Electric Energy T&D - Index

Electric Energy T&D - EEMag May June 2008 - Index

do you suggest that utilities should be looking
for the best opportunities to realize benefits
and capitalize on those investments?
French: Let me begin by giving you a general
overview of how Intergraph sees some of the
key elements fitting into the grand scheme of
things; then, Mark can probably drill down to
some of the more technical details…
Rising consumer demands, environmental
concerns, security and the need to work
smarter, faster and more efficiently are all
foremost on utility executives’ minds these
days. The potential for extracting real value
from past investments in automation and
information technology relates not only to
geospatial technology platforms but to many
other aspects of a utility’s automation/IT
infrastructure as well. Intergraph believes
that mobility is one of the most important
areas where real-world benefits and a
tangible return on investment can be realized
from geospatial platforms when these tools
are properly integrated and utilized.
EET&D: Mobility certainly has been getting
a lot of attention lately. What is it that makes
this mobility component suddenly seem so
important?
French: Mobility is at the beginning of
what promises to be an enduring trend
toward moving what were once centralized
applications into the field where the value is
most apparent and provides the best returns.
As more workers have jobs in field services,
mobile solutions have stepped in to increase
business productivity by allowing crews to
receive work automatically and update the
status of work from the road. Improving the
productivity of mobile workers has an impact
on revenue, expenses, customer service, and
therefore, competitive advantage for utilities
worldwide.
EET&D: Mark, could you perhaps elaborate
some on how worker productivity figures into
the benefits picture?
Doherty: Well, one means of improving
mobile worker productivity is to unite mobile
technology with outage management systems
(OMS) and geographic information systems
(GIS), so that field crews have access to
the same maps and data as the dispatchers
and engineers in the office. Unifying these
capabilities equips field crews with a set
of tools to handle all types of work from
the road – such as field inspections, field
design, vegetation management and damage
assessment – and eliminates the need for
multiple software applications.
EET&D: Where else can we take mobile
data, now or in the future, that will yield
tangible advantages without utilities having
to commit additional large capital outlays
or perhaps even allowing O&M costs to be
significantly reduced?
Doherty: In addition to reducing lag time
between job completion and new work order
dispatch, mobile data access also reduces IT
training and maintenance costs and increases
the safety of field personnel by providing
access to the most current information
available for the work area. Integrating
mobile applications with the corresponding
business systems is an essential ingredient in
successfully managing a distribution network;
thus, improving operational efficiency and
enhancing overall customer service.
Until now, field personnel have had to rely
on several applications to manage routine
tasks such as outages, inspections, repairs
and connects/disconnects. A well conceived
geospatial resource management platform
solves this issue by facilitating integration
of interrelated systems including geospatial
information systems, outage management,
mobile workforce management, and work
management; all from within the vehicle in
the field.
Moreover, field personnel can use one
geospatial user interface (GUI) to receive
multiple types of work, view and redline
facility map data, share resources across
departments, and communicate with
back-office applications. All of the various
workflows including design, inspection,
damage assessment, viewing, routing and
dispatching are supported.
EET&D: Are there other ways to leverage
a geospatial platform to address additional
challenges in the automation/IT area?
French: Yes, there certainly are. In addition
to utilizing spatial technology for grid and
May-June 2008 Issue I
outage management, we apply geospatial
technology to the security field, helping some
of the world’s largest government and military
organizations safeguard our infrastructure
and way of life. Over time, I believe that
utilities will come to leverage the investments
that they have made in geospatial platforms
to protect the very assets that we help them
manage today. We are in the early innings
of that trend, but I will say that I strongly
believe it will become reality over time. The
very best way to protect our infrastructure is
through an integrated design, outage, control
and security system based upon a strong
geospatial platform.
EET&D: Why is it so important for utilities to
embrace automation as we go forward?
Doherty: I think most people realize that
as more processes become automated, there
is a risk that the overall technology picture
becomes more complicated. But in an age
when we often require and expect data to
be shared and connected, the differences
in hardware and software that make those
connections challenging must be overcome.
Many organizations – especially those that
provide our vital infrastructure, of which
electric utilities are a critical part – must
simplify and integrate their automated
systems for instant, effective, and error-proof
access to information.
With our critical infrastructure now in serious
decline and the people upon whom we have
depended for decades to support it retiring
in increasingly larger numbers each year, a
huge rationalization must take place in the
next decade. This transition will very likely
require vastly increased levels of automation,
adding significantly to the complexities that
already exist. Therefore, anything that can
be done to simplify and streamline that
process and move appropriate organizational
knowledge into automated systems can save
untold amounts of time and money at a time
when both are in short supply.
EET&D: Asset management is another topic
that seems to be on nearly every utility’s
“To Do” list these days. What do you see as
the key challenges utilities face in say, the
next 3-5 years, from an asset management
perspective?
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