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Utilities today face challenges that are

more complex than ever before, from


the pressures of organizational and
infrastructure growth, to increasing
government regulation, to the loss of
essential tribal knowledge as longtime
staff retire. With these challenges,
accessing and managing that critical
information becomes increasingly

© iStockPhoto.com/Scaramushe
important — but the volume of digital
data often becomes overwhelming.
By sharing the perspectives of
experienced engineers and managers at
investor-owned, public, and cooperative
utilities, this whitepaper demonstrates

Robust Document Management


how engineering drawing and document
management systems (EDMS) can bring order

Helps Utilities Keep Pace in a


from digital data chaos while supporting
organizations’ business objectives and long-term

Challenging Market
success.

Sponsored by
by Heather Livingston

From the editors of

www.cadalyst.com www.synergissoftware.com
2 Synergis Software

and deletion of files, and the potential


Engineering drawing and document management systems for intellectual property to be stolen
(EDMS) deliver data organization, knowledge capture, by a disgruntled employee.
In contrast, an EDMS such as Synergis
and regulation compliance benefits that are critical to the Adept™ offers advanced search that is
success of today’s growing, changing utility companies. as easy to use as it is powerful. Todd
Cummings, Vice President of Research
& Development at Synergis Software®,

O
ver the past few decades, (EDMS) deliver increased productivity explains that Adept enables searches
utility companies have grown and efficiency in daily operations, by project number, substation, work
and changed rapidly. As the support business strategy, and order, date range, author, current or
world demands ever-greater quan- help utilities thrive in a challenging last owner, file status, description, and
tities of essential resources such as environment. even by text string in a document. To
gas, oil, and water, the companies locate attribute or property informa-
that deliver those products struggle Benefits of EDMS tion, he says, “Adept extracts data
to keep up with challenges of aging contained in Microsoft® Office®,
EDMS is much more than file man-
infrastructure, rising costs of materi- Autodesk®, [MicroStation®], or
agement. Its wide-ranging capabilities
als and labor, and reduced municipal SolidWorks® files, so users can quickly
help utilities respond to the business
funding. Additionally, today’s utilities search for relevant information.”
challenges they face in today’s grow-
are expected to deliver more services, ing, changing market. When users can find the information
to do so faster and more safely, and to they need quickly, productivity bene-
File management and search. As
provide high-quality customer service fits tremendously, and that translates
utilities transition away from reliance
while simultaneously limiting costs to to faster project turnaround and staff
on 2D paper-based technical drawings
maintain a solid bottom line. that spends time doing value-added
to scanned drawings, 3D models, and
Thirty years ago, utilities managed just work rather than chasing documents.
geospatial information, they must find
fine using data management process- a way to manage an overwhelming Preservation of tribal knowledge.
es that by and large were based on number of digital files. Many turn to Technology also is helping to capture
manual labor and analog tools. Today, Microsoft® Windows® Explorer, a and preserve the institutional knowl-
like companies in nearly every market, familiar — and free — solution. Before edge of employees heading into retire-
utilities are responding to business long, however, they realize the job is ment. Utilities must capture not only
challenges with technology — with too complex for this file management their technical expertise, but also their
one highly effective solution being and navigation tool, and they find knowledge of where documents are
automated, digital data management. themselves facing problems such as located and how they are organized.
Software solutions known as engineer- search limitations, huge numbers of But it’s not enough to simply capture
ing document management systems duplicate files, accidental overwriting institutional knowledge about where
Synergis Software 3

files are stored in Microsoft Word®


EDMS is much more than within any type of document stored
documents, for example. Although this file management. in the system.
effort is a step in the right direction ∙ Automated workflow in Adept elim-
and records the information for pos-
Its wide-ranging capabilities help
inates the need for staff to transfer
terity, future employees will still need utilities respond to the business knowledge about the review and
to take the time to read through the approval process for any given
explanation of where files are stored. challenges they face in today’s product or project.
With EDMS in place, a utility can
capture and preserve that institutional growing, changing market. ∙ Information is centralized — that is,
not stored on a personal hard drive
knowledge in a way that is available
∙ There’s no need to rely on human ∙ Adept stores document properties or file share. Users who have the
to employees now and into the future.
memory to recall the history of a and key words so users can locate necessary permissions can access
Adept is far superior to a Microsoft
document or where it is stored; files based on key word or phrase information any time.
Word–based system for a variety of
reasons: Adept provides that information.

