Take a Test Article Library CEEJ Home Submit an Article Contact CEEJ
Article # 0043
Facilities Data
Acquisition and Management Considerations on Electric Distribution Systems
Kevin Perry, PE
Background and
Overview
Electric distribution was once a fairly simple matter of serving power to
customers within a finite geographical area under the authority of a single
entity. Today multiple electric distribution companies may simultaneously serve
the same geographic areas and intermix with numerous other utility and
communication suppliers in what is becoming a very finite facilities space and
difficult to acquire. The unique risks, asset management, record keeping, and
cooperation challenges have far surpassed the ability of manual methods of
meeting these challenges, thus utilities have been forced to move to digital
mediums to keep pace.
One of the greatest advances in meeting a utilities needs is the implementation
of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This, "smart map", technology offers
cutting edge tools which impact almost every area of operation from yearly
taxation on installed plant to the efficient direction of service personnel on a
minute to minute basis. While on the surface these systems can appear to be
costly they have proven their value by revealing the high cost of manual and
duplicated information gathering by multiple departments. The failure to
retain, in a useable format, the data, which is only beginning to be recognized
as a bookable asset, has cost untold millions in operating costs as retiring
employees have left the company with the only copy of the information in their
heads.
While GIS offers great promise company employees quickly become frustrated when
faced with the reality that the usefulness of these systems is directly
proportional to the quality of the data contained in the database. This has
created a market for vendors capable of delivering spatially accurate field
inventories accompanied by information about the physical environment with
respect to other utilities, structures, vegetation, and terrain. This paper
will seek to cover broad considerations necessary to accomplish successful data
gathering with emphasis on the early stages of specification design.
Questions to
Ask
What do we gather and just how accurate does it need to be? As long as
companies employ both those utilizing the data and those responsible for the
fiscal health of the organization this question will be an ongoing battle.
Information gathering is labor intensive or put more simply, expensive.
Managers who desire to get the largest return on their investment would be wise
to seek outside advice on this question when trying to determine whose argument
to believe.
Those employees utilizing the data must be required to present well researched
proposals stating the needs, pros and cons, realistic cost estimates, and
returns on the varying levels of quantity and accuracy available in the market
today. Equipment that can deliver centimeter accuracy on the physical location
of an asset is available and the list of what can be collected is endless.
Savings should not only offset the cost but eventually show a positive impact on
the bottom line. Be wary of proposals that lean too heavily on intangibles such
as improved customer service.
The systems being proposed have definitely had enough time in the field for real
cost benefit information to be available for those willing to do the homework.
This homework must take into account the phenomenon of, "we chose it therefore
we better tell a positive story." Make sure the person that is responsible for
running and maintaining the system is one of those interviewed. Their version
can be quite different than the manager's version at the recent trade gathering.
What do we do first, pick the repository system or collect the data? The
capabilities of the currently available systems must definitely be taken into
account but many companies have made the mistake of not looking forward far
enough. Before actual request for proposal discussions begin taking advantage
of vendors' willingness to brag about what is coming. Remember, the repository
system will last five, maybe ten years if you are fortunate but the data will be
the foundation for the next fifty years. Ask end users what questions they
would like the system to be able to answer and consider collecting data that may
not be useful to the currently available systems but would be necessary for
future calculations.
System vendors will generally try to convince prospects that they must pick the
system first and collection vendors will argue it's not necessary.
Unfortunately, both of them are right. You may not need to acquire the system
prior to collection but it's paramount that you know the systems' formats and
how easily data can be moved between different systems. This is important not
only for your in-house needs but plays heavily into data sharing considerations
with those entities with whom you would like to cooperate. Many horror stories
still echo from companies that realized too late they had chosen a highly
proprietary data storage format which caused data conversion and sharing to
become cost prohibitive.
Bottom line is the more educated your in-house staff or trusted consultant the
more flexibility you will have in this chicken and egg exercise. GIS
professionals with multiple format experience will be capable of making data
design and format decisions without a specific vendor selected. If this is your
company's first experience with digital data gathering then a trusted vendor may
be the best way to stay clear of the pitfalls.
What is the vision for long term deployment? Who do you envision using this
system? If you are a small company (say 100 employees or less) you will
probably not be set up to have a large support staff to assist each department
and therefore end user's may have to be fairly proficient in the use of the
GIS. Large companies who can afford GIS support staff to assist other
departments in data management and manipulation may be able to operate with
minimal training and proficiency at the end user level. Most of the systems
today have user interfaces friendly enough to allow almost anyone capable of
opening and closing an application on their computer desktop to perform the
navigate, pan, zoom, and query level of a GIS.
Initially companies were concerned that their employees would be slow to accept
GIS technology but experience has proven that even employees who did not
normally use a computer at work had done enough surfing at home to quickly
master their daily needs from the GIS. Operations personnel given the
opportunity to leverage mobile based digital information quickly become
dependent on the computers and maintenance and support become a resource
challenge. Companies should plan for at least one support position for every
fifty end users.
Don't underestimate the appetite that will develop for smaller wireless access
to the system or the positive impact it can have on operations. Discuss, early
in the process, which employees may need special, real time access to the system
and figure in costs for wireless data plans and support services from third
party communication vendors. Personnel performing on-site customer service and
responding to non-planned requests should be considered even before supervisors
due to the cost savings possible.
Final Thoughts
A classical mistake in this digital age is the assumption that because something
is possible then it must be desirable. We too often let the vendors decide what
we need. Data should never be warehoused unless there is a need for its
mining. Begin the task by asking the front line employees what their pains
are. Follow this by determining what they, and you, would like to be
different. Finally go to the market and see if others have solved the same
problem with your desired result. If you decide you must be the first to tackle
the challenge resist the urge to "figure out" the solution to your problem
before you ask those most knowledgeable what would be the best way to achieve
the results you desire. It is easy to go beyond giving the experts the inputs
and desired outputs and when we do they generally try to comply, whether it is
in our best interest or not.
Biography
Kevin Perry is a registered professional engineer in the states of Georgia and
Alabama. He obtained a Bachelors of Electrical Engineering from Auburn
University and worked for over ten years in engineering departments with
electrical distributors before moving into utility GIS software development and
implementations with a leading vendor. He now does free lance engineering work
with distributors and vendors from his home in Madison, AL.
Article # 0043 TEST QUESTIONS: Coming Soon
Take a Test Article Library CEEJ Home Submit an Article Contact CEEJ