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BGE
Enbridge
Vectren
Baltimore Gas & Electric Company (BGE) serves over 1 million electric and 600,000 gas customers within a 2,300 square-mile area encompassing Baltimore and eastern Maryland. The company maintains about 6,000 miles of gas distribution pipe, including 1,300 miles of cast iron and 100 miles of bare steel. In 1998, well ahead of industry distribution integrity initiatives, BGE decided their current risk, reliability and integrity management business processes were below their desired standards. Their processes were reactive not proactive, and as a result, the timing of their work and spending were too hard to predict and control. BGE decided it was time to act proactively and acquire new systems to support system-wide distribution pipe risk assessment.
As a result of their analysis, BGE built a business case for what would become “ATLAS,” a Smallworld-based GIS. One of the key business case drivers identified was acquiring a system that could process system-wide spatial and relational data to assess distribution network risk and reliability.
To provide the framework for its risk-based approach to distribution integrity, BGE selected Optimain® DS, which had been integrated with Smallworld at several utilities. Initially, Optimain DS was coupled with ATLAS to analyze their entire cast iron and bare steel systems. In the past year, Optimain DS coverage has been increased to include the entire distribution network, including plastic and cathodically protected steel. At BGE, Optimain DS uses risk profile factors such as gas volume/migration, service length, population density, cover type, other ducts, building type, pipe depth, customer complaints, and their emergency network.
Optimain DS enables BGE to fully analyze their distribution infrastructure, identify risk, and develop cost-effective risk mitigation strategies to maintain and systematically improve system integrity. BGE is now proactive in performing periodic system-wide evaluations, which enhances development of short- and long-term plans and budgets. These business processes target spending to highest risk pipes and are applicable to both replacement and maintenance programs. BGE presented how they use Optimain DS for system reliability and risk management at the AGA Best Practices Benchmarking Kick-Off Conference in January 2005.
For more information about Baltimore Gas & Electric Click Here.
For more information about Optimain™ DS, contact Opvantek, Inc.’s sales team at 215.968.7790 or sales@opvantek.com.
Enbridge Gas Distribution Company (EGD) is the the third largest gas distribution utility in North America, providing natural gas to about 2 million customers across Ontario, Canada. In 2002, EGD along with Accenture, Inc. developed a plan that included technology information collaboration. Enbridge selected Optimain ACM and the STORMS work management system to replace 29 legacy systems as part of their “EnVision” business process and information technology transformation project. The overall solution package is being hosted by Accenture, Inc. and refered to as WAMS (Work and Asset Management System).
On October 25, 2004, EGD went live with its fully integrated WAMS. EGD’s Optimain ACM consists of both a relational and GIS-integrated Asset/Event Register Model, which enables Enbridge to manage all physical network assets in a single solution, and is capable of handling all of a company’s network maintenance and compliance requirements.
On any given day at EGD as many as 250 concurrent external and internal personnel are using Optimain ACM to access over 3 million assets and over 15 million historical and planned asset events. Optimain ACM generates and manages all of EGD’s compliance work, including Leak and Corrosion Surveys, Leaks, Regulation Stations, Valves, etc.
EGD has also extended view-only access to Optimain ACM to all its locater contractors. The product uses an innovative TreeView to display asset relationships upstream and downstream, which is even used by EGD customer service representatives to better understand the network infrastructure. At EGD, Optimain ACM used the Optimain Web Services module to send compliance and planned asset maintenance work back and forth to a work management system. The product is also integrated with the Smallworld GIS.
It is fully integrated with Worksuite’s STORMS Work Management Solution in a work driven concept. Work completed in the field automatically creates new assets in Optimain ACM or updates existing assets with inspection and condition information. Optimain ACM’s powerful Program Manager drives all inspection, survey and other compliance- and program-driven maintenance work orders to STORMS to be scheduled by the appropriate crews on a time-
sensitive basis.
EGD can now manage all assets in a single integrated solution and visualize and manage asset relationships with unprecedented ease via the Optimain ACM TreeView. They can also easily create maintenance programs and monitor their effectiveness. EGD is still in the process of optimizing capital and O&M cost, but has already improved safety, reliability and network integrity.
For more information about Accenture, Click Here.
For more information about Enbridge Gas Distribution, Click Here.
For details about how Optimain ACM can work for you, call 215.968.7790 or email our sales team at sales@opvantek.com.
Optimain DS was originally implemented at Indiana Gas Company (IGC) in 2000 as Opvantek, Inc. worked with a team of IGC engineers and operators to identify company-specific risk and failure factors. Optimain was deployed system-wide and used by operations and engineering personnel for evaluating and comparing main replacement candidates. Business processes were implemented that required an Optimain project evaluation to be performed for planned main replacement projects.
Subsequently, IGC merged with the former Southern Indiana Gas & Electric Company (SIGECO) and combined the natural gas assets of Dayton Power and Light to form Vectren Corporation. A decision was made to extend Optimain DS system-wide across the three distinct franchise areas. Engineering and Operations subject matter experts (SMEs) from each of the three franchise areas met in a series of meetings to review and discuss Opvantek, Inc.’s statistical analysis of historical leak and pipe condition data. The SME meetings focused on gaining consensus on risk and failure factor data that would be collected and used by Optimain DS for system-wide main replacement project evaluations going forward.
In October 2004, Optimain DS was deployed system-wide and is used today by field and technical support personnel as well as general office engineering. Optimain DS is integrated into Vectren's business processes for budgeting and prioritization of main and service pipe replacement projects, and also supports identification of areas requiring increased monitoring as a means of risk mitigation. Vectren continues to analyze ways for improving its main replacement strategies and Optimain DS is a key tool used by the company for maximizing benefits obtained from its distribution infrastructure expenditures.
For details about how Optimain DS can work for you, call 215.968.7790 or email our sales team at sales@opvantek.com.
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