Adept displays project files and advanced search features that make it simple to locate An audit trail is automatically maintained to reflect the time, user, type of change, and
needed information. other details of every document update.
4 Synergis Software

Data security and regulation com- can see that the document is checked Inadequately protected data man- Adept maintains audit trails that com-
pliance. Without a centralized system out and can view but not change the agement systems also can lead to panies can use to achieve and main-
for organizing tens or even hundreds file contents. Once a user is done noncompliance with governmental tain compliance with federal, industry,
of thousands of files, drawings can be editing, he or she checks in the docu- regulations and security mandates. or internal standards. The audit trail
inadvertently deleted or shared with ment, and the EDMS system creates The U.S. government recognizes utility tracks every action taken on a docu-
unauthorized users. Adept EDMS vir- what becomes the latest version of the infrastructures as high-priority security ment and every user who has worked
tually eliminates these scenarios. truth. assets — and targets — and believes on that document throughout the
Adept prohibits users from deleting Adept further supports document that protecting infrastructure data is drawing life cycle. In a typical audit,
the current version of a file. A user security by allowing an administrator critical to the security of the supply of companies must demonstrate that
checks out a copy of an original to grant specific file access rights to water, gas, and electricity. New man- they can instantly find a document
document to work on it in his or her individuals or groups based on the dates and security measures require and see its status at any given time —
personal work space while the original information privileges that are appro- that utilities maintain an accurate doc- including when or if a document was
automatically serves as a backup ver- priate. No one can see a file or access ument trail throughout the life cycle of edited and by whom; and if and when
sion. Other users in the organization its contents without permission. infrastructure projects. it was checked in, viewed, or became

Adept associates a Library Card with each document to track everything from basic project
details to user-written memos.
Users can easily view and track current and older versions of any file stored in Adept.
Synergis Software 5

part of a work flow or was included in When it comes to CAD, where ref- An effective EDMS provides an easy, Case Study 1
a transmittal. Adept facilitates these erence files are heavily used, Adept’s logical way to access all information Hoosier Energy
and many other regulation require- version control capabilities go even related to every project, current and Bloomington, Indiana
ments. deeper. Adept automatically manages past. It simplifies how a utility finds, For Hoosier Energy, searchability and
Version control. In the days of paper and tracks complex file relationships manages, shares, and controls engi- version control of engineering and
records, it wasn’t practical to redraw a between AutoCAD® xrefs; Micro- neering and business documents. design documents were key drivers in
design every time a change was made, Station References; and Inventor and the utility’s decision to implement a
so the number of design iterations SolidWorks parts, assemblies, and document-management system, says
was naturally limited. In today’s digital drawings. When users revise files that Success Bernie Voges, substation design engi-
world, by contrast, the ease of updat-
ing a file can lead to countless versions
have these parent/child relationships,
Adept continues to track the relation- Stories neer. Hoosier Energy, a generation and
transmission cooperative, provides
of the same design, greatly increasing ships and maintains links among the wholesale electric power and services
Adept EDMS is addressing real-world
the risk that outdated information will correct versions. Users can configure to its 18 membership distribution co-
challenges in organizations around the
be accessed and used. Companies that Adept so a parent file will always ops in Indiana and Illinois.
world. Following is a look at how four
use e-mail to share multiple iterations reference the latest version of a child
very different utility companies across Under the utility’s previous Windows
of design documents with project or keep it fixed on the original version
the United States are using Adept. Explorer–based system, it was difficult
partners are at particular risk of mis- when appropriate.
and time-consuming to search through
takes related to file versioning. the massive amounts of drawings and
Ensuring that the drawing in use is the engineering data. “Someone could
correct and most up-to-date version is have one version or two different
crucial for utilities. In the energy mar- versions of the same drawing out there
ket, there have been instances where that got released,” Voges recalls, which
using the wrong version of a project led to confusion as well as wasted
document has led to power outages. time and money and delayed projects.
Those events have been relatively few Todd Cummings of Synergis explains
and minor thus far, but the potential that drawings managed by Adept can
for a massive outage exists. follow customized workflow parame-
Adept obviates this possibility by ters while ensuring that multiple ver-
maintaining only one current version sions of a document are not checked
of any given document and by ensur- out simultaneously.

© iStockPhoto.com/TebNad
ing that only one user at a time can With adept, Hoosier has flattened Voges says that because Hoosier’s
make changes. Adept makes it virtually previous method of file management
impossible to create more than one file organization from nearly involved both physical and digital
current version of the truth. folders, there was a significant amount
7,600 unique file paths to just 10. of intelligence lost or misplaced in the
6 Synergis Software

contractor would pull out a piece of ates nearly 40% of the energy for its
conduit, then another would go and customers at the Don Pedro Dam and
put it in,” he says with a laugh. Then, Powerhouse. A substantial amount of
“another contractor comes in the next energy is generated at other District-
day and pulls it back out.” owned facilities, including clean small
Voges acknowledges more seriously hydroelectric power plants on irriga-
that some mistakes due to lack of ver- tion canals and three natural gas-fired
sion clarity have the potential to cause turbine generating plants.
significant trouble. “A lot of our relay- The engineering and construction doc-
ing work is very meticulous, so every- umentation to maintain and support
“We need to take full advantage thing has to be absolutely right. One these facilities is massive. Just ask Ed

