Get flexibility without the price tag through smarter utility network data conversions 

As technology advances, GIS must deliver high-fidelity spatial data beyond corporate boundaries—powering digital workflows, enabling integrated systems, and supporting use cases from embedded maps and outage sharing to network intelligence and mobile access. Esri’s ArcGIS Utility Network (UN) meets these demands with a modern, service-oriented architecture (SOA) that replaces legacy client-server models of the ArcGIS Geometric Network (GN). This enables enterprise-wide data delivery, supports digital twins, and enhances transparency across operations. While these advancements unlock new capabilities, this is a complex transformation, and the available options and numerous paths can be daunting.  

In the first blog post in this series, we explored how the transition to the ArcGIS Utility Network has opened more avenues for more people across the utility to contribute to and access the GIS. GIS has expanded from a desktop-centric to an enterprise-centric endeavor that includes web and mobile applications and accommodates a scalable, multi-user approach. We discussed the need to evolve your architectural landscape and explored considerations that will support various teams working in various application environments to maximize the transition to the ArcGIS Utility Network.  

This article will dig into an increasingly important topic: selecting the data model implementation pattern that maximizes your value from the ArcGIS Utility Network. 

Migrating to Esri’s ArcGIS Utility Network (UN) is a major milestone for electric utilities looking to modernize their GIS. But there is a catch: You need to get the most from what is Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) within the Utility Network to minimize costly integrations and customizations, while designing a system that meets your business patterns and practices.  

The good news? You can avoid the customization trap with the right approach to your data model. In concert with Esri, Schneider Electric has built a migration pattern, the ArcFM Configuration for the Utility Network (ArcFM UN), that allows flexibility where you need it and guides you in the direction so you get the most out of what is provided by Esri’s ArcGIS Utility Network out-of-the-box. It’s also a pattern purpose-built for utilities wanting to integrate their next generation of enterprise GIS with their grid operations software, a hallmark of modern network management. 

Let’s start by giving a little vocabulary background about ArcGIS Utility Network data modeling and configuration practices.  

When we refer to the data model, we are referring to: 

• Feature classes, tables, subtypes 
• Relationships, fields, domains 
• Attribute rules, contingent values 

In contrast, when we refer to configuration, we are referring to: 

• Domains, tiers, subnetwork definitions 
• Asset groups, asset types (AG/AT) 
• Connectivity rules, edge connectivity policy, association rules 
• Network attributes, categories, terminal configurations 
• Network diagram templates, trace configurations 

Now, let’s talk about flexibility built into the ArcFM UN.  

Names of feature classes, relationships, asset groups, & asset types: As a configuration, the ArcFM UN helps our customers walk through the UN data conversion by giving examples of how to set up features classes, relationships, and asset groups and asset types, but allows flexibility by not tying the customer to any specific names.  We explain attributes needed by ArcFM, but these attributes can be named as our customer sees fit. This is the flexibility that our customers need to drive their unique business practices and patterns.  

Network Diagrams and Trace Configurations: Once they have placed their data into the Utility Network, customers are also free to set up any Network Diagram Template or Trace Configurations that they need.   

Connectivity Rules, Edge Connectivity Policies and Association Rules: Customers can also set up any of the connectivity rules, edge connectivity policy, and association rules needed to meet their business requirements. We do ask for some limits in the use of Junction-to-Junction connectivity discussed later in this blog post.  

Banks and Units: Our configuration offers customers the ability to have units, either connected or disconnected, or no units at all. Connected units allow phase management to pass through the units, keeping phase in sync with the unit. This configuration gives our North American customers the most similar experience possible in the UN that they had with ArcFM Feeder Manager 2.0. Disconnected units allow our customers to have units, but they exist mostly for asset management and do not participate in phase management. Specifically, our configuration uses the Bank/Unit standard where: 

• Banks are ElectricDevice features in the UN schema implementing the behavior of the equipment. 
• Units are ElectricJunctionObjects in the UN Schema objects contained in the Banks and represent the actual assets.  
• Banks can snap to lines based on Connectivity Rules.  

This choice gives users a familiar experience while maintaining interoperability required from GIS and other enterprise systems.  This design will also reduce migration costs. 

Image Caption: A switch bank side-by-side with a model of the switch bank with connected units, showing junction-to-junction connectivity association from each unit to each terminal of the bank feature.   

Where does the ArcFM UN have less flexibility and why? 

Setting up Subnetwork Controller definition: A subnetwork controller is a feature within the UN that defines the starting point of a subnetwork, an isolatable section of the network. In an electric distribution network, feeders – the energized conductors and devices downstream of a substation, extending through protective and sectionalizing equipment up to the final overcurrent device – are modeled as subnetworks. Subnetwork controllers play a crucial role in managing the flow of resources, such as electricity, through the network as they define points where resources can be stopped, and a portion of the network can be isolated for repair and maintenance. Subnetworks create better network operational awareness and enable optimized system integration as they allow the network to be divided into smaller sections without having to replicate the entire GIS. 

