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ULTEIG’S PATH TO PROJECT MANAGEMENT

SOCIETY OF WOMEN ENGINEERS

UNDERGROUND CABLE REPLACEMENT

SPRING 2015

Improving lives by providing the services that create more reliable connections throughout North America.

ENGINEERS WEEK AS-BUILT DESIGN CONVERSION

ATTRIBUTE CONVERSION TOOL

Improving lives by providing the services that create more reliable connections throughout North America.

Executive Perspective

As we begin to (almost) shake off the chill of winter, we head into spring and are constantly reminded of the cycle of things and the newness of

the coming season. For many, spring represents the beginning of lake season, fishing, enjoying the outdoors. Those of us in the Upper Midwest sometimes say we only have two seasons: winter and construction. But jokes aside, this is the time for new beginnings, for growth, and progress.

In 2014, Ulteig did some growing of its own: we celebrated 70 years as an engineering leader, we unveiled a new vision, which focuses on the concept of improving lives, and we invested resources into finding the best talent and growing our business. But what does growth mean, and what does it look like?

Many people hear growth and immediately think more, bigger, richer, but for our business it means making a commitment to growing personally for the purpose of innovation and improvement. It may mean stretching yourself, developing your character or increasing your own expectation of what you can do or be.

As we move into our 71st year and beyond, we think about what we can do better, what we can do differently and how we can be more innovative. How we will grow.

• We consider integrity to be the cornerstone of everything we do.• We exist because our repeat clients come to us to solve their challenges, and we are all dedicated to

their success.• Ulteig isn’t just a job. When we go home at night, we know the projects we worked make a difference

to the people who live in the communities we serve: safe roads, bridges, flood prevention, reliable communications, and energy. We’re proud of our contributions and we look forward to our future.

• We work hard, we play hard. We are here to celebrate today and pay tribute to the people who came before us to build this firm.

With our devoted employees and clients we will make an even bigger impact on improving lives. We’ll continue to grow and flourish. It’s what we’ve always done.

One Ulteig,

Eric Michel, President and CEO

THIS ISSUE

2

4

9

14

18

21

Executive Perspective

eWeek

UCR

Society of Women Engineers

Engineers In Action

Project Profiles

by Eric Michel

Celebrating Engineers Week

Underground Cable Replacement

Featuring Ulteig’s Emily Neuhardt

See what we’ve been up to

Basin Electric, McKenzie County,Northfield WiFi

On the coverThis image represents how we live and work in an increasingly interconnected world - where power, communications and transportation come together to make life possible and for 70 years, Ulteig has been proud to provide the services that make these connections possible.

8, 12-13, 16-17, 22

6

Blogs

Attribute Design ToolDesign Conversion Tool With a Click

Connecting Ideas With People

/ulteig

10 As-Built Design ConversionFrom Historical Documents to Smart Files

20 Ulteig’s Path to Project Managementby Nick Ingolfsland

4

Imagine what life would be like without pollution controls to preserve the environment, lifesaving medical equipment, or low-cost building materials for fighting global poverty. All this takes engineering. In very real and concrete ways, engineers save lives, prevent disease, reduce poverty and protect our planet. During Engineers Week, we paid homage to all the engineers who make our world a better place to live.

More than 400 students attended the

Career Guidance Conference

Ulteig Account Executive Marlon Vogt, spoke at the

41st Annual Career Guidance

Conference near Cedar Rapids, Iowa

by Jason Hoskins

5

Each person reading this article has worked hard to acquire

the knowledge and expertise needed to carve out a successful professional career. Regardless of whether your work focuses on electric power transmission and distribution, renewable energy, telecommunications, public infrastructure or another area, you’ve put in countless hours toward becoming an expert in your field. You know more than the average citizen and many politicians about the issues facing our industry in this ever-changing world.

Public Policy

FIND YOUR VOICEBY JASON HOSKINS

Jason Hoskins is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Ulteig and has more than 20 years of experience in serving the electric utility industry. As COO, Hoskins is responsible for aligning strategic direction and prioritizing company investments across all technical departments at Ulteig.

We are fortunate to live in a country where our government officials are charged with representing their constituents’ interests. While our system is not perfect, it works better than many. When our legislators take time to educate themselves on issues before they cast their votes, we get the best results out of the process. This is where you come in.

You have a unique opportunity to use your expertise to educate your fellow citizens and our legislators on issues in your field. Talk with your friends and neighbors, so they are more knowledgeable, or contact your local, state or federal representatives,

which can have a big impact on an undecided representative’s opinion. You might also consider a trade group such as the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC). On a daily basis, ACEC talks with legislators and staffers on the issues that impact engineering companies and our clients. At a recent ACEC meeting, one engineering firm executive summed up ACEC’s purpose as giving engineers a voice at the table. It is our obligation to make the best of that opportunity.

Trade groups offer a stronger voice to influence public policy. They are a resource for legislators to gather information and educate themselves. Many groups have lobbyists who push materials out to legislators and keep relevant issues on their radar screens. Your participation gives you a chance to use your expertise beyond project work, expand your professional network and have a greater impact on our political process.

