GE Digital
Grid Software Solutions
Smallworld* Electric Office
Product Description and
Functional Overview
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Version:
5.3.1
Date:
December 2022
*Trademark of General Electric Company
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Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
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Table of Contents
TRADEMARKS ................................................................................................................................................. 2
INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................. 8
1.
SMALLWORLD* CORE SPATIAL TECHNOLOGY ........................................................................................ 9
1.1.
2.
Technical Advantages ................................................................................................................... 11
SMALLWORLD ELECTRIC OFFICE WITHIN A UTILITY ............................................................................. 14
2.1.
Planning and Design ..................................................................................................................... 15
2.1.1.
Standard State Models ......................................................................................................... 15
2.1.2.
Lifecycle Status ..................................................................................................................... 16
2.2.
Network Modeling ........................................................................................................................ 17
2.2.1.
Generalized Data Model for Electrical Conducting Objects ................................................. 17
2.2.2.
Circuits and Circuit Sections ................................................................................................. 19
2.2.3.
Installations and Assets ........................................................................................................ 19
2.2.4.
Asset Specifications .............................................................................................................. 20
2.2.5.
Underground Model ............................................................................................................. 20
2.2.6.
Electric Substation Data Model ............................................................................................ 24
2.3.
Electric Office Specific Functionality............................................................................................. 25
2.3.1.
Circuit Builder ....................................................................................................................... 25
2.3.2.
Circuit Viewer ....................................................................................................................... 26
2.3.3.
Conduit Path Finder .............................................................................................................. 27
2.3.4.
Querying and Editing Objects ............................................................................................... 29
2.3.5.
Asset View ............................................................................................................................ 30
2.3.6.
Distribution Operations ........................................................................................................ 31
3.
SMALLWORLD ANALYSIS AND OPTIMIZATION ..................................................................................... 32
4.
GIS ADAPTER......................................................................................................................................... 34
5.
SMALLWORLD CORE AND OFFICE SUITE COMMON FUNCTIONALITY .................................................. 35
5.1.
Query Tool/Explorer ..................................................................................................................... 35
5.2.
Combining Changes and Conflict Management ........................................................................... 36
5.3.
Design Manager ............................................................................................................................ 37
5.3.1.
Version Management in Design Manager ............................................................................ 38
5.3.2.
Benefits of Design Manager ................................................................................................. 38
5.3.3.
Network Design .................................................................................................................... 39
5.3.4.
Design Phases & Change Driver ............................................................................................ 39
5.3.5.
Overlapping Designs ............................................................................................................. 39
5.3.6.
Design Layout Tools .............................................................................................................. 39
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
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5.3.7.
5.4.
Flexible Views ............................................................................................................................... 40
5.5.
Network Tracing ........................................................................................................................... 41
5.6.
Network Schematics ..................................................................................................................... 41
5.7.
Quality Manager ........................................................................................................................... 43
5.8.
Visualization & Navigation ............................................................................................................ 43
5.9.
Flow Indicator ............................................................................................................................... 44
5.10.
Managing External Files ............................................................................................................ 44
5.11.
Audit History ............................................................................................................................. 46
5.12.
Inventory Reporter ................................................................................................................... 47
5.13.
Plotting ..................................................................................................................................... 47
5.14.
Plot Types, Templates & Stencils .............................................................................................. 48
5.14.1.
Construction Pack Plotting ................................................................................................... 48
5.14.2.
Desktop Viewer Plotting ....................................................................................................... 48
5.14.3.
Map Grid Plotting ................................................................................................................. 48
5.15.
Where am I? ............................................................................................................................. 49
5.16.
Internal World View.................................................................................................................. 50
5.17.
Template Manager ................................................................................................................... 50
5.18.
Map Tooltips ............................................................................................................................. 51
5.18.1.
Notes .................................................................................................................................... 51
5.19.
Floating Panes........................................................................................................................... 51
5.20.
Administration .......................................................................................................................... 53
5.20.1.
Job Manager and Job Viewer ................................................................................................ 53
5.20.2.
Version Management ........................................................................................................... 53
5.20.3.
Merge Manager .................................................................................................................... 53
5.20.4.
Annotation Manager ............................................................................................................ 54
5.21.
6.
Design Costing ...................................................................................................................... 40
Documentation ......................................................................................................................... 54
WEB APPLICATIONS .............................................................................................................................. 55
6.1.
Electric Office Web ....................................................................................................................... 56
6.2.
Network Update for Electric ......................................................................................................... 57
6.2.1.
Updating the data ................................................................................................................. 58
6.2.2.
Managing projects ................................................................................................................ 58
7.
GEOSPATIAL SERVER & SMALLWORLD BUSINESS INTEGRATOR .......................................................... 58
8.
SMALLWORLD AND GOOGLE MAPS ..................................................................................................... 59
9.
MOBILE ENTERPRISE ............................................................................................................................. 62
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
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6.3.
Integrated Business Processes...................................................................................................... 63
6.4.
Powerful UX .................................................................................................................................. 63
6.5.
Data Anytime, Anywhere .............................................................................................................. 63
Table of Figures
Figure 1. Smallworld Core Spatial Technology ............................................................................................. 11
Figure 2. Example Embedded HTML5 Components ..................................................................................... 12
Figure 3. Smallworld Electric Office Within a Utility..................................................................................... 14
Figure 4. Smallworld Electric Office within Smallworld Solutions Portfolio ................................................. 14
Figure 5. Standard Design State Model ........................................................................................................ 15
Figure 6. Standard Data Update State Model .............................................................................................. 15
Figure 7. Equipment Assembly ..................................................................................................................... 18
Figure 8. Modeling Trenches by Using Accurate Routes .............................................................................. 20
Figure 9. Non-contiguous Accurate Routes .................................................................................................. 21
Figure 10. Adding Conduits to Selected Accurate Routes ............................................................................ 21
Figure 11. Multiple Accurate Routes with Placed Conduit Arrangements ................................................... 21
Figure 12. Manhole Cross Sections............................................................................................................... 23
Figure 13. Cross Sections Connectivity ......................................................................................................... 23
Figure 14. Modeling Manholes with 6 Faces ................................................................................................ 23
Figure 15. Substation Internal Diagram ........................................................................................................ 24
Figure 16. Circuit Building Feedback ............................................................................................................ 25
Figure 17. Circuit Viewer .............................................................................................................................. 26
Figure 18. Circuit Viewer Magnifier .............................................................................................................. 27
Figure 19. Cable Treatment .............................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
Figure 20. Underground Structures .............................................................................................................. 27
Figure 21. Conduit Path Finder ..................................................................................................................... 28
Figure 22. Find Tool ...................................................................................................................................... 29
Figure 23. Find Query Results ....................................................................................................................... 29
Figure 24. Asset Viewer ................................................................................................................................ 30
Figure 25. Adding Assets by Using the Asset Viewer .................................................................................... 30
Figure 26. Replacing Assets .......................................................................................................................... 31
Figure 27. Analysis and Optimization Results ............................................................................................... 33
Figure 28. Smallworld GIS Adapter ............................................................................................................... 35
Figure 29. Smallworld Explorer..................................................................................................................... 36
Figure 30. Query Tool ................................................................................................................................... 36
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
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Figure 31. Viewing and Resolving a Conflict ................................................................................................. 37
Figure 32. Version Management in DM ....................................................................................................... 38
Figure 33. Compound Design Layout Tools .................................................................................................. 40
Figure 34. Trace Result ................................................................................................................................. 41
Figure 35. Schematics ................................................................................................................................... 42
Figure 36. Quality Manager Routines ........................................................................................................... 43
Figure 37. Visualization Based on Nominal Voltage ..................................................................................... 44
Figure 38. Flow Indication ............................................................................................................................ 44
Figure 39. Adding External Files ................................................................................................................... 45
Figure 40. Audit History ................................................................................................................................ 46
Figure 41. Inventory Reporter ...................................................................................................................... 47
Figure 42. Summary of Plotting Facilities in Smallworld .............................................................................. 47
Figure 43. Map Grid Plotting ........................................................................................................................ 49
Figure 44. Where Am I? ................................................................................................................................ 49
Figure 45. Internal World View .................................................................................................................... 50
Figure 46. Template Manager ...................................................................................................................... 50
Figure 47. Configurable Tooltip .................................................................................................................... 51
Figure 48. Notes ........................................................................................................................................... 51
Figure 49. Floating Panes.............................................................................................................................. 52
Figure 50. Administration Application .......................................................................................................... 53
Figure 51. Annotation Manager ................................................................................................................... 54
Figure 52. Web Applications ......................................................................................................................... 55
Figure 53. Electric Office Web ...................................................................................................................... 57
Figure 54. GeoSpatial Server and Smallworld Business Integrator .............................................................. 59
Figure 55. Utility Process Integration ........................................................................................................... 59
Figure 56. Google Satellite View ................................................................................................................... 60
Figure 57. Aerial Photography and Google Street View ............................................................................... 61
Figure 58. Global Address Database ............................................................................................................. 61
Figure 59. Mobile Enterprise Conceptual Overview ..................................................................................... 62
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
Page 8 of 63
Introduction
GE’s Smallworld Geospatial Information System (GIS)
provides a full complement of GIS capabilities
designed from the ground up for modeling a
connected network of real-world assets. Specializing
in managing the complete lifecycle of the network
assets, GE’s Geospatial solutions are used around the
globe by utilities (electric, gas, and water) and
telecommunications companies, who need to plan,
design, build, operate and maintain physical assets
and their connectivity attributes within the network.
And, want a geospatial network model of their assets
that is consistent and shared across related
operational departments to reduce redundancy,
increase accuracy, improve consistency and support
rapid expansion of network infrastructure required
to support modern grid & telecoms networks (5G for
telecoms, DER for electric, advanced SCADA for gas).
Our solutions enable workflow focused data capture,
maintenance & analysis of geospatial network data
across the enterprise driving value and outcomes for
network operators. Unlike other GIS systems, GE’s
geospatial software is scalable and proven for managing high volumes of network connectivity data. It is
also proficient at enabling business workflows required to operate across the enterprise at the pace
required. Through native interoperability with GE’s industry leading operational solutions (ADMS, OMS,
AEMS) and standards-based interoperability with adjacent operational tools, they help network operators
get maximum value and drive quality and data governance of their enterprise connected network model.
Flexible and modern deployment architectures are supported to enable geospatially oriented workflows
everywhere they are needed within the business. From the office to the field and from the control room to
the cloud, a consistent understanding of the connected network drives efficiency in workflows that typically
suffer from data update lags and redundancy of data capture. GE’s geospatial solutions bring your
geospatial network data out of the back office to reach users who need that data everywhere they do work
with workflow-oriented solutions to ensure network model data remains up to date and improves with
expanded use.
By addressing specific business workflows, like the new service request workflow or the asset inspection
workflow, geospatial data and capability is leveraged in a role appropriate user interface driving a
streamlined and simplified user experience.
Unlike many other GIS vendors, GE’s geospatial solutions provide capability to visualize and drive business
intelligence across various sources of geospatial data together, without having to replicate data repeatedly.
This reduces the risk of data degradation, which can lead to incorrect conclusions due to being out-of-synch
with the master data sources. For other workflows, GE’s interoperability capabilities provide data
governance to manage and control the sharing of connected network data at appropriate points within the
workflow. Lack of data governance within a utility company leads to tremendous inefficiencies and even
worse, can jeopardize safety of personnel who rely on accurate data for critical decision making.
Strategic planning benefits from geospatial data to help planners understand where new networks should
be targeted, where additional investment is required to meet forecasted capacity demand, and to identify
and justify where network upgrades should be performed.
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*Trademark of General Electric Company
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Network planners need to understand the detail of the underground and overhead network assets and their
relationship with new construction, other operated networks and public works to better plan network
maintenance and extensions. Different views of the connected network data (geo, schematic, underground
or internal views) can be used during the planning process for decision support and analysis.
The ability to visualize the connected network data in relation to other commercially available datasets,
such as base maps and satellite imagery from Google® or Microsoft® (amongst others), can improve
business intelligence. Similarly, viewing network data together with the context of Google Street View®,
LiDAR and/or panoramic imagery can actually reduce the need to send personnel to the field for pre-design
analysis and similar type of work – as these data sources are becoming available in more parts of the world
and enable increasingly accurate measurements to be taken, without leaving the office.
Distributed Energy Resources (DER) are driving unprecedented growth and complexity for network
operators. These new DER assets have different behaviors and present a paradigm shift from the good old
grid engineering practices of the past. Managing DERs cannot be achieved with a single isolated DER
management system (DERMS). What is required is to add DER-related capabilities in every utility process,
from planning to control and markets, etcetera. At GE, we are building DER orchestration into our software
solutions to help utilities manage DER’s across the entire process and asset lifecycle. Within each of our
software solutions (GIS, ADMS, EMS, Analytics) you will see DER management capabilities. Within the GIS,
we manage DER right from the planning stage of the lifecycle, with all their technical and contractual
constraints. Managing DER requires more parameters and contractual attributes are just as important as
technical, because the DER does not belong to the utility, and operators require a contractual relationship
in order to act on the DER. New service request processing, including DER PV, storage and EV charging
stations is more complex than in past, and our solutions incorporate DER awareness and orchestration to
capture, evaluate and propose a wider range of connection options that help prosumers, utility providers
and customers benefit from better network resiliency of quality of service.
To help utilities enable the power of geospatial network modeling to more users across the enterprise, GE
is extending the power of the existing desktop Electric Office application with modular web applications as
part of our Mobile Enterprise family of solutions. The newest addition to this offering is Network Update
for Electric Office. This new responsive web user interface presents a simplified view of the network of
assets configured to enable network modeling updates from a web browser framework from tablets or
other devices in an on-line mode, with some tolerance for intermittent connectivity scenarios.
This remainder of this document describes the functionality in the respective Smallworld* product
components available as of version 5.3.1. Smallworld* Core Spatial Technology. Smallworld* Electric Office
is an important component of the Smallworld* Office Suite portfolio of applications and is tailored to the
individual needs of electric transmission and distribution companies.
1. Smallworld* Core Spatial Technology
Smallworld Core Spatial Technology (Smallworld Core or CST) is the Geospatial Information System (GIS)
product from GE Digital – Grid Software Solutions, that supports application products for
Telecommunication, Utility (Electric, Gas & Water) and Public Systems organizations.
This revolutionary, object oriented, database-driven product provides a powerful, consistent architecture
at the heart of every Smallworld application product. This application engine is the most extensible, scalable
and open development environment available today, bringing benefits to your organization such as:

