Purpose

When learning about the utility network, it can be difficult to know where to start when faced with the volume of available content. This is further complicated by the fact that the audience trying to learn about the utility network is extremely diverse in terms of their technical expertise and goals, as well as their industries and objectives. The purpose of this article is to consolidate all the most relevant content for data migration into a single page. If you’re interested in industry-specific reading lists for the utility network, please visit the related articles section at the bottom of the article.

Each piece of content includes a title, description, type of content, and targeted experience level. This information will allow you to quickly identify content that is appropriate to your preferred learning style (video, article, etc.) and your current level of understanding of the utility network (beginner, intermediate, advanced). The levels used in this article are defined as follows:

• Beginner – This content is suitable for all readers and does not require previous experience with or understanding of the utility network.
• Intermediate – This content is beneficial to all readers but may be tailored toward specific roles in an organization. These articles build on the beginner-level content and may also contain concepts that build on other intermediate-level content.
• Advanced – This content is not suitable or necessary for all readers and requires a strong understanding of multiple intermediate-level articles. The concepts and may also require domain expertise or experience with data migration.

While it is possible to read all the content listed in this article from top-to-bottom, most people will bookmark this page and revisit it as they need to focus on specific topics for meetings or workshops. Before reviewing this content, think about what you want to focus on learning so you can prioritize reviewing the topics and content that is most relevant to your current situation. If you’re new to the utility network, focus on the core concepts; if you are handling data cleanup, focus on familiarizing yourself with editing and topology; for analysis tasks, review the tracing and subnetworks sections.

You can use the links below to navigate directly to the chapter of this article that interests you the most. Each chapter is further divided into sections that focus on specific areas of interest within that topic.

• Data migration
• Migration Toolset
  • Additional configuration for sewer and stormwater
  • Additional configuration for electrical networks
  • Additional configuration for water, gas, and pipeline
• Utility Network Foundations
• Error analysis and resolution

Data Migration

When it comes to implementing a utility network, there are several different approaches available. The most common approach is to implement an industry standard model, like a Utility Network Foundation, but there are other options. This chapter discuss these options to help you make an informed decision about which approach is best for your organization.

Approaches and options

This first article provides an overview of the options and their capabilities. It’s recommended you read this article before reviewing the other content in this chapter.

	Title	ArcGIS for Utilities – Enterprise GIS for Modern Network Information Management
	Level	Beginner
	Type	Article
	Description	Explore network information management with ArcGIS and learn how it drives digital transformation for utilities.

The next article discusses a framework for how you can make the decision to implement your utility network using the migration toolset or whether to implement a utility network foundation. This includes a discussion of time, complexity, and the change management impacts of your decision. This is a more technical discussion of the topic of which approach to take and is an article you may find yourself revisiting multiple times as you become more familiar with the data models and the strengths of each approach.

	Title	Choosing the right model for you
	Level	Intermediate
	Type	Article
	Description	Learn the differences between models created by the Migration toolset and the Utility Network Foundations. You’ll also learn the difference between the Essentials and Expanded models.

Tutorial

This tutorial shows you how to use tools provided by the ArcGIS Solutions team along with tools included in ArcGIS Pro to migrate data to a Utility Network Foundation. This tutorial is written using Esri’s local government information model, but the tools and techniques you learn with this tutorial are easily transferable to other datasets.

	Title	Load data into a utility network
	Level	Intermediate
	Type	Tutorial
	Description	Migrate data to a utility network using Esri data loading tools, Utility Network Foundations, and Utility Network Package Tools.

If you are looking for industry-specific examples for data migration, each Utility Network Foundation includes at least one data loading tutorial with instructions and sample data unique to that foundation.

Demonstrations

The video below is of a webinar that provides a more detailed discussion and demonstration of the content from the first article.

	Title	Navigating Network Information Management
	Level	Beginner
	Type	Video
	Description	This webinar goes into the different options of implementing the utility network using the migration tool and also best practices.

This next video is a presentation from the Esri’s Developer and Technology Summit that shows a complete end-to-end demonstration of both data migration processes. It also includes a discussion of why some organizations may favor one approach over the other, examples of how each approach differs, and a discussion of several techniques to get quick wins using the new Migration toolset.

	Title	Migrating to the Utility Network
	Level	Intermediate
	Type	Video
	Description	This session will show developers how they can build their own automation to migrate data into the utility network. It will introduce core concepts of the utility network information model, best practices for migration, quality assurance requirements, …

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Migration toolset

The Migration toolset is a collection of tools that were released with ArcGIS Pro 3.3 to make it easier for customers to assess the quality of their data for the purposes of a utility network migration, as well as provide tools to convert their data to a utility network that matches their current schema.

A Utility Network Migration Wizard was also introduced in ArcGIS Pro 3.5, you can see a video of it below.

	Title	Utility Network Migration Wizard
	Level	Intermediate
	Type	Article
	Description	Watch a short video demonstrating the utility network migration wizard.

