The Maturity of Compatible Units

Two Years Later

Jerry Olson & Ron Gray
Pacific Gas & Electric Company

2008 Eventure Events. All rights reserved.

Company Profile
2005 marked the 100th anniversary of PG&E
Provides energy to nearly 1 in 21 people in the U.S.
14 million people
70,000 square-mile service territory
20,000 employees
Projected revenue $12 B

Electric and gas distribution 5.0 MM electric

customers
4.2 MM gas
Electric transmission circuits 18,616 miles
Electric distribution circuits 120,000 miles
Gas transmission backbone 6,128 miles
Gas distribution 40,123 miles
Electric generation capacity 6,420 MW
Nuclear (1), Fossil (2), Hydro 22,544 Peak MW
(110) Plants
Key Learning's

Why compatible units?

The make up of compatible units @ PG&E
Using compatible units entirely within SAP for
estimates
Using compatible units in conjunction with 3rd
party design tools
Scheduling & CUs
Special Uses
Assemblies
Pitfalls and cautions when handling CUs
Best Practices

Compatible Units drive consistent use of

standard material and lowers procurement costs
Compatible Units used within Design Templates
drive standard designs
Standard designs drive standard construction
practices
Standard materials drive standard maintenance
procedures
Unit costs readily available
Why SAP Compatible Units?:
It is more then just about labor hours and
materials. SAP compatible units enable
the use of:
Functional Locations
Equipment Records
Crew Classes
Services
Special Equipment
Assemblies
Workflow Diagram:

CU Library Work Order Design Work Order Confirmation and

Settlement

Create & Design Work

Confirm Work Settle Work
Change CUs Orders based
Orders Orders
on CUs

Final Evaluation of CUs

Based on Confirmation and Summary Process

The Notification/Order Hierarchy @ PG&E

Notification
Master Order - (Used to schedule non construction
tasks)
CU Design (Collection of all CUs for the job)
CU Order (CU Design exploded into:)
Operations
Components (Material and Services per operation)
Settlement receiver per operation
User fields on Operations (MAT, X, Y )
The Notification/CU Order Hierarchy (Example)
 Application Workflow
for service

Initiate Notification

Master Order

Preliminary
CU Library
Estimate
Job Estimate
Design Future
Package
CU Design
CU Design Contract
CU Design
CU Design CU Order (CCBS)

Schedule Material Reservations

Construct Labor (Click) (MM)

Equipment Record
Document Settlements As-Built Equipment Record
Equipment Record
 CUs and the Work Management Process
3 Interfaces with external Graphical Work Design tools
Standardizes materials used in construction
Used within standard CU Design Templates
Used to create Job Package (Job Estimate and Supporting Reports)
Links Job Package to DMS
Design Automatic AIN accounting determination for CCBS (contract program)
Determines AIN costs and interfaces with CCBS
Used with custom trench application to calculate resources and allocate costs
Automatic order creation based on CU Design
Provides cross validation for CU characteristics
Provides the ability to create and cost multiple designs

Interfaces with Click scheduling based on CU Attributes for crew class and size
Provides flexibility for scheduling labor and materials
Construct Provides the ability to create work ticket for construction
Material visibility and demand automatically sent to MM system (forecasting)
Automatic Material reservations in MM system

Automatic Settlement Rule creation at the operation level

Automatic Equipment Creation during the AS-Built process
Document Provides the ability to compare AS-Builds with Designs
Automatic Mass Asset interface to CO module

Facilitates the automation of unit costs

Report Provides the ability to more accurately report costs by MAT for program owners
Provides more detailed reporting capability based on CU Attributes (Ad Hoc)
The Elements of Compatible Units @ PG&E
Primary Characteristics
User Fields on CU Instance
Secondary Characteristics
Settlement rules
Virtual CUs
CU Hierarchy
CU Summarization
CU ties to scheduling
Custom functionality Trenching
Materials - CUs. (components/reservations)
Compatible Unit Structure
Design Time Attributes :
CU Type (Pole, Pipe, Conductor)
Action (Install, Remove, Transfer, Abandon)
Unit Application (Distribution, Service, )
Search Criteria Service Type (Gas, Electric)
Work Agent (PGE, Applicant)
Maint. Activity Type (16R, 29J, )
Job Rule (New Business)
Tax Location (Private, Franchise)

Reference Object :
Functional Location
Equipment Record
Compatible Unit

Labor Time

Assemblies: Material
Task List
Work Center
(Crew Class)

Activity Type
Example Compatible Unit:
(45 Class 4 Pole)
Compatible Unit

Classification

Task List

Reference Object :
Functional Location
Equipment Record
 Example Compatible Unit:
(45 Class 4 Pole)
Task List

Labor Time

Install
Remove
Activity Type

Work Center

Material
Example Compatible Unit:
(45 Class 4 Pole)
Material
Example Compatible Unit:
(45 Class 4 Pole)
Compatible Unit

Classification

Task List

Reference Object :
Functional Location
Equipment Record
Example Compatible Unit:
(45 Class 4 Pole)
Reference Object :
Equipment Record
Example Compatible Unit:
(45 Class 4 Pole)
Reference Object :
Functional Location
Equipment Record
Example Compatible Unit:
(45 Class 4 Pole)
Compatible Unit