The issues facing our country are many and significant. The quality of life of our children and grandchildren will be affected by the policies put in place today. You have the knowledge and ability to make a difference. At whatever level you choose to participate, find your voice.

6

When it

comes to a task, using the proper tool helps you get a job done more quickly and efficiently. And when the task helps inspire a new tool, it can increase productivity dramatically. Computer-assisted design (CAD) systems are one such tool, but while CAD has revolutionized substation design, the productivity increase has come at a cost.

There are more than 3,200 electric utilities in the United States, and each has its own substation design standards and procedures, as well as preferred CAD software. Two of the most commonly used programs are MicroStation® and AutoCAD®, which vary in functionality and compatibility. They also generate different file types.

Because of those differences, there’s a tremendous amount of manual conversion work when drawings from different electrical utilities need to be exchanged. When a project request for converting a large amount of drawings came in, Ulteig Design Engineer Dane Swartz and Engineering Technician Craig Michels said it provided an opening to make the process better, and was the driving force behind developing an attribute editing tool to automate conversions.

“That’s where we saw an opportunity to help companies become more efficient and decided to set that as a goal using some new strategies,” said Swartz. “It couldn’t be a one-size-fits-all solution, so we had to get creative.”

A typical manual conversion of a drawing involves many steps. While MicroStation and AutoCAD both have tools to aid the process, the results were unsatisfying. Important information would go missing

during the conversion. That’s what led to the development of a new tool to read a document’s attributes and ensure they were brought over into a new drawing.

That tool is an attribute editor, which consists of computer instructions that scan through drawings, instantly logs needed attributes and converts them to meet a client’s drawing standards. Before the editing tool, the process had to be done manually, taking a significant number of hours to complete.

“It was a matter of laying out a framework, creating the initial solution and setting it up in such a way that it could be modified and rewired to fit any project,” Swartz pointed out. “It’s just the start of what we want to do with automating processes, and with the attribute conversion tool, we’re just skimming the surface on what we can do.”

With the initial coding set up, drafting technicians started using the tool in a pilot project, converting drawings involved

Dane Swartz

AttributeToolDesign

Design conversion with a click

7

in an asset exchange between two large utilities. Adding to the project’s complexity, the drawings were from 1975, and even included some hand-drawn elements. At first, results left something to be desired. Then it was a matter of refining the tool and programming in a form of

artificial intelligence to imitate human reasoning.

“We asked whether we could teach the program to push the correct button for the situation,” Michels said. “Once we got to that point, the tool was able to analyze and ask questions like, ‘Is there a picture drawing?’ or, ‘Is there any text?’ Once we got those conditions worked out, it knew, ‘If this, do that.’”

But that was only the start. By observing how drafting technicians used the tool, programmers were able to improve its coding even more. The system was made modular with more features and functionality to reduce conversion time, getting

drawings through the project pipeline much more quickly.

By automating repetitive tasks, productivity has increased while the quality of

the design conversions have improved substantially, reducing costs and project time. With the attribute tool’s framework now laid out, it’s become flexible enough to adapt to perform other tasks for any project.

Another advantage of the conversion is how the tool not only reduces file size and improves access speed, but ensures consistency in

Dane Swartz is a Substation Design Engineer at Ulteig and has been with the company since 2012.

“That’s where we saw an opportunity to help companies become more efficient and decided to set that as a goal....” - Dane Swartz

Tool documents. Different drafters might have slightly different methods of developing a design. With the conversion tool, those nuances are standardized to ensure all of a company’s drawings use the same approach.

“We had no idea that by the end of this project we would see our program evolve into a full drawing management suite,” Michels said. “With the improvements, we can now automatically change the properties of every piece of text, image and block. Even better is that what was once a manual process is now done nearly instantly with this tool.”

Craig Michels is an Engineering Technician within the Substation Department. Craig had more than 10 years of experience working as a CADD designer.

8

BELLY UP TO THE BUFFET

by Marlon Vogt

No, this is not a laudatory rant about a multi-billionaire

investor who lives in my home state, Nebraska.

I am almost certain that I heard a radio story recently about a survey of favorite foods for each state. Iowa’s favorite food was “buffets”. I thought, “Wow.” I have sought confirmation of this story on the Internet, without success. But for the sake of this story, we’re sticking with it.

So this is a treatise on the humble buffet; a long stretch of serving

ulteig.com/blogs

island that is generally piled high with a cornucopia of food. Some food is actually fresh and kept cold in islands of crushed ice. Some of the ice is also covered with ranch dressing, which makes it look like melting snow.

Essentially, a buffet is a one-stop shop that attempts to provide a variety of foods that will serve (and over-serve) a wide variety of tastes and appetites. It is sort of a Walmart restaurant.

There is a lot to be said in praise of one-stop shopping, regardless of industry. In my electric utility engineering career I have benefitted from one-stop shopping for professional services.

For many years I had the responsibility for everything related to transmission lines, yet we had a very small staff. The annual capital transmission investment was too large for us to manage without supplemental consulting help. We managed this situation by going to the buffet, or in other words, Ulteig Engineers.