This chapter presents resources for customers who are interested in using these tools to develop a prototype, perform quality assurance, or do a full implementation of their utility network. Even customers who plan on implementing a Utility Network Foundation will often use the Migration toolset to develop a prototype because of the amount of insight it can provide in such a short time with a relatively small amount of effort.

Creating your own model

This first article demonstrates the process of how to use the migration toolset to create your own unique utility network.

	Title	Introducing the Migration Toolset for ArcGIS Utility Network
	Level	Intermediate
	Type	Article
	Description	Learn how to use the new Migration toolset to make your utility network migration even easier.

This next article provides a more detailed explanation of exactly how the Migrate To Utility Network Tool and Utility Network Migration Wizard create a utility network. It also shows how the decisions you make while configuring the tool will affect the final data model the tool produces.

	Title	Building Your Utility Network
	Level	Intermediate
	Type	Article
	Description	Learn the secret of how the Migrate to Utility Network tool migrates any geodatabase to a utility network.

Migration considerations

This section shows the considerations downstream of implementing a utility network migration using the Migration toolset. They include how to create a repeatable migration, configurations you are likely going to apply to your network data, and how to deploy your migrated data to ArcGIS Enterprise.

This first article shows how to take the output of the Migration toolset and create a repeatable data migration that supports the iterative development and configuration that is typical of most projects.

	Title	Expanding on the Migrate To Utility Network tool
	Level	Advanced
	Type	Article
	Description	Learn how to build a repeatable data migration using the Migration toolset, Data Loading toolset, and the UN Package tools.

The next article contains discussion and videos of how to use the migration toolset to implement a utility network. It includes demonstration of the data migration capabilities of the migration toolset, along with examples of how to use the migration toolset to automate fixing topology errors.

	Title	Deploying a utility network with the Migration toolset
	Level	Intermediate
	Type	Video
	Description	Learn how to use the Migration Toolset to migrate data to a utility network and deploy it to an ArcGIS Enterprise environment. Includes demonstrations of data conversion, automated error resolution, and re-configuration of map documents.

Additional configuration for Sewer and Stormwater

This section shows how to configure a utility network created by the Migrate To Utility Network Tool to have some of the advanced capabilities and behaviors expected of sewer and stormwater networks.

The first article shows some of the basic configurations required to make a utility network trace like a gravity-based network using stormwater data. If you are using reading this article and adapting the instructions for a sewer model, keep these points in mind:

• The tracing concepts in this article are applicable to both sewer and stormwater models.
• Customers who model station details in their sewer networks will want to follow the instructions in this article for configuring containment.
• Junction-junction associations are typically only found in advanced sewer networks created by a Utility Network Foundation.

	Title	Basic gravity network configuration
	Level	Intermediate
	Type	Tutorial
	Description	Learn how to configure a utility network to act like a gravity-based network like those found in storm, sanitary sewer, and combined models. This article shows you how to configure tracing to use the high points and low points of your pipes, how to model the connections between outfalls and open channels, how to model BMP structures like detention basins, and how to create traces that can be shared with web and field users.

The next article shows how to configure some of the more advanced capabilities of the utility network that some, but not all, stormwater customers may require. When adapting this content for sewer networks, keep the following points in mind:

• Your main subnetwork is going to be your wastewater treatment plant
  • Once you’ve created this subnetwork you can use this to quickly find all your disconnected features
• Sub-basins can also be modeled as subnetworks
• If you have significant infrastructure downstream of your wastewater treatment plant for discharging treated water, you can also create subnetworks using those discharge points

	Title	Advanced gravity network configuration
	Level	Advanced
	Type	Tutorial
	Description	Learn how to apply more advanced configurations to create the behaviors expected by stormwater, sewer, and combined systems including creating subnetworks to model catchment areas, using terminals to manage flow, and using subnetworks to perform quality assurance.

Additional configuration for electrical networks

The articles in this section show how to configure a utility network created by the Migrate To Utility Network Tool to have some of the capabilities and behaviors expected of an electrical network.

The first article shows some of the basic configurations required to make a utility network trace like an electrical network. This includes representing open devices, modeling circuits, and creating network attributes to represent the electrical characteristics of your features like phasing or voltage. Most of these concepts are readily applicable to distribution, transmission, and generation networks. When reading this article keep in mind these points:

• This article shows how to configure the utility network to track the phasing of each device and conductor in the network
  • This is separate from phase orientation, which is the physical orientation of phasing on equipment in the field
• The next article shows how to configure the utility network to manage and validate phasing
  • If you only follow the steps in the first article your model will still energize features with incorrect phasing information
• If you do not have information about phasing or don’t want to trace by individual phases, you can ignore the sections on multiple device statuses and electrical phasing.

	Title	Basic electrical network configuration
	Level	Intermediate
	Type	Tutorial
	Description	This article discusses some basic configuration changes you can make to a utility network to address electric utility specific requirements. You will see ways of modeling open/closed switches, phasing, and feeder management.

