UTILITIES. Industry Solutions Harness the Power of GIS for Utilities

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1 UTILITIES Industry Solutions Harness the Power of GIS for Utilities

2 Esri has thousands of utility customers worldwide who are using the transforming power of GIS technology to gain unprecedented insight and knowledge about their assets and workflows. Ontario Power Generation Guelph Hydro Electric Systems Inc. NB Power PowerStream North Bay Hydro Distribution Limited Hydro One Inc. Lakeland Energy Chatham-Kent Hydro Inc. Grimsby Power Incorporated Centre Wellington Hydro Bluewater Power Oakville Hydro Corporation Greater Sudbury Hydro Inc. Erie Thames Powerlines Norfolk Power Collingwood Utility Services Wellington North Power Inc. Haldimand County Hydro Inc. Woodstock Hydro

3 Leverage the Power of Geography for Unprecedented Insight & Knowledge With the utility industry becoming increasingly global in scope, Canadian utilities experience the same challenges as those in the rest of the world. Faced with increasing demand for power with higher reliability, utilities are also subject to tighter controls on rates, more environmental restrictions, and the need to provide more renewable energy choices. Coupled with an aging workforce and asset base, utilities are under greater pressure than ever before. As a result, utilities need to transform their businesses to operate more efficiently and sustainably. Since energy is fundamental to society, any supply interruptions present a critical problem. In these situations, access to key information is absolutely essential to make informed reliable decisions. It is also essential for managing everyday operations. From planning for growth, to handling customer service issues, to managing construction projects, sound data management practices are required to ensure accuracy and data quality. Like other large, asset intensive industries, many utilities grapple with: many sources of data, often in conflict with each other little integration between data sources poor access to various data stores for decision support manual handoffs that create errors and backlogs within business processes Enter GIS A geographic information system (GIS) integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information. It provides an efficient platform for analyzing and managing assets, outages, work orders and customer information. At the forefront of GIS technology is Esri. Esri offers a market leading GIS solution that allows utility professionals to organize vast amounts of complex data into understandable visual representations in every branch of the utility industry. Drawing from our comprehensive suite of software and an array of support services that include technical support, training, and the expertise of our professional services consultants and business partners, Esri provides flexible and scalable solutions that are tailored to your organization s individual requirements. Our solutions are interoperable and designed to interface with existing databases, networks and enterprise resource planning systems. The types of organizations that have adopted Esri technology span the utility spectrum: electric utilities gas utilities municipalities independent system operators regulatory bodies By implementing an end-to-end integrated enterprise solution, we have single handedly improved operational efficiency, customer satisfaction and our network reliability. GIS-based requests climb 40% each year and we will continue to build innovative new applications to further enhance our productivity and services. Shelly Cunningham Senior Vice President, Engineering Services PowerStream Harness the Power of GIS for Utilities Esri Canada 1

4 Harness the Power of GIS for Utilities Esri s GIS solutions help utility executives, managers, engineers and field workers better understand the geographic relationships that affect their operations. This leads to improved asset documentation and management, higher levels of customer service, better service outage management and improved communications with customers. GIS plays a vital role in determining where assets are located, how they are connected or configured, and what needs to be done to meet the needs of the utility customers, stakeholders, employees and society. Asset Management Network Planning & Design Operational Awareness Mobile Operations A GIS is the best solution for documenting where assets are located and how they re connected. It also documents how the assets were constructed by providing an as-built system for capturing and maintaining utility assets. GIS-based design tools provide insight into the geographical considerations that are inherent in network planning and construction. They ensure faster, more efficient and costeffective engineering design development that conforms to utility standards. A common operating picture is a powerful tool that provides a high level of situational awareness into ongoing operations. A comprehensive dashboard gives utility staff an integrated information centre that facilitates informed decision making and optimized planning. GIS enables mobile workers to access the same information as back-office workers, making them more efficient and effective. Integration between the back office and the field eliminates data backlogs and errors. Productivity improvements lead to increased customer satisfaction. 2 Esri Canada Harness the Power of GIS for Utilities

