Category: SBS Blog

The details for this year’s PUG conference in Denver are shaping up. As in years past, we’ll learn from the experts at utilities who have deployed automation and connected design data to GIS and asset management systems to unlock transformative productivity and project cost savings. We will also take a look at the newest technology from SBS, have plenty of time for networking, and have a little fun along the way.

Registration closes on August 12th, register for PUG today!

Monday, August 25

Time	Topic
5 pm	Welcome Reception

Tuesday, August 26

Time	Topic
8 am	Breakfast
9 am	Welcome and SBS State of the Union
10 am	SBS Product Update and Roadmap
11 am	Customer Presentation – Fortis Alberta
12 pm	Lunch
1 pm	Customer Presentation – Aecon
2 pm	Customer Presentation
3:15 pm	Customer Presentation – Atmos
4:15 pm	Day 1 wrap up
5:30 pm	Cocktail party and mixer – Sponsored by Autodesk
6:30 pm	Dinner – Sponsored by UDC

Wednesday, August 27

Time	Topic
8 am	Breakfast
9 am	SBS R&D Update
10 am	Panel – Challenges facing Utilities
11 am	Customer Presentation – Arizona Public Service
12 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm	Customer Presentation – CORE Electric Co-op
2:30 pm	SBS Emerging Technology update
3 pm	Customer Presentation – Pacific Gas & Electric
4 pm	Day 2 Wrap Up
6 pm	Dinner, Drinks, and Games at Pindustry

Thursday, August 28

Time	Topic
8 am	Breakfast
9 am	Customer Presentation
10 am	SBS Closing Session
10:30	Meet the Experts & Office Hours
12 pm	Lunch
1 pm	Meet the Experts & Office Hours
4 pm	Conference ends

Capabilities every substation physical design tool should have

As substations become more complex and utility teams face increasing demands for efficiency, safety, and integration, the software used to design these facilities must evolve.

1. Traceable Electrical Model
   A design tool must support a fully traceable electrical model to ensure that designs can be validated, documented, and transferred to protection and control systems with confidence.
2. Intelligent Connector Logic
   Engineering rules should be built in, such as preventing connections between incompatible materials (for example, aluminum and copper), to avoid safety and performance issues before they happen.
3. Guided UI Wizard for Training and Configuration
   Getting started shouldn’t require weeks of setup. A guided interface helps new users onboard quickly and ensures consistent configuration across teams.
4. Clash Detection
   Designing for safety means more than fitting parts together. Effective clash detection must support electrical clearance checks and safety envelope validation.
5. Advanced Design Functions
   Lightning protection, grounding systems, and other utility-specific design features must be native to the tool, not bolted on.
6. Construction & Engineering Standards Validation
   Designs should be automatically checked against construction standards, such as conduit fill, bending radius, and pulling tension, to reduce field rework.
7. “No-code” Style Configurable Automation Rules
   Design automation should be accessible. Local standards and rules must be configurable without custom coding to speed up workflows and reduce manual errors.
8. Integration with Third-Party Analysis Tools
   The ability to pass data to grounding analysis and electrical calculation tools is critical for comprehensive design validation.
9. Open Data Architecture
   Substation design shouldn’t be trapped in proprietary data silos. Open architecture ensures better collaboration and smoother transitions between systems.
10. Integrations with GIS and EAM
    Design tools must integrate with enterprise systems to automatically update asset records, reducing duplication and improving data accuracy across the lifecycle.

Ensuring substation physical design tools meet the needs of today’s engineers and utilities is how we build our products. Substation Design Suite – Physical delivers these capabilities as part of a modern, interoperable substation design solution that accelerates productivity, reduces risk, and improves data quality.

If your design tool is missing any of these 10 features, it might be time to explore a smarter way to work.

Click here for more information about our physical substation design platform.

The fiber broadband industry is booming, but many communications service providers and engineering firms are still struggling with inconsistent design practices that slow down deployment, increase costs, and create unnecessary friction between stakeholders.

At the June on-site meeting of the Fiber Broadband Association (FBA) Deployment Specialists Committee, Scott Casey, VP of Telecom at SBS, presented a high-level proposal for establishing common fiber design standards and laid the case for action.

The Problem: Complexity, Redundancy, and Cost

Current design processes are riddled with challenges:

• Repetitive tasks and inefficient handoffs. Many CSPs and engineering firms are reinventing the wheel for each project, duplicating efforts, retraining teams, and building one-off tools for every new deployment.
• Data disconnected from workflow. Engineering drawings often exist outside of GIS systems, forcing teams to re-create designs manually downstream.
• Inconsistent standards. Federal, state, local, and CSP-specific requirements can vary widely, leading to QA/QC headaches and costly errors in the field.
• Divergent toolsets. CSPs rely on enterprise workflows and GIS systems, while engineering firms are focused on productivity and speed in CAD. These environments often do not easily share data and do not integrate with one another.