Then, as now, I could call on Ulteig to provide any service we needed. The list, which was pretty long at times, included: route selection, topographic surveys, landowner title searches, easement procurement and recording, structure selection, environmental and regulatory permitting, design criteria, plastic sag templates (yes, this was before PLSCadd), plan and

profile drawings, detailed design (line, foundations and structures), compilation of construction specifications, material lists, construction support, construction damages settlements, and project closeout. When I needed engineering services, I simply ate from the technical buffet.

Our team benefitted from being able to make one phone call to easily and quickly get the help we needed and wanted. Ulteig always said “Yes,” as we strive to do to this day. There was no need to coordinate multiple consultants and risk communication or coordination gaps. We had one team assigned to our projects. We got to know each other as professionals and as friends. They were our trusted advisors. We were a loyal client. It was a win-win relationship.

I am a strong believer in one-stop-shopping because of these experiences. I believe that both the client and the consultant benefit when the client takes advantage of a full suite of services a consultant provides. I am excited to be associated with Ulteig – the buffet of electric utility consulting firms.

Marlon Vogt is Ulteig’s Account Executive in the Power market. He has more than 30 yhears of experience with all aspects of planning, design, and construction of 12.5 kV-345 kV distribution and transmission systems, including right-of-way acquisition, design, regulatory coordination, public information meetings, public testimony and project management.and contract administration.

Between the WiresBetween the Wires offers a wide variety of knowledge in discussing the energy industry and the issues it faces. From education of future engineers to critical infrastructure analysis, Marlon offers a unique perspective on the industry and where it’s headed.

9

Underground residential distribution (URD) came into

vogue in the United States starting in the 1960s, at the same time a suburban building boom was underway. One reason for this was that putting utilities underground made neighborhoods more attractive. Some communities required any new development to include underground utilities.

While URDs are commonplace now, utilities are finding that more and more of the older URD installations need replacement, sooner than expected. According to Christine Hammack, an Ulteig engineering technician who works at developing and managing URD replacement projects, it comes down to the cable and other materials used in the installation.

“The quality of the cable at that time was relatively low by today’s standards,” she said. “That’s why we see these replacement projects becoming more common.”

Going underground to replace power distributionUnderground Cable Replacement

URD cable installations tend to be segmented, with a segment usually serving only about 50 customers. While a URD failure may not affect a large number of people, replacing failing cable is often a matter of keeping customers satisfied and holding down costs. If a cable repeatedly fails, customers complain more, failures happen more often and staff members have to be retasked from other projects to make repairs.With more URD replacement projects coming into play as cables age, priorities need to be set for when replacements should be done. Some of these include:

• Failure frequency and number of failures in a section

• Age of cable and other installed materials

• Amount of corrosion• Shield bond strength• Insulation shield resistivity• Section-serving critical load• Restoration duration

Once the replacement is done, it’s a matter of recording the materials installed and removed, the size and type of conductor, bore size and length, number of phases and voltage. Together with the location and length of the replacement, all the information is entered into a database to help manage any future URD issues.

Hammack said the URD process involves elements of mapping, civil engineering and electrical transmission, and that there is no one part of the replacement process that stands out as more difficult than any other.

“Some have issues with getting access to the site, others have geographic and topographic challenges,“ she pointed out. “There are those with right-of-way and easement concerns, while others have coordination and equipment challenges. It really depends on the job.”

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In a perfect world, working with as-built drawings would involve the latest version of the plan

documents, stored in an easily accessible archive. But as engineers who work with paper drawings would say, it’s not a perfect world. Sometimes, you can’t rely on the paper drawings to be accurate. Sometimes, they may no longer exist. As Ulteig Engineering Technician Vince Martinez states, the most important factor to start with is accuracy control.

“Drawings are not always kept current. Sometimes, the last known user disregards the need to update a central file location,” he said. “Lack of proper training and not following client protocols leads to misplaced files and lack of accountability. Too many variables can lead to data loss.”

Jon Roloff, a project manager at Ulteig, added that accuracy control is definitely an issue for as-built drawings. “We provide as-built drawing sets, where

AS-BUILT CONVERSION PLANSFrom historical documents to smart files

Converting designs may take extra time, but it reduces the need for piles of paper.

11

we take Issued For Construction (IFC) drawings sets and transcribe any construction modifications for a final document set. Sometimes, we need to verify the as-builts for quality control reasons by sending an inspector, or as part of the next project at that site.”

Going digital

To help prevent data loss and increase accuracy, the utility industry is moving away from paper, except when legally required, to store as-built drawings in digital archives. Driving this conversion is the desire to preserve important information in an easily retrievable format that can be updated as necessary. There are also NERC, data management and bid requirements to consider.

UTILITY COMPANIES HAVE

HAD MILLIONS OF DRAWINGS

AND BOARD DRAFTING

DOCUMENTS DISAPPEAR OVER

THE YEARS.

The big sticking point is developing the process to convert paper documents to a digital format. Some of the steps involve:

• Availability of legacy documents• Staffing needs• Agreement on digital format• Establish file parameters• Time required for conversion• Budget available

Even after considering the steps in conversion, Martinez said there are additional considerations.

