OMS as a Decision Support Tool
One of the key considerations in choosing Intergraph as the GIS and OMS provider was the cost
of ownership. In the past, heavily customized systems with cumbersome interfaces were
expensive to manage and maintain. Intergraph offers an integrated GIS and OMS product that is
configurable for FPC’S specific needs. GIS integration with the WMS product from Severn Trent
posed a more difficult task because the products came from separate vendors. Intergraph and
Severn Trent have become partners in offering a unique product integration to insulate the
individual software products architecturally, while providing the end-users with a seamless
workflow. This approach allows FPC to enhance or upgrade the products independent of each
other without having to be overly concerned with breaking the interfaces.
Time to report
Trouble call taking is handled by FPC’S Customer Service System (CSS), which contains the
connection between customers and transformers. These connections were previously established
manually in a procedure that required using a 14-digit state plane coordinate and was prone to
error. Using GIS (landbase and facilities) for establishing these links decreases connection time
and increases accuracy. CSS is now capable of handling more than 40,000 calls per hour and
passing them to OMS where they are queued for analysis.
Time to diagnose
OMS contains the primary model (transformer-to-source). The previous Trouble Analysis (TA)
model was established manually. The new model is part of the GIS in which single-touch
updating will reduce duplication and errors. Updates will be achieved through state transactions
available from the GIS/Work Management integration. Outages are logged to transformers where
the OMS analysis engine processes data to identifi probable cause.
Also integrated into this process is the Automated Outage Detection System (AODS), which
provides direct customer outage notification. As predictive analysis is performed, SCADA data
is also incorporated. The real-time monitoring data helps refine the prediction of probable cause
and identifies events for trouble crew dispatch.
