Automated utility supply management system integrating data sources including geographic information systems (GIS) data

• US 20040236620A1
• Filed: 05/19/2003
• Published: 11/25/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: UAI Incorporated
• Original Assignee: UAI Incorporated
• Inventors: Chauhan, S. K., OʼNeill, Adrian I., Sanders, David, Dinkins, Jason, Wilson, Frank, Guman, Michael A., Palmer, Christopher M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,739,138 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063112 Skill-based matching of a person or a group to a task
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis

Abstract

An automated management system for managing data, outage repair, load switching, job workflow and crew dispatching, crew workflow, installation, maintenance and restoration of utility services by integrating geographic information systems (GIS) data with many other data sources so as to gather, transform, manipulate, analyze, and produce desired information for continuously supplying utility and relevant services. The data sources include customer information systems (CIS) and billing data, interactive voice recognition (IVR) call management data, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), mobile crew management (MCM) data, automatic meter reading (AMR) data, automated vehicle location (AVL) data, engineering analysis data supported by 3^rd party software packages (such as load monitoring and balancing), etc. In particular, the system allows an on-site engineer to retrieve data (ex. field maps, work orders, codes) or enter, via a portable device, inspection data (ex. such as poles or underground facilities, code violations).

Claims

1. A system for integrating and providing utility management information, comprising:

a computer server with a cache memory;

at least one other computer electronically networked with said server;

a geographic information systems (GIS) database linked with at least one other database;

a plurality of data sources;

at least one interface between said data sources and said at least one other database for importing and synchronizing data therebetween so as to support on-demand queries for the utility management information,

wherein said data sources include a customer information data, billing data, interactive voice recognition (WVR) call management data, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) data, mobile crew management (MCM) data, automatic meter reading (AMR) data, automated vehicle location (AVL) data, engineering analysis data supported by 3^rd party software packages, and

the computer server includes at least one of;

(1) means for predicting outage based the IVR call management data, the AMR data, or the SCADA data,

(2) means for making speculative changes or permanent changes to data from the data sources to so as to analyze resulted consequences,

(3) means for building a crew by Crew Members, Equipment, Materials, Work order Assignments, Outage Assignments, Crew Current Physical Locations, and Skill Sets,

(4) means for processing the IVR call management data by district,

(5) means for generating a customer callback list based upon an outage or a switching operation,

(6) means for associating an outage with at least one voice message,

(7) means for sketching ad hoc graphics on top of a GIS graphic so as to associate a sketch with a work order,

(8) means for providing a point-and-click interface to at least one authorized user to assign and control tools and data access of other users to access the tools or data necessary for performing the users'"'"' daily work,

(9) means for defining work order types by a user thereby linking and updating data therein in work order headers,

(10) means for searching for a trouble call,

(11) means for displaying locations of customers to receive a call back in a GIS graphic based upon a Callback list,

(12) means for displaying the IVR call management data, the SCADA data, the MCM data, the AMR data, the AVL data, the engineering analysis data in a GIS graphic,

(13) means for building outages, splitting outages, restoring outages, or partially restoring outages,

(14) means for managing crews by district,

(15) means for building at least one trace cache with domain specific information thereby tracking and caching incremental data changes whenever occurring.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said at least one interface includes at least one of a MultiSpeak compliant interface and a web interface to take the on-demand queries.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the computer server further includes at least one of:

a modifying means for modifying an outage or switching model, an editing means for editing underlying data of said model based upon the on-demand queries.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein the modifying means grows, splits, combines, or shrinks outages based upon the on-demand queries.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the computer server further includes a maintaining means for maintaining historical information to generate reliability indices.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the computer server further includes an integrating means for automatically integrating the AVL data with other data.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the computer server further includes an outage historically tracking means.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the on-demand queries are transmitted via internet, intranet, or wirelessly from a remote site.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein changes made to data from said data sources on the computer server or said at least one other computer are replicated to the computer server or said at least one other computer whenever network connections are available.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the computer server or said at least one other computer tracks work flow by collecting data modifications, job details, and/or graphical sketches.

11. A method for integrating and providing utility management information, comprising:

providing a computer server with a cache memory;

providing at least one other computer electronically networked with said server;

linking a geographic information systems (GIS) database with at least one other database;

providing a plurality of data sources;

providing at least one interface between said data sources and said at least one other database;

importing and synchronizing data said data sources and said at least one other database so as to support on-demand queries for the utility management information,

wherein said data sources include a customer information data, billing data, interactive voice recognition (IVR) call management data, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) data, mobile crew management (MCM) data, automatic meter reading (AMR) data, automated vehicle location (AVL) data, engineering analysis data supported by 3^rd party software packages, and

the computer server performs at least one step of;

(1) predicting outage based the IVR call management data, the AMR data, or the SCADA data,

(2) making speculative changes or permanent changes to data from the data sources to so as to analyze resulted consequences,

(3) building a crew by Crew Members, Equipment, Materials, Work order Assignments, Outage Assignments, Crew Current Physical Locations, and Skill Sets,

(4) processing the IVR call management data by district,

(5) generating a customer callback list based upon an outage or a switching operation,

(6) associating an outage with at least one voice message,

(7) sketching ad hoc graphics on top of a GIS graphic so as to associate a sketch with a work order,

(8) providing a point-and-click interface to at least one authorized user to assign and control tools and data access of other users to access the tools or data necessary for performing the users'"'"' daily work,

(9) defining work order types by a user thereby linking and updating data therein in work order headers,

(10) searching for a trouble call,

(11) displaying locations of customers to receive a call back in a GIS graphic based upon a Callback list,

(12) displaying the IVR call management data, the SCADA data, the MCM data, the AMR data, the AVL data, the engineering analysis data in a GIS graphic,

(13) building outages, splitting outages, restoring outages, or partially restoring outages,

(14) managing crews by district,

(15) building at least one trace cache with domain specific information thereby tracking and caching incremental data changes whenever occurring.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein said at least one interface includes at least one of a MultiSpeak compliant interface and a web interface to take the on-demand queries.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein the computer server further performs at least one step of:

modifying an outage or switching model, editing underlying data of said model based upon the on-demand queries.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the modifying step involves growing, splitting, combining, or shrinking outages based upon the on-demand queries.

15. The method according to claim 11, wherein the computer server further performs a step of maintaining historical information to generate reliability indices.

16. The method according to claim 11, wherein the computer server further performs a step of automatically integrating the AVL data with other data.

17. The method according to claim 11, wherein the computer server further performs a step of tracking outage historically.

18. The method according to claim 11, further comprising a step of transmitting the on-demand queries via internet, intranet, or wirelessly from a remote site.

19. The method according to claim 11, further comprising a step of replicating changes made to data from said data sources on the computer server or said at least one other computer to the computer server or said at least one other computer whenever network connections are available.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the computer server or said at least one other computer performs a step of tracking work flow by collecting data modifications, job details, and/or graphical sketches.