a difficult position. On one side, they face mounting pressure to be faster, safer, more compliant and more cost-efficient. On the other, they work with technology ecosystems that were never designed to communicate with one another. The result is a persistent, compounding set of challenges that undermines data quality and decision-making across the entire organization.
The most visible problem is app and system overload. Over years of digital transformation, utilities have accumulated enterprise resource planning (ERP), enterprise asset management (EAM) and work order management systems (WMS) platforms alongside dozens of point solutions for specific field use cases.
Field technicians navigate this patchwork of tools, reentering data across systems and copy-and-pasting between interfaces. Each redundant step introduces errors, and each disconnected handoff creates information gaps that cascade downstream, leading to data quality failures. When no single trusted source of truth exists, those gaps persist and distort work order management, maintenance planning and GIS records. Research estimates that poor data quality costs organizations an average of $12.9 million per year, largely driven by siloed, fragmented data environments common across the utility sector.
Paper-based and PDF-based processes compound the problem. Despite significant investment in digital tools, as-built documentation and field redlines still rely on physical paperwork in many utility organizations. Backlogs grow. Back-office teams spend valuable time reconciling incomplete records, and as-built delays stretch from weeks to months.
Connectivity is another major obstacle. Most GIS and mapping tools require a stable internet connection, but field crews often work in remote or low-signal environments. When connectivity drops, productivity falls and technicians resort to paper forms or incomplete digital records that must be reconciled later.
Perhaps the greatest challenge involves the disconnect between GIS and work management systems. Map data sits in isolation from work orders and asset records, leaving field workers without context and back-office teams without real-time visibility. Every time data moves between these systems via extract, transform and load (ETL) or manual imports, it passes through a digital “handshake risk,” a point where inaccuracies can be introduced or data lost. Industry research shows that over 87% of organizations struggle with disconnected data sources, leading directly to inefficiencies in operations and decision-making. For utilities running large field programs, these risks number in the hundreds of thousands per day.
Key challenges facing utility field operations today include:
- Fragmented IT environments and app overload force redundant data entry and create information gaps across enterprise systems.
- Data quality failures that cascade from the field into engineering, compliance, customer service and executive decision-making.
- Paper-based field processes that delay as-built documentation—sometimes by more than a year—create compliance and liability exposure.
- Lack of offline capability halts productivity in low-signal environments and forces error-prone workarounds.
- Disconnected GIS and work management systems prevent field crews and back-office teams from sharing a single, real-time view of operations.
The Solution: How Lemur Gets the Right Data to the Right Teams
Lemur is an enterprise-grade mobile mapping solution that eliminates fragmentation and data quality failures that impede utility operations. By unifying GIS, work order management and asset documentation on a single field platform, Lemur delivers accurate, timely data to every team, enabling confident action. As part of TRC’s broader portfolio, which includes our IT/OT Advisory Consulting Services and Modern Geospatial Solutions practice, Lemur represents the operational edge of a connected, data-driven utility enterprise.
One App, One Source of Truth
Lemur replaces the patchwork of disconnected tools with a single mobile experience for every field task—work order execution, asset inspection, new asset creation, as-built documentation, and GIS data capture. By connecting directly to SAP, Salesforce, IBM Maximo and other leading WMS and EAM platforms, Lemur routes every field edit to the system of record.
No ETL, no middleware, no manual import. Every update made in the field is immediately reflected in the enterprise systems the rest of the organization depends on, eliminating redundant data entry and ensuring every department works from the same set of facts.
Offline-First Design
Lemur was built offline-first, so the full field experience, including maps, basemaps, asset records, work orders, GIS layers and forms, is available regardless of network connectivity. There is no degraded mode or stripped-down fallback. When a crew member works in a remote corridor, a substation, or a low-signal urban environment, data access remains uninterrupted.
Once connectivity is restored, all updates sync automatically. For utility organizations where remote and low-signal work is a daily reality, this capability is essential for consistent data quality and field productivity.
On-Device Data Governance from the System of Record
Lemur enforces data governance rules directly on the device, using the system of record as the source. Every field data entry, such as new asset creation, inspection grade, location update, or as-built record, is validated at the point of entry against the same business rules that govern enterprise systems.
Invalid entries are flagged before they leave the field. Required fields cannot be skipped. No other mobile mapping solution on the market delivers on-device data governance directly from the system of record. As a result, data errors are caught in the field, and the quality of information flowing into GIS and WMS systems improves from day one.
Digital As-Built and Redlining Tools
Lemur replaces paper-based as-built and redlining workflows with a fully digital, GPS-accurate alternative. Field crews mark up interactive maps, propose location changes with precision, scan barcodes of installed equipment, and capture photo documentation—all from a single device.
