Popular Acceptance of GIS through Implementation of an enterprise-wide view and query application at Reliant Energy
Laptops, PDAs, and mobile wireless data access further drove the business imperative to distribute complex applications that access centralized data out to non-technical branch and field staff. Prior to adopting the graphical GUI model of application design, common business applications then popular with technical and semi-technical users were too complex for wide popularity. It is only since the release of the GUI applications, coupled with the compelling force of the Internet, that desktop PCs became wildly popular. Yet despite the ease of use of the GUI Internet browsers, other business applications did not immediately adopt the Windows-standard of ease of use.
The cost to software companies who failed to observe this trend is legendary. Prior to the introduction of Windows, Microsoft did not dominate the business software marketplace. Other companies dominated the database, word processing and spreadsheet markets; and those companies have seen their user base dry up in favor of Microsoft’s Office Applications Suite that fully incorporates Windows features. Microsoft’s domination of the general office application market showed the software industry that it was no longer possible to introduce a great application concept without it first passing through the human factors application design stage. This meant that the application had to adhere to the emerged new standard for corporate and home marketplace acceptance--to certain rules for well mannered, Windows-based applications.
Reliant Energy is a large user of software authored by Environmental Science and Research Institute (ESRI).
The Utility Industry and GIS
Utilities were early adopters of CAD systems, and used them to map gas and electric grid connections. These maps were static, and had to be updated by hand. The early applications were limited to highly technical users with the skillsets necessary to record and access specific data. Ultimate users needed to request the desired data set, and the technical users would translate their requests into output.
The history of GIS use within Reliant Energy generally parallels the general business community as a whole. As the usability of GIS applications improved, the diversity of applications and the number of users steadily increased. Uses now include applications such as damage prevention of underground assets, maintenance of other facility assets, right-of-way management, outage analysis and circuit modeling, streetlight billing, and various types of demographic analysis and reporting.
GIS Within Reliant Energy
One of the principle success factors for GIS within the utility industry has been improvements in the GUI interface. Since the work duties of the greater part of the utility user community have heretofore not been principally computer-based but now require some level of computer usage in order to achieve greater efficiency, casual users of GIS applications have driven the development of less complicated, more intuitive GUI interfaces. Improved, simplified application design with greater access to distributed server-based data is the significant factor influencing acceptance of applications in the general business community.
Reliant Energy is a large consumer of GIS systems and services, and much of the GIS success story within the company parallels advancements in research and development in the general computing marketplace. In the past, Reliant Energy installed applications that required specialized computer expertise to accomplish a specific GIS-based task. Specialized GIS applications were delivered on multiple OS environments. However, when faced with deploying GIS application efficiencies enterprise-wide, throughout the organization, many areas were not staffed with sophisticated computer users. Many users were casual Windows users, accustomed to simplified and intuitive GUI application interfaces.
Reliant looked for ways to solve the problem of delivering complex GIS data to a broader range of users. To meet the need of supplying its GIS user community with a simplified, low cost solution, Reliant procured a third party product, GTI View, developed by GIS Technology, Inc, a GIS software and consulting firm that specializes in ESRI GIS software.