“Converting paper to digital is just a scanning function. Simple. It’s the importing and exporting of updated information that poses the problems,” he stated. “Improper use and lack of standardization can result in a lot of confusion and more time spent to clean up any errors.”

Time is the biggest investment in making digital conversions. Depending on the number and type of source documents, simple paper drawings can take an hour to scan, with proper conversion and filing taking up to 40 hours with 500 or more drawings. Going one step farther is adding smart attributes to those files.

Turning digital files into smart digital files means adding more different attributes to the document, beyond scanning. That includes objects and shapes that integrate with software applications such as GIS.

Why convert?

With the requirements for time and budget, there may be questions about the necessity of converting as-built drawings to digital and smart files. One large reason is already occurring, as utilities have had millions of drawings and board drafting documents disappear over the years.

Time spent tracking down drawings that may or may not exist and the required storage area add to project costs, where a digital database makes retrieval, review and updating a faster process. And while the pros outweigh the cons, Martinez does have two words of advice for utilities planning conversions to digital and smart files: plan ahead.

“Digital archiving should be a final solution for specific client needs. It is not a silver bullet of any kind,” he emphasized. “A lot of effort is still needed to make digital archiving easier and user-friendly. The fewer buttons and clicks that are needed, the fewer errors that will be made.”

12

WITH MARCH COMES

SPRING AND...MADNESSIf it’s March, it’s Madness!

“Is it spring yet? Wait. It’s already spring?!?” This is how one of my first conversations started one morning with a colleague in the marketing department. A colleague to whom I owe a monthly blog on the first of every month. I couldn’t tell you what happened between the first of the year that got us so quickly to March. In short, life has been one quarter of pure joyful madness. We have been provided opportunities across the United States, for which we are extremely grateful for. The madness is compounded by expanding the focus on some of lesser-known services while adding new services, such as:

• Project right of way acquisition• Renewable project development

services

• Project manager staff augmentation

• SCADA integration• On-site construction engineers• Protection and control testing

lab The madness comes from an expanding company servicing an expanding power industry. To say it keeps us on our toes is an understatement. Expanded service offerings come with a changing power market. With growing investment in renewables and changes in transmission capacity bidding (via NERC 1000), we can no longer focus our services on only investor-owned utilities. We are seeing investment in generation and capacity we’ve never seen before in our industry.

with Mike Kraft

Across the Grid

From issues and techniques to new technological developments, Across the Grid keeps you updated on what’s happening in clean power generation.

ulteig.com/blogs

13

WITH MARCH COMES

SPRING AND...MADNESS

Mike Kraft is Ulteig’s Account Executive for the Revewable and Power markets. His responsibilities include serving revewable energy clients throughout the US as well as utilities located in the western part of the county. He has more than 10 years of eperience as a project and substation engineer. His background encompasses project management, commissioning, protective relaying, SCADA systems, substations/switchyards, conduit/raceway systems, grounding systems, and field investigations and testing.

More than ever, there are new opportunities available for businesses to expand, partly due to aging infrastructure as well as the aforementioned capacity build out. However, opportunity is also coming in the form of new products and new innovations. Innovations such as UAVs, otherwise known as remote controlled airplanes, to those old enough to remember that name.

As a kid I remember building a remote control airplane, I mean UAV, with my father. Who knew my dad and I were on the leading edge of innovation? Here I thought we were only spending some quality father-son bonding time. If only I could have stuck with it a few more decades.

Between the power market renaissance and new industry innovations, I’m positive we will not see anything close to a summer slowdown. But I am excited to continue working to find new applications and ways to be of value to clients and the industry as a whole.

Since it is spring and one of my favorite times of the year, it’s time to start with the Up-North traditions, when we start peeling off a few of the winter layers and prepare to enjoy the few months of summer we are allowed.

That’s right, the long johns get put away, the coats get changed out for sweatshirts and, for some, the winter beards come off. The last of which is no doubt appreciated the most by the wives and girlfriends. Let the madness commence!

14

When I was a freshman at North Dakota State University, I was

excited to start down the road to my engineering career. One thing I noticed right away is that it can be daunting to enter a 100-seat lecture hall where more than 80 of the seats are filled by men.

That’s where the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) comes in. SWE is a national organization that promotes having women enter STEM careers and supports women already working in the field. Having a group of women to connect with was comforting, making large lecture halls seem a bit smaller and less intimidating. I’m now in my third year, and SWE has grown to mean so much to me as I’ve become more involved in its activities.

My sophomore year, I became involved in the NDSU SWE’s outreach program, TechGYRLS. The afterschool, 10-week series is for third through seventh grade girls. Every week we teach a lesson related to a different area of engineering. It’s rewarding to help these young minds explore engineering, teaching them that they are just as good at math and science as anyone! This year SWE has kept me busy since I was elected the treasurer for the 2014-2015 school year.

This past October, a group of us SWEeties (that’s what we like to call ourselves) were fortunate enough to travel to the SWE national conference in Los Angeles. It is always great to network with other strong and intelligent women from around the world. Conferences are my favorite part of SWE, as it lets me bond

with NDSU members and offers the opportunity to grow my professional network.

