Abstract

Spatial Asset Management at Southern Company
Track: Electric Utilities
Authors: Wayne Boone, Jeremy Myers, Richard Pike

During summer 2011 Southern Company held a Proof of Concept (POC) to explore enhancing their Distribution GIS system with best in class asset management software. This presentation focuses on technical GIS challenges faced, process considerations for integrated asset management, and paradigm changes involved with opening GIS to other systems. Southern Company will also share how GIS processes were streamlined allowing GIS staff to better focus on their core missions of mapping, analysis, and supporting utility functions.

Next steps will be outlined such as using ESRI Query Layers to pull information from external databases for spatial analysis. This takes the system closer to the guiding project principle, "One Version of the Truth. In the unified system, GIS maps provide a centralized dashboard for distribution maintenance work while the integrated asset management system provides a repository of transactional data. The transactional storehouse gives GIS the ability to analyze trend data over time.