CIGRE - 106

21, rue dArtois, F-75008 PARIS http : //www.cigre.org

CIGR Canada Conference on Power Systems Vancouver October 17- 19 2010

The Changing Utility Workforce and the emergence of Building Information Modeling in Utilities
A. SAUNDERS Autodesk, Inc. (US)

SUMMARY
Many utilities are faced with replacement of experienced engineers, network planners, and designers as baby boomers reach retirement age. New hires may have different skill levels as well as different expectations regarding design tools compared to their predecessors. Knowledge transfer from the retiring workforce to the new hires can be facilitated with rules-based design software and building information modeling (BIM) processes. While nothing can replace the experiential knowledge of the long term engineers, easy-to-use design software with built-in validations can accelerate training and BIM processes can enable dynamic design leveraging real-world contexts. Utilities and software vendors must also recognize the expectations of the new hires from Gen Y in developing their design environments. These new hires will expect a user-interface paradigm based on their past gaming and working experience. This paper will examine how these issues are coming together to drive a new generation of design and modeling solutions for utilities.

KEYWORDS
Aging Workforce, Gen Y, Knowledge Transfer, Rules-based Design, Utility Design, Building Information Modeling (BIM)

alan.saunders@autodesk.com

1. INTRODUCTION
The utility industry is experiencing an unprecedented workforce turnover. Even with the economic downturn, a significant percentage of workers will retire in the next five yearsmany of them with more than 30 years of industry experience. The challenge for the utility industry is twofold: mitigate the loss of industry knowledge and attract the talented new designers and engineers needed to lead utilities over the next several decades. With 60% of North American Investor Owned Utilities reporting at least 25% of their workers eligible to retire in the next five years1, the industry is facing serious challenges. For starters, utilities need to effectively transfer knowledge from an existing workforce with up to three decades of experience to their new hires. Utilities must also contend with the fact that the next generation of workerstwentyto-thirty year old Gen-Y workers steeped in a culture of video games and 3D technologyare most attracted to work environments where they can use the latest technology and processes as opposed to, for example, paper-based design and mapping tools. So what is a utility to do? Find ways to capture the valuable knowledge of its retiring workforce and attract the attention and imagination of new workers. 2. UTILITY INDUSTRY CHANGES There was a time when bright young engineers and designers flocked to the local utility. They worked for 30 years and retired with a handsome pension. These workers have provided tremendous value to their communities during hurricanes, ice storms, or other outage situations when their knowledge of the networks, assets, and processes were a key factor in how quickly they completed projects that helped to restore services quickly and safely. While utilities have always offered a rewarding and relevant career for engineers, field workers, and other professionals, these careers have not always been perceived as cutting edge for those interested in innovation and technology. But things are changing. Energy prices are rising to all-time highs. Sustainable practices and renewable energy resources are gaining attention and traction. New technologies and services, ranging from photovoltaic manufacturing methods to next generation electric vehicles, are capturing media headlines. Everyone is talking about green and utilities are getting more and more attention. Once again, the local utility is an interesting place to work. New employees have an opportunity to participate in the exciting work of identifying cost-effective renewable energy sources or sustainability practices and integrating new technologies that support these initiatives into the utility. The slew of smart, young, and motivated engineers and designers entering the workforce can also help utilities define new processes to upgrade existing infrastructure, bring online new distributed and renewable generation facilities, implement smart devices and meters, and improve customer service. These projects align well with Gen-Y core values of civic duty and environmental awareness 2. Many of the potential new hires are coming from engineering firms and have experience in BIM processes. The key success factor is to empower these new workers with the experience and knowledge of outgoing employees who know the history of the existing systems. 3. DESIGN TOOLS TURN THE SWITCH Lets explore one area where this challenge of knowledge transfer is acute. The right design tools provide the valuable foundation necessary to meet the technology and process improvements required for emergent and future needs of the utility. By integrating business rules and enabling standards and best practice processes, utility design software can capture the experience of long-time workers, ensuring the transfer of critical information. New workers come up to speed quickly, leveraging rulesbased technology and built-in standards to make design decisions quickly and accurately. Furthermore, when utilities implement standardized design rules and symbology this can result in improved network reliability and fewer incorrect material orders. For example, experienced designers can incorporate

