Benefits of integrating engineering applications
Rodney Laurent and Linda Oliveira
Cook-Hurlbert, Inc.
5222 Thunder Creek Road
Austin, TX 78759
The need
Integrated design and analysis tools are important components of today's GIS
implementations. There should no longer be stand-alone systems that are independent of
other legacy systems and users. Today's GIS environment has been brought into the fold.
Integrating applications into this mix is the next logical step.
GIS has become a corporate repository supporting the core business by providing
information to a greater number of users. No longer are companies automatically willing to
support the maintenance of multiple databases, and sources. It is expensive, and it is
unnecessary, with today's technology. The typical GIS is getting more attention and
demands. Users now come from all major departments within the utility; marketing, design,
planning, engineering, drafting and customer service. The business case being built for
these systems is becoming more complex as the number and type of users increase. More
thought is being done to determine what the system can do for the company. Producing
pretty maps is no longer acceptable as the main benefit. Access by the masses is the
mandate, and the masses have varying requirements.
While the GIS contains most of the data to support design and analysis, the missing link is
the application to facilitate the work, while building the corporate data base. Integrated
design and analysis packages are now available to fill this need. These packages bring users
into the world of single interfaces accessing multiple systems. In some organizations, users
must go to one screen to design the job, access another package which takes data exported
from the first and imports it into an engineering data base to run an analysis on it using yet
another interface, import it back into the GIS to make any recommended facility changes,
and export the data to the work management system to assign compatible units using another
interface, etc. All this can be done from a single user interface.
Why would anybody want to use integrated design and analysis tools? Several reasons. The
first is that they provide the means by which a utility can save money, and money is the name
of the game. With competition more than just a threat, utilities need to save money while
providing greater customer service. They must take advantage of technology where it exists
to enact a more efficient, friendly system that will provide customers with a greater level of
service, while utilizing fewer resources taking on more tasks. This is not ideal. It is fact.
Technology is not a bad word in utilities anymore. Management, internal support and end
users have become more comfortable with technology as more home computers are being
purchased, and companies are providing access to the Web from the desktop.
Utility resources are now performing their tasks from within the system instead of outside of
it. This is the start of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). With corporate databases
becoming the norm, providing more information on line to users makes sense. It can help
them do their jobs better, build better networks, respond to customer inquiries faster, while
saving money. In fact, integrated tools such as design and analysis have become survival
tactics against the threat of outsourcing. Many utilities are facing outsourcing of analysis and
design functions to organizations that specialize in it, just as they sub-contract construction
tasks. By providing tools that work with the data environment, internal analysis and design
functions can become more competitive as their efficiency improves.
