Operations Management via the Web: PacifiCorp’s Operations Visualization System Puts Facilities Maps on the Web
Responding To An Urgent Need
The governing requirement of the new system was rapid deployment of the system to users at
remote locations around the company. The re-organization of dispatch operations was moving
forward quickly, and Operations Support needed to respond promptly to their need for highperformance
access to operations data, especially trouble-call data. Although originally conceived
as an Outage Visualization System, it quickly became clear that information beyond outage reports
was also required to address the true needs of the users, and the system was soon re-targeted as an
Operations Visualization System including detailed facilities information, customer data, and
service area analysis capability.
The OVS system also faced a number of other challenging technical requirements:
- The system had to be extremely easy to deploy to a new desktop. Many of the users of the new
system have no local technical support staff, and the system is installed on desktops that are
shared with many other applications. Users must also be able to install the system on their
home computer.
- The system had to operate satisfactorily over even low-speed connections. The OVS system
works well over the 56kb leased lines available to many outlying locations, and is usable even
over dialup connections. Operations and dispatch personnel can dial into the company network
from home and display maps and reports just as if they were sitting at their desk.
- . Trouble call reports alone are not enough to resolve a customer’s problem, and logs of trouble
calls need to be enhanced by combining them with circuit information, detailed customer
information, and easy-to-navigate maps of service areas. PacifiCorp uses a five-level hierarchy
of service areas (area, district, substation, circuit, sub-circuit), and different operations
personnel are responsible at geographic levels. Some users need a broad area view, while
others are responsible at the substation level or finer.
- It was also critical that the new Operations Visualization System have an absolutely minimal
impact on the performance of the Dispatch Management System that is capturing and tracking
trouble calls and dispatcher responses to those calls. Because of the potentially huge number of
users of OVS during critical outage, operations managers were concerned that OVS activity not
impact the ability of the DMS to capture and organize trouble call information being used by
central dispatch personnel.
Rapid Application Deployment Tactics
The development team responded to the above challenges by building a Web browser-based system
that could be rapidly deployed and incrementally improved with minimal desktop intervention or
user support.
The OVS system requires a simple Web browser with Internet access and a five-minute installation
procedure to install the map viewer plugin. The latest version of the system (under development as
of this writing) will self-install the application user interface and map viewer in either Netscape or
Internet Explorer, even further lowering the deployment barriers.
Streamlined Training and Support
Because the OVS system uses a simple Web-browser interface, training requirements are minimal
for users with Web experience or even minimal experience using a graphical user interface and
mouse. The system uses tooltips (small labels that pop up over the mouse when a user points at an
object) and responds to double-click actions by displaying basic reports on the clicked object. Help
screens are available for most screens within the application, and the help is itself “clickable”,
enhancing the online training experience.
Many of the support questions about OVS are really questions about the outage and customer data
in the system. The same support team that handles questions about the Dispatch Management
System also supports OVS. This results in a single point of contact for questions about trouble
calls and related data, and aids the user in transplanting their DMS knowledge to the OVS
environment.
Data Sources Chosen for Rapid Deployment
To speed the deployment of the system, the developers chose a commercial street network and GIS
dataset from Geographic Data Technologies. The purchased data includes political boundaries,
landmarks, waterways and water bodies, and other features that aid in navigation [Figure 2]. While
not as accurate as the company’s own landbase, the commercial data could be acquired very
quickly, and was available across all service areas.
Figure 2 – A commercial street network and GIS dataset provided complete coverage of the company’s very
large service area.
It is critical that dis~atchers and front-line field personnel be able to visualize outages and customer .
services at specific locations on the map. for the time being, the services are displayed at
geocoded locations based on the commercial street network and commercial batch-oriented
geocoding software. Trouble calls are then shown at those geocoded service locations [Figure 3].
In the future, the company plans to geolocate all customer service locations and integrate
geocoding directly into the OVS application.
