6.2. ERMUSR 10-10-2017 Elk River
Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO: FROM:
ERMU Commission Mark Fuchs—Electric Superintendent
MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
October 10, 2017 6.2
SUBJECT:
Report on Superior Essex Cable Plant Tour
ACTION REQUESTED:
None
BACKGROUND:
In March 2107 the Commission awarded the 2017 cable bid to Dakota Supply Group (DSG).
One of the cable products that DSG had included in the bid was Superior Essex who is new to
manufacturing this type of electric distribution cable. Recognizing this, DSG arranged for a tour
at the Superior Essex manufacturing plant in Tarboro,NC.
DISCUSSION:
DSG took a group of municipal and cooperative electric utility representatives from Minnesota
to tour the North Carolina plant September 25-27. We had the opportunity to see the
manufacturing process for their underground cable and the quality control procedures they have
in place. Another benefit to attending the tour was having the opportunity to speak directly with
the manufacturer who was eager to hear our feedback on how they could improve on their cable
to make it easier to work with in the field.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
None
ATTACHMENTS:
• Photos—Superior Essex Cable Plant Tour
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Elk River
Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO: FROM:
ERMU Commission Mike Tietz—Technical Services Superintendent
MEETING DATE: AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
October 10, 2017 6.3
SUBJECT:
Report on NISC Member Information Conference
ACTION REQUESTED:
None
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION:
The 2017 NISC Member Information Conference (MIC),held at the America's Conference
Center in St. Louis,MO, September 25-28, included numerous member led sessions on topics
ranging from Mobilizing the Workforce to Outage Management and Work Management. Most of
the sessions were practical workshops focused on a specific iVUE module or technology.
On Wednesday morning, we listened to guest speaker John Brennan who was the Director of the
CIA from 2013 until 2017. He talked about his 36 year career in national security and how
utilities will need to prepare for cyber-terrorism that will come indirectly from other countries. In
a Q&A session with Vern Dosch, CEO of NISC, Mr. Brennan was asked "What was the biggest
disappointment in his career?"to which he responded"September 11th, 2001". The speech was
thought provoking and very insightful into the pressures and realities that we all have to face at
some time in our careers.
Jennie and Jessica focused the majority of their attended sessions on the CIS module.NISC is
going to a new platform called iVUE Connect and they focused many of their sessions on that.
This will be a cloud based platform and is very different than the current iVUE database. There
are three main changes that NISC is rolling out within the next year are:the
Delinquent/Collections persona for iVUE Connect, ability to capture electronic signatures within
SmartHub, and a new NISC Community. The MIC offers "roadmap" sessions to highlight the
changes in upcoming releases,which is very helpful since changes are made so frequently and it
is hard to keep up on everything that is coming.
Ben focused the majority of his attended sessions on the ABS module. This module has many
features that are layered within. It was helpful in understanding what reports to run in order to
see activity from charge outs to vendor P.O.'s. In addition creating material estimates for
customers in a more timely and accurate manner.
Melissa and Kathy focused the majority of their attended sessions on the ABS module. Of the
sessions that Melissa attended, she found the vault and budget sessions to be the most beneficial.
These sessions provided some processes that the accounting department can utilize in the future.
Another session that she found value in attending was regarding future releases. This showed
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some of the features that will be released in the next year, which includes fund accounting. It
was great to see all the progress that has been made in order for this to be available in the system.
Mike focused the majority of his attended sessions on the AppSuite module which appears to be
the direction the iVUE product is heading. The idea is based around a mobile platform that
allows the user to perform their daily tasks but also do other things like OMS, inspections and
damage assessments. The majority of the current users of this module are E&O supervisors and
IT personnel. It's a powerful tool that just needs a little more time to mature into a great
application.
The MIC conference was not just talks and workshops. We also had social events in the evenings
where we could network with other utilities,NISC employees and vendors. Also, during the
entire conference,NISC had staff available to demonstrate and answer questions about any of the
modules.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
N/A
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