Mainstreaming AM/FM at transalta utilities
Pat Drinnan
AM/FM Coordinator, Transmission & Distribution Services
TransAlta Utilities Corporation, P.O. Box 1900
Calgary, Alberta T2P-2M1
Ann Ulesoo Euloth
Project Coordinator, AM/FM Development
P.O. Box 1900, Calgary, Alberta T2P-2M1
Abstract
TransAlta Utilities is actively converging its AM/FM System with mainstream Information
Technology in several significant domains. In order to achieve these objectives, it was
necessary to first migrate our mature AM/FM System from UNIX to Windows NT. This
provides the platform which allows for integration opportunities, greater accessibility and
ease of use throughout the corporation. This presentation will deal mainly with the
migration project and touch on future integration opportunities such as the initial
merging of AM/FM and SAP (Systems, Applications and Products), TransAlta’s new
corporate business control and management application, mobile computing and port of
our AM/FM System to new acquisitions such as TransAlta New Zealand.
Introduction
TransAlta Utilities is the largest investor owned electric utility in Canada with over 81,000
kilometers of transmission and distribution lines in a 248,000 square kilometer service
area. The AM/FM System models TransAlta’s entire electrical network both in a
graphical and pure data representation, with true connectivity. It links installed
distribution and transmission facilities (155,000 transformers, 700,000 conductor
segments and over 1 million poles, among others), to actual geographical and customer
information, within this integrated model.
AM/FM is used to manage $75 Million of new capital and maintenance projects as well
as $30 Million of operating Iabour per year. All this work is processed by 80 regional
staff, who use AM/FM to plan, estimate, design and re-vamp TransAlta’s distribution and
transmission system. AM/FM is also used by Plotting Services to produce between
3,000-5,500 plots per month, of a vast variety of map types, sizes and colors, for use
throughout TransAlta and the private sector.
TransAlta’s AM/FM System previously ran in a client/server environment under a UNIX
operating system. There were 80 networked client workstations and 9 servers storing
8.3 GB of graphics and 6.4 GB of database, distributed throughout our service area. As
well, a master copy of all graphics resides on a server in Calgary at Head Office, which
is used for seamless operations plots.
Project Background
The project took four dedicated AM/FM team members, one project manager and two
lntergraph consultants, over eight months. Total project cost was projected to be
$592,000 ($50,000 for detailed analysis, $477,000 for software conversionand $65,000
for training/new software). Nineteen UNIX workstations were replaced with NT
workstations (200 MgHz, 64MB RAM, 2GB drive, 4MB VRam), at an additional cost of
$190,000. The project had a Benefit/Cost ratio of 1.06, with a payback period of just
over 1 year.
The project scope included the following major activities:
- Migration of existing workflow functionality contained in current rulebase, application
interfaces, and operational plotting software to Windows NT.
- Upgrade of Oracle V6 to Oracle v7.
- Upgrade of the UNIX FRAMME suite from v3.5 to v3.7.
- Investigation of a new software change management and control system to replace
the current Revision Control System.
- Implementation of a new Network Administration system to provide AM/FM with the
same tools and functionality as UNIX, in the NT world. This would allow monitoring
of all nodes in the AM/FM network, including PC’s, Workstations, and VAX’s, remote
access, usernames; and perform backups.
The main business driver for migrating AM/FM to Windows NT was to move to an up-to-date
technology, which would allow us to take advantage of greatly reduced hardware
and software capital and operating costs. Replacement of UNIX workstations/servers
would result in savings of $400,000 in 1996, $840,000 in 1997 and $600,000 in 1998. By
moving AM/FM into Windows NT, AM/FM would concurrently achieve alignment with
other TransAlta’s corporate initiatives such as SAP (Systems, Applications and
Products), making integrated workflows possible. The open architecture of the Windows
environment would present AM/FM to a whole new range of people and opportunities.
The Project objectives fit in with the business unit’s and the corporation’s strategies to
continue productivity gains, people development, and sustainable development.
Move TransAlta to current “mainstream” technology
By providing the open architecture and accessibility of the Windows NT environment,
TransAlta could achieve convergence of all its business tools, on one computer.
Take advantaue of ureatlv reduced hardware prices
Migration of AM/FM to Windows NT allowed the application to run on lower-priced
hardware, with accordingly reduced maintenance costs. Replacement of proprietary
workstations with new Intel based workstations was done at a 3:1 capital savings.
The price of NT software is lower than that of proprietary software. By remaining in older
technology we were open to the risk of reduced or non-existent support services, as
vendors’ personnel expertise got more experienced in the new technology, and less in
the old technology.
