Operations Management via the Web: PacifiCorp’s Operations Visualization System Puts Facilities Maps on the Web
Facilities data was available from multiple sources within the Company, at various degrees of
completeness and various accuracies. The initial deployment used the most readily available data
sources, which were not necessarily the most accurate. Approximately located feeder circuits for
the entire system were available from an engineering model, providing an adequate representation
of the most critical facilities while more accurate data was being developed. Over time, additional
sources of facilities data are being integrated into the system (Figure 4), including very accurate
data from the Operations Mapping System (OMS), an AutoCAD Map-based application that is
capturing all of the data from the Company’s detailed facilities maps. Over time, landbase data
from OMS will also be integrated into the OVS system as well, providing a much more accurate
source of street centerlines and service locations.
Figure 3 – Geocoded customer service locations provide the basis for thematic display of trouble calls. An
approximate feeder circuit network is also overlaid on a commercial street network.
Trouble call information from the Dispatch Management System (DMS) database is retrieved every
few minutes (the exact interval is configurable) and stored in the OVS database. In this way,
trouble-call queries by OVS users put no additional load on the DMS system. This approach also
allows OVS to display outage and operations data from multiple trouble call and dispatch
management systems with a consistent user interface and a coherent data and mapping
environment.
Figure 4 – Detailed facilities data is available in some areas, and incorporated into the OVS system. Over
time, other data from the mapping system will also be incorporated
All of the data sources are “imported” into OVS. During the import process, the data is
regularized, linked to the map, and linked to other data elements. In this way, data displayed in
OVS has rich relationships to other data elements and to the map, and the data is managed
independently of the source system. OVS users need not be concerned with the source of
information, nor do they need to learn to use the data in the native format.
Incremental Internet-Style Release Strategy
The development of OVS has been undertaken on “internet time”, using a rapid deployment of
small incremental improvements. The OVS system experienced seven levels of software release
before it went into production, each providing a new set of features or enhancements. Since the
first production release less than one year ago, the system has seen four major releases. Again,
because of the Web-based nature of the application, the releases can incorporate new functionality
without any disruption to current users or disturbance to their familiar way of doing their job. To
the extent possible, new features are integrated into the system as additional data or interfaces
rather than as replacements for existing features.
In addition to simplifying the development and support activities, the Internet style approach to
software release results in continual visible progress to the end users, thus improving their
perception of system development responsiveness.
