Miner & Miner Announces the Latest Release
of ArcFM™ 8.1.3 Product Line
for Utilities

Fort Collins, CO -- Miner & Miner (M&M) announces the release of its ArcFM™ 8.1.3 product suite for electric, gas, and water utilities. This release offers enhancements to current tools in ArcFM and Designer as well as expanded functionality in the DistOps application.

The ArcFM 8.1.3 product suite is composed of ArcFM, ArcFM Viewer, Conduit System Management, Designer, and DistOps. It is certified against ESRI's ArcGIS 8.1.2 family of products.

ArcFM 8.1.3

ArcFM is a powerful collection of tools for managing, modeling, and editing facility and landbase data for the enterprise. ArcFM leverages the power of the ArcGIS architecture, and facilitates the integration of the GIS to other enterprise systems. It provides the framework to maintain consistent business rules in an intuitive editing and viewing environment.

ArcFM 8.1.3 builds on the existing functionality in ArcFM 8 with the following enhancements:

• Mass Attribute Update tool allows users to quickly and easily make modifications to a large group of features.
• Session Manager gives users the power to establish and enforce particular version workflows and user roles tailored to their own business needs. Using Session Manager, a user may create a session, which travels through an approval process before ultimately being posted to the geodatabase or deleted from the system.
• Workflow Administration Tool manages users and roles and creates new workflows. The Workflow Administration Tool can be used to add/remove users and to change their role assignments in Session Manager.

Miner & Miner's Designer 8.1.3 is an extension application to ArcFM that utilizes the ArcGIS 8.1 architecture. It 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 sketches, job cost estimates, and an automated means to update the baseline corporate GIS database. Designer supplies the design engineering functions and compatible unit data structures by interfacing with a work management/ERP system. It includes a variety of functions to optimize design including engineering calculations and automated layouts.

Designer 8.1.3's enhanced functionality includes:

• Structural Analysis enhancements
  • Conductor clearance calculations allow users to select a predefined clearance standard (NESC, REA) or add their own business-specific standards to the database.
  • Pin and insulator analysis allows the selection of the best insulator and pin assembly, based on the total load exerted by the conductor.
  • Soil and anchor analysis tool allows the selection of the best guying anchor based on soil conditions and forces on guys.
• Secondary Circuit Analysis enhancements
  • Transformer impedance values are now displayed in a convenient form.
  • Calculated voltages can now be reported in any of four formats at the user's option: Volts, percent of base voltage, percent deviation from base voltage, and per unit.
  • Data entry for transformers has been simplified. Users can search for and select entries from the transformer electrical database, or else supply custom definitions including impedance range (in percent), nameplate KVA and phasing.

DistOps 8.1.3

Miner & Miner's DistOps 8.1.3 provides utilities with a convenient, seamless interface between ArcFM or Designer and their third-party analysis engine. With DistOps, 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 8.1.3 release of DistOps includes integration with Advantica Stoner's Electric Solver. The integration with CYMDIST available in earlier releases has been upgraded to support the new 3.04 release of CYMDIST.

Conduit System Management (CSM) and ArcFM Viewer round out the ArcFM 8.1.3 suite of tools. CSM is an extension application to ArcFM. Viewer allows utilities with a read-only interface for users to view data and perform traces.

Conduit System Management 8.1.3

ArcFM Conduit System Management 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 describes its contents, including trenches, duct banks, underground conductors, and underground access structures.

ArcFM Viewer 8.1.3

Miner & Miner's ArcFM Viewer, based on ESRI's ArcView 8.1, provides a high-performance, cost-effective query and display tool without the expense of a full editing package. ArcFM Viewer provides utility personnel with the ability to view, trace, and query data both at the office and in the field.

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 8.1.3 is an extension of the ArcGIS 8.1 architecture and is the seventh release from Miner & Miner based on ArcInfo 8.

“We at M&M always strive to provide our clients with high-end quality enterprise solutions,” said Mike Daniels, Miner & Miner VP of Product Development. “The 8.1.3 release contains vital enhancements to provide utilities with fast, easy, and powerful functionality.”

The ArcFM 8.1.3 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 1,200 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. ESRI can be found on the Web at 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 trademark owners.