Using a Mobile Data Management System for Increased Efficiency
Nick A. Toussant Distribution Engineer Ohio Edison Company, subsidiary of First Energy Corporation 1910 W, Market St, Building 1 Akron, Ohio 44313 Diana M. Garcia Conversion Manager Cartotech, Inc 11900 Crown Point San Antonio, TX 78233
Basic Information on Field Technology
In today’s environment utility companies are under constant pressure to “do more with less” while simultaneously improving their customer base. What might seem like a contradictory set of goals is now made possible through innovative technology. The technology available today can assist utility companies in changing and upgrading the daily operations of personnel. The same type of technology is available in other industries, such as the intricate UPS tracking system or the speedy car rental return processes. This ingenious technology has empowered the worker to finalize the daily interaction with their customers and build a strong network of customer satisfaction. Today’s technology is also bringing changes to the Utility World. There are several types of software applications on the market today that will enable a field technician to carry a digital map to the field rather than carrying paper maps. The software available is a customized application to meet specific needs of utility personnel. The applications provide the field technician the capability to display, query, manipulate and redline both raster and vector images of their particular services on a pen based or laptop device. The hardware requirements highly depend on the software being used, the size of a workable file and functions being performed. Collectively, we have found that the field software provider will recommend the maximum and minimum hardware requirements needed for your particular system. Theoretically, mobile data management systems can facilitate and support various design, management, and communication functions. For example:
Theoretically, the ideal structure needed for a mobile data management system to interface with a corporate system is listed in 5 basic steps:
In the utility industry, field applications and capabilities are being used in many combinations with varying success. Two entities piloting applications are the City of Calgary, Canada and First Energy Corporation in Akron, Ohio. The City of Calgary now in the latter stages of their pilot project was able to provide some interesting information. They piloted Buyer’s Map Viewer with first line responders, facility locate staff, and streetlight crews for approximately 3 months. This software basically provided the ability to navigate, view maps and limited note taking design. First Line Responders The “hands on” trial Phase of Calqary’s Mot k cormleted, but the analysis of data collected is not complete. Prelimina& findings s~ow-that the application could not be successfully used for first /ine responders in its existing state. When tested, personnel found it difficult to adequately look at the circuit paths, They found the “viewing” capabilities were limited to map quarter cells instead of a circuit feeder map, Without being able to follow circuit paths upstream to determine potential sources of outages, the application was not very useful. It was easier and quicker to look at paper copies of circuit feeder maps. Perhaps with different view functionality, there can be more benefits in this situation. Facility Locating Using the application for the faci/ity /ocafe staff was considered successful. A Z ton 4 wheel drive truck with a PC mounted in it replaced a 3Aton van outfitted with a microfiche reader and 80,000 microfiche cards. The difference in cost of the vehicles and hardware provided approximately $10,000 savings per crew. Although the actual productivity of the locate function was not significantly improved, the amount of time spent updating data was considerably reduced. As much as 1-hour per week was spent updating microfiche and circuit books, whereas data could be loaded to the field unit in a matter of minutes depending on the method used. Street Liqht Crews Calaarv’s last application was with their street /@ht crews. This application also was considered Successful -. and had full support of users involved. Prior to this pilot, these crews did not have maps, so it was a significant improvement. Instead of driving up and down the street assessing the extent of lights out and the probable source of the problem, they can now navigate to the address where a light is out and quickly see how the light circuit feeds and where the relay (protection point) is located. With this tool, crews felt that they had timesaving of 10 to 20 minutes per job, which for them, amounted to a savings of $12,000 to $25,000 year. The analysis stage of the pilot will define these benefits more closely. Processes before and after, typical work days First Energy Corporation is preparing to pilot VisionField software in January 1998. The duration of the pilot will be 4-6 months and will include groups of troublemen, facility locate contractors, dispatching and possibly hazard response personnel. The application includes navigate by address, device or map page and the capability to highlight (change color) a selected circuit. It will be tested on both pen based and laptop machines. In each group piloted, certain benefits and efficiencies are anticipated. Troublemen One of a troubleman’s primary responsibilities is to respond to reports of electrical problems, usually outages. Troublemen are dispatched to them in order to determine the cause of the problem. The troubleman will either correcthepair the problem or assess the work required and report back to the dispatching office so that they can send an additional repair crew. Under today’s system, when an outage call is dispatched to a troubleman, the location/address, including nearest intersection and description of the problem is communicated. When the troubleman arrives at the location he may discover the problem is not isolated. He will need to find out, from a dispatcher, what circuit is involved and then either look at a paper map of the circuit or ask the dispatcher for assistance in tracing upstream to the open device. If the cause has not been found, it is necessary to trace out the electrical paths (overhead and underground) fed from this device to determine the cause of the outage. A problem that might arise from this method is the lack of updated prints. This is sometimes the case since it is not simple to update and distribute paper maps on a continual basis. Another problem that may arise is that when dispatchers are very busy, for example during a major storm, the dispatchers may not have the time to work one-on-one with troublemen. With the use of a mobile data management system in the field, when the call with the nature of the trouble is received, the troubleman would start by navigating to the address on the field unit. This will show him the exact location (which block, nearest intersection, which side of the street, fronthear lot, etc.) of the call. He would have a better idea of what to look for upon arrival because the mobile unit would show the location and connectivity of