The Potomac Electric Power Co. (Pepco) has awarded Avineon a contract to assist with the integration of a graphic work design (GWD) system with a geographic information system (GIS). The GWD project goal is to increase efficiency of Pepco's outage management system, design process and asset management, allowing Pepco to better meet the needs of its more than 745,000 customers in Maryland and the District of Columbia.

Avineon, a provider of IT, geospatial, engineering and program management services, will support Pepco's migration of primary data currently in an ESRI/ArcFM 8 data model to the new version ArcFM 9.1 data model. In support of implementing the enhanced ArcFM 9.1 data model, plat drawings with Pepco's secondary data will be converted to an ArcFM geodatabase to form an enterprise GIS. This will increase the efficiency of Pepco's design process, enabling designers to use data such as compatible units inventories, outage management system, customer information system, pole inventories and feeder maps on one platform.

Bonnie Hart-Johnson, manager, Power Delivery Core Business Systems for Pepco, commented, "Avineon provided GIS development, production, consulting and training services in support of Pepco's full-scale enterprise GIS solution using ArcFM 8. When we decided to upgrade to ArcFM 9.1, it was a natural extension to turn to Avineon again for assistance as we continue to improve efficiencies throughout our organization."

In order to enhance the positional accuracy of landbase in the Pepco GIS, the existing plat maps will be adjusted and aligned with aerial ortho-photography purchased from a third party. Avineon will assist in readjusting the primary and secondary facilities to the new landbase to maintain relative accuracy.

Avineon has provided digital conversion services to Pepco including facility maps for inside/outside plant networks, equipment, facilities and electric distribution plats. Bringing these into computer-aided design and ArcInfo databases and object-oriented data models allowed Pepco to integrate customer information systems and outage management systems. In addition, Avineon has provided database design, training, system maintenance and applications development services to Pepco. Thousands of maps of varying types, scales and densities, covering approximately 300 square miles of distribution area, were converted by Avineon. Throughout its relationship with Pepco, Avineon has met demanding production schedules, at one time delivering more than 1,000 maps under budget and within a 90-day period.