The Opportunity: Simplicity, Speed, and Savings

The solution is clear: a common set of design standards that work across tools, platforms, and stakeholders. These standards would:

• Improve productivity and reduce design cycle times
• Enable easier onboarding and collaboration across projects
• Eliminate redundant data entry and manual processes
• Provide consistent quality across contractors and deliverables

Standardization does not mean uniformity for its own sake. It means “freedom within a framework.” Teams need to be able to tailor the design tools and workflows where needed, but within a structure that ensures consistency, repeatability, and efficiency.

A Plan to Move Forward

Scott’s proposal outlines a phased, collaborative approach supported by FBA members:

1. Establish an FBA Deployment Specialists Committee (DSC) Working Group for Engineering Best Practices. A diverse group representing CSPs, E&Cs, and vendors would meet regularly to develop a roadmap.
2. Start small and scale. Begin with a best practices guideline for specific deployment types (such as underground or rural) and ways to streamline processes and expand from there.
3. Align with key systems. Create libraries, templates and APIs that work with all mainstream GIS and CAD tools.
4. Publish resources. Support adoption with documentation, training materials, and a collaborative framework.
5. Deliver results quickly. Target a first “Best Practices” paper within six months.

The Fiber Broadband Association is moving forward with Scott’s proposal, and has created an Engineering Best Practices working group to address these issues. The working group will be led jointly by Scott, Debbie Kish, FBA VP of Research, and Brendan O’Boyle (FBA DSC Chair), and made up of experts from leading engineering firms, software and hardware vendors, and CSPs.

SBS, the Fiber Broadband Association, and this distinguished team of engineering leaders are working together to build the foundation for a more efficient, collaborative, and scalable fiber deployment ecosystem.

Learn more about the SBS broadband design solution, Automated Broadband Designer.

Your experience with our support systems is getting a refresh. Today, we’re excited to release version 2 of our SBS User Portal, which we’ve chocked full of enhancements to make your experience getting help and support from SBS easier, faster, and more convenient.

Key Enhancements

1. Modernized Visual Design

• Sleek, polished UI aligned with contemporary design standards.
• Enhanced background visuals for clearer content separation.

2. New Notifications System

• Banner notifications by priority (Critical, Important, Informational).
• Persistent “Notifications Log” accessible from homepage and top navigation.

3. Reorganized Management Section. Accessible to administrators only, this area now includes:

• User Management: View and manage user access.
• Product Management: Assign/unassign product licenses via UI or CSV upload.
• Reporting: Activity logs and data export.
• Settings: Includes Sales Account, SSO, and Personal Data info.

4. Redesigned Products Area

• Interactive product cards with dropdowns for Year, Platform, and Version.
• Direct navigation to specific product details and version downloads.

5. Streamlined Projects Page

• Focused on end-user access to project resources and releases.
• Internal build management now handled via separate application.

6. Accessibility Enhancements

• Aligned with WCAG 2.2 standards for perceivability, operability, understandability, and robustness.

Visit the SBS User Portal to get support for your SBS solutions.

As the urgency to transition to clean energy intensifies, utilities and developers are facing a common obstacle: inefficient and outdated design practices that slow progress and drive up costs.

This article from Microgrid Media explores how smarter, more automated design workflows are helping utilities overcome these challenges and why streamlining the planning and engineering process is essential to scaling renewable energy projects.

🔗 Accelerating Renewable Adoption with Smarter Design Practices

Key takeaways:

✅ Manual design methods are slowing project delivery and increasing risk

✅ Better interoperability and automation can cut weeks or months off timelines

✅ Smarter tools lead to better data, stronger coordination, and fewer redesigns

✅ Intelligent design is no longer optional; it’s a strategic advantage

If your team is still managing renewable energy designs with spreadsheets, disconnected CAD tools, or handoffs across siloed systems, now is the time to rethink your approach. 🛠️ The future of energy depends on how we design it.

Interested in learning more about how to add transformative efficiency to the renewable design workflow? Contact us here.

Why Substation Design Suite – Physical and Revit Are Better Together

As utilities and EPCs adopt more sophisticated digital tools for capital project design, we hear this question often: Should we be using Revit for substation design?