Classification

Task List

Reference Object :
Functional Location
Equipment Record
Primary Characteristics and User Fields
Primary Characteristics and User Fields describe How and Why the
CU was used in the Design. Only one Primary Class can be assigned
to CUs

Primary Characteristics:
CU Type (Pole, Pipe, Transformer)
Action (Install, Remove, Transfer, Abandon)
Unit Application (Distribution, Service, Transmission)
Service Type (Gas, Electric)
Work Agent (PG&E, Applicant)
MAT (Maintenance Activity Type)
Job Rule
Private/Franchise

Caution: How you use Primary Characteristics can complicate CU Maintenance

Primary Characteristics and User Fields (Cont)
This information is used to determine:

Which operations to select from the CU

task list and transfer to the CU Order
The settlement receiver at operation level
Accounting for contracts
How to schedule labor and material
Detailed information about how labor and
material are used to enable more accurate
reporting capabilities.
Example Compatible Unit:
(45 Class 4 Pole)
Primary Classification
 Secondary Class Characteristics
CUs can be assigned to as many secondary classes as
necessary.

Used for classifying the CUs to enable searching capability.

By Standard
By Attributes
Pole Height
Class
Material, Etc.
Also can be used to drive other custom logic and reports
Mass Assets
Used for assembly definition (variant configuration)
Example Compatible Unit:
(45 Class 4 Pole)
Secondary Classification
Example Compatible Unit:
(45 Class 4 Pole)
Macro Compatible Unit

Classification

Create Macro Cu

Task List

Reference Object :
Functional Location
Equipment Record
Macro Compatible Unit
Assembly Configuration Options

Variant Assemblies (Uses Variant Configuration)

Macro Assemblies (User Exit)
CU Designs as Assemblies (Custom Code)
Creating Estimates Using Compatible
Units within SAP:

Design Templates/Tabular Designs

Virtual Compatible Units (VCU)
Design Points
Cost Simulation
Job Package creation
Custom Application (Joint Trench)

Example
Special Uses
Using Compatible Units In Conjunction
with Design Tools
Requires 3 interfaces for External Tools
Export CU Library to external system
Labor, Material, Services, Primary and Secondary Characteristics
per Compatible Unit
Validation Rules

Link Master Order to External Design

Import external design to SAP

Creates SAP CU Design
Passes CU with Primary Characteristics
Passes implementation defined Characteristics
Respects the defined CU Hierarchy within the CU Design
 Using Compatible Units In Conjunction with
Design Tools
External SAP R/3
Design Tool
Export CU
CU Library Library
CU Library

Link Master Master Order

Design Creation Order to external
design Construction Measure

Create CU
Completed Design Design
CU Design
CU Order
 CU Summarization Process
LD-PRO SAP DETAILED CU DESIGN SAP SUMMARIZED CU DESIGN CU ORDER

Application/Notification

KB Object
Key Functional Requirements
Master Order 1. Summarize all non-trench,
non-equipment CUs that have
Construction Measure
the same primary
Detailed CU Design characteristics and CU ID

Summarized CU Design
2. Summarize all the like trench
CUs including facilities
1. VCU: Non-trench, Non-equipment (Bends,
Crossarms)
3. Do not summarize CUs that
create equipment records;
2. VCU: Like trench CUs including facilities
(Excavation, Sand Backfill, Pipe) keep them at design point
3. Dsgn Pt 1 Wood Pole 4. Do not summarize other CUs
4. Dsgn Pt 2 Cut-to-Length Cable identified as Do not
CU Order
summarize
Proof of Concept
SAP recommends not exceeding 2000 operations on a
single CU order
PG&Es current configuration will allow up to 4500
operations on a single CU order
The table below shows the expected decrease in number
of operations after CU summarization:
# Operations after
Subdivision # Operations % Reduction
summarization

11 Lots 460 145 68%

60 Lots 2428 300 88%

With CU summarization, we will be within SAPs 2000

operation recommendation for subdivisions up to 400 lots
Approximately 5% of designs passed each year will be
this size or greater
The Roll of CUs For Scheduling:
PG&E uses Click Software for external
scheduling
Specific operations used for scheduling
(Prevents scheduling from seeing unnecessary
operations)
The ability to group operations based on CU
Characteristics
Schedulable operations carry hours, crew class
etc.
Crew class by work center (Alt: Primary Char.)
Material Delivery
Schedulable PM Order Operations
Planning CU/Order Example:

Use CUs to create typical CU for each MAT

(Maintenance Activity Type)
Use typical labor classes (Activity Types)
Estimators/Designers
Mappers
Electric Construction
Gas Construction
Use major material
Use Planning CU in Planning tool
Lessons Learned and Challenges
Cross validation of characteristics
CU Summarization
Master order vs. CU order settlement arrangement.
Keep CU construction as generic as possible
Add necessary business/financial attributes upon use of
the CU in your CU Design object.
Assembly creation is as much an art as a science.

Future needs:
Maintenance Tools
Assembly construction hierarchy
 Jerry Olson & Ron Gray
Pacific Gas & Electric Company
jro5@pge.com / rcgg@pge.com

2008 Eventure Events. All rights reserved.