Low-risk investment

Low cost of ownership

Rapid implementation
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
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
Fast return on investment

Future-proofed architecture
Smallworld Core Spatial Technology enables an organization to exploit spatial information as never before.
Smallworld Core is the basis of all our Office Suite products and is a robust, proven platform for application
development for customers and partners alike. Smallworld software is used for such purposes as planning,
designing and maintaining electric, gas, water distribution and transmission systems, designing
telecommunications networks and evaluating strategic market opportunities. The company’s software
integrates with other products that require geospatial information, including systems for customer care,
market analysis, network management and work management. Smallworld Core has the proven ability to
deliver solutions for thousands of users managing terabytes of data across complex, distributed operations.
Smallworld Core is designed for remote access, providing the benefits of Smallworld technology to the
workforce in the field. Timely access to accurate data in the field improves productivity, reduces wasted
field trips and enhances operational safety and efficiency.
 Low risk investment with a high probability of success. Smallworld has an enviable
reputation for delivering reliable and stable solutions.
 Fast and low-cost implementation. Smallworld’s development environment ensures a
rapid and, consequently, low-cost implementation.
 Rapid return on investment. Smallworld implementation times are measured in months
rather than years. Our high out-of-the-box functionality, along with proven flexibility and
customizability, result in a rapid return on your investment.
 Scalability. The architecture of Smallworld Core is designed to grow as your company grows,
‘future proofing’ your investment.
 Cost savings. Your ability to better manage and utilize your assets can result in a significant
reduction in costs.
 Increased productivity. Smallworld helps you streamline your workflow, resulting in better
labor productivity.
 Improved customer service. When you improve access to operational information, you
dramatically improve your ability to provide the best in customer service.
 Enhanced efficiency. Smallworld enables you to automate critical business processes,
resulting in greatly enhanced efficiency.
 Improved revenue generation. Smallworld helps you get right to the heart of the matter
through better resource planning.
The Smallworld* Core is based on common IT and geospatial standards and can be easily integrated with
other business applications that require geospatial information, including solutions for customer
relationship management, operations management, market analysis, and work management. It is the
foundation that underpins our leading-edge industry-focused Smallworld application suites for utilities and
telecommunications. Smallworld Core is a mature and proven platform within the utility business, and the
global customer list of more than 1,000 companies includes some of the largest electric, gas,
telecommunications and multi-utility operators around the world. The Smallworld application suites
powered by Smallworld CST are, among others, as depicted in Figure 1, below:
 Electric Office
 Gas Distribution Office
 Global Transmission Office
 Water Office
 Physical Network Inventory, and
 Logical Network Inventory
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
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Figure 1. Smallworld Platform and Geospatial Solutions
1.1.
Technical Advantages
Smallworld Core Spatial Technology is the base product for the Smallworld portfolio and is delivered, with
its supporting products, in the Core product suite. At version 5, the Smallworld technology platform has
evolved significantly from its previous version in many key areas. An important consideration has been to
design the new version to be straightforward for customers to adopt, in most cases keeping their
application code and behavior the same as at version 4.3.x, ensuring that the technology can be adopted
with minimal upgrade cost.
At this release, all Smallworld Magik applications run on the Java Standard Edition runtime, using the
same Magik source code as Smallworld 4.3.x; this provides many significant benefits while maintaining
compatibility with customers’ existing applications. Benefits include:


Magik now runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM): The JVM now includes support for
dynamic languages such as Magik and, by adopting the JVM, several technical benefits are
now available to applications developed in Magik, including just-in-time compilation,
adaptive optimization and advanced memory management (AKA: garbage collection). These
all contribute to performance improvements in areas of the product.
High quality map rendering: The graphics in Smallworld have been reworked to use Java 2D
graphics with the result that map quality is improved over previous releases, while
maintaining drawing performance.
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*Trademark of General Electric Company
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



