News Release

Puget Sound Energy Adopts ImageSite®

eQuorum's engineering document management solution gives users rapid access to engineering content for CAD and collaboration

ATLANTA, GA - June 16, 2004 - In 2003 Puget Sound Energy ("PSE"), Inc., began a document management project to help meet several operational goals for improving efficiency and increasing productivity. PSE and its Service Providers produce approximately 8,000 electrical and gas distribution designs/as-builts each year, all of which must be recorded into PSE's corporate mapping system. The goals of the document management project centered on improvements in operational efficiencies, engineering/construction collaboration, design data management, and mapping of as-builts to reflect completed construction activities.

PSE is Washington state's largest energy utility. PSE provides electricity, natural gas, and a range of energy related services to homes and businesses throughout the Puget Sound area. Headquartered in the heart of Puget Sound's technology corridor, PSE serves nearly 1 million electric customers and more than 650,000 gas customers in a dynamic area that includes Microsoft, The Boeing Company, Nintendo of America, AT&T Wireless, Amazon.com, and others.

Why ImageSite?

PSE needed a document management solution with advanced features for engineering that could be implemented easily and supported with limited Information Technology (IT) resources. The utility selected ImageSite, eQuorum Corporation's engineering document management system, after an extensive evaluation and competitive procurement process.

PSE needed a system capable of supporting more than 2,500 PCs on its network. The effort required for installing, maintaining, upgrading and troubleshooting traditional "thick client" software led PSE to favor Web-based solutions. However, most document management solutions on the market today are principally client-server, with only a sub-set of features available through a "thin" web user interface. ImageSite is a completely web-based solution with no client software required to install or be pushed down from the server.

ImageSite also provides integration with both MicroStation and AutoCAD, both used by PSE. In addition, ImageSite provides superior collaboration tools over its competitor's products.

Project Collaboration

PSE and its Service Providers have engineering staff spread throughout the utility's service territory. The ImageSite engineering collaboration tools help reduce travel and printing costs. The online conferencing feature allows multiple users to securely log into a conference, view the design simultaneously, zoom into specific areas of the design, and even create an audit trail of decisions made. Engineers not familiar with AutoCAD or MicroStation can view an active design online in a conference, mark it up, and return the document with its modifications to the user. These features are contained in a single user interface, unlike competing products that require a separate module or application for conferencing

Document Distribution

ImageSite makes it easy for users to collaborate with each other using a highly effective document distribution technique.ImageSite provides web links (URLs) that allow users to conveniently launch email messages that drive the email recipient to a document, markup, folder, document set, saved search, or a variety of other contacts points within the ImageSite repository.

This feature, called a Vectored URL, eliminates the printing and distribution of paper copies of CAD documents, reduces network traffic, and saves disk storage space previously required to store redundant copies of CAD files on individual users PCs. By directly accessing documents on the web server, users are certain to receive the most up-to-date document version. In addition, since documents never actually leave the repository when "distributed" using this method, they remain highly secure, and can only be accessed by individuals who have appropriate security rights.

Here is a typical example of how ImageSite is used by an organization like PSE:

A member of a mapping department gets a phone call from an in-house user asking for a copy of an asbuilt.The mapping person looks it up in ImageSite, then creates an email with the document link in the email, which is then sent to the person making the request. Traditionally this would have meant searching for the record, making a copy, and then mailing the copy to the person. The old way would have taken several days instead only a few minutes. Now that the person is aware of the system and how to use it they can look up the as built themselves next time.

ImageSite's encapsulation tool provides a self-contained, stand-alone, secure mechanism for distributing documents outside an organization's network. Users building encapsulations may enable features such as redlining and printing for encapsulation recipients as required.

Typical Utility Design/Construction Workflow

PSE follows a typical utility workflow when adding new customer connections to its network. This workflow involves gathering appropriate customer requirements, performing engineering and design work with reference to the current network and base-map inventory, performing the construction work, energizing the new connection, and updating the base-map to reflect the as-built construction.

Applications Integration

Many companies like PSE want a simple, easy-to-use interface to allow non-technical users to find engineering as-built documents that have been energized but not yet mapped in order to avoid potential construction problems.

For PSE, a key requirement was to integrate the work management information stored in the utility's SAP/R3 system with engineering content stored within ImageSite, using a map-based spatial interface for convenient navigation. AutoDesk's Map Guide was selected to display the spatial component.

eQuorum's ImageSite, with its unique folder vector URL links, is ideally suited for this kind of application. Each project is logically stored under a folder within ImageSite. Using eQuorum's unique folder vector URLs, an organization can drive the user directly to the project folder holding all of the relevant data, not just a list of documents generated from a search.

At PSE, users can view specific areas of the utility's service territory using Map Guide and display all designs; designs sent to construction; and projects constructed but not yet mapped. With color-coded icons, users can click to launch an associated ImageSite vector URL. The URL opens the ImageSite application in a browser session and takes the user to the specific document folder for that project.

The integration with SAP Work Management system also allows SAP key attributes to be imported directly into ImageSite, providing valuable folder and document data and search criteria.This data, with the ImageSite folder options provides users a robust search mechanism to the project documents.

The resulting Work Management/Document Management/GIS solution provides users a most efficient total spatial document management solution.The work to integrate these three critical production systems can be performed at substantially lower costs than would otherwise occur when a large scale integration is undertaken by a traditional systems integration firm.

Other applications of ImageSite at PSE

PSE also uses ImageSite to view its corporate maps with a scaled printing capability. PSE's corporate mapping system is raster based, using AutoCAD Map and Raster Design. The current map viewing system does not allow the printing of the raster maps to scale, however wide format scaled plotting is an advanced feature provided by ImageSite. All users (not just CAD users) now have the ability to print to a desired scale through ImageSite's web-based plot submission capability.

ImageSite allows a utility's architecture and facilities groups to better coordinate changes to its facilities.ImageSite's security capabilities allow only authorized users such as managers and directors to gain access to these sensitive documents.

Implementation Status

PSE has loaded over 850,000 historical engineering records into its system, providing instant online access to engineering and operations staff and other enterprise users such as real estate, customer relations, contract management and PSE business units. All active projects are in the process of being stored in the system.

As documents are saved or modified, they can routinely be uploaded into the document management system, providing users access to designs they would have previously only seen months after construction.

ImageSite is licensed by the number of concurrent users, or by the number of documents stored within ImageSite. ImageSite is available directly from eQuorum, or through authorized resellers and partners including Xerox Corporation. For a free tryout of ImageSite Online, you can apply to Try It Before You Buy It.

ImageSite, Plot Station, and eQuorum are registered trademarks of eQuorum Corporation. Other products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.