Get answers to your questions, share ideas, and uncover ways to advance your business goals with SBS’s Design Software.
Join SBS in exploring how seamlessly integrating intelligent CAD with enterprise GIS can eliminate duplicate data entry, accelerate design, construction, and permitting cycles, and improve consistency and quality .
You can find the SBS team at booth 127! They will be ready to share how Intelligent Design automates tasks, offers real-time validation, and seamlessly transfers data between systems.
When: October 22-24, 2024. Where: Palm Springs Convention Center, Palm Springs, CA.
Join Scott Casey from SBS and Tim Sherman from Ervin Cable Construction on Thursday, October 24, from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM PDT for a session titled “Maximizing Network Optimization Deployment and Management.” Discover how SBS’s approach to automating fiber design through the integration of Esri ArcGIS and SBS AUD can streamline your projects with task automation and transformative productivity gains.
Network with SBS and learn about our industry leading Intelligent Design Software.
The Transmission & Substation Design & Operation Symposium (TSDOS) is a forum for utilities, engineers, suppliers, contractors, and consultants to share ideas and experiences and learn from case studies by experts in their fields.
Meet Jeremy Mills, Director AEC Business Development, Kevin Whyte, Vice President Substation, and the SBS team at the hospitality suite in Atrium 7.
Explore enhanced collaboration with our cutting-edge extraction method for substation large-scale physical design—an innovative alternative to copying, pasting, and manually merging drawings. Save time, resources, and avoid costly construction errors with configurable validation. For electrical design, save weeks by seamlessly syncing changes across all your P&C drawings.
Learn and share information with your peers and SBS regarding our Design Software for Distribution and Substations
The Peer Utility Group (PUG) Conference offers an open and non-commercial environment to collaborate and exchange insights and ideas on improving workflows, integration, and optimization of SBS’s intelligent design platforms. The conference experienced remarkable growth in 2023, drawing many first-time attendees and solidifying its appeal and recognition in the industry.
Here is what others had to say about last year’s PUG:
“I wasn’t sure what to expect as it was my first time. However, I thought it was great! It was great to hear and see what other companies are doing and how they solved challenges during implementation, etc. I was able to make new contacts and socialize. Overall, very happy!”
“Great conference…It allowed a lot of collaboration!”
“What an experience! Had a lot of fun and learned a lot about the SBS products. The presenters [primarily clients] were knowledgeable and honest about their experience implementing the different software that SBS provides.”
What’s waiting for you at PUG 2024?
Gain invaluable knowledge, insights, and opportunities to expand your network. Don’t miss the chance to connect with professionals who share your interests, learn strategies to solve your design challenges, and inspire breakthroughs that can help you move your process forward. PUG 2024 will leave you feeling empowered and inspired.
Highlights include:
Gain deeper insights about SBS Intelligent Design Platforms.
Access SBS experts and collaborate with other professionals in the industry.
Enjoy the Annual PUG Golf Tournament—Held at the beautiful grounds of the Lone Tree Golf Club.
Dedicated transportation from the hotel to conference activities will be provided.
To make the most of everything that PUG 2024 has to offer, please purchase your tickets now.
Airport(s): Denver Airport (DEN) is about 24.8 miles away. Other nearby airports include Broomfield (BJC), which is about 29.1 miles away.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between the Peer Utility Group and the PUG conference?
The Peer Utility Group (PUG) is a hub for professionals and organizations using SBS’s intelligent design solutions. The PUG conference is an annual event hosted by SBS that showcases client-led presentations, developer keynotes, training sessions, and more.
PUG membership gives you access to non-commercial collaboration, direct interaction with industry experts, webinars, user-led presentations, free training, and more.
What kinds of topics are discussed?
Information about SBS intelligent design solution implementations for electric, gas, water, and telecom is often shared. End-to-end workflows, Analysis, Work Management Systems (WMS)/Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), and GIS systems are prevalent topics.
When and where is the 2024 PUG Conference?
This year, PUG 2024 will be held Aug. 26-29, 2024, at the Denver Marriott South at Park Meadows, 10345 Park Meadows Drive, Lone Tree, Colorado, 80124. The conference kicks off with the PUG Golf Tournament on Monday, and the actual proceedings are on Tuesday through Thursday.
Can I register to present at the 2024 PUG?
We are currently looking for presenters. Email us at [email protected] to submit your interest as soon as possible. Presenters will receive a free ticket and must attend the conference in person.
How can I register for the Annual PUG Golf Tournament?
The annual PUG Golf Tournament will be held on Monday, Aug. 26, at the Lone Tree Golf Club, starting at 10:00 am. We will be using a “Scramble” format.
When purchasing your ticket(s), select the “PUG Golf Tournament” add-on. The additional cost is $100.00
Kagel to boost growth and spearhead product innovations, enhancing customer value.
