GIS : FOR ACHIEVING ENHANCED SERVICE RELIABILITY

INTRODUCTION : Any power utility, generating and distributing power has to maintain key information about its ‘facilities’ (i.e. transformers, cables etc.) in terms of their actual location, physical disposition with reference to the roads as also other technical attributes unique to a particular facility. The information required to be stored, updated and retrieved are therefore both graphical and non-graphical in nature. Typical records maintained by such a utility for maintenance of its HV/EHV facilities are as under :

GRAPHIC DATA : 1.Single line HT Schematic Diagram showing thereon connectivity and isolation points of the HV and EHV network.2.Route Sketches of the cables showing the lengths and the electrical parameters for cable fault location. 3.Scaled maps showing the land base, roads, the HV and EHV underground and overhead installations including the different outdoor and indoor substations.4. Detailed sketches showing disposition of each facility with reference to permanent landmarks on the roads.

SOLUTION ACHIEVED THROUGH AUTOMATED MAPPING/FACILITY MAPPING (AM/FM) SOFTWARE : 1. Depiction of ‘Land base Maps’ and ‘Facility Maps’ in different layers. 2. Link to non-graphic database from the geographical presentation of the facility through unique codes maintained by the software internally in both graphic and non-graphic database. 3. A blank work area where updating/editing/addition of facilities is done through checks and validations inserted in the software by the user.

ADVANTAGES : 1. Integrity of the Official Company’s Records is ensured. 2. Duplicity of information is avoided. 3. Such integrated data are typically used for : a) Load Flow Analysis, b) Line Loss Calculation, c) Network Reorganisation etc. The above factors ultimately ensure quality service to the consumers.

OUR OWN EXPERIENCE IN DEVELOPMENT OF FACILITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR TRANSMISSION & DISTRIBUTION : As is consistent with any electrical utility of this magnitude, the Company embraced Information Technology (IT) from early seventies with the availability of the so-called mainframe computers in India. From then on the Company tried to keep pace with the changing face of the technology to take full advantage of IT for its business operations. While a breakthrough was made in introducing modern IT in handling graphic data it was becoming clear that the integration of graphic and non-graphic data in one system was the requirement of our utility, which the conventional graphic software packages, having very primitive links with the database, could not cope with. In 1990, Geographic Information System (GIS) came to the Indian market together with Automated Mapping and Facility Management (AM/FM) solutions. The AM/FM systems addressed the following simultaneous key requirements.

Depiction of  'Land Base Maps' and 'Facility Maps' in different layers.

• Link to non-graphic database from the graphical presentation of the "facility" through unique codes maintained by the software internally in both graphic and non-graphic database.
• A blank work area where updating/editing/addition of facilities is done through checks and validations inserted in the software by user.

The Company went ahead with a pilot project and the task was carried out in the following sequence of steps which not only resulted in quick conversion of the maps but also ensured no loss of data from these vital maps during automation.

Ø      Scanning of the maps for creation of a 'raster' file.

Ø      Subsequent cleaning through 'speck removal' software.

Ø      Vectorisation of the 'cleaned' maps through software aided ‘heads up' digitisation on the screen itself.

After over 12 months of effort AM / FM system become operational in CESC in 1993 wherein updation / editing / new addition of graphic data is now effortless and instantaneous.

CONCLUDING REMARKS :   CESC is the first Utility Company in India to have embraced GIS System for better Consumer Service and has created a niche in GIS technology over the last five years of FM related work. We have gone through all the pains of planning, customisation including implementation and this experience is now being offered to other utilities who are contemplating the long road to a GIS environment to make a smooth transition.

  ENHANCING SERVICE RELIABILITY THROUGH GIS

Major issues confronting Power Utility
	Distribution of operational data across various locations
	Demand & time constraints with manual method of maintaining data
	Size of database, its maintenance, updation and archival
	Integration of data with other Utilities
	Design analysis of facility model vis-a-vis corporate procedures & standards

The above issues have been successfully handled by CESC through an automated mapping / facility management (AM/FM) system leading to the successful implementation of a  GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM.

THE CESC EXPERIENCE IN GIS