Intergraph Corp. continues to evolve its solutions for design, asset, outage and mobile workforce management to  enable utilities and communications providers to respond more quickly and  efficiently to market opportunities, customer demands and regulatory  requirements. More than 500 utilities and communications providers worldwide  currently use Intergraph's geospatially-enabled solutions to design and  manage their networks.

Intergraph's newest design and asset management software now supports Oracle  Locator for storing geospatial data, allowing for greater interoperability  among other corporate systems and further compliance with corporate and  industry data storage standards. The software integrates geospatial data  with corporate systems such as work management, outage management and  network analysis to fully support planning, design, construction,  operations, maintenance and emergency response functions.

Another key added feature is the ability for users to review and maintain
the elevation data of mapped facilities, enabling additional data analysis and improved decision support. Lastly, the new version of Intergraph's design and asset management software makes it simpler to take advantage of geofacilities data throughout the enterprise with Intergraph's data analysis and display tools. It also optimizes the incorporation of locational data maintained elsewhere into design and asset management workflows.

"Simply having access to all of our disparate data from one central database saves us an incredible amount of time, and I expect will save us a great deal of money over the coming years," said Louis Voisine, Manager, GIS & Distribution Records, Hydro Ottawa. "Before implementing an integrated system of design, asset management and outage/workforce management technology from Intergraph, we had a multitude of databases in many different places and wasted minutes to hours of time every day trying to locate information - if we ever found it at all. Between the aging utilities workforce, subsequent loss of intellectual capital and constant pressure from regulators to operate better, faster and more efficiently, we simply need these systems to survive."

Intergraph has also recently refreshed its integrated outage and mobile workforce management product. By combining outage management features such  as trouble analysis and switching operations with mobile workforce management technologies like computer aided dispatch and mobile computing,  Intergraph eliminates the need for multiple systems. Recently added features  to this product allow for more seamless, intuitive scheduling and outage  response procedures. For example, the product now enables users to schedule  routine service days or weeks in advance and also allows mobile users to  rearrange their assigned jobs from the field so that the operations center  knows the order in which they will be completed. The new version can also  automatically elevate the priority of work orders for past due jobs that  have not yet been completed, and during storms, can automatically remove  routine work orders from crews' schedules in preparation for storm  restoration efforts.

"Through the use of Intergraph outage management technology, our average customer interruption durations dropped below the national average and restoration times are significantly lower," said Vinny Crooks, sr. energy management system support specialist at Progress Energy. "By integrating outage management, mobile workforce management, design and asset management  tools from Intergraph, we have developed an entirely digital system for the  monitoring and mapping of our infrastructure and dispatching of our field  crews that has revolutionized the way we serve our 1.6 million electric  customers in Florida."