© iStockPhoto.com/GomezDavid
errant wire could cause a contact to Jobe, Engineering Document Man-
of tools like document have an open and close, which could agement Administrator and a 20 year
management to make our then dump out an entire substation.” veteran at TID. Jobe is responsible for
the systems that develop, track, find,
Hoosier Energy’s Adept implementa-
personnel more efficient.” tion is not complete, but the staff is retrieve, and secure all the utility’s doc-
looking forward to the day when its uments throughout the district.
various folder names and structures queries could then be conducted to document-management database will Document control and management
— complicated by the fact that more build any sort of file tree that the user be a single, centralized source that is critical to the District’s success, says
than 30% of its 200,000 drawings wanted — all on the fly, without having guarantees users always have the latest Jobe. “TID has operators that spend
were duplicates, as discovered during to go through the pains of reorga- version of a given file. With Adept, all day, every day doing CAD. It’s ex-
an audit early in the Adept implemen- nizing and moving all the files. The they can easily find the latest revisions, tremely difficult to hire new personnel,
tation. Voges notes with pride that, in engineers for our power plants could assign and control access to docu- so we need to take full advantage of
cleaning up and simplifying Hoosier’s organize their drawings one way, while ments, view document status, control tools like document management to
document management with Adept, the engineers for our transmission relationships between documents, and make our personnel more efficient.”
the utility has greatly flattened the group could organize it another way. manage project workflows. TID chose Adept EDMS over compet-
file organization, moving from nearly For our company, this was seen as a ing products for a number of rea-
7,600 unique file paths to just 10.  huge benefit.” Case Study 2 sons. For one, the user interface was
“[The file reorganization] showed just Hoosier’s prior confusion over which Turlock Irrigation District practical and easy to use, Jobe says.
how comfortable we had become not file was the correct version caused Turlock, California “When you’re using software all day,
only [with] the organized chaos of our difficulties with staff and contrac- Generating over 505 megawatts of a few seconds here and there adds up
drawing organization, but also the tors alike, Voges says. “Some comical electricity, Turlock Irrigation District to a big savings throughout the day.”
limitations of it,” Voges recalls. “The things have gone on, too, where you (TID) serves electricity to a popu- TID also valued the experience that
advantage to a flat document organi- would have two different versions of lation of approximately 220,000 in Synergis Software has with converting
zation is that by utilizing a database, the same document go out, and one California’s Central Valley. TID gener- legacy data from other systems to
Synergis Software 7

Adept. “The Adept team has done this “Not only are documents secure
type of migration many times before, against everyday events like accidental
so it was fairly straight forward. They deletion, but it is easy to administer The Adept system
were easy to work with and delivered rights in Adept, such as who gets to integrates with
exactly what they promised, on time.” view or print the documents,” says
Many TID employees need access to Jobe. numerous CAD
documents, including supervisors, “In addition to these requirements, as
construction crews, and maintenance a public utility, we have a commitment
programs and
crews. For example, if a piece of equip- to keep rates low. This places a imports the
ment needs maintenance, a drawing burden on us to get our work done
of that equipment needs to be sent with minimal staff at a time when file types
to the contractor or vendor. Now TID California’s economy is expanding.
can use Adept to ensure that the latest This means we have more work to do seamlessly.
copy of that drawing gets out in the with less people to get it done. We
field. have to be as efficient as possible.”
“Adept delivers drawings to many dif-
ferent people in TID. If someone needs Case Study 3
information, I simply submit a request Water and Power Utility
to Information Systems, and they The Midwest
install and train that person in as little A Midwest public utility that provides
as an hour’s time,” Jobe explains. “I electricity, water, steam, and chilled
can continue doing my work without water to its customers is currently
interruption. It’s a huge time saver.” scanning several million archival doc-
Adept also is helping TID meet the uments to make them more accessible
requirements of several regulatory to its engineering departments as well
agencies, such as the Federal Energy as field crews. Adding urgency to the
Regulatory Commission (FERC), project, the utility is planning to move
North American Electric Reliability to a new, smaller facility, so it’s trying
Corporation (NERC), Western to become as paperless as is feasible.

