GIS helps make co-op more efficient

The White River Electric Cooperative serves more than 38,000 customers in the Missouri counties of Taney, Christian, Stone, Douglas and Ozark. Population growth in its service area, which increased by 30 percent over the last five years, prompted it to look at implementing an advanced GIS for facility data management and operations.

“GIS gives us many benefits,” says Chris Hamon, general manager of the co-op. “We’ve taken data and applications that previously ran on large mainframe computers and moved them to laptops for a number of different users. We’re working smarter, faster and better.”

Prior to installation of the new system, the co-op managed its 100,000 distribution poles, 5,000 miles of distribution line and 25,000 transformers mostly by hand. “We were using primarily manual and paper-based mapping methods to maintain approximately 500 paper maps that were in constant need of updating to reflect the growth in the area,” Hamon says.

Since last summer, the co-op has been using UAI 2000 software developed by Huntsville, Ala.-based Utility Automation Integrators with ArcObjects component technology from Redlands, Calif.-based ESRI. Microsoft SQL is the relational database management system. The system also includes an interactive voice response system from Murray Hill, N.J.-based Lucent Technology and engineering analysis software from CYME International, Burlington, Mass.

Prior to the GIS implementation, asset data was managed with the paper maps and related documents, AutoCAD drawings or via database applications housed on antiquated mainframe systems. The co-op can now use the GIS to manage facilities and operations, perform accurate analysis for engineering and planning, and manage outages and crew dispatch. Additionally, field technicians can use the GIS from their laptops.

The system has shown an immediate payback in terms of employee productivity and the elimination of contracted services, according to Robert Johnson, White River’s GIS coordinator. The software is being used for a variety of applications including seamless mapping, field staking and maintenance, engineering planning, work order management, outage analysis and reporting and dispatching.

“The integration of engineering and operations functions into one system has proven to be tremendously successful,” Johnson says.