True support for multi-threading processors: MagikSF emulated a threading model in its
virtual machine; by using the JVM this can now take advantage of true processor threads.
64-bit support: Historically, MagikSF is a 32-bit application, which is limited to using 4GB
memory. With the JVM, Smallworld technology can take advantage of the capability of
modern hardware for 64-bit processing and increased memory.
Interoperability with Java language: Smallworld 5 provides limited capabilities to create
wrapper classes for calling external Java libraries. We intend to extend our support for this.
If you have a Java library you wish to call from Magik please contact GE support, with the
details of the type of interface, for advice from the product team.
Support for HTML5: Smallworld 5 now can embed rich HTML5 user interfaces into any
Smallworld application. Examples include embedding Google Street View, Bing Maps and
other components for rendering network in a 3D context. A simple but powerful API
enables data and actions to be passed between Smallworld components and HTML5
components enabling for embedded integration in the client application as shown in the
image below.
Figure 2. Example Embedded HTML5 Components
The approach of evolving the Magik language to compile onto the JVM means that existing application
code can be used with only minor modifications in most cases; there are tools to support and inspect
existing code to identify any changes to ensure the existing Magik code will operate correctly on the
JVM used at Smallworld 5. For end users, Smallworld applications behave as they did before but with a
more modern look and feel. For application administrators, there are some updated concepts to
understand regarding how Java sessions are run compared to MagikSF images.
Aligned with moving to the JVM, the user interface has been designed to work on JVM's platformindependent approach with a focus on improvements for end users. The new user interface includes:



Updated look and feel. At this release, the new user interface provides an updated look and
feel for all applications, including a new set of icons. Smallworld 4.3 included an optional
toolkit for building components for applications; this toolkit has been enhanced to also
emulate existing GUI classes, resulting in a consistent look and feel across the user interface
using its existing code. This emulation approach is a key factor in ensuring that existing
Magik applications run on the JVM with minimal changes.
Note that the Smallworld Application Framework (SWAF) introduced in Smallworld 4.0
continues to be the application framework at this release. The new user interface classes
provide the user interface components to work with SWAF.
Improved application bar now provides integrated access to Google Maps™ or Microsoft®
Bing Maps (separate license subscriptions required).
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*Trademark of General Electric Company
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

Application user help is now in HTML5 format, replacing the legacy Microsoft® compiled
HTML format used in previous versions of Smallworld.
A new simple view-only application, Desktop Viewer, is now included in Core.
Other recent enhancements within the Smallworld technology platform include:




Encryption for Smallworld Master File Server (swmfs) data communications (in transit) on
both Linux and Windows.
High availability in Azure and AWS cloud deployments, using Corosync and Pacemaker.
Microsoft® Bing Maps adapter for leverate road and aerial data as a background layer to the
network data and Bing powered address search and Bing Maps Streetside integration with
the geospatial view (trail).
Support for converting Well Known Text (WKT) as an established Open Geospatial
Consortium (OGC) standard for encoding to/from geometries/pseudo-geometries within
Smallworld.
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
2. Smallworld Electric Office Within a Utility
A utility company will use a number of different integrated systems to manage the business processes
that underpin the planning, design, build, operationa and maintenance a transmission and distribution
(T&D) network. Smallworld Electric Office has a central role as the Geographical Information System
(GIS) within an electric utility, providing the master repository of the geospatial network model data and
integrating with other consuming systems such as asset management systems, outage management
systems (OMS) and distribution management systems (ADMS).
Smallworld Electric Office provides geospatial network modeling and asset management for utilities to
support electric network planning, design, build, operations and maintenance.
Electric Office includes:
 Network update tools which enable the GIS
technician to update assets in a logical manner and
according to electric connectivity rules to maintain
network integrity and data integrity in a distribution
circuit.
 Circuit management functionality provided by
schematic and hierarchical views from any point in
the network.
 Support for managing design workflows and ensuring
accuracy throughout the asset life cycle.
 Electric Office documents the normal, or as-built,
state of the network, supporting integration with
(A)DMS, OMS and other operational and network
analysis tools or systems.
Figure 3. Smallworld Electric Office Within a Utility
Data from Electric Office provides network connectivity information to operational systems, such as
DMS/ADMS and OMS, that model the live, operational state of the network. Electric Office can be
integrated with external systems, which require a clean model of network connectivity using the
Smallworld GIS Adapter, which enables a Common Information Model (CIM) extract of network data
that can be loaded into another system with workflow and administration oversight capability.
Figure 4. Smallworld Electric Office within Smallworld Solutions Portfolio
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
Electric Office provides native facilities for asset management or can integrate with an external asset
management system. Electric Office provides functionality to record essential information about assets,
such as installation and maintenance dates, ownership and specification information together with the
asset’s identifier and geographic location. Electric Office can record this information independently of
other packages and can fulfil the asset management needs for electrical networks.
2.1.
Planning and Design
Electric Office supports planning and design of future changes to the network, such as line extensions
and upgrades. Designers can work on a 'future' or 'proposed' state of the network, using Electric Office
to produce and validate designs, and to create construction plans and equipment data to support field
crews. The use of the “Installed” status can also facilitate build/construction phase progress flowing
from the field to the back office using Network Update or Mobile Enterprise As-Built applications.
The life cycle of a design is managed by a state model which controls the evolution of the design and
triggers specific actions upon state transitions: designs can be validated by quality checks at defined
stages as they progress through the state model. Design state models can be configured to support
different modes of working, for example, when the planned network changes have been constructed,
the 'future' state of the network can then be made 'current' to reflect the as-built state of the network.
State transitions also support customization hooks to integrate the workflow with other applications.
Electric Office includes functionality for costing a design by allowing users to auto-assign cost objects to
assets. EO uses the Smallworld Design Manager costing model which allows cost objects to contain
specific costs for a specific design intent.
2.1.1. Standard State Models
Electric Office is supplied, by default, with two example workflow state models, as depicted below.
Additional state models can be created by configuration to meet specific customer needs.
Figure 5. Standard Design State Model
Figure 6. Standard Data Update State Model
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
2.1.2. Lifecycle Status
To support business processes that involve planning, design, maintenance and retirement of facilities, the
attribute Lifecycle Status is present on the structure and conducting equipment database entities. A
designer planning an extension to the electric network will typically design the supporting structures at the
same time and so the conducting equipment and structures share the same lifecycle status model.
Lifecycle status is typically reflected in the symbology used on maps to visually distinguish the as-built
facilities from those in other states.
Lifecycle status can affect network connectivity because Abandoned or Removed objects are removed from
any network and may not connect to any other facility.

Abandoned. This object is in the field, but not used for the delivery of electrical energy. It is not
expected to be used again in future.
 Existing. Installed in the field and participates in the delivery of electric energy.
 Proposed Abandon. Currently the object exists in the field and is used for the delivery of electrical
energy but, within a design, it is proposed to abandon this object.
 Proposed Remove. This object currently exists in the field, but it is proposed (within a design) to
remove it.
 Proposed Replace. This object currently exists in the field, but it is proposed (within a design) to
replace it with a similar object.
 Proposed Install. This object currently does not exist in the field, but it is proposed (within a design)
to install it.
 Installed. For electrical equipment, this status means the object exists in the field but is not yet part
of the conducting network (i.e., it is not yet known to be commissioned or in service).
 Removed. An object that used to exist at one time in the field, but it was removed.
 Inactive. Installed in the field and currently not used for delivery of electrical energy but can be used
in future. This value is provided for backwards-compatibility and should not be used with objects in
the generalized electric conducting model.
 Proposed Relocate. This object currently exists in the field, but it is proposed as part of a design to
change its location. This value is provided for backwards-compatibility and should not be used with
objects in the generalized electric conducting model.
 Temporary. This object exists in the field but is being used temporarily. This value is provided for
backwards-compatibility and should not be used with objects in the generalized electric conducting
model.
Electric Office supports both a current and future view of the network: this is enabled by the Lifecycle Status
attribute. For example, when tracing the electric network, you can choose to trace the current or future
state of the network. In this case, equipment with the status of Proposed Remove will be traced in a current
view but will not be traced in the future view, because it will not exist in the future (according to the design).
Circuit building and quality routines work on the future view of the network. The following table shows the
nominal status of each lifecycle state as interpreted in the current and future views.
Nominal status in
Nominal status in
current view
future view
Abandoned
Abandoned
Abandoned
Existing
Exists
Exists
As-Built States
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
Removed
Nominal status in
Nominal status in
current view
future view
Removed
-
Design States (before energization)
Proposed Install
-
Exists
Installed
-
Exists
Design States (after energization)
Proposed Abandon
Exists
Abandoned
Proposed Replace
Exists
Removed
Proposed Remove
Exists
Removed
2.2.
Network Modeling
Electric Office captures a complete model of the connectivity of the electrical network. It documents the
normal, as-built state of the network, including location data. This data can be exported to distribution
management systems (DMS) and outage management systems (OMS) that model the live, operational state
of the network.
The standard network data model supplies a robust foundation for constructing and maintaining electric
transmission, distribution, substation, and underground networks. The data model has been developed in
conjunction with industry subject matter experts and offers a supported base for the Smallworld Electric
Office environment, providing the required network connectivity, asset attribution, lifecycle status, and
symbology definitions. IEC CIM 61968 compliance has been a focus during data model development and
will continue as the CIM standard matures, particularly on the distribution side.
2.2.1. Generalized Data Model for Electrical Conducting Objects
Smallworld Electric Office includes a generalized data model for electrical conducting devices. The
generalized model replaces the large number of very specific electrical objects with a much smaller number
of more generic objects. This model supports a wide range of model implementations and supports
customer configuration without the need to perform complex data model upgrades.
The EO data model also offers:
 Three-phase network management as well as mixed phase
 Voltage-based visualization and connectivity management
 Compatibility with the relevant CIM (Common Interface Model) standards
The generalized electric conducting model includes the following object types:
 Wires
 Cables
 Isolating Equipment
 Protective Equipment
 Regulating Equipment
 Transformers (Power & 3-Winding)
 Connector Segment
 Connector Point
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company