Completed as-built records can be submitted to the back office the same day work is completed, reducing the backlog from months to hours. For engineering and design teams, pre-construction survey data and post-construction documentation arrive digitally, eliminating multiple rounds of clarification. For compliance teams, this means accurate, time-stamped, defensible records of every installation from the moment work is completed.
Seamless Workflow Fusion Between GIS and WMS
Lemur bridges the divide between modern geospatial solutions, such as Esri’s ArcGIS Utility Network, and work management by integrating spatial and operational data into a unified field experience. Workers can launch Lemur from within their existing WMS or EAM application and immediately see work orders, asset records and GIS layers in a map view.
From the same map, they can complete inspections, create work orders, document repairs and close out jobs without switching apps. Back-office teams gain real-time visibility into field activity and crew locations. Schedulers make faster, more confident decisions.
Configurable, Use-Case-Focused Design
Lemur is configured for each organization’s workflows, roles and data requirements. A vegetation management crew sees only the tools and map layers relevant to their program. An inspection team sees an interface optimized for their tasks. A construction crew sees exactly what they need to accurately document new installations.
This role-based configurability reduces training time, ensures high adoption across large field workforces and keeps the application fast on mobile devices. When field workers see only what is relevant to their role, they complete work faster and with greater accuracy.
Consistent Symbology and Fast Data Exchange
Lemur uses consistent, ArcGIS-based symbology throughout its interface, providing field crews and back-office GIS teams with a shared visual language. Updates made in the field appear in back-office GIS systems in near real time, eliminating data latency and ensuring all stakeholders work from a current picture.
This shared map language also reduces the correction burden on GIS teams. Cleaner data arrives faster, dramatically reducing the volume of rectification work typically required after field data collection.
Accurate Data Fueling Daily Business Operations and Decision Making
All of Lemur’s capabilities converge on one outcome: accurate data captured at the source and reliably flowing to every business unit that depends on it. Schedulers gain real-time visibility into field progress. Operations managers see live updates to work orders and inspection results. GIS teams receive cleaner data and can confidently answer location-based questions. IT teams benefit from reduced app sprawl and the elimination of costly ETL middleware. Compliance teams gain defensible digital records of all field activity.
At the executive level, VPs of field operations and line-of-business leaders gain the reliable, current data they need to make decisions, from daily scheduling to long-range capital planning. Accurate source data elevates the performance of the entire organization.
Benefits Achieved
Organizations that deploy Lemur see measurable improvements across every department that touches field data, from crews in the field to executives in the boardroom. By replacing fragmented, error-prone processes with a governed, real-time data flow, Lemur delivers better business outcomes.
Improved data quality and integrity: On-device validation at the point of entry eliminates field data errors and handshake risks before data enters enterprise systems.
Streamlined operations and business functions: A unified platform reduces redundant workflows and accelerates every process that relies on field data.
Better, more reliable decision-making: Leaders gain access to accurate, timely field data that supports confident, well-informed decisions.
Higher field crew productivity: Pre-populated forms, offline capability and map-centric work orders enable crews to complete more jobs per day.
Faster time-to-record for new assets: Same-day digital as-builting means newly installed infrastructure enters the system of record within hours, not months, empowering 811 responders.
Reduced IT complexity and total cost of ownership: Fewer apps, no ETL middleware and native enterprise integrations lower overhead cost and technical debt, easing the burden on IT.
Enhanced worker safety: Real-time spatial awareness of nearby assets, hazards and colleagues supports safer field decisions and operations.
Stronger regulatory compliance: Accurate, timestamped digital records flowing directly into the system of record make compliance reporting faster and more defensible.
Faster emergency response and outage restoration: Offline data capture during storm events accelerates damage documentation, repair scheduling and customer notifications.
Why Select TRC’s Lemur
For utilities looking to improve how their departments optimize field data, look no further. Lemur is the only mobile mapping solution that combines an offline-first architecture, on-device data governance from the system of record, ArcGIS-native symbology and zero-ETL enterprise integration into a single, configurable platform. It delivers the right data to the right departments, reliably, at scale, every day.
Backed by TRC’s deep expertise in GIS, field service and utility business systems, Lemur is proven across field forces ranging from hundreds to tens of thousands of workers. Built on a clean, enterprise-grade data architecture, it also enables organizations to adopt emerging technologies, such as AI, predictive analytics, and digital twins, without the burden of accumulated technical debt.
Learn more about how to get the right data to the right business units with Lemur mobile mapping.
