Supporting clients to keep electrical systems up-to-date

• Identify improved methods of data capture, management, sharing, and reporting.
• Maintain robust, digital power system data to enable automation and efficiency, to keep pace with modern advances in machine learning and AI.
• Comply with newer standards (like NFPA 70B, Chapter 6) to review system analysis as required over time or as the system changes.
• Help to avoid challenges to the safety, reliability, optimization, and sustainability of the electrical system. 

The essential question is this: Where is your electrical system documentation? Power systems consultants are often asked to supply the single line diagram for a facility. The problem is that, too often, the information is dispersed by multiple tools or locations. There are many stakeholders, and they’re not coordinated. And there is no way to determine whether revision control measures are in force. The data provided could be simply a snapshot in time.

The bottom line is this: Many facilities struggle to maintain, track, and document their electrical system data.

Industry standards like NFPA 70B in the U.S. aim to address the need for equipment maintenance programs. This safety standard was implemented in 2024, highlighting the importance of ongoing analysis. This is incredibly difficult to comply with unless accurate system data is maintained.

In this case study, Schneider Electric’s Engineering Services Team shares their implementation of ETAP NetPM for an automotive manufacturing customer to ensure that their electrical system data could be maintained over time through digital collaboration. They explored the use of ETAP for building and maintaining models for their clients, to capture and share all the electrical system data in one centralized location. The study considered the steps involved in the implementation of NETPM, with a focus on user roles, permissions, and effective workflows. Important considerations for model management, data access, and adapting service models were also identified.

ETAP NetPM – A collaborative engineering platform supporting ETAP-to-ETAP model coordination and validation, change management, review and approval, and simultaneous modeling and analysis across the entire life cycle of the electrical network, from modeling to operation and from engineering-consultants to owner-operators

ETAP Power Simulator – Design, analyze and optimize electrical systems through the creation of a single-line diagram representing the electrical digital twin of the power system

• A platform where various team members - in this case the engineering service provider and client - can collaborate to maintain a living model of the electrical system in the cloud
• Implementation of an understandable, transparent change management workflow to facilitate best practices for power system projects
• The ability to control the access to system data for a facility, including Editors, Reviewers, to 'Browsers'
• High-quality visualization of the effects of infrastructure upgrades and production changes in the electrical digital twin model
  

Continuous Change Management and Better Support for Clients

• Improved accuracy for updates to power system modeling and studies
• Enhanced safety, reliability, and efficiency in power system management
• Streamlined collaboration with internal and external stakeholders through appropriate access
• Reduction in CapEx and OpEx costs by leveraging existing information
• Vastly improved client satisfaction
  

The case study identified two steps to get started in order to implement a collaborative NetPM environment:

1. Identify the roles and permissions. Consider the various stakeholders who need to play a role in maintaining the integrity of the living model.
2. Establish a workflow for the entire team for collaboration. Depending on the client, this workflow can vary based on internal practices and policies for a company and contractors.

Getting all of the information together in the ETAP model, setting up NetPM and establishing our permissions and establishing our workflow together have made a huge difference for this customer in terms of what they can get, their access to data, their confidence in the data and other benefits. 

Carter Sanders, Digital Twin Services Leader and Power Systems Engineer, Schneider Electric