Combining 4 legacy systems into 1 network model

The challenge

Alectra Utilities is the second largest municipally owned electric utility company in North America. It serves more than 1 million customers across 17 communities and nearly 2,000 square kilometers (about 742 square miles) in the Greater Toronto area.

The company was formed from the merger of Enersource, Horizon Utilities, PowerStream and Brampton Hydro and inherited four separate GIS-based utility network management solutions, as well as other legacy enterprise systems. Following the amalgamation, the company decided to combine its data and systems to avoid disjointed business practices, inefficiencies and inconsistent data.

The solution

Three of the four companies from the merger were already using HxGN NetWorks, Hexagon’s geospatial asset management system, but each was implementing it differently. The siloed systems made it difficult for internal users to access GIS maps. Additionally, data was ultimately incompatible since it was recorded differently in each system.

To reduce risk and minimize scope creep, Alectra combined all four systems into one network model using HxGN NetWorks. With the single, unified companywide implementation, Alectra’s network data is now clean, consistent and easily accessible to all stakeholders.