Many electrical distributors use ABB Network Manager DMS (some of you may know it as CADOPS) as an outage management system and for predicitve modeling of load flow.  Still more use ArcGIS and ArcFM™ for managing their spatial data assets.

The two systems can be used together quite effectively with the GIS system serving as an editing environment and the source for data export scripts that refresh the input data used by CADOPS, keeping the systems in sync and ensuring that CADOPS is running on data that reflects the most current state of the electrical distribution system.

This posting contains a discussion of one of these system integrations from the perspective of the ArcGIS / ArcFM™ implementation.

Downtown Network engineers at Memphis Light, Gas, and Water (MLG&W) are in the midst of upgrading from AutoCAD-based maps and their T2000 load flow modeling application to ArcGIS / ArcFM™ and ABB Network Manager DMS.  With load flow modeling being their primary goal, the interest in ArcGIS and ArcFM™ was limited to methods that they could use to feed data to their new ABB system.

Using that as the primary requirement, we are nearly finished with implementation of a GIS system that feeds data to CADOPS for load flow analyses.  Pleasant side effects of the upgrade include the fact that the GIS data will also be used for ArcFM™ Feeder Manager analyses and automated map generation, replacing their AutoCAD (and paper) Service maps, Duct maps, Single Circuit maps, and Worldview map.

As a result, Downtown Network engineers will now be using a single environment for making data updates that will be reflected in many of their analysis, reporting, and planning activities.  There is no more need to make updates in five or more different places when construction or another change to their system occurs.

The primary constraint of both the old load flow modeling software and the new ABB system is the need for storing the model input data as line and node (point) relational database (Oracle) records.  As you GIS-saavy readers know, that fits very well with the bottom-level format that electrical data is stored with in ESRI geodatabases.

To make scripting and analyses as simple as possible, we were asked to maintain 1:1 relationships between the node and line records in the load flow models and the points and lines in the target ArcGIS / ArcFM™ geodatabase.  Additional complexity is added by the nature of the mesh network configuration of this distribution system.

The GIS data model was designed with these constraints in mind, and then expanded to store all of the other facilities that are of intererst to the various end users of the new system but do not participate in the load flow models.  The last step was to build a geometric network and configure the geodatabase for use with ArcFM™ and ArcFM™ Feeder Manager.

Oracle scripts are being written to export data stored in multiple ArcSDE feature classes to the ABB database.  These scripts will be run on a scheduled basis, effectively insuring that the data used by the load flow model and other ABB functions is as up-to-date as possible.

Next, the ArcFM™ stored display will be refined to user specifications and then referenced in ArcFM™ page templates for automated map generation.  Lastly, the users will be trainied on all of the tools available in their new system.

Who knows what additional benefits will be identified when the users learn their new tools…

I’d like to thank some of the folks at MLG&W that I have been working with for allowing me to post this article, namely Rick Wery and Doug Duncan.  Thanks guys!