Allegheny power's integrated solution
Shawn P. McDonough Allegheny Power 800 Cabin Hill Drive, Greensburg, PA 15601 Abstract Allegheny Power is an electric and gas utility that serves approximately 1.7 million customers in Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia and Ohio. Allegheny Power’s technology systems have users in approximately 60 Service Centers. These systems include AM/FM, Work Management, Outage Management and Mobile Computing. This presentation will focus on how AM/FM is integrated with these systems. New electric designs are entered into AM/FM as “proposed” by a Lines Engineering Designer. As-built facilities are updated in AM/FM and made “in-service” after construction through an automatic interface with the Work Management System. This process has eliminated the need for mapping clerks since the construction drawing is made in AM/FM and completed automatically after construction. The Outage Management System is kept up-to-date through automatic circuit extracts from the AM/FM system. Mobile Computing allows the linemen at the 60 Service Centers to have access to view-only maps, which are updated regularly from AM/FM. This presentation will also address the importance of data quality and how bad data in one system can drastically affect the operations of another system. The importance of coordinating system changes in an integrated environment will also be stressed. Introduction Allegheny Power provides nationally recognized customer service to its 1.7 million customers, in part, through its use of integrated technologies. Allegheny Power is the energy delivery business of Allegheny Energy, delivering low-cost, reliable electricity and natural gas to customers in parts of Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. Reengineering the corporation Prior to 1996, Allegheny Power operated as three separate companies – The Potomac Edison Company, Monongahela Power Company and West Penn Power Company. A reengineering of company functions was completed that year in order to improve our competitive position in the energy industry. The new company needed to be lean enough to remain competitive, customer-focused and technologically advanced. In 1996, the three operating subsidiaries - The Potomac Edison Company, Monongahela Power Company, and West Penn Power Company - began doing business under the name Allegheny Power. The reengineering brought about a change in the way Allegheny Power does business. Allegheny was forced to answer the questions – Why are we in business? What is our purpose? What do we need to do to survive in the changing utility industry? The answers to these questions led to a significant change for Allegheny – managing by process. Managing by process meant that it was time for Allegheny Power to look at the main reason they were in business – to serve the customer and keep the lights on. Three major operational processes were defined as Ensure Reliable Service, Respond to Service Request and Restore Service. Once these processes were defined, the next step was to design the process and define the appropriate technologies that would make these processes work as efficiently as possible. Corporate functions were consolidated and a new customer service center in Fairmont, W.Va., was established to handle all customer service issues and requests. A new job title was created – Lines Engineering Designer (LED). This employee would be responsible for meeting the customer, designing the job and working as a team with a Lines Manager and the line crews to provide service to the customer. During the reengineering process, Allegheny Power determined that implementing integrated technologies would help to operate more efficiently and provide an increased level of customer service. The three main technologies identified were an Automated Mapping/Facilities Management System (AM/FM), an Outage Management System (OMS) and a Work Management System (WMS). Teams were created in June of 1996 to implement these technologies. Since reorganization had already taken place, it was crucial that these technologies be implemented as quickly as possible – the time frame established was 18 months. Allegheny Power Before Reengineering Before the reengineering in 1996, the three operating companies performed their work by function – a task oriented approach. Customer Service Representatives met with customers and initiated contracts. Engineering Technicians designed the jobs but had little contact with the customer. Line crews built the jobs as specified. There was little teamwork between the departments. An approval process needed to be followed before work could be passed from one department to the next. Little responsibility was given to the employee. This type of environment increased the amount of time necessary to get electric service to the customer. Very little technology was used in the three operating companies. West Penn Power and Monongahela Power used paper maps that were manually updated by mapping clerks after the job was built in the field. Potomac Edison had a similar process but used an AutoCAD mapping system. In all three companies, the mapping clerks were sometimes used to help the Engineering Technicians design jobs, which lead to mapping backlogs and out-of-date maps. When outages occurred, customers called the local Service Center to report outages and representatives at the centers would manually group the trouble calls according to geography. This manual process was used to determine the approximate location of the source of trouble and line crews were notified by radio of the location. Service Center personnel would call the customer back after service was restored to verify that the lights were back on. For new service requests, customers likewise called the local Service Center for new service requests. Engineering Technicians used a mainframe-based cost-estimating tool for their designs and there was no Work Management System. Work initiation and tracking was done using a paper system. Utilizing Technology to Support the Processes Allegheny Power determined that implementing technology would streamline the processes and lead to increased customer satisfaction. Three main systems were identified as AM/FM, OMS and WMS. Additionally, Mobile Computing was identified as a major technology that would integrate with these systems. This paper will focus on the integrations between these four main systems and technologies, although integrations with other systems will be mentioned as they pertain to the process. Integrated solution Beginning in January of 1997, data started being converted into the new AM/FM system at Allegheny Power. At this time, mapping clerks no longer existed to