SWE has given me the tools to be successful in my collegiate studies. I have a great group of friends and female peers to relate to, all thanks to SWE. The outreach and volunteering opportunities that NDSU SWE provides are always rewarding and a great way to give back to the community as well as show our thanks to NDSU for its support of our organization. SWE has been a powerful force in my collegiate career and will stay with me in my professional career.

Learn more about NDSU’s SWE chapter on its website: ndsuswe.org

Emily Neuhardt is currently interning at Ulteig focusing on substation design work. She has been at Ulteig since May 2014.

Society of Women Engineersfeaturing Ulteig’s Emily Neuhardt

aspire • advance • achieve

15

Trevor Murphy, a student at the

Detroit Lakes branch of Minnesota

State Community and Technical

College (M State), now has a little

extra support in his career goal to

become a civil engineer. Murphy

received a $1,000 scholarship

sponsored by Ulteig. Murphy

received the award from Ulteig’s

Chris Thorson at a banquet held at

the college.

”The scholarship program through

the Detroit Lakes Area College

Foundation is a great way for

Ulteig to support students locally

who are entering civil engineering

technology as a career path,” Thorson

said. “Our hope is that Trevor will be

inspired by engineering leaders like

Mel Ulteig and bring an innovative

spirit to the field of engineering.”

Murphy plans to complete M State’s

two-year engineering program in

Detroit Lakes, then continue on to

North Dakota State University in

Fargo to pursue a bachelor’s degree

in civil engineering.

Jay Wetzel wanted to help his students learn more about energy and what it means to them. That desire to enrich his student’s curriculum led the Hibbing, Minn., High School science teacher to undertake and complete a rigorous 12-credit course through Hamline University School of Education’s Graduate Continuing Studies Program, and the Center for Renewable Energy Education and Demonstration (CREED) Project. Hamline University is located in St. Paul, Minn.

Wetzel was assisted with the program’s costs by Ulteig and, in November, Ulteig Quality Assurance Manager Brian Pratt joined in the ceremony where Wetzel was presented with an Energy Education Certificate. This certification strengthens Wetzel’s teaching credentials and provides the opportunity to expand student knowledge of energy subjects.

CREED’s main initiatives are to motivate students and their families

M State student receives Ulteig scholarship

Ulteig’s Brian Pratt (left) congratulating Jay Wetzel

by Jason Hoskins

education

CREEDCENTER FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY EDUCATION AND DEMONSTRATION

to conserve and invest in renewable energy, and to get them excited about the possibility of careers in the field.

“I met the lead instructor for CREED several years ago and their vision complements our vision at Ulteig, of improving lives and creating more reliable connections,” Pratt emphasized, ”and the synergy with the renewable energy industry is significant. We are impacting the lives of many students in their understanding of the power industry and renewable energy.”

Ulteig is a proud supporter of the CREED Project, a Minnesota nonprofit providing energy education to science, mathematics and technical education teachers at the middle and high school levels. It is the only organization of its kind in the state, deriving funding from utilities and energy companies that sponsor teachers in their service areas.

• Learn more about CREED on its website: creedproject.org

16

We’ve digested a lot of information so far in 2015,

and can anticipate a lot more to come. But when it comes to planning, it’s not too early to turn our eyes towards 2016. Even with the additional com-munications tools we have at our disposal, we still seem to struggle with adequate time to communicate our goals and objectives. Text messages, email, video conferencing, and other programs help improve our pro-ductivity, but too often we miss the opportunity to have purpo-seful conversations to address upcoming challenges, corporate goals and objectives. In other words, we end up treating the symptoms, not the disease.

If we look at planning for 2016 (and beyond), we do our organizations and ourselves an injustice when we cut back on the master planning process. It

MASTER PLAN

by Dan Draughn

Mission: Critical Infrastructure

Mission: Critical Infrastructure focuses on critical intelligent infrastructure and how consumers are becoming energy portfolio managers.

needs to include purposeful reflection and discussions on the progress made so far. During the initial phase (analysis and review), goals and objectives should be reviewed multiple times to insure that they reflect the technology advancements and changes in systems we use. Also, all prior assumptions should be reevaluated to update or eliminate outdated processes and systems.

In the second phase (planning and design), we need to develop the draft plan, where the development of stakeholders should be a major focus. While face-to-face meetings are preferred, we need to realize organizations are managing national partnerships as well as multiple teams in multiple geographic areas. Fortunately, when used effectively, unified communications tools enhance our ability to collaborate with our internal and external teams. The effectiveness of these tools is

ulteig.com/blogs

IT’S NEVER TOO EARLY TO MAKE A

17

together with a broad range of stakeholders.

Proper master planning with key stakeholdersOrganizations have a natural tendency to approach all system enhancements and implementation the same way: like they have been done in the past. The challenge is to move beyond these limitations and address challenges based on a detailed analysis of the budget, risk assessment, training and requirements. Otherwise we shouldn’t be surprised when we have to address the same problems over and over again.

I was recently in a discussion reflecting on a strategy we used to implement networking. It was a layering of individual systems managed and controlled by a broad range of independent organizations (i.e. a system of systems). One major success element was the creation of a layered governance process. But when it came to the planning of the system design, we used the old method of developing detailed spreadsheets. Now we have access to virtual reality systems that can build layered systems with anywhere from thousands to millions of individual elements.