Energy Source
Energy Storage
Meter
Light
Service Point
These generalized objects can be used to model real world electrical equipment in Electric Office. Most
conducting equipment objects have a Device Type that allows specific objects of that type to be modelled.
For example, the Isolating Equipment device type enumerator contains these device types by
default: Circuit Breaker, Elbow, Fuse, Load Break Switch, Open Point, Recloser, Sectionalizer, Side Break
Switch and Switch. New types of isolating equipment can be added to the data model simply by extending
the device type enumerator, without a data model upgrade. Likewise, if you do not wish to use any of the
default device types, you can remove them.
In addition, the conducting model includes the Equipment Assembly, a logical grouping of equipment that
supports operational connectivity without cluttering the map. For example, if you want to capture a device
such as a recloser with bypass switches, you can place the equipment assembly in the map and record the
detailed equipment in the equipment assembly’s internals. The internals can be populated using templates
or by manual digitization. The equipment inside the equipment assembly is connected to the network using
hypernodes.
Figure 7. Equipment Assembly
Service Point and Service Connection objects are used to record how customers are connected to the
electric network captured in Electric Office.
To support the growing use of automation on the distribution network, Electric Office has introduced
control capability. There are two types of controllers in Electric Office:

Distribution Automation Controller (DAC). DAC is an advanced control unit that can be configured
to control various electrical distribution installations. Electric Office enables you to capture the
controller and its associations with other equipment, such as isolating devices, regulating
equipment, transformers and so on. Distribution Automation Controllers can be digitized in the
geographic world or in an internal world of a substation for example.

Equipment controllers. Control units are also available on the equipment assets, isolating devices,
energy storage, transformers and so on, so that you can capture the instance and specification of
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
a controller.
To support the increase in embedded generation on distribution network, Electric Office has introduced
support for energy storage, such as batteries. During operational control of the network the Energy Storage
object could be consuming energy from or feeding energy back into the network. Electric Office only models
the normal state of the network, so the product assumes that the Energy Storage object is a consumer.
However, for electrical analysis, profiles can be set up to model specific planned and operational network
configurations.
2.2.2. Circuits and Circuit Sections
Electric Office provides a comprehensive model to record the conducting equipment that comprises a
specific circuit. This circuit can be broken up into discrete circuit sections for improved partitioning and
management of the network. Circuits may be fed from other circuits (for example, meshed networks).
Circuit sections are logical sub-units of a circuit, with boundaries defined by sectionalizing objects and
internal boundary objects along the parent circuit. In Electric Office, two types of circuit section are available
as standard—isolatable sections and circuit source sections. Electric Office provides a range of support for
the creation and management of radial, meshed spot and meshed grid networks and supports the creation
of operational groups of circuits and transformers to identify specific areas of the network.
2.2.3. Installations and Assets
To support customers who manage electrical phases of specific objects separately, as well as those who
manage the phases collectively, certain objects in the data model, such as Cables, Power Transformers,
Isolating equipment, etc. are modeled as assets and installations.

An asset represents a real physical conductor or item of equipment (single phase or multi-phase)
in the network.

An installation represents the physical location at which a single multi-phase asset or many singlephase assets are placed and manages all the connectivity of the assets in the electrical network.
The attributes of an installation are generally those which are common to or independent of all
the assets ‘within’ that installation, such as the Network Type or the Lifecycle Status.
There is a clear distinction between those attributes that support the connectivity of the electrical network
and those attributes that describe the electrical objects themselves: the physical, unchanging properties of
an asset are described by a specification.
The data model supports past, existing and future views of the network. To support this, assets are
associated with an installation via a past phase, existing phase or future phase:

The Past Phase allows customers to track where a specific asset used to be installed in the electrical
network (for example it may have been removed from one installation and reused in another).

The Existing Phase models where an asset is currently installed.

The Future Phase models the future configuration of the network, for example proposed assets
added during a design.
The installation-asset model supports several defined business processes for managing assets at
installations, such as installing, replacing or removing assets.
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
2.2.4. Asset Specifications
Electric Office supports the use of asset specifications. Specifications provide a simple way to record and, if
necessary, extend the data model to record detailed physical and electrical information about the device.
The user simply chooses a named specification, rather than using catalogs to enter values for all relevant
attributes. The object editor shows the specification name as an attribute, rather than showing all the
individual attributes controlled by the specification.
Specifications closely parallel the way that manufacturers or standards bodies publish information about
the distinct variants of devices (such as transformers or wires) that are available.
2.2.5. Underground Model
Electric Office provides an underground model that balances the need to record the actual location of
equipment in the field with the demands of displaying the electrical network in both a geographical context
and as underground cross sections. Capturing the actual location of a single cable segment is as easy as
drawing it on the map. However, capturing the location of a second cable segment that shares the same
trench as the first cable segment is a compromise between accuracy and visual clarity: either it can be
drawn on top of the first or offset for clarity. EO’s underground model introduces the concept of an accurate
route that connects point structures to accurately record the location of associated underground cable
segments that are digitized at an offset from the accurate route.
Figure 8. Modeling Trenches by Using Accurate Routes
Accurate routes can contain conduits through which cables can be routed. Routing of conductors through
structures always works on the future view of the network: where an installation has both existing and
future assets, it is the future assets that are routed; if the installation only has existing assets, it is assumed
that these will persist (unless their status is Proposed Remove) and these are routed. A cable can be
associated to non-contiguous accurate routes to represent road crossings or the like.
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
Figure 9. Non-contiguous Accurate Routes
Conduits and saved conduit arrangements, which have been predefined, can be quickly added to one or
many selected accurate routes, as depicted below.
Figure 10. Adding Conduits to Selected Accurate Routes
Figure 11. Multiple Accurate Routes with Placed Conduit Arrangements
The predefined arrangements can provide nested conduits, for example, if you want to model a duct bank
which contains multiple conduits. An additional function, “Place with Conduits”, allows the user to create
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
new accurate routes by copying an existing route, including any conduits the original route contains.
When associating a conductor to an accurate route, the cables can be automatically placed in conduits
based on different configurable options.
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
A key feature of the underground model is the cross section: each point structure on an accurate route has
an internal representation that shows the cross sections of the accurate routes, conduits and cables that
intersect it.
Figure 12. Manhole Cross Sections
This internal representation allows identifying connections between different cable cross sections (when
they belong to the same cable in different accurate routes):
Figure 13. Cross Sections Connectivity
Electric Office’s underground model also provides for modeling different types of manholes based on
number and layout of manhole faces:
Figure 14. Modeling Manholes with 6 Faces
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
2.2.6. Electric Substation Data Model
Electric Office provides a substation model that allows substation internals representation by using an
internal world belonging to a substation object. Devices from this internal diagram can be connected to the
geospatial world by using a specific object type, the hypernode that provides two representations, one in
the geospatial view and another one in the internal world view.
Figure 15. Substation Internal Diagram
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
2.3.
Electric Office Specific Functionality
2.3.1. Circuit Builder
This functionality allows creating a circuit by tracing the network from a device, identified by the user as
the circuit source.
The circuit build routine starts at the circuit source object(s) and traces downstream through all conducting
equipment that is fed by the source(s). Because the circuit source is a logical object and does not connect
topologically with the network, circuit tracing starts at the object associated with the circuit source, such
as an Isolating Equipment Installation inside a substation.
During the circuit building process, the Circuit Builder runs a group of circuit build and validation quality
routines, such as the voltage setter and flow direction setter. It also provides feedback on the progress of
the circuit build, and informs the user if any flags are raised by Quality Manager:
Figure 16. Circuit Building Feedback
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
2.3.2. Circuit Viewer
The Circuit Viewer allows users to view a dynamically generated connectivity schematic representation of
a circuit relative to a specific object. Users can view the whole circuit, or the circuit upstream or downstream
from a particular object in that circuit. For multi-phase objects, a separate phase schematic is shown for
each phase. The Circuit Viewer can be launched from the editor of any electrical object that belongs to a
circuit, or from the circuit editor itself. The schematic can also be shown with a backdrop of the main view
to help users orientate themselves relative to the map. This picture shows part of the schematic shown for
a single-phase service point:
Figure 17. Circuit Viewer
Equipment in internals is identified by a grey box. At each branch in the circuit, the total number of
downstream consumers and customers associated with service points is indicated in the schematic.
Users can zoom in on parts of the circuit:
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
Figure 18. Circuit Viewer Magnifier
2.3.3. Conduit Path Finder
The Conduit Path Finder tool enables users to identify the shortest available conduit path along accurate
routes between specified structures. The tool identifies the shortest path given the number of cables to be
routed and the relative sizes of the cable and the available conduits. The cable diameter is recorded in its
specification. For example, in the following view, the shortest path between manholes MH1 and MH4 is via
accurate routes AR1, AR2 and AR3. However, the conduits in AR2 have diameter 40mm, and the other
routes have larger conduits:
Figure 19. Underground Structures
The user can specify the start and end structures on the path and how many cables of which specification
they want to route. In this example, they want to route two cables with diameter 50mm (as defined in the
cable specification) from MH1 to MH4. The Conduit Path Finder identifies the route AR1-AR4-AR3 as the
shortest available route, because the conduits in AR2 are not suitable. The path is highlighted in the map,
and the conduits and structures are listed as results. The user can then create a trail at a specified offset
from the path. This trail can then be used as the route geometry of the cable segment that will be routed
through the conduits.
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
Figure 20. Conduit Path Finder
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
2.3.4. Querying and Editing Objects
Electric Office applications include additional functionality for querying the database and finding
information about objects. The Find tab allows the user to run preconfigured queries, for example to find
the circuits originating from a specified substation, or to identify all the switches on a particular circuit.
Figure 21. Find Tool
Administrators can configure new queries and make them available to users. Results from queries are
identified by markers on the map.
Figure 22. Find Query Results
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
2.3.5. Asset View
The Asset View allows users to visualize the arrangement of assets, including connections to phases, at a
selected installation. The picture below shows the Asset Viewer for an existing wire segment that contains
three individual wires (assets) each connected to a different phase:
Figure 23. Asset Viewer
Asset View provides additional functionality to easily manage Installation->Phase->Asset relationship. It
provides functionality to add, remove, replace or abandon assets:
Figure 24. Adding Assets by Using the Asset Viewer
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
Figure 25. Replacing Assets
2.3.6. Distribution Operations
Electric Office provides a set of network update tools – rephase, reposition conductor and reconductor. The
GIS technician can use these tools to update assets in a logical manner and in accordance with electric
connectivity rules, to maintain network integrity and data integrity in a distribution circuit. Key operations
and updates include:
 Rephase: propagation of phase changes. Changing phase from A to B according to connectivity
rules. If the phase change is done as a system planning operation, it may also be known as load
balancing.
 Reconductor: replacement or addition of conductor wires or cables. For example, replacing a wire
by changing the size and material of a wire from “4/0 CU” cable to “2/0 ACSR”. This may also be
referred to as reconductoring.
 Reposition: rotation of phasing information. For example, changing phasing from ABC to CBA and
updating equipment as appropriate.
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
3. Smallworld Analysis and Optimization
Smallworld Analysis and Optimization (A&O) is a fully integrated engineering design solution that provides
powerflow analysis calculations iteratively until a least-cost, best-engineered solution is derived.
By providing information necessary to optimize the network within the design process, A&O can reduce
engineering time and cost. A&O’s business applications support and easily integrate into the design and
asset management business processes within the electric utility, enforces design standards and ensures
accuracy and reliability for designers of all skill levels and can help reduce construction cost by optimizing
design recommendations thus avoiding overbuilt and underbuilt networks.
GE’s Smallworld Analysis and Optimization provides tools to perform and visualize power flow and flicker
analysis results on low or medium voltage electric networks. The solution invokes engineering and analysis
calculations iteratively until a least-cost, best engineered solution is derived. This product comes preintegrated with Smallworld Electric Office (which includes Smallworld Design Manager). Smallworld
Analysis and Optimization is for electric distribution service technicians and engineers who design small to
medium size non-complex designs. The typical designer is an advanced level clerk or technician and not
typically a formal engineer. Most users do not have the knowledge to configure and use a sophisticated
network analysis tool, and with Smallworld A&O the system enforces standards and ensures accuracy and
reliability for designers of all skill levels.
Smallworld Analysis and Optimization helps utilities reduce both operational and capital investment costs
by:




