WHITE PAPER

The Value of
a Utility GIS
Improving Service Reliability, Reducing Costs, and
Managing Infrastructure with Geospatial Solutions
 The Value of a Utility GIS

Contents

1. Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1

2. Industry ROI Analysis .................................................................................................. 2

3. Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions ............................................................................. 3

4. Case Studies ............................................................................................................... 4

4.1. Design and Analysis ........................................................................................................................ 4
4.2. Enterprise Access ............................................................................................................................ 5
4.3. Enterprise Operations...................................................................................................................... 8

5. Geospatial Technology: Platform for Solutions ......................................................... 11

6. References ................................................................................................................ 12

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 The Value of a Utility GIS

1. Introduction
Utilities are striving to decrease their operating costs to increase their revenues, while improving customer
service at the same time. However, market pressures such as safety, reliability, critical infrastructure
protection, regulatory compliance, aging infrastructure, and process improvements continue to increase
the cost of operations. Geospatial infrastructure solutions provide utility and communications companies
with many benefits, such as improving service reliability, reducing costs, and managing infrastructure.
Geospatial infrastructure solutions are not just for distribution and operation maps, but they can also
maintain and manage the facility network model. However, according to IDC and Daratech, only one to
two percent of the $1.16 trillion spent globally on IT projects is spent on geospatial technology. Why is
this? Executives realize that IT is not just critical to running business operations, but also capable of
creating significant economic and strategic benefits. Today there is huge resistance to long-term projects,
so companies are breaking big projects into several smaller projects. The trends of today are to
implement smaller projects, show results, and then implement more. This allows companies to minimize,
mitigate, and manage risks much more effectively.

Approximately 90 percent of corporations conduct a return on investment (ROI) analysis before they
make any large-scale investment. How can companies prove the ROI business case for geospatial
infrastructure solutions? Industry studies have shown the downstream applications that leverage the
geospatial network model – outage management, mobile workforce management, engineering network
analysis, customer reporting, and work and asset management – deliver real results that improve the
bottom line. The benefits increase as the enterprise implements more geospatial data. This white paper
presents real-world examples along with the resulting benefits.

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 The Value of a Utility GIS

2. Industry ROI Analysis

A utility can gain more benefits when it implements additional operating tools through geospatial
technology. A geospatial infrastructure solution has a benefit-to-cost ratio of 1:1. If this solution is used to
automate the company’s planning and engineering departments, then the benefit-to-cost ratio doubles to
2:1. If the company creates a common database for its geospatial infrastructure solution and then
integrates that solution throughout the enterprise providing data to employees companywide, the benefit-
to-cost ratio rises to 4:1. If the company then expands the network model from the geospatial
infrastructure solution to network operations and maintenance, the benefit-to-cost ratio goes beyond
known studies (Figure 1).

Figure 1: As a utility expands its use of the geospatial infrastructure data, the benefit-to-cost ratio continues to increase.

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 The Value of a Utility GIS

3. Geospatial Infrastructure Solutions

Geospatial technology is an enabler, not an end in and of itself. Traditional geographic information
systems (GIS) focused mainly on the production of a map of the facilities, which provided no real return
on investment. To maximize ROI and benefits, the geospatial information must be integrated into the IT
infrastructure. A geospatial infrastructure management solution provides a much broader scope than
traditional, general purpose automated mapping, facility management, and GIS. It integrates with
operational support and service-delivery applications, enabling these systems to cooperate seamlessly to
manage the planning, design, construction, operations, maintenance, and emergency response functions
of a utility or communications company, as well as transportation and government agencies. It
incorporates complete deployment of geospatial infrastructure data across the enterprise with full
integration at all levels of systems, applications, access, view, and update. Integrating geospatial
infrastructure solutions with other delivery systems is essential to staying competitive, providing significant
benefits – such as improved productivity, better data and reliability, and improved and real-time data
access – and maximizing return on investment.

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 The Value of a Utility GIS

4. Case Studies
Every utility has different operating conditions that can affect the results after the implementation and
integration of a geospatial infrastructure solution. Local environments will affect the way systems are used
and the extent of benefits achieved. Studying how utilities use geospatial technology reveals its significant
benefits. Every utility pursues combinations of different activities to achieve similar levels of benefits. The
following examples support cost/benefit study discussions and indicate how a utility can benefit from
implementing specific applications.