The critical infrastructure industry is now embracing technology convergence with private, public and shared infrastructure. Some primary drivers are increased reliability requirements, carriers eliminating support of traditional telephony services, and advanced control and management tools. New systems offer new features and functionality that increase reliability, monitoring and control capabilities. One of the main challenges moving forward is

directly related to the ease of access and reliability, combined with the ability to communicate with any device anywhere at any time.

To address the cost-effectiveness of the third phase (implementation and integration), critical infrastructure engineering and consultant firms need to work closely with the industry to identify and address additional cyber and physical concerns. Addressing these concerns can be more difficult than answering the age-old questions related to internal (private), external (public) or shared systems.

Recently the industry has been focused on hosted or cloud services, but the sheer volume and security of the systems along with data collected requires additional solutions. For example, internal systems hosted in private data centers could potentially be backed up in a public or private cloud. Expansion of private data centers that directly support daily and emergency operations is required to address not only security concerns but to provide access to critical data real-time.

The fourth phase (operations) was historically been less complicated, when all system operations were managed and controlled internally. Systems operated 100 percent independently, with only a very limited number of individuals having access at any given time to monitor and control systems to address maintenance and outages. Today’s critical infrastructures must address broader threats to system reliability and operations. These threats are increasing and are man-made. So how do we address these threats in a cost-effective manner? By working

the need to support legacy systems.

Training and changes in operational practices are critical to insure the full benefits of new systems. Too often, organizations try and force new technology solutions to act and feel like the legacy systems employees are familiar with. Organizations implementing solutions don’t plan for training during the planning phase because they don’t realize the value of training during the implementation phase. Thus transition and migration training is becoming an increasingly important step in the installation and implementation process.

As systems become more complex and interactive, employees should develop into stakeholders to ensure the suite of options provides the most value to employees. If the stakeholder process isn’t developed, then it is very likely the new systems will be implemented ineffectively and the desired objectives will not be reached.

Benefits of detailed master planningOrganizations that spend the time and resources to build a stakeholder environment while developing their business case are more likely to realize the full value of the solution being implemented, but they are also laying a foundation that will do a better job of developing effective leaders and systems for future projects.

Dan Draughn is Ulteig’s Account Executive in the Critical Infrastructure market and has more than 35 years expererience providing customer-driven technology and energy solutions.

18

A cold and snowy day inspired a “souper” friendly competition to determine who made the best bowl of soup. Fargo’s Paul Bervik sampled the chicken tortilla and gave it

a thumb’s up!

Engineers IN

Action Tahnee Miller gives a presentation on wind farm design at the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Coops

Engineering & Operations Conference.

It was a buffet for electric utilities at this year’s DistribuTECH in San Diego, where Ulteig Account Executive Marlon Vogt (right), connected with VP of Energy Delivery Dan Pudenz,

from Lincoln Electric System.

Several Ulteig employees attended the Fargo Moorhead West Fargo Chamber’s inaugural Women’s Connect event to meet other women having an impact on business. (From left to right) Ashley Campion,

Megan Bartholomay, Jen Hanley (back), Erin Stegman

Tony Marshall, Duke Energy, was the winner of the gift basket at the Spring 2015 UTC Region 3 meeting, presented by Ulteig

Account Executive Dan Draughn (right) in Orlando, Fla.

During Engineers Week, Ulteig account executive Marlon Vogt spoke to nearly a hundred students about “Engineering

Renewable Energy.”

Ulteig Senior Client HR Leader Jennifer Quinby, welcomes

new team members to our bi-monthly group corporate

orientation. (middle photo)

19

The commitment, the dedication, the teamwork......we all have a hand in it!

Water and wastewater topics and solutions brought us to the

Minnesota Rural Water & Wastewater Conference.

While others cleaned, Bob Youness (left) and Dan Draughn

did some cooking as the marketing and sales teams helped

out the Ronald McDonald Houses in Fargo.

We were talking airports, aviation and engineering while

attending the Upper Midwest

Aviation Symposium.

With graduation time coming up, college students are thinking careers, and we were talking about opportunities at

the North Dakota State University job expo.

Wayne Preston (left) and Kyle Frigaard (middle) from Otter Tail Power Company join Mike Kraft, Ulteig account executive,

at our companywide orientation to talk about benefits and services Ulteig has provided them over the last 10 years.

Some of our Bismarck staff made it to the South Dakota

School of Mines & Technology career fair to talk potential

careers with students.

Ulteig employees listen as a panel discusses the business relationship between Otter Tail Power Company and Ulteig.

(from left to right) Wayne Preston, Kyle Frigaard, Mike Kraft, Jason Hoskins. (middle photo)

by Nick Ingolfsland

20

ULTEIG’S PATHTO PROJECT MANAGEMENT

In the summer of 2012, Ulteig’s leadership team saw

an opportunity to improve project performance across the organization. The envisioned solution was a dedicated group of professional project managers with consistent processes for managing scope, schedule and cost for all projects, and the result was a newly formed project management department.

