© 2008 Eventure Events. All rights reserved.

The Maturity of Compatible Units – Two Years Later

Jerry Olson & Ron GrayPacific Gas & Electric Company

Company Profile• 2005 marked the 100th anniversary of PG&E• Provides energy to nearly 1 in 21 people in the U.S.

– 14 million people• 70,000 square-mile service territory• 20,000 employees• Projected revenue $12 B

Electric and gas distribution customers

5.0 MM electric

4.2 MM gas

Electric transmission circuits

Electric distribution circuits

18,616 miles

120,000 miles

Gas transmission backbone

Gas distribution

6,128 miles

40,123 miles

Electric generation capacityNuclear (1), Fossil (2), Hydro (110) Plants

6,420 MW

22,544 Peak MW

Key Learning's

• Why compatible units?

• The make up of compatible units @ PG&E

• Using compatible units entirely within SAP for estimates

• Using compatible units in conjunction with 3rd party design tools

• Scheduling & CU’s

• Special Use’s

• Assemblies

• Pitfalls and cautions when handling CU’s

Best Practices

• Compatible Units drive consistent use of standard material and lowers procurement costs

• Compatible Units used within Design Templates drive standard designs

• Standard designs drive standard construction practices

• Standard materials drive standard maintenance procedures

• Unit costs readily available

Why SAP Compatible Units?:

It is more then just about labor hours and materials. SAP compatible units enable the use of:

Functional Locations

Equipment Records

Crew Classes

Services

Special Equipment

Assemblies

Workflow Diagram:

Work Order Confirmation and SettlementWork Order DesignCU Library

Create & Change CUs

Design Work Orders based

on CUs

Confirm Work Orders

Settle Work Orders

Final Evaluation of CUs

Based on Confirmation and Summary Process

The Notification/Order Hierarchy @ PG&E

• Notification– Master Order - (Used to schedule non construction

tasks)• CU Design (Collection of all CUs for the job)

– CU Order – (CU Design exploded into:)

Operations

Components (Material and Services per operation)

Settlement receiver per operation

User fields on Operations (MAT, X, Y… )

The Notification/CU Order Hierarchy (Example)

Notification

Master Order

CU DesignCU DesignCU DesignCU Design

As-Built

Schedule Labor (Click)

Material Reservations (MM)

Application for service

Job Estimate Package

InitiateInitiate

DesignDesign

ConstructConstruct

DocumentDocument

CU Order

Preliminary Estimate

Contract (CCBS)

Equipment RecordEquipment Record

Equipment Record

Workflow

CU Library

Settlements

Future

DesignDesign

ConstructConstruct

DocumentDocument

ReportReport

CUs and the Work Management Process•3 Interfaces with external Graphical Work Design tools•Standardizes materials used in construction •Used within standard CU Design Templates•Used to create Job Package (Job Estimate and Supporting Reports)•Links Job Package to DMS•Automatic AIN accounting determination for CCBS (contract program)•Determines AIN costs and interfaces with CCBS•Used with custom trench application to calculate resources and allocate costs•Automatic order creation based on CU Design•Provides cross validation for CU characteristics•Provides the ability to create and cost multiple designs

•Interfaces with Click scheduling based on CU Attributes for crew class and size•Provides flexibility for scheduling labor and materials •Provides the ability to create work ticket for construction •Material visibility and demand automatically sent to MM system (forecasting)•Automatic Material reservations in MM system

•Automatic Settlement Rule creation at the operation level•Automatic Equipment Creation during the AS-Built process•Provides the ability to compare AS-Builds with Designs•Automatic Mass Asset interface to CO module

•Facilitates the automation of unit costs•Provides the ability to more accurately report costs by MAT for program owners•Provides more detailed reporting capability based on CU Attributes (Ad Hoc)

The Elements of Compatible Units @ PG&E Primary Characteristics

User Fields on CU Instance

Secondary Characteristics

Settlement rules

Virtual CU’s

CU Hierarchy

CU Summarization

CU ties to scheduling

Custom functionality – Trenching

Materials - CU’s. (components/reservations)

Compatible Unit

Search Criteria

Reference Object :Functional LocationEquipment Record

Task List

Labor Time

Work Center(Crew Class)

Material

Activity Type

Design Time Attributes :CU Type (Pole, Pipe, Conductor…)Action (Install, Remove, Transfer, Abandon)Unit Application (Distribution, Service, …)Service Type (Gas, Electric)Work Agent (PGE, Applicant)Maint. Activity Type (16R, 29J, …)Job Rule (New Business)Tax Location (Private, Franchise)

Assemblies:

Compatible Unit Structure

Example Compatible Unit: (45’ Class 4 Pole)

Classification

Task List

Reference Object :Functional LocationEquipment Record

Task List

Compatible Unit

Example Compatible Unit: (45’ Class 4 Pole)

Task List

Labor Time

Work Center

Activity Type

Material

Install

Remove

Example Compatible Unit: (45’ Class 4 Pole)

Material

Example Compatible Unit: (45’ Class 4 Pole)

Classification

Task List

Reference Object :Functional LocationEquipment Record

Compatible Unit

Reference Object :Functional LocationEquipment Record

Example Compatible Unit: (45’ Class 4 Pole)

Reference Object :Equipment Record

Example Compatible Unit: (45’ Class 4 Pole)