While transformers are an important part of an electric distribution system, the ArcFM UN defines that transformers should not be designated as subnetwork controllers because they are not switchable devices and cannot stop the flow of electricity to isolate a network section. The ArcFM UN gives transformers two essential functions in the electric network: setting voltage levels for downstream devices (stepping voltage up or down) and establishing flow direction within the network. If transformers were to be designated as subnetwork controllers, a transformer can create a “conflict of interest” between the role of the subnetwork controller and the role of a voltage-altering device in a voltage propagation scheme.   

In addition, ArcFM Feeder Services XI adds capabilities to determine stitching points between subnetworks. Stitching points are devices like tie switches or normally open points in electrical distribution systems that connect two different feeders (or sections of the same feeder) and are typically kept open during normal operation. They are used to improve system reliability and operational flexibility by providing an alternate power source in case of a fault or maintenance requirement on the primary feeder.  

When a device serves multiple purposes, it creates confusion about what the device represents in the network, increases complexity when making changes or troubleshooting, and drives costs for ongoing maintenance. The subnetwork controller configuration request helps ArcFM Feeder Services XI provide a consistent definition for advanced distribution management systems (ADMS) to rely on when building information from Esri’s Export subnetwork. We provide documentation to better help implementers who are using this information to gain the data they need from the exports provided by GIS.  

Assigning Network Categories: Of all the configuration details in the ArcFM UN, this is the only configuration detail that facilitates the functionality of ArcFM software. Network Categories enable ArcFM to run validation, create productivity tools, and create an extensibility framework without requiring a specific data model. Network Categories also provide the basis for pushing or pulling data from the Utility Network. Not every network category is needed, and we have improved the ArcFM UN Configuration guide for customers coming from 10.x on the GN. Network Categories in the UN provide the same functionality to the XI Series that class model names provided in ArcFM 10.x. 

Terminal Configurations: Schneider Electric and Esri worked together to document how 80% of the most common electric devices would be configured when it comes to the Utility Network. It was through these discussions that we identified the need for terminals in our model. Terminal configuration gives customers three key items: 

1. Phase propagation through units without custom attribute rules. 
2. Nodes are required in downstream systems like ADMS, so they don’t have to be created through a custom routine during the integration process. 
3. Identification of high side and low side for directional electric devices like transformers or source and load of voltage regulators.  

Use of Junction-to-Junction Connectivity: The ArcFM UN limits the use of these association types to tap transformers and some instances in Conduit Manager. This suggestion gives our customers: 

1. A more performant experience (although this may be dependent on the business). 
2. The ability to apply attribution to the connection. 
3. Most ADMS systems need a conductor, so this will save time on some integrations later. 
4. The choice of a cleaner map appearance. You can create an AG/AT of a connector conductor that will visualize the map like junction-to-junction associations if the utility doesn’t want to see all the connections in the map.   
5. ArcGIS Templates can be created to make the addition of these connections easy.  

Bottom line  

Moving to the ArcGIS Utility Network can be complex, but it opens the door to a powerful, modern platform. This transition gives utilities the chance to fix outdated business processes and rethink how they operate. More importantly, it provides an opportunity to dream bigger—unlocking new ways to derive value from GIS and enabling advanced capabilities that were not possible before. 

The data model must support how each utility seeks to unlock the power of their GIS as a fully interoperable, utility-wide enterprise system.  

The ArcFM UN configuration provides flexibility where you need it while providing direction that ensures you get the most out of the Utility Network off-the-shelf. The configuration choices are based on our extensive electric domain knowledge and the understanding of what grid operations software, such as ADMS, require from the GIS as the system of record. By following our configuration, you will get the utility network you need without the headaches of rigid customization that is difficult to maintain.  

We’ve designed a process so that GIS editors have greater visibility into the requirements of downstream systems, reducing the hidden complexity of integrations. This approach enables us to “shift left” system validation, allowing errors to be identified and corrected earlier—before the integration runs. 

By catching issues sooner, utilities can save countless hours of cross-system data validation and ensure a more reliable, safe, and resilient grid management process. 

The next article in this blog series will address how utilities can seize this opportunity to rethink business processes to further minimize customization in favor of configuration. 

Schneider Electric has significant expertise in helping utilities analyze their current GN-based enterprise GIS and chart a course for the future. Read on and contact us to learn more.  

Coming soon: A future blog will outline how to use the Esri Migration Toolset and with a little magic, get a Utility Network Configuration that is ready to go.