Revit offers robust capabilities for BIM coordination, civil structures, and architectural features such as fencing and control buildings. However, it lacks native support for critical substation design needs like electrical equipment layout, clearance envelopes, grounding, cable modeling, and material tracking. The best workflow uses the right tools for the right job, paired through strong interoperability. For substation design, that tool is Substation Design Suite – Physical (SDS-P). SDS-P delivers the engineering intelligence required for accurate substation modeling, is built on top of AutoCAD or Inventor, and outputs interoperable data for use with Revit.

Watch the Full Workflow in Action

Why Not Just Use Revit for Everything?

Today, Revit does not have an out-of-the-box understanding of substation design and connectivity requirements. Substation designers need to perform clearance checks and phasing validation, lightning protection, place assemblies like breakers or CT/PTs, build a BOM for equipment ordering and project cost, and grounding and cable logic.

SDS-Physical is Built for Engineering Detail

With SDS-P, your team designs substation layouts in Inventor or AutoCAD, where they benefit from:

• Smart components for substations (transformers, breakers, bus supports, etc.)
• Clearance validation tools using SDS logic
• Cable trench, grounding, and conduit modeling
• Automated BOMs with part tagging
• Reusability of standard assemblies across projects

Today, we’ll explore the workflow that demonstrates the interoperability between SDS-Physical using Inventor and Revit.

Step-by-Step: From Inventor to Revit

1. Prepare the Model in Inventor

• Use SDS logic to generate a clean view representation for Revit export
• Strip out small hardware for performance
• Assign Revit categories using iProperties

2. Define the UCS (User Coordinate System)

• Match Inventor UCS to Revit project base point
• Fine-tune using measurements between environments

3. Export to RVT

• Use BIM Content tools to export as RVT
• Select proper height-clearance Revit template
• Preserve tags and colors

4. Link into Revit

• Create the schedule in the export RVT file and close
• Use Import/Link Revit, open the target RVT file, insert RVT using Internal Origin to Internal Origin        

Optional: Use Coordination Models for Complex Model Fitting

• Export Revit views for Inventor reference geometry
• Align and constrain Inventor assemblies accordingly
• Use multiple RVT exports (equipment, cables) for detailed control

What You Gain

✅ Faster Design Cycles

✅ Better Accuracy

✅ Cleaner BIM Models

✅ Improved Collaboration

✅ No Redundancy

Let’s Talk About Your Substation Workflow

If you’re using Revit today for substation design, or thinking about it, we can show you the path to preserve the efficiency in designing with a toolset built for substation designers while retaining the BIM coordination and architectural specificity of Revit. Reach out to the SBS team to see how our Inventor-based solutions integrate with your existing BIM workflows while giving your electrical team the tools they need.

Want a guided demo or to try it out on your own model? Contact us here

Why Decoupling Design from GIS Enables Better Performance, Integration, and Outcomes

As electric and gas utilities move from GIS platforms like GE Smallworld and ArcMap to Esri’s ArcGIS Pro with the Utility Network model, they face a critical decision: how to manage network design workflows. While some attempt to embed design directly in GIS, leading utilities are instead decoupling design workflows to improve data quality, reduce bloating of their GIS system, and accelerate enterprise integration.

This paper explores key challenges utilities face when managing design in GIS and outlines how decoupling design workflows – using tools like Automated Utility Design (AUD) by SBS – can deliver better performance and outcomes.

Design in GIS: The Performance Penalty

Many utilities store proposed design features directly in GIS databases. These designs, whether completed or not, often persist as orphaned data. Over time, this slows system responsiveness and increases maintenance overhead.

“Proposed features were buried down in Designer versions. We had no lifecycle tracking for what was approved versus abandoned.” – GIS Analyst, Western Power (Australia)

Esri partners report that managing numerous versions in GIS can increase editing overhead by up to 50%. Proposed features inflate map rendering time, affect network tracing, and complicate topology validations.

Another aspect often overlooked is the impact on scheduled system maintenance. As more data accumulates, indexing and database cleanup routines become longer and more complex. Some utilities report that overnight batch jobs for topology validation and error checking can take several hours longer than necessary, often interfering with daily operations.

Key Issue: Embedding design data in GIS leads to unnecessary system strain and growing technical debt.

Design in GIS: Integration and Workflow Challenges

Design is not just geometry – it requires integration with enterprise systems like ERP, EAM, and work management platforms. GIS-centric workflows struggle here. Designers must re-enter data into multiple systems or rely on fragile, custom-built integrations.