primary, transformers, secondary, and services. If it is not an isolated problem, he can highlight the affected circuit on the field unit and check each electrical path downstream of the open device. In this case, using a mobile data management system has empowered this employee to do his job more independently! In addition, response and restoration time is shortened, which leads to improved customer satisfaction and increased productivity. Enabling a troubleman to handle one (1) additional call/outage in a day, one could see a 5’%or more reduction in costs. Of course, a detailed analysis of all costs and benefits determined through the pilot would be needed to quantify savings. In addition, it is anticipated that some indirect benefits, possibly improved safety due to better knowledge of facilities, will surface during the pilot. Hazard Response The hazard response process is similar to the job description of troublemen at First Energy. The primary difference is that troublemen generally deal more with outage restoration, while hazard response deals with identifying electrical hazard situations as a result of storm damage. There are two groups in the hazard response team, dispatchers and responders. The focus of these teams is to identify and find hazards and take the necessary steps needed to protect the public. The hazard response crew is not equipped or trained to clear or repair any problems, but to assess and detail the work that needs to be done. The use of mobile data management systems is anticipated to assist a hazard response crew member in determining pole sizes, quantities of wire, size of equipment, and number of customers fed so that a more accurate assessment can be made in a shorter amount of time. Currently, a hazard response team member will estimate pole heights based on experience, guess at span lengths, wire sizehype, and attempt to determine equipment sizes. Normally, the estimates are taking place in the worst possible conditions; darkness, rain, wind, and snow. With a tool in front of them that provides all the necessary information, damage assessmentiwork required will be quicker and much more accurate. This in turn decreases mistakes in material and labor requirements ($$) and also improves response time in eliminating the hazard. Facility Locating Implementations and processes for locating underground facilities could vary widely from one company to the next. In the First Energy operating companies, contractors are used in varying degrees. Currently, the /ocating contractor receives some or all calls from the statewide one-call organization (Ohio Utilities Protection Service), With the calls that require the contractor to physically go out and mark the location of underground facilities, the contractor will refer to maps (paper or microfiche) to determine the presence of facilities and their approximate location. In order to determine which primary map the location is most likely to be found on, a key map relating geography to primary maps is used - but it’s often not clear which map its on. These primary maps have to be provided by First Energy and updated on a regular basis. As mentioned before, they may not be up to date because it is not simple to update and distribute paper maps on a continual basis. This can cause mistakes in locating or extra time trying figure it out, both of which can be expensive for First Energy and the locate contractor. If the contractor can be supplied with a field unit during the pilot, there will be identifiable savings. First, its much easier to send data (on CD, over the Internet, etc. ) than paper maps to the contractor. It will also be much easier for the contractor to update a computer database than to take apart a paper map book to replace or add pages. The contractor should also see significantly improved productivity. The /ocafe personne/ can simply navigate to the exact location (which block, nearest intersection, which side of the street, front/rear lot, etc. ) on the field unit. There will be no concern as to whether the proper map page is used. It is a seamless database that shows all (primary, seconda~, street light conductor, etc. ) facilities present on one source (as opposed to multiple paper sources). The completeness and detail of this database will probably decrease the number of locates performed because it will be evident when the facilities are not in the work area. The contractor could see productivity improvements of 5% or 10’%0, which should be passed along to the utility company. Again, a detailed analysis of all costs and benefits determined through the pilot would be needed to quantify savings. Dispatching It may seem odd that a field unit would be used in a dispatching office. After all, it is a fie/d unit. However, a laptop that uses a copy of the corporate data and can operate on a battery could serve as back up maps in the event the corporate AM/FM/GIS system is inoperable. Long term, the cost of hardware and maintenance would be less than the cost to manual print and store paper maps. If an employee makes $30,000/year and spends 1 day each month printing, organizing and storing backup paper maps, the laptop computer could be paid in 2 to 3 years. Depending on the frequency of map regeneration, the cost of hardware and maintenance, and the amount of work involved, the pay back period may be short enough to justify implementation, It is possible that dispatchers may also prefer to use this application instead of the corporate system because of potential quicker response time. The field application runs on a copy of a reduced set of data from the corporate application, thus having potential for better performance/response time. In addition, the field application has certain functionality that the corporate application does not, including a “magnify glass” view window, individual circuit highlight, and slightly different panning capability. Benefits Summarized The preceding discussion addresses the most apparent applications and benefits. In each of these applications, there are direct timesaving and efficiencies that translate to $$ savin9s. AIso, there is the potential for benefits. Benefits like improving the quality of data, improving moral by empowering employees with the advanced tools they need, improving responsiveness to customer needs and enhancing safety due to accessibility of facility data will compound in the long term to assist building and maintaining a top performing company. What the future holds It is expected that we will see a larger range of sophisticated software and hardware available to the industry in the coming months. We anticipate future applications will provide a comprehensive work management reporting system for field and crews responsible for the construction and maintenance of facilities. In addition to integrating with a corporate system (AM/FM/GIS or Work Management), we anticipate integration with Customer Information Systems, Material Management and other crucial departments. Beyond this, innovative applications will continually arise for digital maps and mobile data management systems . . . . field technology is the wave of the future!! | ||
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