Consumers Energy, MI
(Field Inventory)
The Consumers Energy (CE) project involved an annual budget to inventory parts of their service territory. It was a three-year project performed by FDSI in townships not previously inventoried by CE. FDSI inventoried 135,000 poles over 27 months. Landbase was provided to FDSI in MicroStation format and loaded directly into our field software. The poles were located on the landbase using relative positioning and measuring techniques. The inventory involved both the primary and secondary distribution systems from the substation fence to the meter. FDSI field technicians collected all the information associated with the network, including conductor phasing and wire material/size. Some information was captured from CE source materials and included with the inventoried information. The data was captured both graphically and in an Access database. The MicroStation files created in the field were sent directly to CE for use in their MicroStation-based mapping system. All the project deliveries have met the 98 % accuracy requirement.

Electric Company
(Transformer to Meter Relationship and Data Conversion Audit)
FDSI inventoried approximately 360,000 meters. The project involved a transformer to meter tie and audit of existing facilities for the utility's rural districts. Land and facilities data were provided to FDSI in a Smallworld export format that FDSI translated into our field software format. The client also provided the CIS database for each district as an ASCII dump. Field Technicians, equipped with pen-based computers, performed a complete trace of each secondary/service to determine the source of feed for each point of delivery or meter(s). The meter number or address was entered into the field collection software and a search of the CIS database was performed to obtain the premise record. The premise record and service entry points were linked. Based on field conditions, Field Technicians also updated portions of the existing facilities data. FDSI Field Technicians remove facilities that no longer existed in the field and identified connectivity problems. Transformers were added or deleted based on field conditions. Each type of data problem encountered was coded with a pre-defined flag. Flags also included situations such as locked gates, bad dogs, no access, no CIS record, etc. The data was exported from the field software and delivered in a predefined ASCII format for loading into the clients Smallworld GIS. The accuracy of the data captured met the specified delivery accuracy requirements.

Northern Indiana Public Service Company, IN
(Field Inventory)
The NIPSCo project involved a complete inventory of their entire service territory. The project was performed on a district by district basis. Landbase was provided to FDSI in AutoCAD format. FDSI migrated the landbase into our field computer software format for use in the field. The poles were located on the landbase using relative positioning techniques. In addition to pole locations, circuit information was captured from the substation fence to the transformer including phasing and wire information. Specialized field software tools were used to collect all the features and their associated attributes in the field. The data was then exported from the field software and delivered in a predefined ASCII format for loading into NIPSCo's AutoCAD based mapping system. The project included 375,000 distribution poles and 13,373 transmission poles. The 98 % accuracy requirement was exceeded.

West Texas Utilities, TX
(Transformer to Meter Tie Inventory)
FDSI performed this inventory by tracing each secondary/service to determine each point of delivery or meter(s) fed by each transformer. Using the client provided CIS records we sorted the data into logical field collection books based on geographic area. The books were provided to the field crews who linked the meter number, transformer number and CIS record. This information was entered into an Access database containing all of the CIS Records and delivered to WTU in digital form. The project involved 83,838 meters. The accuracy requirement for the project was met.

Home Next Page