LITTLETON, Colo., June 18, 2024 — Spatial Business Systems, LLC (“SBS” or the “Company”), a leading networked infrastructure design software company, is excited to welcome Jason Kagel as Vice President of Development.
With over 30 years of engineering experience, Kagel is set to lead SBS in developing innovative solutions that enhance customer value. His proven track record in driving growth and fostering team empowerment will support SBS in delivering cutting-edge products. Kagel’s leadership and strategic vision have consistently resulted in successful product launches and increased customer satisfaction at companies like Autodesk, Blackboard, and Top Hat.
“We are thrilled to have Jason join our team. His extensive experience and forward-thinking approach to development will be instrumental in delivering innovative solutions that benefit our clients and drive our company’s success,” said Al Eliasen, President of SBS.
“I am excited to bring my experience to SBS and collaborate with the team to drive product innovation and company growth. I look forward to contributing to the company’s success and delivering outstanding value to our clients,” Kagel stated.
ABOUT SPATIAL BUSINESS SYSTEMS LLC
SBS is a leading provider of intelligent design software to many of the world’s largest utilities, telecommunication companies, and engineering firms across North America, Europe, and Australia. The Company’s platforms support the engineering and design of critical infrastructure assets, creating real-world models to automate workflows, facilitate collaboration, and standardize design rules. SBS has partnered with over 300 companies in over 30 countries and is headquartered in Littleton, Colorado.
Learn how SBS’s design software for networked infrastructure can reduce training and design time, eliminate duplicate data entry, and help avoid costly construction errors at the world’s largest GIS conference.
Come to booth 1013 and meet the SBS team to experience how our software blends the worlds of Utility Network and CAD to streamline utility, telecom, and renewable infrastructure design workflows.
When: July 10-14, 2024. Where: San Diego Convention Center | San Diego, California
SBS design software is the heart of the digital design workflow, enabling the foundation of digital twins, work orders, materials, CAD and standards validations, and GIS data for today’s critical infrastructure, all integrated with the business enterprise. Stop by and learn more.
How SBS software speeds up the design process and reduces construction errors.
With the dramatic growth and demand for renewable energy sources, teams tasked with designing and building these complex projects face a unique set of challenges. However, as with all challenges, this also provides an exciting opportunity for innovation and advancement in the sector. From navigating local engineering standards to meeting the requirements of a diverse set of project stakeholders, the path to successful renewable infrastructure can feel like traversing a minefield, but it’s a minefield that can be conquered with the right tools.
The right design tool doesn’t just check a box for completing a design or staying within budget—it integrates seamlessly into existing workflows, providing real-time data and compliance checks that do not limit creativity but enhance it. SBS Intelligent Design Platform focuses on the Low-Level Design (LLD) part of the solar infrastructure design process, creating detailed construction-ready prints with the correct standards, materials, and intelligence to support your workflows.
Improving Design Productivity and Quality
SBS develops innovative solutions that align the tools and automation designers seek with the financial efficiency that executives demand. A 2017 study by the Saïd Business School at Oxford University highlighted how even a 1 percent budget reduction achieved through better technology and operations could save the construction industry ~$100 billion annually.12 This insight presents a compelling case for investing in advanced tools to streamline processes and reduce expenses.
Joe Cronin, a Solutions Consultant at SBS, emphasizes the necessity of evolving beyond traditional design methods. With his extensive technical and infrastructure design background, Cronin has been instrumental in helping utilities and engineering firms understand the benefits of intelligent design software. He notes the engineering and construction industries’ longstanding reliance on manual processes and 2D design, which, while reliable, are being outpaced by the demands of today’s complex projects. “Transitioning towards 3D and automated processes is not just innovative but essential for staying ahead in a competitive landscape,” Cronin remarks. “We hear repeatedly that to take that step, the solution needs to make the transition feel less like a leap and more like a smart, strategic step forward. SBS’s intelligent design software does just that.”
These considerations are especially true in the solar sector, where comprehensive engineering planning tools and government oversight demand specialized tools capable of handling the intelligence required for design.
For service providers, asset owners, and professionals in the AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction) to EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) fields, SBS has released a solar template for Automated Utility Design™ (AUD), an Intelligent Design Platform that directly addresses the industry’s call for greater efficiency and higher quality in design. AUD utilizes 3D model-based design and enhances productivity with powerful automations, all within a highly configurable and user-friendly AutoCAD®-based interface.
Adapting to Solar Design Requirements
Solar projects have specific requirements, which include extensive upfront engineering and the need to comply with rigorous government requirements.
1) Engineering Requirements: All engineering work must be completed early to facilitate seamless permitting. 2)Government Oversight: Projects are subject to significant government oversight, ensuring compliance with strict regulations. 3) Standards Compliance: The nature of solar projects demands adherence to standards.
