Dawn of a New Era for Electric Utilities

Enterprise solutions for the management of spatial resources and assets provide
organizations with the means to work efficiently. With the changes to energy services,
electrical utilities are increasingly discovering the advancements made in geographic
information system (GIS) technology that can enable them to compete in an efficient
manner.
There is a greater urgency for hydroelectric companies to manage
their inventory and distribution system assets more efficiently. In
addition, municipalities are exerting pressure on their local electric
utilities to operate more openly within the municipal framework.
GIS Solution for Sarnia Hydro
Recognizing the benefits of a common technology for managing their
electrical assets, Sarnia Hydro, with the assistance of J.D. Barnes
Limited, started implementing an enterprise-wide Auto-mated
Mapping/Facilities Management (AM/FM) GIS solution.
Bordering Port Huron, Michigan, the City of Sarnia is in the heart of
Ontarios Petrochemical Industry. Sarnia Hydro, with more than 30,000
customers, has embraced ESRI Canadas ArcFM as a means to manage
their business more efficiently. This is enabling Sarnia Hydro to work
towards becoming a regional service bureau for geographic
information management.
Their vision includes enabling distributed and web-based GIS, and
ensuring that their residential and commercial customers have access
to the most accurate information about their hydro usage and the
condition of their system.
Sarnia Hydros implementation is structured in 4 phases, each of
which includes another layer of integrated technology and a defined
set of custom applications. The completion of phase one has seen
Sarnia Hydro implement multiple ArcFM editing seats including
custom placement routines, an operational rulebase and pilot data
created by J.D. Barnes.
"Sarnia Hydro's approach of fully integrating AM/FM/GIS technology
into their daily operations is enabling them to use and better manage
their assets while at the same time, responding to customer needs,"
says Harold Miller, Utilities Industry Manager, ESRI Canada, Ontario
Region. "This is facilitating seamless access to all corporate systems,
including SCADA and customer information systems."
A Best-In-Class Approach
Momentum for ESRI Canadas solutions for utilities continues to grow.
Just recently, Nova Scotia Power Inc. (NSPI) selected ESRI Canada to
provide it with an integrated, industry-leading technology solution.
The project, estimated to be worth $11 million, will see the
implementation of geographic information systems (GIS); an outage
management system (OMS) and computer aided scheduling and
dispatch (CDS) technology.
"Our agreement with Nova Scotia Power Inc. extends beyond a simple
implementation of technologies and services," says Alex Miller,
President, ESRI Canada. "This project is an essential component in

ESRI Canadas overall strategy to be the dominant GIS provider in the

utility market across Canada."
As part of the project, ESRI Canada is teaming up with Minneapolis,
Minnesota-based CES International and Utility Partners (UP) from
Tampa, Florida, to deliver technologies and services that dramatically
improve asset management, outage management and scheduling
customer appointments.
"We took a best-in-class approach," says John Fraser, planning
specialist, Nova Scotia Power Inc. "After a significant evaluation
process, we are confident that the technology from CES, Utility
Partners, and ESRI will meet our corporate needs and increase our
ability to provide optimum service to our customers."
The first phase of the contract will focus primarily on outage
management incorporating the Centricity operations resource
management suite from CES International. Centricity will tie customer
premise data and incoming calls regarding power outages into a realtime, electric network model based on ArcInfo 8. With this
information, Nova Scotia Power operations centre personnel and
dispatchers will have a comprehensive view of power outages in a
graphical format. Armed with up-to-date outage information at their
fingertips, they can then dispatch and manage fieldwork crews
conducting outage repairs in the safest and fastest way.
"The primary driver of the GIS is to facilitate the use of our Outage
Management System," says David McKay, GIS project lead, Nova
Scotia Power Inc. "To do that, we have to migrate our connectivity
model into the GIS database. We will then link our customers to the
connectivity model. GIS will give us tremendous analysis and mapping
capabilities that will increase our network efficiency and service
reliability."
An additional component of phase one will see Utility Partners
implement MobileUP and a customer appointment-setting (CAS)
system. MobileUP, a computer-aided dispatching system, is a tool for
scheduling and dispatching customer service orders, inspections and
trouble/outage work types to the field. MobileUPs versatile modules
will allow NSPI planners to efficiently allocate work to the available
field resources. The CAS system is a table-driven application that
enables NSPI customer service representatives to set appointments
with customers based upon the resource availability and defined
parameters.
The combination of MobileUP and CAS will provide NSPI with the
necessary tools to continue to optimize its work force efficiencies
while providing quality customer services. Nova Scotia Powers
business rules will define and drive the parameters used in both
MobileUP and CAS for managing field activities. These parameters can
be re-configured dynamically to support their business goals and
objectives providing the flexibility needed to operate in today's utility
market.
Improving Day-to-Day Operations
Sarnia Hydro is already demonstrating how enterprise technologies
like ArcFM can improve the day-to-day operations for utilities and

ultimately better position them in a competitive market. This project

has also enabled ESRI Canada to solidify a method of implementing
AM/FM/GIS solutions to facilitate rapid integration and ease of use.
J.D. Barnes is working in partnership with ESRI Canada to develop a
standard electrical model based on ArcFM. The model, primarily
designed for Ontario's hydroelectric utilities, is based on input from
industry, engineering and operations staff. It also takes into account
J.D. Barnes' extensive experience with records conversion, and ESRI
Canada's software expertise.
A work in progress, this standard will be adaptable to all utilities,
providing a full and intuitive connectivity model to allow for network
analysis, implemented and representative business rules, and enable
a consistent and simple interface for maintaining and viewing asset
information. ET