Missouri One Call System, in close collaboration with One Call Concepts, has released a new “Advanced Ticketing” tool that is designed to aid excavators, project managers, One Call operators, and locators, when planning future excavations, throughout the state of Missouri.
Previously, excavators were required to enter a Locate Request online or via phone 3 to 10 days in advance of starting their dig project. The 3-day limitation is imposed by law and has not changed with the new Advanced Ticketing tool. However, the 10-day limitation caused several scheduling concerns with excavators who are trying to forecast jobs weeks or months in advance. Additionally, the 10-day limitation also resulted in schedules and project planners having to place re-locate requests when the project timeline was postponed. These delays place an avoidable burden on the One Call operators and utility locators to keep up with increased demand.
The advantage of the new Advanced Ticketing tool is that it allows schedulers to plan out projects during the planning process, often months in advance of breaking ground. When utilizing the Advanced Ticketing tool, users can place locate requests in a ‘tentative’ status and will receive an automatic email notification 7 days in advance of the project start date that was entered in the ITIC system. When the notification is received, the user will be prompted to either submit the locate request, edit the request, or delete it altogether. From here, the scheduler can proceed with finalizing the locate as their excavation plans dictate.
Leaders in the industry should encourage their teams to utilize the Advance Ticketing tool to increase overall productivity, resulting in better, more accurate locates. In turn, this makes excavation sites safer and project timelines more compact. To find out more about the Advance Ticket tool, please visit http://mo.itic.occinc.com/MOinfo/training/mo_advance/index.html or contact MOCS at 573-635-1818.