AUD uses the output from many common solar planning tools to create low-level designs, including bills of materials and construction prints. It also automates portions of the design to drive productivity while building a high-fidelity 3D model in the background. This 3D model maintains accuracy throughout the design process and is the basis for Building Information Modeling (BIM), making approval drawings easier to understand and improving construction.
Embracing Intelligent Design with AUD
Cronin often describes projects in AUD as “living designs,” a concept that sets the platform apart from other available options. This approach keeps the design process dynamic, allowing for real-time feedback and continuous validation through AUD’s configurable template and rules engine. For Joe, it’s like seeing the project take on a life of its own, constantly adapting and improving with each phase, from planning to construction management. This ensures efficiency and compliance are built into the project’s DNA, evolving as the project progresses.
Within the renewables design cycle, AUD aids in the low-level design tasks and streamlines the creation and approval of necessary construction permits. By applying validations and standards during the design phase, AUD can help reduce construction errors and inconsistencies.
The core of AUD’s effectiveness is its suite of features:
auto-validation,
highly configurable templates,
a no-code rules engine,
and an intelligent, model-based design framework.
AUD’s capabilities significantly reduce or eliminate rework and the risks typically associated with traditional or legacy manual workflows. Optional configurable interoperability with systems such as asset or work management (EAM/WMS), GIS, and mobile tools further increases the utility of AUD, reducing change management demands and improving the user experience with its CAD-based interface.
These advancements streamline project workflows and enhance design accuracy, leading to more reliable permitting packages and reduced environmental impacts. An industry insider underscored the value of AUD, noting, “[having] a configurable tool like AUD would be a no-brainer when the productivity gains were visualized.”
With BIM and support for digital twins, AUD can be a powerful ally in reducing carbon footprint.
BIM workflows are often required for designing and integrating renewable energy systems. They provide more accurate construction insights and thus reduce errors. This precision helps avoid costly and resource-intensive corrections, aligning project outcomes with sustainability standards.
Having the ability to support digital twins extends the benefits of BIM workflows by accurately representing the behavior and characteristics of a physical feature or network. This allows for enhanced data gathering, scenario simulation, and issue detection, leading to proactive environmental management and reduced impact throughout the project’s lifecycle.3
Conclusion
AUD’s value proposition as a leading solution for low-level design of renewable infrastructure is clear. It offers unparalleled automation and efficiency, substantial labor reduction over traditional methods, and alignment with environmental and sustainability goals. Design teams equipped with AUD can ensure their projects are efficient, cost-effective, and accurate, contributing to the broader goal of sustainability.
Mark your calendars for the return of the Peer Utility Group Conference, now in its 11th year.
Join us live at the Denver Marriott South at Park Meadows in Lone Tree, Colorado. Connect with fellow professionals for a once-a-year opportunity to learn, network, and share insights about SBS’s intelligent design solutions.
The Fiber Broadband Association is dedicated to accelerating the deployment of fiber broadband networks to ensure every community can leverage the economic and societal benefits only fiber can deliver.
SBS recognizes that improving access to dependable broadband starts by streamlining design workflows for greater efficiency and scalability. “Our goal is to empower telecom service providers and engineering firms with intelligent design software that enables them to automate time-consuming and repetitive work and accelerate time-to-market,” said Scott Casey, Vice President, Telecom, at SBS. “Joining the FBA will enable us to better collaborate with industry professionals and align our technology innovations with the overarching mission of enhancing connectivity for all,” said Casey.
Service providers and engineering firms designing broadband and FTTH networks have long grappled with the challenge of duplicating effort while juggling GIS and CAD throughout the deployment cycles. SBS’s intelligent design platform automates tasks, ensures standards compliance, and supports integrated GIS/CAD workflows. Together, these capabilities streamline design, engineering, permitting, and construction-ready packages. This significantly reduces detailed low-level design time, eliminates rework, mitigates budget and schedule risks, and ensures faster time-to-market.
The extraction method offers a much-needed workflow update for teams designing substations and other complex projects.
Over 55,000 substations support the power grid across North America. Notably, the average age of transformers in these substations exceeds 40 years, indicative of a widespread need for upgrade and modernization.1
Electrical and civil engineers employed by utilities and engineering firms face a challenging task: modernizing these essential facilities involves dealing with outdated methods that complicate and slow project execution. To incorporate changes, they must repeatedly copy, paste, and redesign large and often intricate models, wasting time and resources. Moreover, there is a lack of collaboration and version control amongst these copies, which can be frustrating even for experienced professionals.
The typical 3D substation design workflow faces multiple challenges: 1) Substation projects are often split into sub-projects for financial or compliance reasons and size or complexity. 2) The design process typically involves making multiple copies of the existing model and redesigning it to incorporate changes, leading to manual tracking of copies and labor-intensive data re-entry. This results in engineers and designers working in silos and spending more time managing files and data instead of designing.
