Developing our budget estimating tool

We engaged with stakeholders and seek feedback to develop our budget estimating tool

We launched our industry award-winning AutoDesign tool in January 2020, and since that time the tool has been used to generate more than 2,000 free of charge budget estimates.

AutoDesign helps users to identify the most viable and cost-effective locations to connect to our low voltage (LV) network and can reduce the time it takes to get an indicative cost for the connection, from
10 working days to just 10 minutes. During
lockdown, our stakeholders told us they
found AutoDesign particularly useful, as it
enabled them to progress projects whilst
working remotely.
Our stakeholders have been involved at
every stage in AutoDesign’s development,
taking part in user acceptance testing
prior to the launch, and providing valuable
feedback over the past 14 months that
has helped us to continually improve the
functionality of the tool.
We have been proactively seeking
feedback from our stakeholders
throughout the course of the ICE plan
year, to ensure we are developing
AutoDesign in line with their current and
future needs. This activity included:
— we sent an email to stakeholders in
April 2020, reminding them that they
could use AutoDesign to progress
projects while working from home;
— we hosted a dedicated AutoDesign
workshop for ICPs and IDNOs where
we discussed developing the tool’s
functionality to meet their specific
requirements;
— we hosted an AutoDesign
demonstration and Q&A as part of our
Innovation Festival in August 2020;
— we hosted our first co-creation
workshop and invited frequent
AutoDesign users and those
stakeholders who participated in user
acceptance testing to take part; and
— we issued an email to connections
stakeholders, explaining the benefits
of using AutoDesign and seeking
feedback to inform the future
development of the tool.
“The tool has been very good and the quick turnaround has
helped us especially when we need to get quotations. “
Highway Service Provider
“I think we mapped about 250 EV potential sites during
lockdown and we could use the AutoDesign tool to say no
we’re definitely not going there, it’s far too much money, so
that was a bonus for us.”
Local Authority stakeholder
“I think from my point of view, this tool its already broken
ground, no other DNO is even close to being able to do this.
So I think, congratulations to NPg. I know we’re here today to
help them improve it even further, but no other DNO is close.”
IDNO representative
Outcome delivered: Our stakeholders said...
By working with our
stakeholders, we were able
to co-create and shape the
future functionality and use
cases for our AutoDesign tool.
Our first co-creation workshop was an
opportunity to engage with a diverse
group of AutoDesign users, seek their
informed feedback and give them the
opportunity to shape the next stages of
AutoDesign’s development.
Feedback from this session was that most
were using AutoDesign as an optioneering
tool and saw benefits in being able to
self-serve and perform their own upfront
assessments. They told us they wanted
to be able to map multiple scenarios and
would like to be able to use AutoDesign
for new generation connections and to
make modifications to existing ones.
Local Authority users were also interested
in whether AutoDesign could be used to
drive forward their decarbonisation plans
and specifically, whether it could be used
assess the feasibility of retrofitting heat
pumps in existing domestic and social
housing properties.
In total, we estimate that we engaged
with >6,600 stakeholders during the
ICE plan year. The insights we received
informed our thinking on future use
cases for AutoDesign and will shape
development of the tool now, and into the
RIIO-ED2 period.
We continue to engage with stakeholders
and encourage their feedback on
AutoDesign’s functionality and usability.
Following requests from stakeholders, we
will be delivering training and developing
online tutorials on how to use, access and
interpret the data that is available from
AutoDesign. This action is being delivered
as part of our 2021/22 ICE Looking Forward
work plan.