Business Applications

  What's A Business Application System?

A business application system is a group of computer programs that work together to help people perform the functions they need to do to be good at their jobs and carry out their business. 

Applications are what programmers write to make computer hardware useful.  Without applications, computers wouldn't be able to perform even simple functions, or display any information to people. 

  What Can Business Applications Do?

Business applications can do almost anything that people can imagine and programmers can write them to do!  There are many different types of business application systems to help people do different tasks.  For instance, there are applications that:

• help calculate pay amounts and print paychecks;
• help prepare budgets and track expenses against revenues; and
• monitor work orders and help crews determine which repair they should do next. 

These Web pages you are viewing are a business application.

  What Applications Does Norfolk Utilities Use?

Norfolk's Department of Utilities uses many different applications to help carry out the business of the utility.

Some of them are "packages", application systems that are written for general purpose functions, such as payroll, and sold by vendors to many different businesses. 

Division of Technology programmers install these packages and help other people in Utilities use them. 

The rest of the business applications are "custom systems", designed and developed by programmer/analysts in the Division of Technology. 

Some of the applications used in Utilities include:

• Advantage Financials (AFIN) - financial management and accounting
• Computer-Aided Design (CAD) - blueprints and drawings
• Departmental Budget Request System (DBRS) - budgeting calculation and monitoring
• FrontPage - one of many tools used to design and develop Web pages
• Geographic Information System (GIS) - physical infrastructure management and mapping
• Global Positioning System (GPS) - asset and infrastructure location
• Hansen Information Management System - work order and asset management
• Hampton Roads Utility Billing System (HRUBS) - joint billing system with Hampton Roads Sanitation District
• LaserFiche - document management
• Operator Log Book - water treatment plant operator activities
• Peoplesoft - payroll and personnel management
• Pump Station Manager - wastewater pump station information
• Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) - production and process system control, monitoring and reporting
• Turbidity Analysis - water treatment process monitoring
• Utility Billing and Information System (UBIS) - retail and wholesale water and wastewater customer account data
• Vibration Analysis - equipment monitoring
• Water Analysis Data System (WADS) - water quality compliance with Federal and State regulations

For more information about the Water Technology group, please call (757)441-5678.