Overview#
A field supervisor dispatches a crew to replace a failed transformer. Before the truck rolls, a parts clerk checks the inventory and finds they have only one 50 kVA transformer in stock, which is below the reorder point. She flags it for procurement, confirms availability, and the crew leaves with everything they need. When they return, the consumed parts are logged against the work order and the cost rolls up automatically to the job record. That end-to-end material traceability is what the Utility Inventory domain provides.
The domain manages a parts catalog for utility organisations and tracks material usage against work orders. It supports 16 part categories across electric, water, and gas utilities with inventory management features including par levels, reorder points, supplier tracking, and cost management. All inventory data is stored in PostgreSQL with multi-tenant organisation isolation.
Key Features#
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Parts Catalog: Maintain a comprehensive parts catalog with 16 categories spanning pipe fittings, transformers, meters, wire and cable, valves, fuses, poles, and more across electric, water, and gas utilities.
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Inventory Management: Track par levels, reorder points, and reorder quantities for each part to maintain optimal stock levels and prevent stockouts.
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Material Usage Tracking: Record material consumption against work orders with quantity and cost tracking, creating a clear link between parts used and the work performed.
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Cost Management: Track unit costs and automatically calculate material costs per work order, providing detailed cost breakdowns for job costing and budget management.
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Low Stock Alerts: Automatically identify parts that have fallen below their reorder point with deficit calculations to support timely procurement decisions.
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Supplier Management: Record supplier information and supplier part numbers for each catalog item to make the procurement process faster and more reliable.
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Serialised Part Tracking: Flag parts that require individual serial number tracking for compliance, warranty, and asset management purposes.
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Parts Statistics: View catalog summaries including total parts, active items, and serialised part counts for inventory management oversight.
Mermaid Diagram#
Use Cases#
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Electric Utilities: Determine material requirements for upcoming work orders and verify stock availability before dispatching crews to avoid return trips and delays.
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Water & Gas Utilities: Use low stock alerts and reorder point data to generate purchase orders and maintain adequate inventory levels for emergency repair scenarios.
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Field Operations: Calculate accurate material costs per work order by recording consumed parts with unit pricing for financial reporting and regulatory cost recovery documentation.
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Asset Management: Analyse usage patterns and stock levels to adjust par levels and reorder points for optimal inventory investment across seasonal maintenance cycles.
Integration#
The Utility Inventory domain supports field operations across the platform:
- Work Order Management: Material usage records link to work orders.
- Utility Infrastructure: Parts catalog aligns with infrastructure asset types.
- Reporting: Material cost data feeds into financial and operational reports.
- Analytics: Usage patterns contribute to procurement planning dashboards.
Open Standards#
- GraphQL (June 2018 Specification): All parts catalogue queries and mutations, material usage recording, low-stock alerts, and cost summaries are served through a typed GraphQL API, enabling interoperable client integrations against a well-defined schema.
- OAuth 2.0 (RFC 6749) / JSON Web Tokens (RFC 7519): Every inventory operation is gated by RS256-signed JWT bearer-token authentication, following the OAuth 2.0 authorisation framework for tenant-scoped access control.
- IEC 61968 (Common Information Model, Distribution Network Management): The parts catalogue categories (transformers, meters, switches, regulators, fuses, valves) align with the IEC CIM asset taxonomy used across electric, water, and gas distribution utilities.
- ISO 55000 / ISO 55001 (Asset Management): Par-level thresholds, reorder-point tracking, and serialised-part lifecycle flags follow the systematic asset-management principles defined in the ISO 55000 series.
- ISO 8601 (Date and Time Representations): All timestamps, part creation, material usage recording, cost summaries, are stored and exchanged as ISO 8601-formatted datetime values.
- RFC 4122 (Universally Unique Identifiers): Every parts catalogue entry, work order material record, and organisation isolation boundary uses UUID v4 identifiers conforming to RFC 4122.
- JSON (RFC 8259): Extensible metadata on parts catalogue entries and usage records is stored and exchanged as JSON, enabling flexible attributes without schema migration.
Last Reviewed: 2026-02-24 Last Updated: 2026-04-14