4.1. Design and Analysis

Design is becoming an encapsulated, one-person job. Sophisticated software assists the service planner
or designer in several areas. As components are selected, compatible units automatically generate bills of
material for cost estimation and feeding material management systems. Engineering design calculation
tools can assist with or validate designs. More extensive network analysis tools can evaluate the new
design’s impact on the distribution system. You can accomplish all of these tasks in a single work session.

Figure 2: An integrated graphical work order design provides several opportunities for cost savings.

Companies save millions of dollars delivering materials directly to the job site just in time for construction,
maintenance, and repair avoiding high warehousing costs. This process is called supply chain
management (SCM), and enables companies to project material requirements in advance to synchronize
delivery schedules with crew and equipment arrival. Capturing compatible unit information early in the
design phase of a work order makes this process possible.

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 The Value of a Utility GIS

An integrated graphical work order design environment provides many areas for cost savings (Figure 2).
The basis for achieving the cost benefits, however, cannot be achieved solely by implementing
technology. Organizational changes that focus on a redesign of the information processes must go hand-
in-hand with the technology, eliminating redundant work that supports the existing processes, along with
supervisory and administration costs.

Restructuring to take advantage of new tools is not an easy process, and many organizations have had
difficulty implementing new solutions. For those who recognize the advantages, the financial impact will
be significant once the new work environment is in place, allowing the graphical work order design application
to feed information throughout the organization and support the majority of operational processes.

At FortisAlberta, an electric service provider for approximately 450,000 residents in Alberta, Canada,
designers use the geospatial infrastructure solution to create work orders that generate corresponding
work prints, material lists, and cost estimations. By entering information only at the time of creation and
avoiding a duplicate as-built record process, the company realized a 25 percent increase in productivity.
According to FortisAlberta, business cases have identified approximately five million dollars in benefits
annually since 1995. The utility continues to gain from the benefits, which break down as follows:
 Elimination of “as-builts” drafting costs, 40 positions, $1.2M annually
 Reduction of design costs, 20 positions, $1M annually
 Simplified symbology and color thematic maps, saves field staff $1M annually in ease-of-use,
coloring of paper maps and facility management
 Load flow and fuse coordination analysis, two labor years of effort or $200K annually

MidAmerican Energy Company (MEC), an electric and gas distribution company in the Midwest, proved
that a geospatial solution enables them to better manage their infrastructure – from inception through to
its day-to-day operation. In the area of design, the work management system is integrated with the utility’s
geospatial infrastructure management solution to improve design quality. The integration not only
provides greater accuracy for material requisition and cost estimation, but also forces a more consistent
work order design process across the company. MEC posts the proposed infrastructure addition or
modification at design finalization, making information immediately available to employees across the
company, such as field crews and front-line supervisors.

This makes new subdivision service installations at MEC much easier because the finalized design
information is available to the crews – either within the mobile geospatial infrastructure application or on a
printed map. This supports visualization and instruction on installation locations, size and type of
equipment, and other data. For field locators, there is no delay in getting the finalized infrastructure
design and installation information, reducing the risk of potential violations, fines, and damaged lines
because of the accuracy and immediate availability of the data.

From the operational aspect, MEC can prepare the network switching orders for each job directly within
their outage management system, because data are almost immediately available. This eliminates the
need for maintaining redline markup maps within the control room and significantly reduces the risk of
errors during switch plan preparation and execution.

4.2. Enterprise Access

At the heart of the corporate IT infrastructure are data, where the benefits of a geospatial infrastructure
management solution are most obvious. Location information is used by nearly everyone – from the
customer care representative to the field crews. The access and distribution of data across the enterprise
is crucial to making informed decisions regarding the management of the infrastructure, control of
operating expenses, and extension of infrastructure life.

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 The Value of a Utility GIS

One area where enterprise access is critical is operations and maintenance (O&M). O&M is highly
dependent on regulatory requirements and infrastructure performance history. Traditionally, utilities store
this information in independent department files, an asset database or registry, plant maintenance files,
and on maps and miscellaneous documents. With the integration and dissemination of the geospatial
infrastructure data, sources can now be assembled and accessed from a single point for unified analysis
for inspection and maintenance.

