AM/FM Project implementation at allegheny power
Jeffrey R. Downs Engineer Allegheny Power 800 Cabin Hill Drive Greensburg, PA 15601 (412) 838-6216
Abstract
In the wake of a corporate reorganization, Allegheny Power moved fast in the spring of 1996 to implement new AM/FM systems technology and to convert its distribution map data all within twenty months. Characteristic of the electrical utility industry today, competitive business realities demanded this aggressive schedule. Allegheny Power re-organized three independent operating companies, West Penn Power, Potomac Edison, and Monongahela Power into a single Operations Business Unit. The AM/FM Team was assigned the task of converting the data from each Operating Company to a common AM/FM platform. West Penn Power Company maintained paper facility maps, Monongahela Power had deteriorating paper maps which were out of date, and Potomac Edison completely mapped the territory using AutoCAD. Allegheny Power selected conversion methodologies specific to each conversion source. This paper describes the business forces behind this AM/FM project, the company’s approach to conversion methodologies and the specific techniques that compressed this critical-path activity. Introduction Competition has quickly pervaded the electric utility industry and forced many companies to change their traditional ways of doing business. What has come out of this situation, is the realization that only the strong and efficient operations will survive. Weaker companies will be bought out by the stronger ones. Facing this reality, Allegheny Power began a restructuring program with the objective of reducing operating costs by increasing internal efficiency, thereby improving earnings and strengthening the company’s financial position. Allegheny Power realized the need to review each internal process to see how it could be improved. Allegheny Power has always been a low cost provider of electric service, and a well managed company. Nevertheless, improvements had to be made to remain competitive. Prior to reorganization, Allegheny Power was comprised of three independently operated subsidiaries, each with their own ideas. Reorganization brought about changes in both company structure and company processes. The inefficient processes were identified in the old system and objectives were established for their improvement in the new system. One of the areas of improvement that was identified was the facility records and mapping systems. Allegheny Power’s AM/FM Team was created during the reorganization to deal with this project. It had to satisfy a variety of users and user needs because various functions in our operations rely on the facility and mapping records. Users with specific needs include:
So, what else is new? Our story, to this point, could have been written by numerous utilities over the past several years because of the theme’s prevalence in our industry. What separates companies facing these issues, is how each one reacts to this situation. Allegheny Power’s response was to redesign our entire mapping and facilities management processes and implement the redesign in an extremely short time frame. However, the reorganization plan mandated what needed to be accomplished, but it did not specify how. Our AM/FM Team had to create a strategy on how to meet the objectives established by the reorganization plan. The plan had to meet the time frame and had to produce the functionality necessary to improve service and efficiency. The Plan The strategy was to begin with a central AM/FM system, uniform for all three operating companies, which would serve as a data repository for the other processes. While there are numerous applications for such a database, Allegheny Power would initially focus on data conversion, maintaining the database, automating data updates, and interfacing with our Outage Analysis and Work Management systems. What created the greatest challenge to this project was the time frame required for implementation. The swiftness with which utilities are moving toward a competitive market demands an equally rapid response. While many projects are satisfied with initially populating a GIS database with their facility data, and developing applications after the fact, Allegheny Power wanted functionality right from the start. In the spring of 1996, we began implementation of our plan with a time frame of twenty months. Due to the limited resources of the reorganized AM/FM Team, contractors were hired to assist in timely completion of the work. The team first needed to develop a strategy for handling systems development issues such as:
Our first decision after developing our strategy was to purchase software from Smallworld Systems, Inc of Englewood, Colorado as the basis of our GIS system. We contracted with Cook-Hurlbert, Inc. of Austin, Texas to develop our data model. While the data model was in development we began the first task that would challenge our time frame: translation of our existing data into Smallworld. To convert our data from source to Smallworld, GeoData Solutions, Inc. of Westminster, Colorado was contracted to develop translators for each of the companies. Data Conversion As stated previously, the prior existence of three individual operating companies compounded the complexity of our data conversion process. In fact, it created what was, for all practical purposes, three data conversion projects each with its own unique set of obstacles to overcome. Adjusting to each set of circumstances required additional time for both the strategic planning process, and for the training of the AM/FM Team and its contractors. The three subsidiaries of Allegheny Power are The Monongahela Power Company operating in West Virginia, Ohio and Virginia, The Potomac Edison Company operating in Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia, and The West Penn Power Company operating in Pennsylvania. Monongahela Power’s facility records were maintained in a mainframe database, and only paper maps were available for graphics. Since the mainframe database had only been recently instituted at Monongahela Power, not much of the facility data existed electronically. The paper records that had been used prior to the mainframe application were not up to date, and could not be relied on. In addition, the paper maps for graphical reference were unreliable, and did not provide sufficient information. It became evident to the team, that the future reliability of Monongahela Power facility data would be unacceptable without the completion of a field inventory of all facilities. This proved to be one of the more costly parts of the project, but it was the only way to provide accurate data, in keeping with our timetable. In order to accomplish this, and maintain our aggressive schedule, we contracted with GeoResearch, Inc. of Bethesda, Maryland to assume the task of collecting the data. GeoResearch was able to collect the facility data, and provide GPS location data for all of the facilities for mapping. The list of facilities and their attributes that were to be collected were based on the decisions being made on the data model design. As each circuit was collected, it went through a rigorous QA/QC process by GeoResearch, and then was delivered to Allegheny Power. The circuit was then translated into Smallworld and put through another QA/QC process. This manner of processing the data while the collection effort was in progress allowed us to have the data translated into Smallworld and checked for accuracy within our time constraints. An additional source of data was needed for the landbase in the Monongahela Power