Like most transformation activities, the transition involved people, processes and technology. Our approach was to focus on people first, and then allow the dedicated professionals we selected to tackle the needed process improvements and technology implementations. We knew from the start that there was a long road ahead and that there would be organizational resistance to this change, so to get to the root of the specific concerns, we conducted stakeholder analysis sessions and working groups with the project teams. We learned a lot!

We found there were concerns about introducing new faces into our project teams and potentially impacting project execution and ultimately client satisfaction. We also found there were concerns about the client relationships

Nick Ingolfsland serves as Ulteig’s Chief Administrative Officer (CAO). He’s been with Ulteig since 2008 and has more than 13 years of experience serving in a variety of roles. As CAO, Nick provides leadership and direction for Ulteig’s Project Management team and Information Technology department.

that are so critical to our business and how our new project managers would fit into them. The organization was resistant to change, but for good reason: Ulteig has a long history of delivering exceptional results and our teams were protective of that.

With this information, we started our change management process. We determined that absolute role clarity was a key success factor, and we developed a new internal role that would be responsible for technical scope, design decisions and quality. A group charter was developed to provide universal answers to the questions about why this new group was here and what they were accountable for, and a group leader was brought in to manage the implementation and guide the group.

We started slowly, and as project management resources became available, we trained both the new project managers and the individuals on the technical teams. The new project management group began to meet regularly and build the processes and tools (technology) needed to mature the group and get results. Over time, buy-in increased and the project manager’s role became integral to our projects.

Looking back, there are aspects of our transformation that went well and areas we can learn from. We realized the change management process and focus on buy-in was absolutely critical and further investments in these areas up front would have sped up our implementation time. We also discovered that the training on manager and team roles needs to be ongoing and institutionalized. We were more deliberate about these efforts early on in our implementation and our progress could have been more consistent with institutionalized training on roles. Overall, we feel our implementation was a clear success, and we look forward to continued results from our new project management team.

21

ULTEIG’S PATHTO PROJECT MANAGEMENT

PROJECT PROFILES

NORTHFIELD WIFI

MCKENZIE COUNTY

Ulteig was hired by Northfield Wifi to complete structural evaluation of existing mounts on the top of the Randolf Water Tower located in Northfield, Minn. The purpose of the evaluation was to determine structural capacity to support the existing and proposed Northfield Wifi loading, which included antenna mounts and microwave dish. Ulteig used computer analyses to determine wind speeds and exposure categories to ensure the structure mounts and catwalk could adequately support the proposed equipment installation. Northfield Wifi president Nathaniel Lyon said of the project, “Ulteig’s responsiveness and professionalism really impressed us. Their project turnaround was very quick, and their delivery of a structural report was timely and accurate. The team clearly communicated goals and timelines, and we would recommend them to anyone seeking engineering services.”

At the end of 2014, Ulteig completed final engineering for the protective relay and SCADA RTU replacements for a series of 345kv Transmission Loop projects in Wheatland, Wyo. These projects carried aggressive timelines and demonstrated Ulteig’s ability to provide value added engineering solutions to our client and our capacity to complete engineering design work on time and with a high degree of accuracy.

Engineering and construction were originally to be completed in two phases. The first phase was engineering and construction of the two SCADA RTU replacements and Mehta-Tech digital fault recorder replacements. These replacements

To accommodate increased truck traffic and provide a corridor that safely moves the traveling public and goods, McKenzie County, N.D. selected Ulteig from 19 other firms to provide structural and safety improvements for 16 miles on County Road 27, including replacing a deficient bridge with a new drainage structure. The project was fast-paced, and Ulteig completed design in 12 short weeks. Additionally, Ulteig was able to meet needs on demand with their nearby office in Williston, N.D. The purpose was to improve the existing surfacing and enhance safety. Project scope included design, environmental documentation, and ROW acquisition as well as to develop design, prepare bid packages, prepare all required environmental documentation and acquire pertinent permitting and right-of-way for the project.

were to be completed without taking any transmission line outages. The second phase of the project was to replace the six protective relay sets. Engineering was to begin upon completion of Phase 1 installation and check-out, and after the “issued for construction” drawings were converted to as-built drawings. This would allow sufficient time for design of the protective relay replacement drawings prior to the line outages in the spring of 2015.

Substation Engineer Jacob Lien had a unique idea that ultimately transformed the engineering and construction delivery of the project and better positioned the client to be successful in completing the line relay replacements within the scheduled six week outage. The shift in project delivery was to complete both Phase 1 and 2 simultaneously. As a result, a great deal of time was saved during the scheduled outage by not having to mount new components in existing panels.

BASIN ELECTRIC

22

Renewable Energy

GIS

Ulteig’s work improves lives!Power Planning and Studies

Transmission and Distribution

SubstationPlanning and Environmental

Communications

Project Management

Transportation

Municipal

Survey

Apply today at ulteig.com/careers

Great projects. Great people. Great Opportunity.

Working at Ulteig is more than a job, it means you will be making a difference. We give you the opportunity to grow in your profession as you work on exciting projects in the power, government, renewable energy and communications markets. In addition to these challenging and rewarding projects, you will be offered competitive pay, comprehensive benefi ts, and 100% employee ownership.

with Bob Youness

When roads are being constructed,

one of the most common pieces

of the traffic control plan is a taper.