Hawaiian Electric Company (HECo) needed to transition its field crews from paper to a mobile geospatial
infrastructure management solution to satisfy field crews. HECo wanted a solution that took it beyond
traditional field map viewing. The company also wanted to automate infrastructure inspections for both
the field and office, with the ability to automate the recording and submission of inspections and work
planning. HECo has been utilizing this mobile geospatial infrastructure management solution for several
years and captures inspection reports, as well as infrastructure photography, electronically (Figure 3).
The inspection records and corresponding data are uploaded to the enterprise nightly, providing more
efficient communication and data sharing with departments across the company. The solution allowed
HECo to increase the number of inspections per inspector, as well as the number of work planning
documents. The solution also improved the quality of the inspection and work planning information.

For utilities, pipelines, and communications companies – operators of often widely dispersed transmission
and distribution networks – critical infrastructure protection (CIP) and disaster management are key
concerns. Communicating the exact location of facilities and resources, as well as dispatching, guiding,
and tracking the movement of emergency personnel to a specific location, is fundamental to effective
collaboration and response.

During a disaster and emergency response scenario, many organizations – city, state, federal, private,
and non-profit – must pool resources and work together. Fundamental to this activity is the ability to
quickly access and combine geospatially enabled data in disparate formats from diverse sources. This
capability enables rapid analysis of information and Web sharing of informative maps, providing the
footing for geospatially enabled enterprise data integration.

Utilities can view and coordinate public information and interdepartmental activities more easily with a map.
For example, you can combine images and features of a landbase with water, sewer, electric, gas, and
communications infrastructure layers to deal with massive utility outages. This kind of integrated geospatial
infrastructure effort streamlines collaborative field operations between utilities and government agencies.

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 The Value of a Utility GIS

Figure 3: Hawaiian Electric Company has improved inspection and work planning with the use of a mobile inspection application.

Participating in a recent oil spill drill with environmental and government agencies, HECo achieved
measurable benefits by implementing a geospatial analysis and enterprise Web environment that could
assist in oil spills and other disaster response. This solution met the oil spill response need of quickly
showing the incident area and various features in the vicinity. During the drill, a sensitive life reporting tool
was developed. When the user defined a polygon, which could be around a spill incident, the tool found
all sensitive life within the polygon and displayed a report. Previously, an environmental expert needed 30
minutes to generate this kind of report because it involved coordinating disparate data. With all data
geospatially referenced and electronically managed by the solution, the same quantity and quality of
sensitive life reporting was returned in less than a minute. HECo also uses the solution to display new
and dynamic information, such as response crews and equipment.

This solution greatly enhanced the speed of HECo’s decision making, and helped quickly identify its
response strategy (Figure 4). The solution also provided:

 Real-time adjustment of response resources

 Efficient integration of disparate data sources
 Instantaneous updates of the situation
 Quick assessment of key and most critical infrastructure
 Immeasurable ROI dollars

As a result of the drill, HECo’s enterprise Web site was declared appropriate for providing supporting
graphics and query results during the following dramatic situations:

 Response to oil spills both on land and in water

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 The Value of a Utility GIS

 Response to disasters, such as a hurricane or tsunami

 Critical infrastructure protection

Figure 4: Hawaii Electric has improved its response to disasters by converting its data from a manual operation to a geospatial
analysis solution.

4.3. Enterprise Operations

In the typical service-delivery organization, there are four types of field forces. These relate to routine
work, engineering and construction, trouble and outage, and operations and maintenance. In most
companies they operate independently, but may be pulled together for outage or crisis situations.
Historically, these have been data-centric applications with intensive demands on dispatchers to locate
and schedule crews, equipment, and materials. Geospatial technology radically changes the process to a
geo-centric solution that provides extensive operational support system tools for scheduling, dispatching,
monitoring, and reporting – managing work from the work management system, outage management
system, customer information system, geospatial infrastructure management system, and others.

Outage management solutions use the geospatial infrastructure management network model with links to
customer information systems, automated voice response units, supervisory control and data acquisition
(SCADA) systems, and automated meter reading systems to predict probable cause of the outage and
quickly and efficiently dispatch crews to repair the problem. These tools relieve dispatchers of traditional
trouble-ticket plotting and analysis duties. As a result, companies can combine workforce management
activities and achieve economies of scale and efficiencies of operation.