Improving network utilization
Increasing workforce productivity
Reducing planning and engineering time
Reducing risk of asset failure or outages
Specific benefits include:
a)
Up to 10% reduction in new build costs – due to the ability to design within the same system that
holds the as-built network data using a single solution versus handing off between multiple
standalone applications,
b) Up to 20% reduction in planning time – through accurate and complete documentation of asset
network, and
c) Up to 15% productivity improvement in design – through more efficient and optimized designs.
Smallworld Electric Office along with Smallworld Design Manager and Smallworld Analysis and Optimization
provide a powerful set of tools to design, cost, maintain and analyze planned additions to the network. The
ability to have alternate designs for size, route, material, load or demand provides significant benefits by
designing better networks that are cost efficient to build maintain and support future expansion. Design it
right in my system of record the first time.
By incorporating the Smallworld A&O application into the Smallworld Electric Office or other GIS design
environment, designers are able to automate their design validation process while adhering to company
standards. The user interface presents the analysis results in a way that the designer can easily understand
and navigate.
In summary, the Smallworld Analysis and Optimization solution offers the following features at this release:


Easy to use analysis tools, Driven directly from the GIS
LV/MV Voltage Analysis
o Load Flow
o Voltage drop
o Overloads
o Short Circuit and Flicker
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company




LV and MV Voltage Circuit Optimization
Configurable Optimization Controls
Configurable Engineering Parts Database
Results Visualization, visual and thematic
Utility Value:



Simplified design process – bridges gap in skills shortage.
Less effort – more coordination of planning and tools creates leaner process
Increase process efficiency – design right first time enables less rework and increased throughput
of designs
Figure 26. Analysis and Optimization Results
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
4. GIS Adapter
GE’s Smallworld* GIS Adapter enables solution integration using a configurable, standards-based software
application that provides utilities with an automated way of introducing the electric network to the
Advanced Distribution Management System (ADMS) or an Outage Management System (OMS). Smallworld
Electric Office or other Smallworld electric geospatial information system (GIS) model holds the accurate
up-to-date as-built information to plan, design, build, operate and maintain the assets on an electric
network that are necessary to support and provide reliable electric service. Smallworld GIS Adapter helps
utilities reduce both operational and capital investment costs by:










Improving network utilization
Increasing workforce productivity
Providing workflow-driven reliable data synchronization and accuracy between as-built/nominal
and real-time operation systems
Providing an IEC CIM standards-based configurable and easily extendable integration between GE
systems.
Providing pre-configuration with Smallworld Electric Office and configuration options to other
Smallworld data models
Providing configurable integration from Smallworld Electric GIS models to other Non-GE OMS and
DMS applications
Supporting configurations to various IEC CIM models and profiles or other formats (e.g., DNOM)
Supporting configurable output formats, with out of the box output to RDF XML and GML
Providing configurable output of distribution (MV) only or distribution (MV)/secondary (LV)
networks
Providing secure messaging and data integration via SOAP and HTTPS between GIS and operational
systems
Specific benefits include:
a) Up to a 30% reduction in integration costs among the GIS, DMS and OMS.
b) Up to 50% reduction in data synchronization errors among the nominal GIS, operational
DMS, and OMS systems.
c) Up to 10% reduction in customer outage time – due to the current and accurate view of
the network.
Data Quality and completeness can be achieved if electric utilities optimize all key processes within the
plan, build, operate and maintain lifecycle. An accurate asset network underpins all these processes. Due
to the inherently spatial nature of networks, a geospatial system like Smallworld provides the best way to
support these key processes. Automatic network data introduction to key business systems – Smallworld
Electric Office with the GIS Adapter provides an automated ability to introduce the network to ADMS, OMS
or other maintenance systems using industry standard business workflows and IEC CIM data standards. The
combined solution ensures data accuracy across the construction and operations businesses, provides
consistency in results and effective business process, provides functionality to a broader working group,
and increases customer satisfaction scores though reductions in outage area & time to restoration and
notification of planned outages.
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
Figure 27. Smallworld GIS Adapter
5. Smallworld Core and Office Suite Common Functionality
All the Smallworld Office Suite products include a built-in set of Smallworld Core and Common Office Suite
utility applications. These provide common installation, administration and productivity tools for all the
Office products. These applications are used to provide the standard Office Suite functionality described in
the following sections.
5.1.
Query Tool/Explorer
The Explorer displays RWO sets (arbitrary collections of RWOs) in an application. The Explorer responds to
a databus request to display an RWO set, and thus provides a service to any application plugin. For
example, the Explorer displays the set of objects with geometry selected in the current map like this:
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
Figure 28. Smallworld Explorer
Queries allow a user to find combinations or subsets of your data, displaying the results in the Explorer.
A user can create queries by:

Using a wizard – user can make query using menu-driven user interface

Creating a script— Script queries are particularly useful for more complex queries with spatial or
topological restrictions.
Performing a search in the Explorer—user can search objects from the other query results, map
selection results, datasets in Smallworld Explorer.
Figure 29. Query Tool
5.2.
Combining Changes and Conflict Management
When required, the changes made in separate alternatives can be combined. The system will automatically
detect if the same data has been updated in more than one alternative, and this is treated as a conflict.
Non-conflicting changes can be merged between alternatives, and depending on requirements, the
conflicts can be resolved automatically. The user has flexibility in selecting which version of an object is the
correct version. From a user interface perspective, when a conflict has been detected the user can use the
affected objects lister (diagram below) to help determine how to resolve a conflict.
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
Figure 30. Viewing and Resolving a Conflict
5.3.
Design Manager
Design Manager is a workflow management system for network planning and design. Key features of Design
Manager include:

