ArcFM Solution: The Director's Cut

The Designer Migration Two-Step

From time to time you may need to change the name of a Designer database or even copy the entire database to another location, perhaps to create a new testing environment or as part of a hardware upgrade.

Ideally you would reconcile, post, and delete all existing designs before beginning the migration. For occasions when some designs must remain outstanding during a migration, ArcFM and Designer provide two data source wizards that together can repoint existing designs to the new data location.

As always before making any major database change, back up the database (and in this case the MM_WMS_DESIGNS table in particular).

1. ArcFM Data Source Wizard
   • Changes the data source for Stored Display layers, including Stored Displays associated with particular existing designs. If this tool is not run, any designs that have their own Stored Displays will upon opening display red exclamation marks in the Table of Contents Display tab, and will fail to display the missing data on the map.
   • Launch in ArcCatalog by right-clicking the database connection and choosing ArcFM Data Source Wizard.
2. Workflow Manager Data Source Wizard
   • Changes the data source for the design workspaces. If this tool is not run, any designs that have their own Stored Displays may display error messages indicating that the workspace was not found. 
   • Launch from the ArcFM installation folder, under ArcFM Solution\Bin\ WorkflowManagerDataSourceWizard.exe.

During each of these two processes you will browse to the new data source. This should be the source of the business data (electric/gas/water/fiber/etc.), not the process framework data.

When migrating a Designer database, run both wizards, starting with the ArcFM Data Source Wizard. When migrating an ArcFM-only database, you will only need to run the ArcFM Data Source wizard because sessions do not save workspace information.

Square Butterfly, Round Manhole

When creating underground facilities through the Diagram Manager, the Configure and Create step only offers rectangular floors and walls. 

However, you can use the ArcFM Method for sketching – Features tab, Targets tab, Sketch – to place irregular shaped facilities, including…… CIRCLES!  You can then save these diagrams as favorites and reuse them easily.

A. First, follow the steps in Create Circular Structure Favorite to create the favorite.

B. Then follow these steps to place the favorite:

1. Apply a Stored Display that is configured for Underground Facilities.
    
2. Start an Edit Session.
    
3. On the ArcFM Underground Facility Manager toolbar, click the first button.
   
   
   
    
   
4. On the map, click an existing underground structure to launch the Underground Facility Diagram Manager.
    
5. In the Table of Contents, display the Features tab.
    
6. Under the System (or User) Favorites will be the category created by ArcFM when you save a diagram for Underground Facilities. Select the circular structure composite favorite.
   
   
   
   
   
   
7. The favorite appears on the ArcFM Attribute Editor, Targets tab where you may modify any of attribute values as needed before sketching.
   
   
   
   
   
8. Once the attributes are set correctly, click on the Composite node (the top level) and sketch the diagram in your map.
   
   
   
   

    
   
9. After the diagram is placed, the Diagram Manager recognizes that its first step has been completed, so you can proceed to place duct banks and ducts.

Many thanks to Brian Higgins for his contributions to this post!

Webcast Follow Up: Server, Staker, Express, and Designer

Following the What's New in ArcFM 9.3.1 webcast and in anticipation of the pending release of 9.3.1 SP1 slated for later this month, we've received a series of questions relating to product functionality and tasks. So, we'd like to take this opportunity to share these inquires with you (and their answers, of course).

ArcFM Server

Q: Is there any print functionality or export to PDF functionality in ArcFM Silverlight Viewer?
A: Not yet. However, printing is one of our highest priorities for the next release.

Q: Are the Silverlight Toolkit and the ArcFM Silverlight Viewer product in the current 9.3.1 release or the pending 9.3.1 SP1 release? 
A: Both are officially part of the 9.3.1 release and in so are available for download by registered users on our web site.

Q: Can you search on a field in related data at 9.3.1?
A: Yes. And furthermore, which specific fields how many levels of relationships you search are fully configurable.

Q: Is the tracing functionality present in the existing ArcFM Viewer for ArcFM Server application also part of the new ArcFM Silverlight Viewer released at 9.3.1?
A: Tracing has not made it to the UI yet, but the REST infrastructure is in place.

Q: What kind of data properties can you edit in ArcFM Silverlight Viewer?
A: You don't directly edit data properties in ArcFM Silverlight Viewer. However, ArcFM Silverlight Viewer does honor the ArcFM Properties (e.g. model names) as configured via the ArcFM Properties Manager in ArcCatalog.

Staker

Q: Must you have Designer implemented before you can use Staker?
A: No. While Staker does integrate with Workflow Manager on the enterprise, it is completely separate from Designer. Designer is not required to run Staker.

Express

Q: Does Express use existing feature classes or new "proposed" feature classes when placing facilities?
A: While sketching facilities, all editing occurs with new "proposed" feature classes called Design Feature Classes (DFCs). Even while abandoning or deleting features, the underlying, existing feature class does NOT get edited; rather, it gets 'marked' for abandonment or deletion through the placement of a DFC in its stead.

Q: Is the Design Feature Class (DFC) functionality part of core Designer at 9.3.1?
A: Not yet. It is just present in Express. However, a great deal of consideration is being given to adding DFCs into core Designer and Staker in the near future.

Designer

Q: In addition to front lot construction for subdivisions, is Telvent going to be doing automatic design for overhead and gas?
A: We are still looking into overhead optimization requirements but have not yet discussed gas.

Q: Will the GPS functionality present in Staker (to support the placement of individual stakes) be added to core Designer?
A: It is not something we are considering for the next release.