Author: William Emison

This paper discusses the functionality of Convergent Work Integration Manager (CWIM) and its advantages over traditional Geographic Information System (GIS)-centric facility design applications. This application was created with the philosophy that graphical design of utility facilities should be driven primarily by engineering standards. The reasons for using a graphical design application include standardized facility design; consistent cost estimating; easy approval process; simple integration to external systems; and most important, automatically generated, placed and connected facility objects that become part of a viable and functional facility network. CWIM is currently integrated with Esri's ArcInfo 8 and ArcFM 8 software.

CWIM is an engineering design tool for electric, gas, and water utility network design. It can be used to initiate, design, and maintain graphically designed jobs within an Energy Delivery Resource Planning (EDRP) environment. CWIM readily integrates with object-component GIS, such as Esri's ArcInfo 8/ArcFM and also integrates through plug-ins with any network-oriented Work Management System (WMS).

CWIM is one of the Convergent Solutions^SM that is workflow- and integrated-system independent. CWIM will support existing work processes, new alternate work processes, or WMS-imposed work processes. This solution was developed for clients seeking an easy-to-use graphical work design tool that does not require the utility engineer or designer to become proficient with either the underlying GIS or WMS software. With CWIM, engineering and marketing staff can take advantage of the solution's substantially enhanced work design approaches, enabled through user-transparent integration to the core GIS or WMS. Using the solution's suite of tools, professional engineering assistants may also actively participate in and directly support the engineering design process.

The framework-based architecture of CWIM makes configuration straightforward and simplifies customization. Data model independence allows optimized integration with any GIS-based data model, work management-based data model, and Convergent Group's Energy Network Object Model™ (ENOM). Developed in Microsoft's contemporary programming languages, this solution is OLE/COM-compliant, which exceeds current Information Technology (IT) standards for many organizations.

The CWIM application uses a three-tier, object-oriented, and framework-based architecture to support components (Figure 1). Components can be built by using various frameworks. A framework is usually a group of business objects that work together to provide business logic processing and other services to the outside world. Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 and Visual C++ 6.0 are the main development tools used to create CWIM. Almost all the business logic resides within the frameworks, which makes the graphical user interface (GUI) and database light and portable.

Interface (Plug-in) frameworks were developed to support standardized integration with other systems. The interface framework can access third-party system data source(s) directly or through published APIs. Each specific implementation of the frameworks will require some customizations, although new interface frameworks can be developed using the same architecture.

The framework architecture is designed as a three-tier structure. For a variety of reasons, one of which is performance, it is implemented as a two-tier application. The client side contains the GUIs and the frameworks. The server side houses the CWIM persistent database and the Esri ArcInfo GIS. Most of the business objects are developed using ActiveX, which are COM-based and compliant.

Figure 1: Convergent Work Integration Manager – Architecture

CWIM consists of four major components: work request administration, work request design, standards maintenance, and system administration. Each major component additionally contains interchangeable plug-ins for integration with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, such as WMS, materials management systems (MMS), and plant accounting systems (PAS).

The entire application is made of a number of components that can operate independently, including the following modules: Administrator, Browser, Designer, Palette Builder, Standards Manager, and Metadata Manager. The components also interact with and rely upon other components to provide the overall functionality. Each component has its own distinct business functions to support and may consist of one or more the following pieces: GUI, framework (business objects), and data source. For example, the browser module has a Windows Explorer-like GUI that talks several frameworks, that in turn talk to a number of data sources such as the CWIM persistent database and the ArcInfo 8 data store (SDE).

The CWIM Component Model diagram indicates the interactions between components within the application as well as the integration with other systems such as WMS, MMS, and PAS. Other types of integration, particularly outside of the application, can be easily achieved based on CWIM's component-based architecture.

The broad functionality of CWIM allows users to efficiently design and create utility networks into their GIS systems, which generates significant productivity improvements and enhances customer service throughout the enterprise.

There are a number of valuable features that differentiate CWIM from other work design solutions, including minimal configuration (and customization) tasks, work-flow/data model independence, Microsoft Windows compliance, a feature and annotation placement engine, use of established engineering and construction standards, and very strong reporting capabilities. Perhaps the greatest benefit of implementing CWIM with ArcInfo 8 or ArcFM involves the improved efficiencies derived from integration and the automatic placement of new facilities within the GIS environment.

The work design functionality provided by CWIM is superior to that of a typical design component of WMS, because its GUIs are designed using Microsoft Windows standards, and thus are more user-friendly and provide easy access and navigation capabilities. The solution is also graphics-based, whereas typical WMS systems provide textual-based work design capabilities using work points/spans and engineering standards. A design tool with a WMS usually supports assigning and displaying only compatible units and material items to work points or spans.

CWIM supports the assignment of any type of engineering and construction standard with any level of nesting to work points and spans, which makes the design process flexible. Since this solution is integrated with ArcInfo 8 and WMS technology, CWIM eliminates the need to juggle between two or three systems to complete a job design, view estimates, provide various design scenarios, or create bid packages.

CWIM also supports standardized facility design, which results in more consistent design across the enterprise and potentially lower inventory costs. In addition, CWIM functions support associated applications including work management, materials management, and plant accounting. Finally, CWIM can be used in an off-line mode, which allows users to create, estimate, and edit facility designs in the field.

In a dynamic economy where utilities are facing increasing competitive pressures, CWIM stands out as an application that can provide improved operating efficiencies, reduce facility design time and enhanced construction operations. Created to integrate with key utility information systems such as ArcInfo GIS, work management, materials management and plant accounting, CWIM can significantly help engineers, designers, and drafters efficiently navigate through the engineering design process within a GIS environment. CWIM’s graphical approach to work design, based on the use of established engineering and construction standards, allows users to focus on the design of network facilities without the burden of learning multiple applications (WMS, GIS, Work Design, etc.). In short, CWIM provides an integrated job design solution that can help transform utilities into customer-centric businesses.

William Emison

Technical Marketing Specialist

Convergent Group

6399 South Fiddler's Green Circle, Suite #600

Englewood, CO 80111

(303) 741-8337

(303) 741-8401 (fax)