Data - Yours, Mine, ours
An application was developed to assist the preparation of construction orders for the plant
installation in the field. The Distribution Construction Design System (DCDS) utilizes the
geographic database as the source of the construction and permit drawings. The graphical files
produced by this process are used to update the database at the completion of construction.
There is a Work Management System (previously developed and operating on the mainframe)
that links job tracking, a design and estimating system based upon compatible units, the
material reservation system, an automated approval system, and the financial system that
distributes the costs and automatically audits and closes jobs. DCDS is linked to WMS to
automate the graphical component to the design work and utilize the tracking system to
automatically load the construction files to the geographic database when the work is
completed in the field.
Power System Simulator / Utilities (PSS/U) is an engineering analysis tool that uses an extract
of information from the GFIS database as input for the analysis carried out on the PC
workstations. Similar extracts are used to provide geographic background to some
maintenance processes on notebook computers in the field. Plot files are extracted with plots
produced and used for operating, maintenance and planning records.
Distribution Data Collection
The Conversion Proiect
In the early years, development was done in "pilot" projects. The company then committed to
enter data for the whole distribution system into a geographic database. This was carried out
over a two year period using in-house staff plus two conversion vendors with 50 staff each. The
applications currently in use were developed as conversion was taking place so that benefits
could be realized as soon as the data was available.
Post Conversion
The database is updated primarily through the efforts of the distribution design staff using
DCDS. The work done in the field not using DCDS (i.e., use of CAD instead) is input to the
database by GIS operators using the as-built construction drawings as source documents.
Distribution Data Quality
During Conversion
The conversion forced the development of standards and adherence to these standards, editing
of data entry and creation of quality assurance (QA) processes on receipt of data. One could
not have the luxury of using many different ways (due to area or personal preference) of
handling the information. The volume of data and the speed with which it was received
mandated that processes be put in place to automatically QA the data.
Production Maintenance
The QA software used during conversion was enhanced as the system went into production
mode. Area based QA routines are run on the data that was added to the database each night.
Once a week circuit based QA is run upon all the circuits that had work done on them
throughout the week.
Armlication Use
The use of new applications on the data is the final quality assurance check and the most
important one from the user perspective. Every new application that is developed stresses the
data in a manner in which it may not have been used before. It is important test out these new
applications in a very regimented fashion with sufficient user involvement.
Distribution Data Currency
Driven bv Applications
The types of applications that run on the data determine how current the database needs to be.
If the needs are for high level planning, perhaps quarterly updating is sufficient. If it is for
records only, monthly updates may be enough. If the database is used for design work or
operating the electrical system, then that portion of it must be up to date at the end of each day.
Short Comings of the Present System
The decisions that were made as the system developed were justified, at the time, and allowed
us to move forward. As we examine our present-day needs we see that this now falls short of
meeting our requirements.
- Our AM/FM system only addresses the needs of the distribution component of the company.
There are many other parts of the organization that have geospatial needs as well -
transmission, generation, properties, environment, aboriginal, customer services, marketing,
public relations, etc.
- The platform that we are now on is no longer supported. Also, it cannot meet the additional
needs of these other application areas, nor the increasing needs of distribution.
- The system needs more flexibility as user expectations of applications increase with
continued use.
- The original landbase was input by digitizing the best hardcopy source maps available at the
time. The distribution plant is properly located on the landbase with suitable relative
accuracy but absolute spatial accuracy is variable. This presents problems when trying to
incorporate other spatial sources from inside and outside the company. Presently there is a
lot of re-entry work that will be replaced by import of data directly from other sources.
- Without suitable spatial accuracy we cannot make use of the advances that are being made
in the GIS technology - Global Positioning Systems (GPS), Satellite Imagery, commercial
data sources.
Data Migration/Conversion
The Enterprise GIS
There is an Enterprise GIS initiative in progress at BC Hydro. As GIS is an enabling
technology, it will work to assist with the Business Process Improvement (re-engineering)
changes taking place in the company as we move to a process based organization. The focus
of the Enterprise GIS project will be on the following:
Standards
Standards will be improved to meet the needs of the whole company. A large part of this
improvement will be the communication of these standards to those involved in creating or
acquiring geospatial data, both inside and outside of the company. Without these standards in
place, effective data transfer among the interested parties will not be possible.
