Powerco is developing a GIS roadmap to improve its use of geographic information systems. The objectives are to generate return on investment, make GIS data available online and offline, drive asset management excellence, simplify data access, and allow end users to directly input data. Key issues to address are non-delivery of user demands, weak data quality controls, limited data visibility and collection, and an imbalance of reactive and proactive work. The roadmap will be implemented in four phases to upgrade web services, introduce workflow and decision tools, and improve mobility, collaboration and accessibility of GIS data. The final vision is for easy, device-agnostic access and contribution of Powerco asset data by users both online and offline.

1. Highway to Handsome GIS
Powerco’s GIS roadmap
Lokesh Addagada
Powerco / 28 March 2014

2. Key Objectives
 Generate a return on the investment we have already made and to justify
future investment
 Powerco GIS data to be made available to both on and offline users
 To drive asset management excellence
 Move from data input to data analysis - Ability for end users to submit data
directly into GIS without delay, meaning Powerco employees have a
greater QA focus rather than data inputting
 Simplified access to data and associated applications
 GIS data available in the way that people want to use it

3. List of Issues/Scenarios to be addressed
 Non delivery of user demand for enhanced services and capabilities
◦ The current GIS services do not contain many features and tools that users have been
exposed to elsewhere and are requesting
◦ Poor integration to cloud based services and data
 Weak controls and measures around data quality
◦ Data is being replicated multiple times
◦ Powerco staff are being used as data inputters rather than data auditors and quality
controllers
 Data visibility and collection
◦ In most cases data is not entered into the GIS system for periods of months and in some
cases years. This leads to the following issues:
 Unable to capitalise some assets
 Unable to provide asset location to evacuation contractors
 Unable to provide accurate, timely data to Outage Management Systems
◦ No ability to deploy electronic data to field staff for validating/updating, as a result data quality
and decision quality is limited
 Incorrect balance between reactive and proactive workloads
◦ Powerco staff are increasingly being used to manage the existing aged system and develop
custom built features that are out of the box with later versions of ArcGIS

4. Supporting Architecture
The proposed architecture changes will be delivered in four phases.

5. Project 10.1 Scope

6. Improvement Areas
 The objectives of the architecture vision are to provide the following improvement areas to the
GIS service

7. Mapping
Functionality Simplicity &
Flexibility
QA Focus Great
Analysis
Ability
Field Data
Processing
Greater
Visibility
Technology
Neutral
Greater
Integration
More Data Self Service Mobile Simple
Access
Improve
Productivity
Improvement
Powerco GIS data to
be made available to
both on and offline
users
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Application sets to be
intuitive and to
provide greater tools
and features than at
present, in particular
end user analysis ● ● ● ●
Ability for end users
to submit data direct
into GIS without
delay, meaning
Powerco employees
have a greater QA
focus rather than data
inputting
● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Improved GIS data
quality techniques,
promoting GIS as a
primary source of
Powerco asset data
● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Simplified access to
data and associated
applications ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

8. Project 10.1.2

10. Phase 10.1.2 - The vision of this phase is to upgrade and expand on the current
web services that serve the GIS data
 Provide GIS data to users over a common web platform
 Make the platform available to both internal and external users

11. Phase 10.1.3
 The vision of this phase is to configure and introduce tools that help to achieve the following
goals:
 Provide workflow management tools that give users visibility of asset data over lifecycle stages
 Improve asset decision making

12. Phase 10.1.4
 The vision of this phase is to improve GIS mobility, collaboration and accessibility to help achieve
the following goals:
 Mobile/device agnostic access to GIS data from the field
 User ability to self-serve and consume data in a personal and customised manner

13. Improvement area delivery phases
 The below charts depict the required improvement areas and the phase(s) which will be
delivering the improvements.

14. End Vision Statement
 The GIS programme of work, spread over four distinct phases, will transform the way in which
users consume and contribute to Powerco asset data. Key to the transformation and the success
of the programme will be the way in which the data is presented and consumed.
 The two most critical phases to the programme are the first phase; 10.1.1, and the final phase
10.1.4. In the first phase the foundation for the entire programme vision will be laid. Upon this
foundation, numerous features and enhancements will be built, until eventually the final phase
10.1.4 will deliver the majority of the improvements.
 As the majority of the improvements will be delivered in the final phase, it is crucial that all
phases are architected, engineered and implemented with this vision in mind. Any deviations
from the vision, standards and principles may have an impact on the success of the programme,
and thus should be managed carefully.
 The vision is for data access to be web based, device agnostic, and give the user the ability to
consume and contribute to the data whilst both on and offline and how they see fit.
 This progression towards self-sufficiency and creativity will enable Powerco data owners and
administrators to move into a more proactive role of data quality assessors rather than inputters.