perform the maintenance and automated processes were required to perform this work. Automated design tools were developed that would allow the LEDs to easily create their work requests. A completions process was also developed that would update the AM/FM system with as-built data as construction or maintenance work was completed. Additionally, other processes were developed for updating other systems requiring this data, such as OMS and Mobile Computing. Work Request Initiation Allegheny Power decided that all work would be initiated in the new Work Management System. Customer initiated work would be entered into WMS at the new Customer Service Center. To improve customer satisfaction and internal efficiencies, a customized application, called Quest, was developed for Customer Service Representatives that would allow entry of data into the Customer Information System (CIS), WMS and OMS without switching between the various applications. Utilizing Quest, Customer Service Representatives handle all customer requests and inquiries. Any requests by customers for new service, service upgrades, etc., would establish a new Work Request (WR) in WMS. If work is initiated internally, such as maintenance work, then it is entered directly into WMS. Once the work is initiated in WMS, it is passed to the appropriate service center’s work queue and then assigned to an LED to perform the work request design. Work Request Design The work request design can be performed in WMS, AM/FM, or a combination of the two. However, AM/FM must be used for the design if new locations are being established. This assures that the rest of the process can be completed successfully. If it is determined that AM/FM will be used for the design, then the LED passes the work request from WMS to AM/FM. The LED establishes the points and spans in AM/FM where the design is being performed. Compatible units (CUs) and macro units (MUs) that describe the action to be performed as well as the materials required are then added to the points and spans. Once all of the CUs and MUs are added, a build process is run to automatically create the associated objects in the AM/FM system as proposed facilities. Minimal expertise is required in using the AM/FM system, as the main function of the LED in creating an AM/FM design is to graphically establish where the points and spans are geographically located in the AM/FM system. If corrections are necessary, points and spans can be added or removed, CUs/MUs can be added or removed, and the design can be rebuilt, again automatically updating the AM/FM system. Once satisfied with the design, the LED transfers the points and spans and the CUs and MUs back to WMS. As part of the transfer process, Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) is run against the changes made to the AM/FM system. This prevents incorrect or incomplete data from being entered. If the AM/FM system is not used for the design, a similar process is used for designing the job. Within WMS, points and spans are created and CUs and MUs are added. Independent of where the design is performed, certain attributes are required to be specified to support construction as well as the backend completions process. Some examples of these attributes are the location number, substation, circuit, and phase. At this point in the design process, whether the design was performed in AM/FM or WMS, the work request appears the same in WMS. If additional revisions need to be created for comparison purposes, such as for comparing an overhead versus an underground design, it can be done at this time. Cost estimates can be created and compared. Once a design is approved and all requirements are met, material can be automatically requisitioned and the work request can be scheduled for construction. Construction Phase Scheduled work requests are loaded onto mobile computers for field use by construction crews. Again, the design is passed as points and spans using CUs and MUs to designate the work to be performed. A work print is also included for reference purposes showing the work to be performed. As the facilities are constructed in the field, the construction crew updates the work request on the mobile computer with as-built information. If they build it as designed, they only need to check off the installed CUs and MUs. However, if they make design changes in the field, they would be required to update the mobile computer with the appropriate CUs or MUs. Additionally, if emergency work is performed without a design, it is also entered into the mobile computer. This would result in CUs and MUs being assigned to points and spans in the mobile computer, mimicking a design job in format. Again, certain attributes are required to be entered to support the backend processing, such as location number, substation, circuit, and phase. At the end of each workday, when the construction crews return to the office, they dock their mobile computers and the new data is automatically downloaded into WMS. This updates the original designs with as-built data. Emergency work reporting is added to a blanket work request within WMS created for this purpose. Work Request Completions On a daily basis, as-built data is loaded from WMS into the AM/FM database for completed work requests. Again, it is passed as points and spans having CUs and MUs. The additional attributes that were previously entered are also passed. Using an automated batch process, these additional attributes are used to establish the correct location, circuit and phase in the AM/FM system. For AM/FM designed work requests, the asbuilt data is applied to the appropriate objects in AM/FM and the status of these objects is updated from a proposed status to an in-service status. If the design was done in WMS, then the appropriate objects are updated or added as in-service. Once all updates and additions are made to the AM/FM system for a given work request, the changes are committed to the database. A database table is also maintained with any circuits touched by the work requests. A batch process is then run against this table tracing each circuit. The trace collects all of the objects associated to the circuit and updates the substation and circuit for each object. If the object is a conductor segment, it also updates an attribute indicating the direction of current flow. OMS Integration Based on the database table of affected circuits, another automated batch process is run to extract each circuit for OMS import. This extract creates flat files for each circuit, which are subsequently imported into OMS. As part of the export, another QA/QC process is run against the circuit to verify circuit related errors, such as loop conditions, phase