Schneider Electric has recently published the ArcFM™ 10.2.1b release, which is available for download and use for your ArcFM™ implementation. This release contains some appealing new changes that will be  sure to make your day easier. I’ve studied up on the release and have compiled a list of my favorite changes and the context behind them. We’ll count down to number one, because it’s more fun that way!

6. Field Order Settings Support Feeder Manager 2.0 Fields

One of the biggest Feeder Manager 2 questions I’ve heard has been about field order. Many people are used to ordering their feeder fields with a fairly high visibility. However, since Feeder Manager 2 uses an in-memory table and joins it to the geodatabase table, the default functionality has been to always include these fields at the end of the list of attributes, and the fields haven’t been available in the Field Order settings. Schneider Electric has added a configuration setting to specifically choose where these fields go.

The catch here is that due to the limitation of the fields, they still must be grouped together. As a result, you can choose a “normal” field after which you want the Feeder Manager 2 fields to show up.

5. Work Locations Can Have Work Functions

This new Designer™ functionality allows CUs to be grouped into work locations based on their work functions. By adding and configuring the Work Function field to the Work Location feature class, using the “car tool” will also consider work function when grouping CUs together.

4. Jumper Functionality in Responder™ Switching Orders

The jumper functionality in Responder™ improves once again as jumpers are now integrated directly into the Switching Orders Editor, where you can plan and execute jumper placement and removal in switching orders.

3. Attribute Editor Supports Soft Relates

This is a great feature that has been long-requested by the community. A “soft relate” is a relationship not defined explicitly in the geodatabase, but instead in a layer, via its Esri layer properties. In the past, looking at the attributes of an object using ArcFM™’s Attribute Editor would not support this type of related object. In 10.2.1b, this support was added, which opens up options for simplifying geodatabases, referencing external data, and improving data visibility.

2. Feeder Manager 2.0 and Update Events

This one is for the developers out there, or for those concerned about upgrading customizations. I have helped with a number of upgrades to 10.2.1a (and Feeder Manager 2) that included customizations. During the course of these upgrades, I identified and reported an issue with accuracy when using Feeder Manager 2 attributes in the context of update AUs. Schneider Electric did their research, and it was revealed that Feeder Manager 2 needed some special love when it came to events. The fix for 10.2.1a was a manual process that felt like a workaround (because it was one). In 10.2.1b, as promised, Feeder Manager 2 adds new events specifically used for update logic that requires Feeder Manager 2 attribution, and it even lets users know if they encounter a situation where their data won’t be accurate due to using the wrong event.

Schneider Electric has also used this change to improve efficiency in the Feeder Sync MM_EDITED_FEATURES table by only writing the features that have changed. This event helps Feeder Manager 2 feel more natural in the context of the ArcFM™ product, and helps ensure that developers are implementing these things correctly.

1. Exit Button

Have you ever accidentally opened ArcMap and wanted to quickly close back out of it? Maybe it’s just me? Either way, when this happens, if you use ArcFM™, the login window will show up, and there was no way to exit out of the application without waiting for ArcMap to fully load. Not anymore!

This magical button now shows up on the ArcFM™ Login window to allow users to exit out of ArcMap without proceeding past the Login window. It saves quite a few seconds out of your busy day, but more importantly, it is always there for you and cheers you up when you’re feeeling down.

If you’re looking to install 10.2.1b, here’s an honorable mention: you can install the software over the top of 10.2.1a, or follow the regular uninstall/install routine with another version. In other words, it acts as both a standalone installer and a patch to 10.2.1a, and you can use the method you prefer more.

Like 10.2.1a before it, ArcFM™ version 10.2.1b is compatible with ArcGIS version 10.2.1. You may recall that this is because Esri recommends that utilities stay on version 10.2.1 as they release patches targeted to utility and telecom companies (at the time this post was published, the latest patch is UTU3). As such, ArcGIS 10.2.1 and ArcFM™ 10.2.1b are a great pairing to target if you are considering an upgrade. If you need assistance with your upgrade, know that we have extensive upgrade experience here at SSP and we’re happy to talk to you about it.

Do you agree or disagree with how we ranked the features above? Let us know in the comments!