The Knoxville Utility Board (KUB), a multi-utility providing water, wastewater, gas, and electric services to
more than 400,000 people in the Knoxville, Tennessee, area, implemented an integrated outage and
mobile workforce management system to improve analysis capability of outage and critical system
events. It also wanted a solution that would:
 Provide estimated restoration times to individual customers
 Improve system reliability metrics and reporting for each utility system

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 The Value of a Utility GIS

 Provide dynamic information from real-time applications

 Document and archive all system operation actions
 Support mobile computing capabilities for all first responders
 Use current geospatial infrastructure network connectivity for trouble analysis and circuit tracing

The KUB solution manages electric, gas, water, and wastewater utilities, including software, services,
support, and maintenance. The solution is integrated with the geospatial infrastructure management,
customer information, supervisory control and data acquisition, interactive voice response, and high-
volume call systems. It provides a seamless environment for dispatch, mobile workforce management,
scheduling, crew management, and outage management, fulfilling KUB’s vision of a consolidated
operations environment to improve the decision-making process for restoration and service orders. The
system tracks individual trouble calls from customers and associates the calls with an outage event for a
specific device. This minimizes paper forms in the field and reduces radio voice communication. Using the
global positioning system (GPS), operations personnel view each vehicle’s location in real time on
detailed map displays, enabling them to optimize assignments. The system also tracks the events a crew
has worked, time spent, and the resolution of the problem when an outage is restored. KUB has realized
numerous benefits, which include increased productivity, decreased back-office support, better resource
allocation, and faster deployment of job-related information to the field.

Progress Energy Florida (PEF), an electric utility service provider to more than 1.4 million customers, has
a completely integrated geospatial infrastructure management, work management, outage management,
and mobile environment. Its project goals were to reduce power interruption time through optimization of
their restoration workflow, increase customer satisfaction, and reduce costs through efficient restoration.
The company implemented an outage management system that provided an accurate analysis engine with
call grouping and estimated outage device, mobile outage management with an integrated map, crew
management and field force automation, and management analysis through Web reporting and monitoring
(Figure 5).

Figure 5: Progress Energy has vastly improved restoration efforts with an outage management system.

This system proved a major contributor in significantly reducing customer minutes of interruption (CMI). It
enabled PEF to reduce labor costs by getting crews on the job faster and allowing them to use their time
more efficiently (Figure 6). The system provides dynamic up-to-date maps, including the infrastructure
information, intelligent street network, and GPS locations. Crews can create and confirm outages in the

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 The Value of a Utility GIS

field. PEF discovered that providing a mobile outage management solution to crews – which puts the
necessary tool as close to the actual damage as possible – and real-time access to necessary data vastly
improves restoration efforts and increases performance. PEF also discovered that integrating a
geospatial infrastructure network model with improved weather forecasts of storm tracks and intensity
allows it to more accurately predict the location and extent of damage to critical utility infrastructure, as
well as accelerate the coordination and improve the accuracy of deploying response resources before
storms strike. PEF estimated a 20 percent process improvement, which is more than $10 million in
savings based on just one storm of similar impact during the 2004 storm season or approximately $1
million in annual savings excluding extraordinary years of storm restoration.

Figure 6: Progress Energy has improved the time it spends on dispatching field crews, travel, and location with an outage
management system.

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 The Value of a Utility GIS

5. Geospatial Technology: Platform for Solutions

Geospatial technology provides many benefits to utilities and communications companies. To really
maximize the ROI and benefits on geospatial projects, utilities must integrate geospatial solutions into the
IT infrastructure. By integrating a geospatial infrastructure management system with operational support
and service-delivery applications, these systems can cooperate seamlessly to manage the planning,
design, construction, operations, maintenance, and emergency response functions of a utility or
communications company, as well as transportation and government agencies. The benefits increase
with the implementation of additional geospatial data across the enterprise – the broader the solution, the
greater the benefits.

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 The Value of a Utility GIS

6. References
Daratech, Inc., 2007, GIS/Geospatial Markets & Opportunities 2006: Daratech Inc. GIS/Geospatial
Review & Outlook, pg. 5

Morgan, T., 2007, IDC Says Global IT Spending Will Kiss $1.5 Trillion by 2010: The Four Hundred,
Volume 16, Number 2, pg. 1

The Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) owns copyrights for this white
paper, which was previously published at the 2008 GITA Infrastructure Solutions Conference in
Seattle, Wash.

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