“The number of contributors and systems involved in utility design means manual entry leads to inevitable errors.” – Industry Consultant, Burns & McDonnell

GIS alone doesn’t support critical engineering calculations (e.g., voltage drop, gas pressure modeling). This forces designers to use separate tools and then reconcile results manually, introducing delays and errors.

Even for basic job tracking, GIS environments may lack the necessary features. Many utilities find it difficult to enforce consistent design approval workflows when everything is done within GIS. Design statuses are often tracked using ad-hoc attributes, spreadsheets, or disconnected systems, resulting in inconsistencies and auditing difficulties.

Key Issue: GIS platforms aren’t built for engineering calculations or seamless integration with enterprise systems.

A Better Approach: Decoupling Design from GIS

Using a dedicated design application like AUD offers clear benefits:

• Lean GIS, Faster Performance: Proposed designs stay in the design tool until approved. Only final, as-built data goes into GIS, preserving performance.
• Seamless Enterprise Integration: AUD integrates with work management, ERP, and EAM systems. This two-way integration enables synchronized cost estimates, BOMs, and work order tracking.
• Advanced Engineering Tools: AUD supports model-based design, including load analysis, voltage drop, and cable tension. It also includes automation that helps reduce design time and human error.
• User Adoption: AUD is built on AutoCAD, minimizing retraining and enabling faster onboarding. Designers retain access to familiar tools while gaining more powerful capabilities.

“We saw zero disruption to our end users by keeping AUD and integrating it with Utility Network.” – Implementation Lead, LG&E and KU

In addition to AUD’s capabilities, the use of a decoupled environment allows utilities to test design strategies more freely. Engineers can simulate various scenarios-such as different routing options or construction phasing-without affecting the integrity of the GIS database.

Utilities like LG&E/KU and Enbridge Gas have successfully implemented this approach, modernizing GIS while maintaining fast, reliable design operations. Others are adopting similar approaches to increase agility and reduce risk during GIS modernization initiatives.

Step-by-Step Guide: Connecting AUD to GIS and Migrating to Utility Network

For utilities considering a transition to Esri’s ArcGIS Utility Network, a phased, structured integration of AUD can help ensure business continuity and minimize disruption:

Step 1: Integrate AUD with Current GIS

• Connect AUD to the existing GIS platform (e.g., ArcMap or GE Smallworld).
• Enable bidirectional data flows for design and as-built updates, ensuring current network visibility.
• Synchronize compatible units, templates, and design rules within AUD to reflect the utility’s existing standards.

Step 2: Prepare for Utility Network Migration

• Use AUD to begin capturing data using Utility Network-compatible schemas, even while on the legacy GIS.
• Identify and catalog proposed features and stale data in the legacy GIS to clean up before migration.
• Leverage AUD’s decoupling to maintain uninterrupted design work while GIS teams focus on data conversion.

Step 3: Execute GIS Upgrade

• Migrate GIS data to ArcGIS Pro and Utility Network using Esri-recommended tools and practices.
• Validate topology, connectivity, and lifecycle attributes in the new GIS environment.
• Avoid migrating unnecessary proposed features by using AUD as the buffer and filter.

Step 4: Reconnect AUD to Utility Network

• Configure AUD’s integration to now point to ArcGIS Utility Network as the new source of truth.
• Enable design creation, editing, and validation against the new network model.
• Finalize two-way integration with GIS, WMS, and EAM systems for end-to-end digital design workflows.

This phased approach allows utilities to both pull forward the operational change management needed for a design too modernization and  preserve design productivity while modernizing GIS infrastructure. It minimizes disruption, controls technical risk, and sets the foundation for more scalable, integrated design processes.

Conclusion: GIS and Design Are Stronger Together-But Separate

The move to ArcGIS Utility Network is an opportunity to rethink design workflows. Decoupling design from GIS:

• Reduces data bloat
• Improves GIS system performance
• Enables deeper enterprise integration
• Enhances engineering accuracy
• Supports scalable design operations
• Improves user experience and productivity

Tools like AUD provide a proven path forward. Let GIS serve as the authoritative system of record-and let purpose-built design tools handle the complexity of utility design.

A decoupled design strategy is not just more efficient-it’s essential for successful GIS modernization.

To learn more about how decoupling design from GIS can add efficiency to your workflow, get in touch here.

We’re excited to announce that registration is now open for the 2025 Peer Utility Group (PUG) Conference, hosted by SBS! This annual event brings together professionals from the utility to explore the latest in intelligent design methods and solutions.