Easy to use design layout tools with CAD-based precision placement features

Workflow support and process control

Robust analysis of alternative design scenarios

Incremental processing of large designs

Design layout tools for automating repetitive design steps

Work point/span modeling

Cost estimation and reporting tools

Work package and preparation tools
Design Manager provides tools to manage the approval workflow process for typical T&D operations, such
as repair, replace, relocate, or simple data update workflow.
Design Manager allows the configuration of specific steps for any business process including map update,
quality management, reporting, plotting, and so on. These steps can then be enforced for all users, ensuring
that the business process is met throughout the organization.
Office applications are supplied, by default, with example workflow state models, described in the Standard
State Models section. Additional state models can be created by configuration to meet specific customer
needs.
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© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
5.3.1. Version Management in Design Manager
Design Manager uses Smallworld Core version management as the tool for managing the long transactions
related to the design and process workflows being managed. Version management organizes data in the
form of data “alternatives”. Alternatives are managed in a hierarchy (one parent many children) and hold
only the differences from the parent alternative. Alternatives appear as copied versions of the data, and
thus allow several users to edit the same set of data simultaneously. The diagram below shows how versions
are arranged within Smallworld Design Manager.
Figure 31. Version Management in DM
Design Manager allows customers to implement an enterprise-wide design paradigm that accurately
captures intricate business rules while hiding many of those complexities from the user. As a result, the
overall design process can be streamlined, making it easier for users to “design to standards” and “build to
design”.
Design Manager operates directly on network data in the corporate geospatial repository, unlike many
design tools that require complicated extracts and copies of data that may become outdated during the
design process. The full integration of design and as-built data in a single database allows planners and
designers to work and collaborate on the most up-to-date version of the network. Real-time access to the
current network data reduces the cost of designs and lowers the risk of costly mistakes.
Detailed network design must be completed quickly to avoid creating a bottleneck in delivering service to
customers. Smallworld Design Manager provides automated design functionality to quickly design the
required network changes. Major operators rely upon their Smallworld solutions to undertake their
network design and have seen an increase in productivity of around 20% for their network designers.
5.3.2. Benefits of Design Manager
Design Manager provides a range of benefits to the organization, including:

Automated design layout tools (DLT), including CAD-based precision placement tools that reduce
labor costs by shortening the time required to lay out designs while improving design accuracy.

Enforcement of the workflow process, particularly in a large organization where many designers
with varying skill sets are planning networks in the system.

Robust cost estimation tools allow designers to accurately check costs throughout the design
workflow without having to leave the system. This accelerates the design process and makes the
ultimate cost assessment process more accurate since errors are detected early during the layout
process.
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© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
5.3.3. Network Design
Spatial information from a number of sources needs to be combined with the current network in a design
environment where designers can lay out a number of solutions to a new service or maintenance work
request. Smallworld Design Manager provides a geospatial-based design environment to manage the
proposed network changes. Cost information for the proposed network changes can be used as part of the
design approval within the spatial environment and this information shared with Enterprise Asset
Management systems using Smallworld Business Integrator.
5.3.4. Design Phases & Change Driver
Design Manager based applications in the Smallworld Office Suite allow users to assign changes within a
design to "design phases", for example to Identify work associated to multiple work orders. Design phases
are used to group design changes; there is no requirement for phases to reach a certain state before the
design is posted. Design phases have a very simple state model with two states: Phase Incomplete and
Phase Complete.
Designs and design phases can both be assigned a "change driver", this designation can be used to classify
the changes being made to asset data within the design to one of many possible change driver values, such
as: CapEx, GIS Improvement, Unknown, etc., the list of change driver values is configurable as required.
5.3.5. Overlapping Designs
When a design is created, the design boundary Is set and can be used to determine If other designs overlap
with the current design. The user can also select which other designs should be displayed and what color
the design Information should be displayed. This allows the user to see what other designers are adding or
modifying in their design and determine If there are any related changes that should be communicated
between designers or possible design bundling opportunities, to be considered during the build stages of
the design.
5.3.6. Design Layout Tools
Design Layout Tools (DLTs) enable users to perform routine data updates and create design layouts.
DLTs allow designers to quickly and accurately place multiple objects, along with associated attributes
and annotations, without the use of object editors and with the optional use of the trail. Some Design
Layout Tools are configured with default attribute values which the user can change when they use the
DLT to create new objects and the user can control if their last choice of attribute values for a DLT will
be used, or if the default values will be used each time the DLT is initiated during the current session.
DLTs can be used to automate common, repetitive tasks for creating, moving and editing objects. A DLT
defines specific, configurable behavior that the user activates by pressing a keyboard shortcut or clicking
and dragging with the mouse. Compound DLTs (groups of related DLTs) for any combination of objects to
support common editing and layout sequences can also be created. DLTs therefore greatly reduce the
number of steps, keystrokes and mouse operations required to create or edit data.
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
Figure 32. Compound Design Layout Tools
5.3.7. Design Costing
A network designer can add cost objects (compatible units and macro assemblies) to associate cost
information with designs or items in the design. Cost objects can represent the different costs associated
design operations, for example: an asset and its associated costs; the work required to install or replace the
asset; materials required during the work; additional costs such as equipment hire. Taken together, all the
cost objects associated with a project create a bill of materials (BOM) and total cost for the project.
5.4.
Flexible Views
The object-oriented technology of Smallworld enables an extremely flexible handling of map views. Objects
can be configured to have different geometry in different map views. This flexibility permits the definition
of other map levels in addition to the preconfigured maps for inventory and layout. This feature offers
additional advantages:
 Asynchronous map updating
 Automatic differentiation of individual maps
 Assurance of data quality beyond map levels
The user can open multiple graphics windows, offering advantages for:
 Data capture through multiple graphics windows with long network structures
 Display of different maps (inventory and layout) of a single area
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© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
5.5.
Network Tracing
Network tracing is used to ensure that a network model is correct and connected. The user runs traces to:
 Check the connectivity of phases in a network.
 Validate a circuit or network.
 Query or verify topological connections.
 Trace the network upstream or downstream from a specified asset.
 Extract a model of connected assets for use in an engineering analysis system.
Figure 33. Trace Result
A trace locates all assets along the route of a connected assets and highlights the traced route in the view(s).
For Electric Office, specific network trace capabilities are preconfigured, including:
 Direction – Upstream, Downstream from source to current object
 Network - Transmission, Distribution, Secondary
 Mounting – Underground, Overhead
 Nominal Voltage - Enumerator of Nominal Voltages
 Status – Existing, (Proposed, Abandoned, etc.) or “Existing and Future”
 Phasing – ABC, A, B, C, AB, AC, BC, etc.
 Circuit ID – Entered by user
The user can configure further company-specific network traces.
5.6.
Network Schematics
The network schematics functionality provides the ability to create schematic representations of the
network in which objects have persistent representations in schematic views of the network. The user
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© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
may create as many schematics as required and network objects can be represented on any number of
those diagrams, according to the definition of the schematic. Users can manually adjust the positions of
the schematic objects using geometry manipulation tools to achieve the required layout.
The basic schematic data model and the schematic engine are supplied as part of Common Office, and
are therefore available to all Office Suite products, and further extensions can be made to achieve
domain-specific desired behavior.
Figure 34. Schematics
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
5.7.
Quality Manager
Quality Manager is the framework for performing quality checks on Smallworld data. It introduces a
streamlined user workflow for the management of flags that have been generated within a design.
The Quality Manager dialog exposes quality routines to the user as a set of predefined activities. These
activities are configured to run a series of quality routines in a predefined order against one or more quality
sources. The availability of activities is controlled by authorization rights. You can also configure quality
checks to run on certain design state transitions, which ensures the integrity of the network data before a
design can move to the next stage in the design life cycle.
Figure 35. Quality Manager Routines
5.8.
Visualization & Navigation
Visualization allows users to control the display of objects in the main view. The two visualization functions
are ‘Visibility’ and ‘Color by’. Both functions work across all objects.


