South Carolina: 2011 State Damage Prevention Program

Main Objective

This project will:

1. Develop and implement methods for effective communication
2. Foster support and partnership with stakeholders
3. Support a Damage Prevention Education Program for industry stakeholders
4. Support Public Awareness and Stakeholder Education

Public Abstract

ELEMENT 1 - EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONS: With further assistance, PUPS can provide improved methods for communicating to all parties involved in the one-call process. PUPS would like to enhance communication by adding positive response to our system.
ELEMENT 2 - COMPREHENSIVE STAKEHOLDER SUPPORT: PUPS will be able to greatly improve the number of new members that we are able to attain. PUPS would like to create a DVD about the benefits of membership that can be sent out to utilities that are not members with PUPS.
ELEMENT 4 - EFFECTIVE EMPLOYEE TRAINING: PUPS can provide better training materials to remote users. PUPS would like to create a video that can be accessed by remote users who have questions while entering a ticket.
ELEMENT 5 - PUBLIC EDUCATION: PUPS would like to advertise on television covering all the major areas of the state including Columbia, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, and Greenville along with several of the mid size markets such as Florence, Rock Hill, and Aiken. PUPS would also like to create two new television commercials that are more eye-catching than our current spot.
ELEMENT 8 - TECHNOLOGY: PUPS would be able to have at-home CSRs like many other one-call centers are doing. Adding the Virtual Private Network (VPN) to our network would allow redundancy for when we experience inclement weather so that employees would not have to travel under bad conditions. According to other one-call centers who use VPN, employees morale improves if they were able to work from home a few days a week.
ELEMENT 9 - DAMAGE PREVENTION PROGRAM REVIEW: Reviewing and analyzing the effectiveness of each program at PUPS is a number one priority.