📅 Event Details

• Dates: August 26–28, 2025
• Location: Denver, Colorado
• Venue: Denver Marriott South at Park Meadows

🏌️‍♂️ PUG Golf Tournament

Kick off the conference with our traditional golf tournament:

• Date: August 25, 2025
• Location:  University of Denver Golf Club at Highlands Ranch
• Format: Scramble

🎟️ Registration

Secure your spot for PUG 2025 by registering through our official portal:

👉 Register Now

💡 Why Attend?

• Expert Sessions: Gain insights from industry leaders on cutting-edge design solutions.
• Networking Opportunities: Connect with peers and professionals from across the utility sector.
• Product Demonstrations: Experience the latest offerings from SBS

Agenda and speaker information will be posted soon. Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of a community dedicated to advancing utility design and infrastructure. We look forward to welcoming you to Denver for PUG 2025!

At SBS, we know the path to fast and reliable broadband service for everyone starts with better design. Today, we’re proud to introduce Automated Broadband Designer, a new product built to help telecom providers and engineering firms deliver fiber networks faster, with less manual work and greater accuracy.

The urgency for broadband deployment has never been higher. As of 2024, fiber broadband now passes over 88 million homes in the U.S. alone, with 10.3 million new homes added just in the last year. Homes passed forecasts continue to grow with strong consumer demand and impactful incentives. The global broadband services market is projected to more than double over the next decade, driven by digital transformation, rising connectivity needs, and nationwide infrastructure funding. This surge in demand is creating both opportunity and strain, particularly as the telecom industry faces a growing shortage of skilled labor, increased pressure to accelerate time to market, and growing competitive threats.

Automated Broadband Designer is built to help relieve that pressure. By automating time-consuming design tasks, embedding engineering standards, and connecting seamlessly with enterprise systems, the platform empowers smaller design teams to do more, faster. It also helps new designers ramp up quickly through built-in templates and embedded guidance, making it easier to scale your workforce without sacrificing quality.

Design smarter, not harder

With Automated Broadband Designer, busywork gets out of the way:

• Repetitive design steps like underground details, enclosure placement, and drop layout are automated
• Bill of Materials (BOMs) are generated in real time as you design
• Permit drawings and construction packages are easily created directly from your model based on pre-defined standards

Built-in quality and compliance

Permitting rules and engineering specifications are embedded directly into your workflow. The Rules Engine validates designs as you go, so your team spends less time checking work and more time moving projects forward. Contractors and internal designers alike can follow the same process, maintaining consistency across the board.

Keep your systems connected

Fiber design doesn’t happen in isolation. That’s why we support two-way integration with GIS, EAM, and ERP systems. This ensures your network models, materials, and project data stay synchronized from design to as-built. Even during a GIS or platform migration, Automated Broadband Designer keeps design work running without interruption.

Empower your team

We’ve designed Automated Broadband Designer to be powerful but accessible. It’s easy for new designers to learn and use, especially for teams already working in AutoCAD. With FTTH-specific templates, automation, and embedded guidance, you can onboard faster and maintain high-quality output across internal and external teams.

As organizations look to meet today’s broadband challenges head-on, Automated Broadband Designer offers the clarity, control, and speed that modern fiber projects demand. And as workforce capacity becomes a critical constraint in broadband expansion, tools like this help teams scale without overextending resources.

For more information about Automated Broadband Designer or to get a guided demo, get in touch here.

Spatial Business Systems (SBS), the global leader in intelligent design solutions for utility and telecom networks and electrical substations, has appointed Andy Mott as Chief Marketing Officer.

Andy brings more than 20 years of strategic marketing leadership to SBS. He joins the SBS team from Autodesk, where he was the global head of marketing for the water infrastructure vertical. In this role, Andy led the global customer-facing communications and marketing strategy during Autodesk’s $1B acquisition and integration of Innovyze. In previous roles at Autodesk he was a pivotal leader during the transition from territory-based to account-based sales and marketing, and led marketing for the North America AEC business, driving triple-digit growth during his tenure.

Andy will play a crucial role in SBS’s next phase of growth, leveraging his expertise in customer engagement, brand storytelling, and strategic partnerships with utility clients and engineering firms. His leadership will be instrumental in expanding SBS’s market presence both domestically and internationally.

“We are thrilled to welcome Andy to the team,” said Albert Eliasen, CEO of SBS. “His proven track record in driving growth within the infrastructure sector speaks for itself. Andy’s leadership will be key in accelerating our success and enhancing the value we deliver to our customers.”

“I am excited to join SBS and collaborate with our outstanding leadership team to help our customers transform their electric, gas, and telecom network design and construction projects,” said Andy. “Together, we’ll help our customers deliver reliable energy and communications services to their communities and drive a new phase of growth for SBS.”