Tapers, simply put, are signs or devices,

or pavement marks, which move traffic

into a temporary path to keep it clear of

the construction.

When I talk about upstream and downstream, that’s where traffic is approaching or leaving the construction zone, which we also call the transition and termination areas. There are five types of tapers:One-Lane Two-Way Taper• Traffic going in each direction

alternates in passing through the control area, typically directed by temporary control signals or a flagger.

Civil Matters

Civil Matters discusses issues in municipal engineering and development, utilizing Bob’s wealth of experience and knowledge that provide ideas to clients that lead to solutions.

ulteig.com/blogs

Shoulder Closure Taper• Usually seen on high-speed roads,

where traffic might mistake the shoulder of the road as a driving lane.

Merging Taper• Sometimes the most frustrating

taper for drivers, as it has traffic merging from two or more lanes down into one.

Shifting Taper• With a shifting taper, traffic

doesn’t have to merge, but lanes shift laterally, most often onto the roadway shoulder.

Downstream Taper• We see these in the termination

area, to let drivers know that they can now use the original roadway that had been closed.

The taper length criteria and spacing of devices are based on formulas using the speed of the traffic and width of the offset (lane width). There are also other considerations when tapers are implemented.

Lane WidthsExisting lane widths of through roadways should be maintained through the work zone travel way wherever practical. The minimum width for work zone travel lanes shall be 10 feet for all roadways other than Interstate.

Pacing Specifications (Rolling Roadblock)A technical special provision is required to pace traffic for up to twenty (20) minutes maximum to allow work in or above all lanes of traffic for the following:

• Placing bridge members• Placing overhead sign structures• Other items requiring interruption of

traffic

Detours, Diversions and Lane Shifts• Detours redirect traffic onto an

alternate route, using state roads, county roads or city streets to bypass the work zone.

• Diversion are special detours onto a temporary roadway adjacent to the existing or permanent roadway.

• Lane shifts redirect of traffic onto a section of permanent roadway or shoulder.

Work DurationWork duration is a major factor in determining the number and types of devices used in temporary traffic control zones. The five categories of work duration and their time at a location shall be:1. Long term stationary (more than

three days)2. Intermediate-term stationary (more

than one daylight period up to three days or night time work more than one hour)

3. Short-term stationary is daytime work that occupies a location for more than one hour but less than 12 hours

4. Short duration is work that occupies a location up to one hour

5. Mobile is work that moves intermittently or continuously

You can learn more about these on my blog, ulteig.com/blogs

Bob Youness is an Account Executive in the Government market. He has 38 years of experience being responsible for municipal, county, and state engineering projects.

TAPERING TRAFFIC

UPSTREAM AND DOWNulteig.com/blogs

23

Renewable Energy

GIS

Ulteig’s work improves lives!Power Planning and Studies

Transmission and Distribution

SubstationPlanning and Environmental

Communications

Project Management

Transportation

Municipal

Survey

Apply today at ulteig.com/careers

Great projects. Great people. Great Opportunity.

Working at Ulteig is more than a job, it means you will be making a difference. We give you the opportunity to grow in your profession as you work on exciting projects in the power, government, renewable energy and communications markets. In addition to these challenging and rewarding projects, you will be offered competitive pay, comprehensive benefi ts, and 100% employee ownership.

ulteig.com/blogs

Ulteig3350 38th Ave. S. Fargo, ND 58104

UTC Region 6March 22-25 • Overland Park, KS

NDAWWA Water Treatment WorkshopMarch 23-25 • Bismarck, ND

Annual Wastewater Operators Conference/MPCAMarch 25-27 • Brooklyn Park, MN

ND Asphalt ConferenceMarch 31-April 1 • Bismarck, ND

ENTELEC Conference & Trade ShowApril 7-9 • Houston, TX

Spring Transmission, Distribution and Metering ConferenceApril 12-16 • Orlando, FL

Minnesota Airports ConferenceApril 15-17 • St. Cloud, MN

IEEE REPCApril 19-21 • Asheville, NC

MIC/MUG UTC Region 5 ConferenceApril 20-24 • Milwaukee, WI

Iowa Wind Power ConferenceApril 21-22 • Ankeny, IA

MHA Oil ConferenceApril 22-23 • New Town, ND

Lignite Energy Council Contractor/Supplier MeetingApril 23 • Bismarck, ND

ASCE Structures CongressApril 23-25 • Portland, OR

TransForum WestMay 5-6 • San Diego, CA

UTC TelecomMay 5-8 • Atlanta, GA

Joint AGC - Corps of Engineers Annual MeetingMay 8-9 • Omaha, NE

RMEL Spring Mgmt, Engineering & Operations ConferenceMay 17-19 • St. Louis, MO

Utility Supply Management AllianceMay 17-20 • Savannah, GA

AWEA WINDPOWER ConferenceMay 18-21 • Orlando, FL

IEEE Transportation & Electrification Initiative (iTEC)June 14-17 • Dearborn, MI

UPCOMING EVENTS