mismatches, etc. This QA/QC helps to validate the AM/FM systems data, but it more importantly helps to prevent bad data being imported into OMS. OMS then has a batch import process that takes the flat files created above and imports them. As part of the import process, another QA/QC process takes place, again to insure that the circuits entered into OMS are accurate. Ultimately, connected customer data is compared between the circuit before and after import, and if large discrepancies are found that are unexplainable due to circuit changes, the circuit is reverted back to its previous state until resolved. OMS also has the capability to display the circuits geographically. Since the only data passed as part of the circuit exports is facility data, another export process was established to export land base data. Unlike the circuit exports that are triggered by changes, this export is performed on a periodic basis as necessary. This data can then be used to provide geographic reference when viewing the circuit data in OMS. Mobile Computing A couple of additional integrations are worth mentioning. They both pertain to the mobile computers that have been installed in each of our construction vehicles. One is currently in place and the other is planned for the future. The first is the mobile mapping interface. To support viewing of AM/FM data in the field, a mobile mapping application was developed. One of the objectives of the mobile mapping application was to allow maps of Allegheny Power’s entire service territory to be on each of the mobile computers. This simplifies the distribution of data and better supports the sharing of construction crews between work districts. Since it was not practical to put the entire AM/FM database on a mobile platform, a mobile mapping application was acquired that would take a subset of the AM/FM data and convert it into a more compact format. The extract and import processes were developed to allow for incremental updates to the mobile data. Again, this was necessary due to the sheer size of the AM/FM database. The second mobile computer integration that is still in the planning phases is the integration to OMS. The intent of this integration is to allow real-time data transfer of outage data between OMS and the construction crews. This would be a two-way interface, allowing outage information and work assignments to be sent to the crews performing restoration. Conversely, it would allow the crews to report statuses, such as estimated restoration and completion times. Data Quality As mentioned throughout the description of Allegheny Power’s integrated solution, QA/QC is performed several times and in various places in the process. There is very good reason for this. Obviously data integrity is important to any organization that is spending millions of dollars on data. However, due to the integrations that have been described, data integrity is even more crucial. Allegheny Power considers OMS a mission critical application. As a result, we expect this application to be available 24 x 7. But we also rely on its ability to accurately analyze the location of trouble when an outage occurs. This requires that customers with outages to be accurately associated to their circuit, and with accurate circuit connectivity analysis can be performed. This process becomes less accurate if bad data is allowed to enter OMS. Also, reports are generated from this data that are required by the utility commissions. These reports are expected to be accurate representations of reality. In addition to OMS, several other systems interface with AM/FM, such as our Planning Engineer Analysis Tool (PEAT). When performing engineering analysis, it is important to accurately represent the circuit data. Several reports are generated using the data from these systems. Decisions are made based on the results of this analysis and reports. If the data is inaccurate, bad economic or even unsafe decisions could be made. As a result, the importance of data integrity needs to be instilled upon anyone that modifies or enters data. For example, a lineman constructing a new single-phase line extension may incorrectly enter the phase into the mobile computer. Through the systems’ interfaces and integrations, this error is propagated through WMS, AM/FM, and OMS. If during a storm, customers attached to this new line extension call to report an outage, the analysis would be performed incorrectly, and may select the wrong sectionalizing device to send the crew to. Additionally, if engineering analysis were to be performed, incorrect results could occur, as well as errors in load balancing. As you can see, the importance of data integrity needs to be stressed to everyone that is associated with the process from the LED designing the job, to the lineman on the construction crew. Coordinating Upgrades As you can imagine, upgrades in an integrated environment can be problematic. Since the systems are integrated, an upgrade or change in one system can have far reaching repercussions. As a result, it is extremely important that there are good lines of communication between each of the application groups. Also, all changes must be communicated well in advance and thoroughly tested before being put into production. A change management system can help manage this upgrade or change process if used correctly. At a minimum, it will allow the changes to be tracked over time. It can also be used as an additional means of communicating planned changes and upgrades. Since the AM/FM, OMS, and WMS technologies were implemented in 1997-1998, each of the systems has been upgraded multiple times. Several of these upgrades have been major rewrites to the applications and their external interfaces. The first few of these upgrades resulted in many problems. The lines of communication between the application groups were not very good early on. Each team was interested in their own success and not that interested in the integrated applications. However, as time passed and the company became more dependent on the technologies and information that they provide, the integrations have become more important. As a result, when upgrades are performed today, the integrations tend to get as much focus as the core application when testing. Summary In summary, Allegheny Power has spent a lot of time and effort on integrating their major systems and technologies. Today, our company is significantly leaner than it was in 1996, yet we have been able to reach our goals and Allegheny Power’s Integrated Solution has contributed to our industry leading customer satisfaction and our significantly improved internal efficiencies. | ||
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