Powel, Inc. has announced successful installation of a new, pre-configured, version of its StakeOut field design system at Central Florida Electric Cooperative in Chiefland, Florida, west of Gainesville. Powel's "Standard StakeOut" is a compact version of its highly customizable StakeOut software package designed for rural cooperatives to allow faster, simpler implementation.

Serving a large, three-county area that includes more than 4600 miles of line with about 33,000 meters in service, Central Florida saw an opportunity to integrate staking software as it began migrating to a Milsoft GIS (geographic information system), according to the co-op's director of engineering, Ben Dawson. "We did our staking by pen and paper but changed that approach after moving to the new GIS," said Dawson, adding, "We had no experience with staking software at the time but the Powel product met our current needs, and we'll be able to customize it as our needs and comfort level grow."

Central Florida's integration was facilitated by a standard MultiSpeak interface. In addition to compatibility with the GIS, the organization will integrate standardized workflows, reports, staking sheets, and other design data automatically with its ATS financial and customer information systems.

"Standard StakeOut makes sense for co-ops needing to automate the design process, without taking on the expense and risk of custom system integration," said Scott Rogers, CEO of Powel.

Like the fully customizable StakeOut, Standard StakeOut is part of the WorkStudio suite. WorkStudio is a mobile work management system that helps utilities work smarter through the entire asset lifecycle.