service area. The field inventory for the facilities did not include any landbase features. Since the landbase was only used for reference, and had no functionality, quality in this area was not of the highest priority. The landbase purchased was created from USGS quadrangles and delivered in dxf format, and required another translator to convert the data into Smallworld. Potomac Edison’s facility records were also maintained in the mainframe database, and their graphics were kept in AutoCAD maps. Like Monongahela Power, the mainframe database did not contain much data since it had only recently been instituted at Potomac Edison. Since the AutoCAD maps contained sufficient attribute data for the facilities, they would be converted to dxf files and translated into Smallworld. The AutoCAD maps appeared accurate, however, problems arose when the objects were not drawn in consistent layers. The data translator corrected some of the problems, but did little to improve the data quality. Because of this, the actual data translation of the Potomac Edison maps went very quickly, but left a large, back end cleanup task. The data cleanup was primarily a manual process. However, the AM/FM Team was able to expedite this process through the development of tools that could quickly identify the potential problems. Landbase features were included in the AutoCAD maps, and were translated with the facility data. West Penn Power’s facility records were also maintained in the mainframe database. The maps were kept on paper, and were more accurate than the maps at Monongahela Power. The mainframe data was much more accurate since West Penn Power had undertaken the job of converting their entire legacy, facility paper records into the database. Since accurate data existed in the computer and on the paper maps, both would be used for conversion into Smallworld. The paper maps would be digitized, and any additional attributes not found on the maps would be taken from the mainframe database. The task of digitizing the data was contracted to Apex, Inc. of Reston, Virginia. The paper maps were manually scrubbed at Allegheny Power prior to shipment to Apex. Apex was able to quickly digitize the maps, and with the data from our mainframe, was able to supplement attributes not available from the maps. The resulting data format was then easily translated, with little back end cleanup. The combination of front end scrubbing, and the digitizing performed by Apex, allowed the West Penn data to be translated into Smallworld with little trouble. West Penn Power maps also included Iandbase features, which were translated with the facilities. Applications Implementing our initial application would pose a serious challenge to our time frame. The first of these applications were the mapping tools needed to update our database. These had to be efficient and flexible for our field personnel. A designer had to have the ability to obtain costs for alternative methods of constructing a job, produce a job print for construction, and be able to store his work in a way that was accessible to other employees who might need this information. The next application was the interface to our Work Management System (WMS), which was based on the Severn Trent Operational Resource Management System (STORMS). The AM/FM Team’s plan was to have customer requests entered into the WMS and, if mapping design was required, to design the new construction via the aforementioned Smallworld design tools, and then passed back to the WMS for cost estimation using a standardized compatible unit system. New construction jobs would appear in the GIS data as “proposed” until the job was completed in the WMS. “As built” data would then be reconciled with the design, and the equipment would then appear as “in service”. Through the WMS, an employee could check the status of a job, check the scheduling of the work, and obtain costs for the different scenarios of a job. The interface with the AM/FM system simplified automatic updating of the facility database upon completion of the job. The next application to be undertaken was the interface with our Outage Analysis System (OA), which was based on M31’s Outage software package. The OA system relies on a data extract from the Smallworld database. When a customer calls Allegheny Power to report service trouble, their call is logged through our Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system. A pole number on the customer’s account in our mainframe CIS system links the customer’s location to the AM/FM data. Each account contains a transformer pole number that serves that account. Once this pole number is established, the OA system uses the data extract from Smallworld to identify which circuit and phase the customer is served from. Programmed logic then processes this call with any other trouble calls to predict the most likely sectionalizing device that operated. The Smallworld data extract includes facility and graphical features, assisting dispatchers in strategically assigning crews. The system will prioritize each of the separately identified trouble cases, and manage crew dispatching through its own interface with the Work Management System. Outage updates and customer callbacks are made automatically through the IVR. At one point in the project, we were concurrently finishing the data model design, developing data translators for each of the data sources, field collecting data in the Monongahela Power area, scrubbing and digitizing West Penn Power paper maps, and scrubbing Potomac Edison AutoCAD maps. We were also developing the Smallworld tools for designing new construction facilities, and the interfaces with the Outage Analysis and Work Management systems. Where many AM/FM project strategies might call for consideration of applications issues subsequent to database completion, our schedule was such that we were simultaneously creating our database, developing the tools to maintain it, and making it productive. While these simultaneous efforts created problems, and even required us to redo some work, we were able to provide solutions to overcome the problems and maintain our aggressive schedule. Our ability to focus on a multitude of functions was the key success factor in allowing us to meet our objectives. Results The importance of a single, accurate and accessible facility database cannot be understated. The new database at Allegheny Power combines and standardizes all of the different formats in which facility data had been stored previously. The data in our system is not new; it has always existed, but in different forms and with difficult access and usually not up to date. The process for updating the old data was laborious and sometimes ignored. This project did not create any new process in our business; new business construction, outage analysis, system planning, and equipment accounting have always existed. This project concentrated on improving the services we have always provided to our customers. We now possess a centralized database that is easily accessible by those processes, is automatically updated and has endless possibilities for future applications. These future applications will include an interface to a Distribution Engineering Workstation (DEW), which will utilize the database for system planning, and mobile computing in our service vehicles. Because of the company-wide improvements created by our AM/FM project, Allegheny Power is progressing swiftly to meet the challenges faced by our entire industry and to maintain our status as a low cost, quality energy provider. | ||
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