Aware of these challenges, industry professionals require an innovative solution to streamline substation design workflows.
Is there a better way?
This is the question the SBS team has been working to solve for the past several months. Anthony Contino, Solutions Manager of Substation Products and an experienced Electrical Engineer specializing in substation design, provided insight on how the new extraction method will enhance the efficiency of substation design:
The team initially considered ways to improve the current process for updating Assemblies, a Substation Design Suite™ (SDS) function that allows for large groupings of equipment to be placed quickly. This expanded to track additional intelligence and relationships. The current commercial release allows the use of data subsets from a larger model, enabling true collaboration across subsets, and permitting changes to be merged back into the larger model.
“The extraction method has the potential to become the industry standard for simplifying the workflow of substation design,” said Contino.
The Extraction Method in a Nutshell
The extraction method is a new alternative to the rudimentary “copy-and-paste” approach of working with large models that utilities, AEC, and EPC firms currently use. It was developed to work with large-scale 3D intelligent substation design models.
The process works as follows: 1) Open relevant substation model(s). 2) Define boundaries where design work will occur by drawing around the relevant equipment in your design. 3) Extract sub-designs from the main model into standalone drawing(s). 4) When the design is finished, merge the changes back into the main drawing.
The extraction method directly tackles the challenges of traditional substation design by streamlining the resources needed to manage complex 3D models and enhancing team collaboration. It moves away from conventional yet inefficient practices like copy-paste redesign, offering a more dynamic and efficient way to handle revisions and updates.
The extraction method excels by allowing engineers to isolate and refine parts of a model without dealing with its entirety. This approach ensures that all modifications are aligned with the master drawing, saving significant time and reducing the risk of errors during reintegration.
Streamlined Workflow: This significantly boosts productivity and performance by reducing the physical size of the models being worked on. Handling smaller, extracted model subsets makes the design process more manageable and less cumbersome.
Enhanced Collaboration: The ability to extract the needed portions and then merge changes back into the master model is reminiscent of GIS (Geographic Information System) environments. This feature supports workflows that need to split the work into multiple subprojects and allows multiple designers to work on different parts of the project simultaneously and easily integrate their changes.
As-Built Support: Ensures that any post-construction modifications are merged back into the main design smoothly and efficiently. This continuous integration helps maintain the integrity and accuracy of the final model.
“Having worked on numerous brownfield projects, I’ve seen firsthand the challenges of updating substation designs. The extraction method provides a much-needed workflow update, particularly for teams managing large, intricate models, significantly cutting down on the time and resources required. Without a doubt, this is the secret weapon substation design teams have been missing,” noted Contino.
Looking Ahead
In the future, the extraction method could be leveraged in multiple scenarios:
Animal guard or wildlife protection updates and audits. Modifications for animal guard components could be easily made in an extraction and then merged back without locking down the drawings for the entire station.
NERC compliance for transmission. For substations operating above 100kV, targeted updates can be made in an extraction with minimal disruption, ensuring compliance.
Phased project design. Individual sections of a large substation project can be extracted, worked on, and joined to the master model sequentially as each phase is completed.
Managing changes during ongoing projects. Urgent modifications due to equipment failures or other emergencies can be swiftly addressed without impacting In-flight designs.
External analysis integration. Extracting model sections for advanced external analysis, making changes, and syncing them back into the primary substation design.
Further integrating extraction into substation design processes will lead to continued improvements in other areas of project work.
Collaboration with our partners has shown that extraction supports many GIS-like workflows, including the ability for several designers to work in the same area of a station project simultaneously. Exploration of the benefits in this space will continue, as well.
Discover More
The extraction feature is included in the latest P4A/AUD release, version 8.5. Customers can access information about this update and other helpful resources on the Support Portal.
Join us for an insightful webinar on Substation Design Suite™ Physical for Inventor® (SDS-P4I) and discover the latest features and updates. Whether you’re a utility, AEC, or EPC professional, this essential modeling tool is designed to streamline your workflow and save you time.
Discover the new features for Physical for Inventor 8.4.
Learn about the latest enhancements and resolved issues.
Explore a practical use case: creating a conduit schedule with conduit unit length enhancement.
Meet the Presenter
Steve Kaufman – Technical Consultant | SBS
Steve Kaufman is an accomplished CAD and engineering expert with extensive experience in 3D substation design, solid modeling, and large assembly modeling with Autodesk Inventor. With his expertise, Steve will guide you through the newest upgrades and time-saving use cases that will help enhance your workflow
Don’t miss this opportunity to upgrade your skills and enhance your projects with the latest advancements in SDS-P4I. Register today and take the first step towards a more efficient workflow.
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