Visibility is used to show or hide all objects with a common attribute value, such as all objects with
specific specification or attribution value. This applies to all asset with that attribute or
specification.
Color by allows to color code by attribute value. For example, you could color code network or
asset type, etc.
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
Figure 36. Visualization Based on Nominal Voltage
Ability to pan to the end of a selected chain geometry is provided to enhance navigation within the map
view. The ‘Chain Pan’ action will pan the map view to the most distant end point of the selected chain.
5.9.
Flow Indicator
The Flow Indicator function displays the direction of flow by drawing flow arrows along selected geometry.
In Electric Office, flow direction is set on a conductor’s phase object (the flow_direction attribute) rather
than the installation object which owns the Route geometry: this allows visualization of bi-directional flow
if required. Where there is no flow, for example if the installation does not yet have any assets, a circle
indicator is drawn.
Figure 37. Flow Indication
For the other Office Suite products, flow direction is simply set according to the reverse_flow_ind property
of the object that owns the linear geometry, such as a gas Main.
5.10. Managing External Files
You can associate any external file to an object in the map. After you associate the file with an object, you
can open the files directly from the application. Any real-world object (RWO) in the map view can have a
picture, audio, or video file associated with it. This feature is useful when you want to provide an object
with additional details for inspection or other operational processes.
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
Figure 38. Adding External Files
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
5.11. Audit History
The Audit history tool allows you to track changes made to objects during the standard creation and
maintenance cycle. This tool allows you to automatically track and store information related to changes
such as type of change, change description, user who has done the change, and the time of change. The
Audit History's object editor displays the information related to these changes.
Figure 39. Audit History
The Audit History tool has the following features:
 Tracks changes made to objects before an alternative is posted.
 Tracks changes made to objects as records are created, update, and deleted.
 Runs as a backend function to track object changes from data migration, cleanup, as well as from
standard record creation and maintenance.
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
5.12. Inventory Reporter
The Inventory Reporter allows creating a report of object counts based on specified attributes. It provides
the following features:
 Allows defining search criteria, such as object type, to report, attributes to use in report, and search
bounds.
 Activates Microsoft® Excel® to display the inventory report.
 Provides the ability to save object type, attributes, and search bounds allowing generating an
updated report later.
Figure 40. Inventory Reporter
5.13. Plotting
Smallworld provides a series of flexible tools for generating plots, each designed for workflows and users.
Plots are created as PDFs to enable users to manage the electronic and paper output within their
organizations.
Figure 41. Summary of Plotting Facilities in Smallworld
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
5.14. Plot Types, Templates & Stencils
Plot types simplify the plotting process by allowing administrators to pick sensible defaults for plot
generation options. This allows plots to be generated to a company standard, while still allowing users to
configure certain aspects of the plot as necessary.
Plot templates are created and maintained in the Layout Designer tool. Some basic example layouts are
provided with the product, but we expect that a system administrator will use Layout Designer to design
company standard layout templates. Each layout is saved as an XML file and can be accessed across the
organization. The system administrator will set a default output folder for generated plot files and set
default plot settings for raster quality, PDF viewing and multi-page generation options. Templates can be
used by plot types configured for the other available plotting tools.
Layout Designer can also be used to create stencils (reusable collections of layout elements that users can
add to their own layout documents in Construction Plotting and Desktop Viewer plotting applications).
As well as creating templates and stencils, users can generate one-off plots directly from Layout Designer:
such plots are always based on the current view.
The picture summarizes the plotting facilities available in Smallworld applications.
5.14.1. Construction Pack Plotting
The Construction Pack facilities, which can be configured in desktop applications allow users to create and
manage the collection of documents relating to completing a job, including company standard plots. In
design-based applications, as the Office Suites, the construction pack relates to the current design. A
construction pack will include construction plots and may also include:

materials list

any other documents associated with the design, such as installation instructions or safety
documents
Construction plots are generated, based on a selected plot type and source, and then modified or saved
using the Construction Plotting tool. Construction Plotting allows users to create company-standard plots
to which they can use configured annotation tools to add further content as required, such as labels,
images, stencils and detail geographic or internal views.
5.14.2. Desktop Viewer Plotting
Applications based on Desktop Viewer offer similar plotting facilities to those in Construction Plotting: users
can create standard plots based on configured plot types and can use a range of annotation tools to add
content to plot pages.
The plotting facilities in small, focused applications such as Office Suite Plotting and Desktop Viewer can be
used to create outputs against the as built data, that is, against the top alternative of the database, rather
than the current alternative or design. Note, however, that these applications can be configured to allow
users to choose a different database alternative.
5.14.3. Map Grid Plotting
The Map Grid Plotting tool allows searching for map grid plots, configuring the grid plots for printing, and
printing the grid plots with or without assigning them to a scheduled job server.
The Map Grid Plotting tool has the following features:

Searches and displays map grids at multiple preconfigured grid levels (that is. 100', 400' and 800').
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company








Searches the map grids using criteria such as trail, plot date, and map view.
Imports the map grids from multiple sources such as map selection, grid search and plot file.
Manipulates the map definitions for each set of plots.
Selects the printer or file output for each plot.
Configures the map options such as display style, view scale, application configuration
environment (ACE) setting, and style group for each plot.
Saves the plot configurations as XML files for printing later.
Schedules the plot jobs for night batches (if the job scheduler is available).
Manipulates and previews each plot job using the Layout Designer.
Figure 42. Map Grid Plotting
5.15. Where am I?
The “where am I?” functionality allows users to quickly ascertain which locality they are viewing, including
landbase entities such as districts or utility specific entities like distribution operating district. The data
elements considered for the “where am I?” function are configurable. This tool is general purpose and can
support any number of processes. Its primary aim is to inform the operator as to where they are geospatially
with respect to the part of the network they are interested in with minimal input.
Figure 43. Where Am I?
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
5.16. Internal World View
The Internal world viewer provides the ability to view the geometry in the internal world of a container
object (for example, an electricity substation, underground vault or other utility based asset enclosure). The
internals may be viewed in a new floating window, or as the current map view.
Figure 44. Internal World View
5.17. Template Manager
The Template Manager is used to create and manage templates to enable the easy creation of objects, for
example, for substation internals.
Figure 45. Template Manager
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
5.18. Map Tooltips
Map tooltips dynamically display information about the object under the pointer in the view.
Figure 46. Configurable Tooltip
The content of the map tooltips can be configured by using the Annotation Manager tool in the
Administration application.
5.18.1. Notes
Notes can be added to the view to record information that is not directly related to a specific object. This
information is persistent and might be used, for example, to direct attention to potential safety issues or
to non-standard builds that might affect future maintenance activities. Note types can be defined and for
each type of Note the following can be configured:




The style of the Note, including font, size, text color, outline and so on.
The style for each note type, and for the leader lines.
The contents of the string displayed in the Note.
The visibility of Notes in plots.
Figure 47. Notes
5.19. Floating Panes
Users can 'float' the “Controls” and “Details” panes away from the main application window to make more
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
room for the map when required.
Figure 48. Floating Panes
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
5.20. Administration
Electric Office includes the Smallworld Office Suite Administration application, which provides a set of tools
for administrators of Electric Office installations. In addition to the standard Smallworld Core administration
tools, such as Authorization and Styles, the Office Suite Administration application includes design
administration tools (from Design Manager) and tools specifically for Office Suite installations, such as the
Annotation Manager.
Figure 49. Administration Application
5.20.1. Job Manager and Job Viewer
The Job Manager and Job Viewer are Smallworld Core tools for managing and monitoring queued and
processed jobs.
5.20.2. Version Management
The Smallworld Core version management tool provides detailed information about alternatives and allows
alternatives to be scheduled for merge/post operations. For Smallworld Office Suite, version management
is extended to include the difference viewer that lists all changes within an alternative, with attribute
changes highlighted, and a table size reporter creates a spreadsheet with number of records and size on
disk for the current partition.
5.20.3. Merge Manager
The Merge Manager is a tool for merging down to all alternatives below a specified alternative.
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
5.20.4. Annotation Manager
The Annotation Manager enables you to maintain rules that are used to create annotations for objects. It
allows you to configure Annotation String and Annotation Position data for an object's annotation and to
create complex strings for object annotations.
The Annotation Manager also enables you to configure map tooltips for display in the main map.
Figure 50. Annotation Manager
5.21. Documentation
Smallworld Electric Office is shipped with the following help and documentation:

Smallworld Electric Office is installed with context-sensitive help for the user and administration
applications.

Reference documentation for data modelers, application developers and configurers is supplied
on the Smallworld documentation website, which also includes the documentation for all
products in the Smallworld portfolio, including Smallworld Core Spatial Technology, Smallworld
Design Manager and other related products such as Smallworld GIS Adapter.
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
6. Web Applications
The Smallworld portfolio includes a suite of web applications that provides simple access to the data held
in Smallworld applications in a fast, easy-to-use manner for business users.
The foundation product is Mobile Enterprise Web, which provides generic spatial functionality across all
data models and support for task management based round-trip data update. Electric Office Web
provides additional Electric Office-specific data model and tracing support and Network Inventory
Gateway is the web application that is designed to work with Physical Network Inventory.
Figure 51. Web Applications
These web applications can be used with several mapping providers, including Google Maps, Microsoft
Bing and OpenStreetMap. When coupled with Google Maps, it adds Google-based location searching,
Google Street View® visualization, and Google® street mapping into the application.
One example of usage is for customer service representatives looking to verify customer addresses against
service areas held within Smallworld. By following a browser bookmark to Electric Office Web, the customer
address can be quickly verified using a Google search, and network coverage areas can be shown by making
a data layer visible. Similarly, network assets and customer connections can be visualized by switching on
additional layers to determine if the property is served by an existing connection.
Web applications extends the reach of your intelligent network data to new audiences within your
enterprise, allowing contractors, remote office workers and engineers to have secured access to the data
they require without creating workload on your centralized GIS users.



Web applications allow organizations to give secure access to their workforce and external
parties to the same company standard plot templates used by their engineering GIS users. Access
is through a secure, self-service web interface that allows non-GIS expert users to rapidly locate
and request the latest network maps in PDF format for printing or use on their devices.
Engineers can be given secure access to network tracing engines and predefined queries that
simplify the interaction with the underpinning data, to directly access the required information
for analysis and reporting tools.
Users can submit graphical “redline sketch” change requests to technicians operating the
centralized GIS who use the full capabilities of the engineering GIS application, ensuring the
highest levels of quality and integrity of the network model.
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company

6.1.
In addition, the web applications are designed to be extensible so that customers can add new
tools accessing their spatial data.
Electric Office Web
Utilities have hundreds, sometimes thousands, of users that require access to critical network data.
Smallworld Electric Office Web extends the reach of your intelligent network data to new audiences within
your enterprise, allowing contractors, remote office workers and engineers to have secured access to the
data they require without creating workload on your centralized GIS users.