© iStockPhoto.com/TimTheToolman
Electricity Coordinating Council “The big push is to eliminate the three
(WECC), and California ISO. For million paper documents and get them
example, FERC requires that all into a searchable database,” explains
drawing revisions be maintained for a senior project engineer. “We actually
50 years after a license expires. Data have buildings approaching 100 years
retention and security are a must. old that we still have drawings for.”
8 Synergis Software

documents and ensures that the is considered by Homeland Security


“Out of 60,000 relationship remains intact as the files to be a critical resource and, as such,
are checked out, revised, checked in, energy utilities are expected to keep in-
records, with just routed through workflows, copied, ternal and external documents secure.
and renamed.
a few filters you SCE&G also is in the process of scan-
One of the key reasons the utility ning its legacy drawings. “We do not
are down to five invested in its EDMS program was want any paper at all, unless it is just
because the organization was losing for a backup,” states Tom Hood of the
records. It’s that so-called tribal knowledge as many ex- company’s Power Delivery Materials,
easy. … Searching is perienced staff retired. New employees Equipment, and Standards Depart-
have no idea which documents exist ment, adding that it will only take a
very fast.” in the warehouse or where to begin couple of years for the utility to realize

© iStockPhoto.com/oneword
looking. that vision.
Having the Adept database as the One reason that SCE&G is keen to have
virtual warehouse for all design and in- fully digitized project documents is the
frastructure documents will help both ease of searching and retrieving those
new and future employees discover documents electronically. Initially skep-
He says it’s rare for an employee to system wasn’t robust enough, particu- and benefit from the richness of that tical about being able to find necessary
have to refer to documents from the larly for the engineering departments. legacy data because it’s so easy for us- documents easily, utility staff now are
early 20th century, but it does hap- Trying to meet the needs of everyone ers to access and peruse digital data. confirmed converts, Hood says. “Out
pen. “Our engineers frequently access ultimately meant that the program of those 60,000 records, with just a
drawings of buried underground utili- met the needs of only a few. As an Case Study 4 few filters you are down to five records
ties that were installed 50, 70, 80 years example, the previous document man- South Carolina Electric or something like that. It’s that easy. …
ago. In many cases, that information agement solution couldn’t keep track & Gas Company Searching is very fast.”
is invaluable if they can get their hands of an AutoCAD relationship to its xref columbia, South Carolina In addition to Adept’s ease of search-
on it,” he says. files. The Adept system integrates with South Carolina Electric & Gas Compa- ing, Hood appreciates the ability to
The Adept EDMS system is making numerous CAD programs and imports ny (SCE&G) is a subsidiary of SCANA have libraries to control data access.
that massive data upload possible. the file types seamlessly for simple yet Corporation, an energy-based mem- “It makes it simple for users in cer-
When the utility began the work of up- highly functional file viewing, control, ber of the Fortune 500. Of primary tain areas.” And he appreciates that
dating its paper files to digital, it had and relationship management. concern for SCE&G when selecting an the files are stored in a secure server
an all-encompassing data manage- Todd Cummings of Synergis explains, EDMS were document-security require- rather than taking up valuable physical
ment solution that managers hoped “Adept automatically manages and ments set forth by the U.S. Depart- space. “I have no idea where this phys-
would meet the needs of everyone in tracks these complex CAD file rela- ment of Homeland Security and the ical server is. It does not matter to me.
the organization. But it didn’t take tionships.” The system learns about Federal Energy Regulation Commis- Adept pulls [files] out for me.”
that long to realize that the original the parent/child relationship of these sion. The nation’s energy infrastructure
Synergis Software 9

drawings, capture tribal knowledge of


longtime employees, keep documents
secure as required by government
agencies, and get important informa-
tion into the hands of those who need
it. A robust EDMS enables increased
productivity and efficiency in daily op-
erations — a huge boon to the bottom
line for any organization.
Heather Livingston is a contributing
editor for Cadalyst, a leading publication
covering CAD and related technologies. As
Simple access to a freelance writer based in Massachusetts,
she specializes in design, sustainability,
current and past project and architectural technology.

information ultimately note: Synergis Software, Synergis Adept,


Microsoft, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft
leads to significant Office, Microsoft Word, Autodesk, Auto-
CAD, MicroStation, SolidWorks, and all

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reductions in overall other trademarks mentioned herein are the
property of their respective owners.

operations time and costs.

The purchasing process at SCE&G also saving time and about keeping control cant reductions in overall operations
relies on Adept because most purchas-
es must specify a corresponding draw-
of our documents,” Hood concludes. time and costs. It helped the utilities
gain control over their documents so
Synergis
s o f t w a r e
ing name or specification. Adept allows Conclusion that versions were clearly identified
users to order parts and equipment The companies profiled here, and and files were located where expected, Synergis Software
based on drawing specifications and and, therefore, readily available. 200 Kelly Road
many others, have realized efficien-
send the order directly to the purchas- Quakertown, PA 18951
cies by adopting Adept EDMS from As evidenced by the success of these
ing department — saving numerous USA
Synergis Software. The system’s ability four very different utilities, an effective
hours of work over the course of a to provide a simple yet logical way EDMS can help utility companies of 800.836.5440
year. “As far as benefiting us as a busi- to access current and past project all sizes and types better manage their 215.302.3000
ness, [our EDMS platform is] about information ultimately led to signifi- drawings, waste less time searching for www.SynergisSoftware.com

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