January 05, 2010 -- POWER Engineers, Inc. (POWER), a global consulting engineering firm specializing in integrated GIS and Asset Management enterprise solutions, helped Dakota Electric Association with the “Go Live” of their major enterprise integration project. This project increases workforce efficiency and improves member service using a wide variety of new hardware and software including: ruggedized mobile computers with GPS, wireless connectivity, and sophisticated mobile software for all field crews; new asset management software to manage service requests and work orders; new GIS and design software to simplify the system design and as-built processes; new outage management software to help restore outages more quickly; an upgraded locations one-call system that is integrated with the GIS; and a number of other tools, reports, and executive dashboards to help monitor and streamline Dakota Electric’s many business processes.

POWER worked as an integral part of Dakota Electric’s project team and helped manage the implementation and integration of products from a number of vendors including Azteca Cityworks (asset management); Telvent ArcFM (GIS), Designer (design and staking) and Responder (outage management); ESRI ArcGIS Server (GIS and web access); TC Technology Go!Sync (mobile viewing and redlining); KorTerra (locations one-call); and Laurel Hill Geodata Sentry (data quality).
“POWER Engineers has been an excellent partner throughout this project,” commented Randy Poulson, Engineering Vice President for Dakota Electric. “POWER helped us put together the overall vision and roadmap for the project and then used a common-sense approach to help guide us through each phase of the project as they worked with our team to configure and customize the system. One of the nice aspects of the overall plan was that we were able to rollout several significant components earlier in the project so that we could start getting value from our investment as soon as possible. We are very pleased with the excellent service and high quality deliverables received from the POWER team and are looking forward to continuing our partnership with POWER as we plan out and implement the next phase of the project.”

POWER’s scope of work for this project included:

• Program management
• ArcFM AutoUpdaters
• Custom locators / finders
• Cityworks setup and configuration
• Cityworks-Designer interface
• Cityworks-Responder interface
• Cityworks-Lawson Financials interface
• GIS-AVL (Automated Vehicle Location) interface
• GIS-Milsoft Windmil interface
• Silverlight dashboard for Cityworks
• Silverlight scheduler for Cityworks and MS Outlook
• Notifier for Cityworks and Designer work assignments
• Moodle training management system setup
• Training course development and end-user training
• Data migration from a variety of legacy data sources

Chris Erpelding, POWER’s GIS & Asset Management Consulting Department Manager stated, “Dakota Electric is a great example of how visionary utilities leverage state-of-the-art technology to improve their business processes and make sure that their members get the best service possible. The Dakota Electric team can be proud of their accomplishments and POWER is very pleased that we were able to contribute to this successful Go Live of the new system.”

POWER (formerly VELOCITIE Integration, which was acquired by POWER in October 2009) has been working closely with Dakota Electric since August 2006 and previously provided the following services:

• Project charter, needs assessment and strategic planning services
• Business workflow process documentation
• System requirements and functional gap analysis
• Environment planning, system architecture and high-level design
• Data modeling and data mapping
• Master project plan development

About Dakota Electric Association
Dakota Electric Association is a member-owned, nonprofit electric utility serving parts of Dakota, Goodhue, Scott, and Rice counties, just south of the Twin Cities. Serving more than 100,000 members, Dakota Electric is the second-largest electric cooperative in Minnesota and is ranked among the 25 largest electric distribution cooperatives nationally.

About POWER Engineers
POWER Engineers is a consulting engineering firm specializing in energy, facilities, communications, and environmental services. Founded in 1976, POWER Engineers is an employee-owned company with offices throughout the United States and abroad. POWER’s GIS and Asset Management Solutions group brings over 600 years of combined experience in serving the GIS industry.