Smallworld Electric Office Web allows organizations to give secure access to their workforce and
external parties to the same company standard plot templates used by their engineering GIS users.
Access is through a secure, self-service web interface that allows non-GIS expert users to rapidly
locate and request the latest network maps in PDF format for printing or use on their devices.
Engineers can be given secure access to network tracing engines and predefined queries that simplify
the interaction with the underpinning data, to directly access the required information for analysis
and reporting tools.
Users can submit graphical “redline sketch” change requests to technicians operating the centralized
GIS who use the full capabilities of the engineering GIS application, ensuring the highest levels of
quality and integrity of the network model.
In addition, the Electric Office Web app is designed to be extensible so that customers can add new
tools accessing their spatial data
Direct access to Smallworld Electric Office maps with no data extraction
Nimble, fast to develop and quick to deploy web applications
Example workflows that Smallworld Electric Office Web enables include, but is not limited to the
following:
o Planned outage
o Data collection
o Asset Maintenance
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company

6.2.
Figure 52. Electric Office Web
Network Update for Electric
Smallworld Network Update is a web-based product that allows online users to make updates to existing
Smallworld Electric Office (EO) objects, and to propose new objects. The updates and proposed objects
are then ingested back into Electric Office as a new design.
Network Update has been designed to be used alongside Smallworld Electric Office Web, and the
products share many of the same Smallworld GeoSpatial Server (GSS) services:
1.
GSS UAA (User Account and Authentication) is used to authenticate users and control user access to
Smallworld Electric Office (EO) data.
2.
Network Update displays the same Electric Office raster tiles as Electric Office Web, and in a
combined deployment it uses the same tile cache.
3.
The configuration of selectable objects and properties that can be displayed is the same.
Network Update has three main screens:

An overview of the active work on the device.

This shows a list of the projects, their status and their geographical location. Users can create a
new project or look at the details of an existing project.


A map, where users can select and edit objects.
The project details displays a list of changes that have been made within the current project,
including objects with updated attributes or objects that have been relocated or created.
Network Update provides a Google Maps base map. Objects from the Smallworld database are rendered
on top of this base map.
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
The objects shown in the map are a combined view of the proposed changes within the design, and the
data served from the Design Top (top) alternative of the Electric Office database.
The map screen includes an Asset Search tool for locating an object of interest. This object is then
selected in the map and its properties are displayed in an Object Tile. You can also select objects directly
in the map, and display their properties.
6.2.1. Updating the data
If an object is editable, you can edit the object attributes or relocate the object. This is configured by
the EO_Web ACE in the Electric Office database.
Editable attributes are displayed in a form that you can update; if you change a value, the original value is
displayed below the new value for reference.
You can move or relocate an object by manipulating its geometry in the map. You can drag a point object,
such as a manhole, to a new location, or you can move individual vertices of a linear object such as an
underground route. When you move an object, any objects that are connected to the relocated object are
automatically adjusted to maintain connectivity.
When new objects are created, the application creates connections to other objects and maintains these
relationships as objects are moved.
6.2.2. Managing projects
You can review the changes made in the project in the Project Details screen. When the changes are
completed, you can submit the project. This sends the updates back to Electric Office as a new design. The
changes are ingested via SSM, and any ingestion errors are recorded as Quality Manager flags in the
design.
7. GeoSpatial Server & Smallworld Business Integrator
The Smallworld technology platform is, by design, an open based architecture ready to integrate with other
systems. The Smallworld Business Integrator (SBI) provide generic services with specific classes of systems;
Enterprise Asset Management systems such as SAP, advanced field worker workflows with GE’s Mobile
Enterprise, synchronisation with Oracle RDBMS and the web service toolkit of OGC and specific services in
GeoSpatial Server.
Smallworld GeoSpatial Server provides internet and intranet access to Smallworld geospatial services and
data and allows Smallworld applications to participate in business processes based on a Service Oriented
Architecture (SOA).
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
Figure 53. GeoSpatial Server and Smallworld Business Integrator
Smallworld Business Integrator for use with SAP software enables seamless information flow between
Smallworld and SAP environments to facilitate business processes. Based upon open, mainstream
technology standards, the Business Integrator is a highly extensible solution. SBI for use with SAP
NetWeaver is the product for integration between Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) systems and
Smallworld Core based applications.
Figure 54. Utility Process Integration
8. Smallworld and Google Maps
The agreement between GE and Google® is an exciting move to combine the engineering excellence of GE's
Smallworld electrical, telecommunications and gas utilities applications with the pervasive, easy-to-access
capability of Google's map services.
Smallworld* Electric Office Product Description and Functional Overview
© 2022 GENERAL ELECTRIC
*Trademark of General Electric Company
As utilities become more aware of the power of GIS data, they are asking how they can extend the reach of
their GIS data and gain higher return on investment. With strong engineering capabilities within their
company, utilities are keen to increase productivity based on their ability to access, visualize and analyze
their data.
The combined GE and Google solution will enhance their existing network visualization capabilities and
allow utilities to receive incremental efficiency and productivity gains in the field. By enhancing the ability
to visualize data on a map, utilities will be able to quickly provide their end-use customers with important
information, such as outage restoration times, and will help to more efficiently manage their network:

Enrich existing applications and workflows for engineering design and operations users by adding
Google Maps road, satellite and terrain map data layers, combined with access to Google’s
address searching capability and Street View imagery

Seamlessly blend the highly accurate asset data from Smallworld with Google Maps data in
powerful yet simple web solutions, extending the reach of spatial asset data to business users

Drive further efficiencies for field crews working on inspections and maintenance tasks
The availability of accurate and up-to-date base mapping supplied by Google in combination with the
Smallworld product portfolio provides a number of benefits for engineering planning, design and operations
solutions.
In regions where mapping is unavailable, expensive or inaccurate, Google Maps data provides an
economical mapping source to record existing network assets and plan network extensions on an up-todate and maintained source of consistent map data. Google Maps integrated within Smallworld provides
this information with no data loading or manipulation steps, and it is immediately available to users by
selecting to display the map layers within existing applications.
Figure 55. Google Satellite View
Where good sources of vector mapping exist, aerial photography provides additional information on
geographic features not present on many traditional street map sources. Based on this information, a
planner can decide whether a survey is required or proactively design around vegetation, streams or other
features apparent on the aerial data that will affect the network engineering.
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Figure 56. Aerial Photography and Google Street View
Google Street View provides a valuable additional visualization to map data, giving on-line users another
dimension to efficiently plan, allowing them for the first time to work with their map-based network assets
while also looking at street level imagery. This allows engineering staff to assess if there are access
constraints or unrecorded assets while working with their engineering application, directly within their
office environment.
Google Street View provides a valuable additional visualization to map data, giving office based users
another dimension to efficiently plan, allowing them for the first time to work with their map-based
network assets while also looking at street level imagery. This allows engineering staff to assess if there are
access constraints or unrecorded assets while working with their engineering application, directly within
their office environment.
Figure 57. Global Address Database
The GE and Google Maps integration now also provides the capability to access the extensive global address
database maintained by Google, providing a new resource for quickly locating addresses within the
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engineering environment, without additional investment in data maintenance.
9. Mobile Enterprise
Electric Utilities continue to focus on field operations to drive reliability, efficiency and improved customer
satisfaction for their business. Managing the increasingly complex network of assets requires utilities to
reduce cycle times and break down barriers between the office and the field. GE’s Mobile Enterprise offers
the latest advancements in mobile technology and application for uniform data access and field automation
across the enterprise.
GE’s Mobile Enterprise solutions extend critical back office functions to the field, enabling office and field
personnel to visualize and share network data and work tasks in real-time, agnostic of the mobile device or
operating system in use. With our unique collective knowledge of software development, equipment
manufacturing, and deep domain expertise in the utility and telecommunications industries, GE’s mobile
applications are specifically designed to maximize enterprise efficiencies with tools that are easy to deploy,
use, and manage.
GE’s Mobile Enterprise field automation applications allow customers to unlock the value of their backoffice systems by extending capabilities to the field including:
 Damage Assessment
 Mutual Assistance
 Field Asset Viewing
 Asset Update
 Field Inspections
 As-built / Design Update
Figure 58. Mobile Enterprise Conceptual Overview
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6.3.
Integrated Business Processes
Mobile Enterprise enables businesses to maximize the value of data
through seamless integration between its mobile capabilities and
existing back office systems (GIS, OMS, DMS, ADMS, EAM, ERP),
regardless of the mobile device type or operating system in use. Based
on a ‘single truth’, all users across the enterprise access the most up-todate network asset data. This enables users to realize the power of data
access anytime, anywhere with mobile apps that run on multiple
devices.
6.4.
Powerful UX
Mobile Enterprise delivers an easy and convenient single field focused
user experience. Both internal and external field subcontractors can
capture, update or remove assets on a mobile map centric geospatial
based workspace. The intuitive user interface is simple and provides
quick and efficient capture of field updates. This field data is sent back
in real-time seamlessly to Smallworld Design Manager using our
productized integration. This significantly reduces and improves your
current as-built process and ensures your Smallworld GIS is always
updated.
6.5.
Data Anytime, Anywhere
Utilizing the GE Mobile Enterprise software platform for industry-grade control, security and insights to
your network and operations, Mobile Enterprise applications are agnostic of mobile device type and
operating system. From Windows®, Android®, and iOS® operating systems running on mobile phones,
smartphones, tablets or other handheld devices, field crews have real-time access to network data –
anytime, anywhere.
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*Trademark of General Electric Company