Project Highlights:
- Endridge Gas
- Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada
- Supplies natural gas to over 1 million customers in Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho
- Owns and operates the world’s longest crude oil and liquids pipeline system
- Operates over 284,000 miles of oil and gas pipelines and service lines
Enbridge Gas (Enbridge), formerly Dominion Energy, supplies natural gas to over one million customers in Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho through an intermediate-high pressure gas distribution system (IGIS) and high-pressure feeder line system (HGIS). The transmission and distribution assets were previously managed in two separate databases, employing the geometric network and PODS, respectively.
Implementing Esri’s Network Information Management System provided an opportunity to unify the IGIS and HGIS databases into a connected Utility and Pipeline Data Model (UPDM) and ArcGIS Utility Network model with ArcGIS Pipeline Referencing (APR) for transmission. The new enterprise model facilitates efficient gas workflow management, including tracing, analysis, and reporting for pipeline safety management.
Two vs. One Asset Database
Enbridge’s distribution and transmission data operated as two separate gas models and lacked the connectivity at the regulator stations required to perform tracing from gate stations to meters. The utility also lacked the capacity to perform traces within its transmission environment.
Through this initiative, Enbridge aimed to increase data integrity, enhance the editing experience, streamline operations, support enterprise applications, and better support pipeline safety and compliance reporting.
Migration and Model Merger
Enbridge worked with UDC to navigate the complexities of data migration and configuration. Using its HEIDE migration solution, UDC supported migration with an automated, iterative approach.
The project began with a readiness evaluation to identify gaps between Esri functionality and Enbridge’s workflows and continued with developing application functionality prototypes. Four tiers of subnetworks were included: System, Pressure, Cathodic Protection, and Isolation.
The data migration and cleanup tasks were performed using automation and UDC’s custom toolkit over four iterative test migrations. UDC upgraded the integration points between the GIS and customer information, work management, DOT Compliance, and ROW tracking documentation systems. ArcGIS Workflow Manager was implemented to support GIS editing workflows for distribution and transmission.
Custom tools and scripts were developed to support existing workflows, such as posting versioned edits to default, nightly subnetwork updates, and a linear referencing system (LRS) hierarchy for risk analysis. Legacy tools rebuilt and upgraded included rate case analysis, business district management, dynamic segmentation for reporting, and a GPS mapping tool.
Combined Model Benefits
This initiative consolidated Enbridge’s gas transmission and distribution assets into a single network information management model, providing a holistic enterprise view of gas operations and greater visibility into compliance activities.
Migration to a connected data model and the standards enforced by ArcGIS Utility Network removed a large amount of duplicated service data. The subnetwork tiers’ single-source tracing, analysis, and automated data reporting capabilities help standardize the data modeling and provide the data quality required to support streamlined pipeline maintenance and safety management.
“Utility Network provides a stable platform that will support opportunities to configure business-specific applications, reports, and maps,” said Matt Bartol, PE, general manager of gas operations at Enbridge Gas. “Getting maps and data into the hands of our teams will empower them to make data-driven decisions to operate more safely, reliably, and efficiently.”
Based on the project’s success, Enbridge plans to share best practices and lessons learned with other business units involved in Utility Network transformation projects. Additionally, Enbridge expects that employing a common data schema across all business units will provide an opportunity to standardize reporting practices company-wide and derive efficiencies from shared toolsets and workflow methodologies.
“The benefits of having one model that can incorporate both our transmission and distribution gas assets will be a great advantage for our team and help increase our efficiencies in how we manage the data.”
Jeff Hansen, Director, GIS and Pipeline Safety Management Systems, Enbridge Gas