City Power Fault Reporting System

• Electrical Distribution Utility established in 2000 from amalgamation of 11 different municipalities
• 1 million+ customers, 500+ technical field resources

INDUSTRY

• Electrical Utility

REGION

• Gauteng Province, South Africa

GOALS

• To improve City Power GIS network model
• To standardise the network fault capture process
• To manage switching of network devices for outage restoration

SPECIFIC CHALLENGE – NETWORK FAULT DATA

• Record highly accurate data within tight timeframes
• Implement system within short time scale
• Integrate with existing systems

BENEFITS

• Standardized Automated Processes
• Improved Network Data
• Low Cost Solution
• Implemented On Time and Below Budget

In the absence of a complete network model from GIS, City Power network controllers were capturing network fault information on a spreadsheet. This is because they have not been able to log faults against the correct devices in their Outage Management System. Logging faults on a spreadsheet has proven to be unstructured, static and prone to human error.

The Fault Report system has been developed to provide the organisation with a tool that will ensure accurate logging of faults against the correct devices. With set pick lists and access to a live database, the system is a dynamic and useful resource to both controllers and shift supervisors that makes provision for correct fault logging, device creation and extensive management reporting.

The solution had to be capable of operating graphically, provide a complete audit trail of “mission critical” activity, and be deployed to the field on inexpensive devices. The scope requirement has been met successfully with predefined processes using the Forcelink solution. The net result is a dramatic improvement in data quality, operating efficiencies and substantial cost savings by comparison with the former approach.

FEATURES & BENEFITS

Integration with GIS: Updating and editing the static GIS network model

User Friendly GUI: Easy logging of Faults against correct devices in the network model

Reporting: Accurate data reports on the devices and network model.
The reports can be automatically generated and routed

Work Order generation: Tracking and managing problematic devices on the network (plant out of service)

Performance Improvement: The ability to implement reporting functionality to improve performance (i.e. management escalation and performance reports)

Operations: Switching instructions for network devices