5 What used to take hours to inspect can now be accomplished in a matter of minutes. By eliminating manual data entry, we have reduced our administrative workload by 60%. Peter Fox Field Operations Engineer NB Power Land Management Outage Management Distribution Integrity Management Smart Grid Management of land and rights of way can be a daunting task for a utility. The ability to manage these real property assets from the desktop can significantly reduce labour costs. GIS can help you address land management issues related to construction activities and system operations through spatial modeling, data integration, and mapping/ reporting capabilities. With accurate, up-to-date records stored in a GIS, you can respond more quickly to outages. Because GIS presents utility data along with geographic information, field crews can act quickly and precisely to meet customer needs. Every threat involved in distribution integrity management has a geographic location. GIS provides the data management, analysis and reporting tools needed to identify and quantify threats, calculate and model risks, improve safety and demonstrate compliance. GIS provides the underlying network model for the smart grid. It is critical for managing the deployment and implementation of the grid, as well as analyzing the volume of information that will be available upon implementation. Harness the Power of GIS for Utilities Esri Canada 3

6 Key Benefits & Features In the information-intensive environment of the utility industry, Esri technology plays a critical role due to its ability to integrate a wide range of data sources, from legacy systems to imagery, and to make complex data quickly and easily understood through visual representation. The ability of Esri s GIS solutions to intelligently manage, correlate, predict, model and share information makes it an essential analytical and decision making tool. By building our meter replacement process on top of our mapping system, we have improved productivity by 500%. Work orders are automatically generated, reducing paperwork and enabling us to view, in real time, the meters that have already been replaced. Dan Amyot Manager of Information Systems, Guelph Hydro Electric Systems Inc. Integrate Diverse Information: Informed decisions rely on integrated information from diverse sources. Using Esri technology, data can be compiled into a common operational picture for comparative analysis, visual presentation and reporting. Perform Advanced Statistical Analysis: Advanced and computationally efficient algorithms perform complex statistical calculations to accurately deliver timely results for decision making, planning and forecasting. Communicate More Effectively: Presenting clinical and administrative information graphically through mapped data opens the door to a wealth of information that can be quickly assimilated, communicated, understood and explained. Improve Data Accuracy with Mobile Devices: By integrating mobile devices such as handheld GPS units data can be entered with exact geographic coordinates along with other descriptive information. Provide Access to Data Across the Enterprise: Data is far more valuable when it can be integrated and used in the decision making process by a broad range of users. Esri technology provides a way to move data from the project level so that it can be used by the entire organization. Data can be easily accessed using an Intranet or the Internet. 4 Esri Canada Harness the Power of GIS for Utilities

7 Esri s GIS Solutions in Action Guelph Hydro, ON This utility map illustrates the Guelph Hydro electric system. It outlines the various stages of electric distribution starting at the transformer stations and ending with circuits linked to meter bases at homes. New Brunswick Power Transmission Corporation, NB This map depicts the access roads for transmission line 3016 that extend from Point Lepreau, New Brunswick to Woodland, Maine. Available data is displayed for employees through either Web services or Toughbook applications.

8 GIS Solutions for: Business Defence Education Government Health Care Natural Resources Public Safety Public Works Telecommunications Transportation Utilities esri.ca Esri Canada 12 Concorde Place, Suite 900 Toronto, ON M3C 3R8 T: F: Customer Care Technical Support Founded in 1984, Esri Canada provides enterprise geographic information system (GIS) solutions that empower businesses, governments and educational institutions to make timely, informed and mission-critical decisions by leveraging the power of geography. The company distributes the world s leading GIS software from Esri, along with a comprehensive portfolio of complementary GIS products and services. Headquartered in Toronto, the company serves over 10,000 customers from 16 regional offices across Canada. British Columbia Vancouver: Victoria: Kelowna: Alberta Calgary: Edmonton: Saskatchewan Regina: Manitoba Winnipeg: Ontario Toronto: Ottawa: London: Sudbury: Québec Montréal: Québec: Nova Scotia Halifax: New Brunswick Fredericton: Newfoundland & Labrador St. John s: Esri Canada Limited. All rights reserved. Trademarks provided under license from Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Errors and omissions excepted. EC2_0067_1201_11B