Miner & Miner Releases the Latest Version
of the ArcFM™ Product Line for Utilities

Fort Collins, CO -- Miner & Miner (M&M) announces the release of its ArcFM™ 8.1.2 product suite for electric, gas, and water utilities. The suite is composed of ArcFM, ArcFM Viewer, Conduit System Management, Designer, and DistOps and is certified against ESRI’s 8.1.2 ArcGIS family of products.

M&M is a world leader in the development and implementation of ESRI’s ArcGIS software for utilities. ArcFM products and services assist utilities in increasing productivity and efficiency, lowering costs, and improving services throughout the enterprise. This allows utilities to effectively manage spatial information for design, maintenance, and outage management.

The 8.1.2 is the sixth release from Miner & Miner based on ArcInfo 8. The 8.1.2 release is a powerful addition of new functionality to Miner & Miner’s line of products.

ArcFM 8.1.2

Miner & Miner’s ArcFM 8.1.2 is a collection of tools for managing, modeling, and editing facility and land base data in an enterprise system. By utilizing an open, fully scalable environment and building on ESRI’s component oriented ArcGIS 8.1 foundation, Miner & Miner has created an integrated platform for utility enterprise solutions geared toward end users.

ArcFM 8.1.2 builds on the existing functionality in ArcFM 8.1:

• Improved QA/QC Framework reports validation errors with messages and warnings. The tool can be executed on selected features, or through the ArcFM Locator tool. It generates reports or exports results to XML files.
• QA/QC Version Difference Tool compares the current map version with the parent version using the QA/QC validation rules to identify modifications.
• Map Grid Manager generates customized map grids for use with Map Production. Users can select an area to be covered by map grids, as well as the size, orientation, and scale of the map sheets that compose the grid.
• Map Insets let users identify a specific portion of the map as a source to be enlarged in a destination window on the map layout view. External files in several formats can also be linked to display in a destination window in the layout view.
• Inset Frames display user-defined features in separate windows in the layout view. Inset frames can display individual features of a layer in their own windows.
• Custom Text Elements provide a framework to easily create sources of text (such as date, username, and page number) that update automatically. Custom Text Elements can be inserted in the Layout view and printed through the Map Production feature.
• Custom Field Editor provides programmers with the framework for creating specialized field editors. An example is an editor that restricts the size of ducts that can be placed within other ducts.

Conduit System Management 8.1.2

ArcFM Conduit System Management (CSM) is an integrated set of tools and dialogs to add, annotate, and maintain the underground infrastructure of the utility network system. CSM provides the functionality for defining and managing an underground conduit system and displaying cross-section annotation that describe its contents, including trenches, duct banks, underground conductors, and underground access structures.

CSM 8.1.2 further added the following functionality:

• CSM Duct Query Tracing identifies the best path through ducts based on user-defined criteria such as availability, size, material, trench capacity, and occupants.
• CSM Duct Query Reporting generates a report listing ducts based on the CSM Query Tracing results.

Designer 8.1.2

Miner & Miner’s Designer 8.1.2 is a framework for complete work order design integrated with Work Management or Enterprise Resource Planning systems (WMS/ERP). Designer provides an integrated environment for preparing construction work requests and designs, job cost estimates, inventory, and other analysis. It offers an automated means for data editing and analysis to update the baseline corporate GIS database, based on changes to the electrical, gas, and water distribution facilities shown in the work sketch /work management environment.

Designer 8.1.2’s enhanced functionality includes:

• Electrical Calculations provide the ability to perform simple secondary voltage drops, motor starting, and fault calculations. Secondary Circuit Analysis helps the designer ensure appropriate equipment is used to maintain the voltage without over-installing and increasing costs.
• Mechanical Calculations display calculated forces on poles and guys to help engineering develop a design. Features such as pole height, class, material, conductor spans, and guy lengths can be selected to dynamically display loads. Pole strength and guy analysis can be performed on existing and/or design data.
• Macros place spatial (or symbolized) compatible units (CU) along with their associated non-spatial (non-symbolized) CUs. This allows sending multiple features with their non-symbolized CUs to the Targets tab with a single click.

Miner & Miner’s DistOps 8.1.2 provides utilities with a convenient, seamless interface between ArcFM or Designer and their third-party analysis engine. With this release, the ability to display the results of the analysis directly in the GIS is realized. As feeders are modified, planners can quickly and easily select and analyze the feeder with analysis software and display the results, thus removing the requirement to maintain data in two systems.

“The 8.1.2 is yet another step in the continued efforts to establish ArcFM as the leading enterprise solution. We strive to provide our clients with a state-of-the-art product line, and to exceed our customers’ expectations,” said Mike Daniels, Miner & Miner Vice President of Product Development.

The ArcFM 8.1.2 suite fits into the overall information technology architecture of modern utilities through the use of open databases, industry-standard programming environments, XML, and COM architecture. The entire Miner & Miner suite of products provides a scalable environment for the full range of utility business needs, and can be used for a single departmental installation or as a multi-departmental enterprise configuration for creating, managing, analyzing, and disseminating utility information.

About Miner & Miner

Miner & Miner is a world leader in the development and implementation of geographic information system (GIS) software for utilities. M&M products and services assist electric, gas, water and wastewater utilities in increasing productivity, lowering costs, and improving services by allowing them to effectively manage spatial information. Founded in 1946 as a full-service electrical engineering firm, M&M has been an equity partner of ESRI since 1987. This partnership has enabled M&M to become the world’s leading developer of ArcGIS applications for the utility industry. M&M services include implementation and customization of software to fit the needs of individual utilities. For more information, please visit www.miner.com.

Designer, Responder, Conduit System Management, and DistOps are trademarks of Miner & Miner, Consulting Engineers, Inc.

About ESRI

For more than 30 years, ESRI has been the leading developer of GIS software with more than 300,000 clients worldwide. ESRI also provides consulting, implementation, and technical support services. Headquartered in California, ESRI has regional offices throughout the United States, international distributors in more than 90 countries, and more than 1,050 business partners. ESRI’s goal is to provide users with comprehensive tools to help them quickly and efficiently manage and use geographic information to make a real difference in the world around them. For more information visit www.esri.com.

ESRI, the ESRI globe logo, GIS by ESRI, ArcInfo, ArcGIS, ArcSDE, ArcEditor, ArcCatalog, ArcMap, ArcObjects, ArcIMS, ArcView, ArcFM, ArcFM Viewer, www.esri.com, and @esri.com are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of ESRI in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products named herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.