US: Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC), the largest electric distribution cooperative in the US with more than 290,000 meters in central Texas, has gone live with Trimble‘s Network Information System (NIS). PEC is using Trimble NIS as its core system of record for optimized staking and design processes to improve operational workflows.
The implementation of Trimble NIS follows PEC’s recent deployment of Trimble‘s Distribution Management System (DMS). PEC now benefits from the full power of both Trimble NIS and DMS solutions to optimize management of PEC’s electric service, quality and reliability for its members.
“Working closely with Trimble‘s professional services team, we were able to complete another major implementation of Trimble software on-time and on-budget,” said Lawanda Parnell, PEC chief information officer. “By leveraging Trimble‘s NIS and DMS solutions, we now have one system of record for seamless integration from staking and design processes to outage management and response. We are thrilled to be in a great position to deliver even higher levels of electric service and reliability to our members.”
The Trimble NIS solution suite provides state-of-the-art network asset management tools to support utilities’ business processes. At the heart of Trimble NIS is a fully connected “live” network model built on a single database that provides for comprehensive network documentation, topology and full lifecycle support of network assets. From long-term planning to staking, construction planning and maintenance, NIS offers seamless interoperability between the office and the field.
As PEC’s system of record, Trimble NIS also serves as the foundation for Trimble‘s DMS and operational administration of PEC’s electric network including outage management and response. Trimble DMS features core Outage Management System (OMS) capabilities that can boost a utility’s outage response and service restoration times, improve communications and safety with crews and customers, and enhance the electric network’s overall operational efficiency.
“This project is a great example of the Trimble and PEC teams working closely together to effectively implement a robust solution that will maximize PEC’s ability to deliver safe and reliable power to the people and communities of their growing service area,” said Benoit Mallen, business area director for Trimble Energy Americas. “With Trimble‘s NIS and DMS solutions, PEC can now fully realize the advantages of optimized staking and design processes and improved outage response and restoration.”
Trimble NIS includes functional modules and capabilities for:
- Investment and Project Planning for general targets and budgeting, calculation of network values, investment prioritization, replacement valuation and costs, and post-investment reports and analysis
- Construction Planning for flexible plan management, cost planning and comprehensive network modeling, contractor and field planning, and interfacing to external enterprise information systems
- Spatial Analysis for advanced network spatial modeling and statistical analysis, advanced analysis and visualization of results
- Contract Management for managing land use agreements and right of way contracts
- Maintenance Management for maintenance and work planning, inspection projects and budgeting
- Reports and Dashboard tool for building highly configurable network system reports and visualization of key system statistics
- Utility to Go for maintenance operations, viewing, editing and tracing the electric network in the field on any mobile device, operating system or platform
Trimble NIS also empowers electric utilities to extend the investment they’ve made in back office systems through seamless integration to such systems as Customer Information Systems (CIS), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Engineering Analysis systems, Work Management Systems (WMS), systems and more.
