In our first blog in this series, “The 21st Century Grid is Here: Do you have 21st Century Construction Management?” we covered how Digital Construction Management, or “DCM,” is playing a key role in integrating seamlessly across traditionally disparate systems and creating new efficiencies and improved accuracy across the design, construction, and closeout phases of construction, using digitally collected as-built data at the core. In this next step in the series, we’ll take a closer look at some of the challenges that utility leaders from the engineering office to the field and back are managing via DCM.
In support of this series, we have conducted a brief survey with the Energy Central audience, as well as a series of in-depth interviews with utility leaders that are grappling with the many challenges that arise in the design, construction, and as-built processes at electric and gas utilities. In conducting these interviews and reviewing the survey inputs, a few themes emerge that tell the DCM story. In the following paragraphs, we’ll take a closer look at how DCM is creating new operating paradigms that serve to improve data accuracy and create new efficiencies, saving time and money and improving critical construction processes.
Takin’ It to the Streets…and the Field
As DCM impacts processes from the field to the engineering office, let’s start by hearing what utility leaders are saying as they deploy DCM, starting with the field.
DCM in the field means “we are reducing touch points by capturing data at its source,” according to the Director, Field Operations Technology & Process Improvement at an electric and gas utility in the Northwestern US. The result: streamlined operations and more accurate and timely data.
Taking this ability to capture data in the field one step further, DCM also provides the ability to capture as-built asset changes and additional assets that were not included in the original design - and to do so in a way that is easy on the field crews. This data can then be readily integrated into the enterprise, including GIS. That same Director at the Northwestern US utility explains that “many mobile apps don’t have this mapping capability. Being able to map in the field and integrate data across the enterprise has also helped us improve our inspection processes.” This is just one example of how DCM data collection and workflows are helping utilities streamline processes like inspections and contractor invoicing.
Safe At Home
While improvements in field operations with DCM are impressive, these are not performed in a vacuum. An important ingredient in the DCM secret sauce is the virtually seamless integration across the utility enterprise. Two examples of how DCM is impacting the GIS and engineering offices back at the utility’s headquarters include:
- One utility surveyed called out a change they made to provide the GIS team with DCM tools to improve planning processes by leveraging the more accurate and timely data which improves their forecasts.
- At another utility, DCM has taken what was a waiting game and turned it into action. Going from a six-month wait time (yes, six months!) to 72 hours from installing new infrastructure to having this accurately depicted in their GIS application is the definition of a game changer, enabling vast improvements in the overall construction processes.
These improvements extend across the utility enterprise. Accurate GIS data doesn’t just ensure data hygiene in the utility’s GIS, that data also feeds into grid management systems like ADMS and ensures effective and efficient operation of these critical systems.
Improved Operations Today With an Eye on the Future
As the utility of the future starts to take shape, the need for improved construction management will become more acute. The continued growth of DERs will require utility field workers, designers, and engineers to accurately map these assets on the grid in near real-time. The GIS manager at a mid-sized investor-owned utility notes that “in the energy transition, it will be helpful for techs in the field to have DCM with them to document new connections and new equipment as it is being installed. We need to be able to capture this more effectively for both grid operations and safety for our crews and customers.”
At the same utility, the staff is looking at incorporating bar coding into their processes, which is a core capability of DCM. This will allow them to quickly capture accurate and detailed data on the equipment being installed and will speed up field work. The volume of asset data required for advanced system analysis and operations is significantly higher than today's requirements. Field workers cannot keep pace with the transcription of this data on a daily basis onto their Work Order documentation.
One other dynamic that came up in our interviews is how escalating operating costs are driving utility leaders to look for efficiencies and cost savings. DCM technology has become part of the cost management strategy for several utilities, as it eliminates multiple transcription efforts by multiple back office staff and reduces process time, supporting a reduction in operating costs.
Finally, consider several trends that are shaping a very different future for electric utility operations, all of which call for “next gen” improvements in accuracy and timeliness of data. First is the continued explosion of DERs. Without fully functioning ADMS and DERMS solutions, both of which rely on timely and accurate data, utility operations in this distributed environment will simply fail.
Other trends that are quickly moving from ideas on the horizon to operations on the ground are undergrounding of overhead assets, electrification of home and business for heating, cooling, cooking and EV charging, and the planning and service connections for large scale AI data centers. All of these need quality documentation, especially undergrounding as more of a utility’s infrastructure is buried for safety and to mitigate the threats from hurricanes, ice storms and fires. Similarly, as electrification initiatives expand, the grid impacts could be massive; a lack of accurate and up-to-date construction data could be disastrous as the electrification built-out accelerates.
Utility operations are becoming more complex and expensive. Tools and solutions like DCM that create opportunities for efficiency and cost savings while improving accuracy are right on time.
For more information on how DCM can be a game changer at your utility, visit Locusview.com.
PS! Registration now open for the 4/24/25 in our roundtable live PowerSession event: The 21st Century Grid is Here: Do you have 21st Century Construction Management? This compelling interactive discussion with Black Hills Energy, MDU and Locusview will look at how digital construction management is helping to keep the 21st century utility industry moving forward through unprecedented change. Join us!