Reference Object :Functional LocationEquipment Record

Example Compatible Unit: (45’ Class 4 Pole)

Classification

Task List

Reference Object :Functional LocationEquipment Record

Compatible Unit

Classification

Primary Characteristics and User Fields

• Primary Characteristics and User Fields describe How and Why the CU was used in the Design. Only one Primary Class can be assigned to CUs

• Primary Characteristics: CU Type (Pole, Pipe, Transformer) Action (Install, Remove, Transfer, Abandon) Unit Application (Distribution, Service, Transmission) Service Type (Gas, Electric) Work Agent (PG&E, Applicant) MAT (Maintenance Activity Type) Job Rule Private/Franchise

Caution: How you use Primary Characteristics can complicate CU Maintenance

Primary Characteristics and User Fields (Cont)This information is used to determine:

• Which operations to select from the CU task list and transfer to the CU Order

• The settlement receiver at operation level

• Accounting for contracts

• How to schedule labor and material

• Detailed information about how labor and material are used to enable more accurate reporting capabilities.

Example Compatible Unit: (45’ Class 4 Pole)

Primary Classification

Secondary Class Characteristics

• CUs can be assigned to as many secondary classes as necessary.

• Used for classifying the CUs to enable searching capability. By Standard

By Attributes

• Pole Height

• Class

• Material, Etc.

• Also can be used to drive other custom logic and reports Mass Assets

• Used for assembly definition (variant configuration)

Example Compatible Unit: (45’ Class 4 Pole)

Secondary Classification

Example Compatible Unit: (45’ Class 4 Pole)

Classification

Task List

Reference Object :Functional LocationEquipment Record

Macro Compatible Unit

Create Macro Cu

Macro Compatible Unit

Assembly Configuration Options

• Variant Assemblies (Uses Variant Configuration)

• Macro Assemblies (User Exit)

• CU Designs as Assemblies (Custom Code)

Creating Estimates Using Compatible Units within SAP:

• Design Templates/Tabular Designs• Virtual Compatible Units (VCU)• Design Points• Cost Simulation• Job Package creation• Custom Application (Joint Trench)

• Example

Special Use’s

Using Compatible Units In Conjunction with Design Tools

• Requires 3 interfaces for External Tools Export CU Library to external system

• Labor, Material, Services, Primary and Secondary Characteristics per Compatible Unit

• Validation Rules

Link Master Order to External Design

Import external design to SAP• Creates SAP CU Design• Passes CU with Primary Characteristics• Passes implementation defined Characteristics• Respects the defined CU Hierarchy within the CU Design

Using Compatible Units In Conjunction with Design Tools

SAP R/3

CU Library

Master Order

Construction Measure

CU Order

CU Design

External Design Tool

CU Library

Design Creation

Completed Design

Export CU Library

Link Master Order to external

design

Create CU Design

CU Summarization Process

LD-PRO SAP DETAILED CU DESIGN SAP SUMMARIZED CU DESIGN CU ORDER

Key Functional Requirements

1. Summarize all non-trench, non-equipment CUs that have the same primary characteristics and CU ID

2. Summarize all the like trench CUs including facilities

3. Do not summarize CUs that create equipment records; keep them at design point

4. Do not summarize other CUs identified as ‘Do not summarize’

Detailed CU Design

Summarized CU Design

CU Order

3. Dsgn Pt 1 Wood Pole

4. Dsgn Pt 2 Cut-to-Length Cable

1. VCU: Non-trench, Non-equipment (Bends, Crossarms)

2. VCU: Like trench CUs including facilities (Excavation, Sand Backfill, Pipe)

Construction Measure

Master Order

KB Object

Application/Notification

• SAP recommends not exceeding 2000 operations on a single CU order

• PG&E’s current configuration will allow up to 4500 operations on a single CU order

• The table below shows the expected decrease in number of operations after CU summarization:

• With CU summarization, we will be within SAP’s 2000 operation recommendation for subdivisions up to 400 lots

• Approximately 5% of designs passed each year will be this size or greater

Proof of Concept

Subdivision # Operations # Operations after summarization % Reduction

11 Lots 460 145 68%60 Lots 2428 300 88%

The Roll of CU’s For Scheduling:

• PG&E uses Click Software for external scheduling

• Specific operations used for scheduling (Prevents scheduling from seeing unnecessary operations)

• The ability to group operations based on CU Characteristics

• Schedulable operations carry hours, crew class etc.

• Crew class by work center – (Alt: Primary Char.)

• Material Delivery

Schedulable PM Order Operations

Planning CU/Order Example:

• Use CUs to create typical CU for each MAT (Maintenance Activity Type)

– Use typical labor classes (Activity Types)• Estimators/Designers

• Mappers

• Electric Construction

• Gas Construction

– Use major material

• Use Planning CU in Planning tool

Lessons Learned and Challenges

• Cross validation of characteristics

• CU Summarization

• Master order vs. CU order settlement arrangement.

• Keep CU construction as generic as possible

• Add necessary business/financial attributes upon use of the CU in your CU Design object.

• Assembly creation is as much an art as a science.

• Future needs:– Maintenance Tools

– Assembly construction hierarchy

© 2008 Eventure Events. All rights reserved.

Jerry Olson & Ron GrayPacific Gas & Electric Company

jro5@pge.com / rcgg@pge.com