design-and-build standards based on historical performance and outage records, ensuring that the utility gets the right equipment installed for each project. By incorporating these standards into the design software, newer employees can train while also adding value to the team during their onboarding process. Utility design software can now also generate cost estimates and bill of material information directly from the design. No longer does the engineer need to do separate quantity calculations or reference material and cost manuals integration of design and compatible unit applications can reduce steps and create more accurate estimates and material orders. With CAD-based precision utility design, there is no need to order extra cable or an oversized transformer just to make sure. Furthermore, field workers historically kept the knowledge of their service area in their heads and on CAD drawings and paper maps. They also relied on the knowledgeable design and records management staff to provide them necessary information. Now, with current technologies, they too, can have access to critical design and records (as-built) information while in the field. This is as simple as publishing this information to the web, or providing this design, asset and spatial data in formats accessible by the field. 4. ATTRACTING GEN-Y Equally important, innovative software can be used to attract and motivate the next generation of utility designers and engineers. These new workers expect a simple, engaging user experience software tools that are both fun and intuitive to use. While veteran employees lacked experience or interest with 3D tools, snazzy, game-like interfaces are the norm for the newer generation of designers.3 Utilities have an opportunity to attract the game-savvy generation of workers by adopting the latest software that integrates design, spatial, and asset informationin a graphical, easy-to-use interface. Now, the designer can see their designs in a real-world context even before they go on-site. Similar to gaming technology, the utility technology should have more simplified GUIs, the ability to manage the displays to meet specific needs, and eliminate messy workspace with too many icons and tools visible at once. Furthermore, newer technologies should provide application controls that are familiar to gaming software, such control wheels or cubes. These are simply control devices that appear on the screen to perform multiple functions such as zoom, pan, and rotate. Often these control wheels or cubes can be modified given the applicability to a job, how the control is displayed, when it is displayed as well as the location of the object. With the combined rules, processes and easy to manage display environment, all utility designers can be more productive and be motivated to make a difference with up-to-date and easy-to-use software applications. Additional capabilities from the gaming industry such as fly-throughs, complete 3D modeling and rotation can be a function of utility design software as well. With these technologies in place, the designer is better able to visualize their designs before they are real. Working in 3D and 4D, clash detection becomes a part of the design and enables the utility to avoid potential project delays and cost overruns. Using open, standards-based tools to access data in a variety of formats, utility designers and planners can make sure their planned infrastructure is properly aligned with existing facilities owned by other agencies or business, avoiding the frustrations and challenges presented by data silos. 5. VISUALIZE, SIMULATE, AND MODEL Not only can these design tools transfer knowledge and engage new workersthey can also help utilities improve planning and operations. The richer and more detailed 3D information available from these design tools can help the utility model their complete network. This data can then be used in its real-world context to visualize, simulate, and model environmental influences such as weather and vegetation. Simulations can be run in safety and training programs before a facility such as a substation is even built. Planners can review a design in its real-world context to facilitate permitting and community involvement. Multiple stakeholdersfrom the front office to the field can easily access this critical data to safely and efficiently manage utility assets.

6. CONCLUSION Given the impending change in the utility workforce, knowledge transfer is a pressing issue. With rule-based design software and BIM processes, utilities can capture some of the experience of the retiring workforce. While there is no substitute for training and experience, these tools can accelerate the learning process for new hires. And by investing in utility design software that incorporates the best elements of design processes from other industries, utilities can attract a new generation of engineers and designers to the workforce. With the right tools, these workers can become more productive more quickly, and are more likely to become long-term employees for the utility.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

[1] [2] [3]

UtiliPoint International, Inc. Aging Workforce and Aging Assets Trends 2007 2012, (2007)

Ron Zemke et al, Generations at Work, (1999) Gartner Research, Energy and Utility Business and Technology Trends, (June 2009)