The next article shows how to configure some of the more advanced capabilities of the utility network that some, but not all, electrical customers may require. This includes defining rules for attachment or containment, along with configuring phase propagation to represent an unbalanced model. Points:

• If you do not track relationships between devices/conductors and structures, you can skip the sections on attachment and containment.
• If you don’t have the need or data to support tracing individual phases you can skip the section on propagating phase.
  • Most outage management systems, advanced distribution management systems, and engineering analysis tools require accurate phasing.
  • If choose to not manage phasing in your utility network you run the risk of improperly assigning phase in your GIS and breaking any models downstream of it

	Title	Advanced electrical network configuration
	Level	Advanced
	Type	Tutorial
	Description	Learn how to configure more advanced capabilities used to represent electrical data in the utility network including structural attachment, containment, phase propagation and terminals.

Additional configuration for water, gas, and pipeline

This section show how to configure a utility network created by the Migrate To Utility Network Tool to have some of the capabilities and behaviors expected of a water or gas and pipeline networks.

The first article shows some of the basic configurations required to make a utility network trace like a water network. This includes representing closed valves, performing an isolate trace, and modeling the water supplies required to create a system subnetwork. You can adapt these concepts to a gas and pipeline network by keeping the following points in mind:

• The concepts behind valve status and isolating equipment is the same between both networks.
• Isolation tracing on distribution systems is the same between both networks.
• This article is just discussing your ultimate sources, like custody transfer meters or wellheads. Pressure zones are discussed in the next article.

	Title	Basic pressurized network configuration
	Level	Intermediate
	Type	Tutorial
	Description	Learn the basics of configuring a utility network to model the sources used by a pressure network. This article shows you the configuration required to perform an isolation trace, create a system subnetwork, how to model open/closed valves, and how to create trace configurations you can use to share isolation trace with web and field users.

The next article shows how to configure some of the more advanced capabilities of the utility network on a gas distribution dataset. These are features that some, but not all, gas and pipeline customers may require. This includes configuring terminals and creating pressure zones. When adapting these concepts to a water network, keep the following points in mind:

• Your pressure sources are going to be storage tanks, pumps.
• You regular pressure using pressure reducing valves instead of regulators.
• The same considerations for subnetwork definitions apply to both networks.

	Title	Advanced pressurized network configuration
	Level	Advanced
	Type	Tutorial
	Description	In this article you will learn some of the more advanced configurations for pressurized networks. This includes configuring a pressure zone tier, assigning terminal configurations, and customizing your subnetwork definitions to meet your business requirements.

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Utility Network Foundation

These resources are designed to help customers who are interested in implementing a Utility Network Foundation developed by the ArcGIS Solutions team.

This section begins with an introduction to what Utility Network Foundations are.

	Title	Introducing Utility Network Foundations
	Level	Beginner
	Type	Article
	Description	Learn how to use Utility Network Foundations to reduce the time and effort required to implement the Utility Network.

The next video is a discussion and demonstration of the Utility Network Foundations, and the tools used to implement them. It discusses the differences between essentials and expanded models, how to manage configurations between the two models, along with general best practices for implementation.

	Title	UC 2024 – ArcGIS Solutions: Utility Network Foundations
	Level	Advanced
	Type	Video
	Description	Looking to implement solutions to help your organization with utility management? Join us to get an overview of a set of ArcGIS Solutions for utility network (UN) essentials that help utilities begin their UN implementation. See how to migrate existing source data and maintain the utility asset inventory.

Migrating a foundation

Learn about what it takes to do your own data migration without needing to create or buy custom data migration tools.

This article provides an overview of the tools provided by the ArcGIS Solutions team to streamline the process for migrating data to a utility network.

	Title	Simplifying ArcGIS Utility Network migrations
	Level	Intermediate
	Type	Article
	Description	Learn about recent enhancements released by the ArcGIS Solutions team that streamline and simplify the utility network migration process.

This article includes videos that demonstrate the process for migrating to and deploying a Utility Network Foundation.

	Title	Deploying a Utility Network Foundation
	Level	Intermediate
	Type	Video
	Description	Learn how to migrate data to a Utility Network Foundation using the Utility Data Management Support tools and the Data Loading toolset.

Each Utility Network Foundation includes a copy of the Utility Data Management Support tools (UDMS) to assist with migration. You can learn more about these tools by visiting their GitHub page.

	Title	Utility Data Management Support Tools
	Level	Advanced
	Type	Article
	Description	Learn how the Utility Data Management Support tools (UDMS) assist with working with the utility network and their maps.

Best practices

The following resources discuss some of the best practices surrounding data migration.

This first presentation from the Esri Developer and Technology Summit discusses best practices for performing a prototype of the utility network and why most organizations would benefit from doing a prototype before tackling a full implementation or pilot.

	Title	Running a Successful Utility Network Prototype
	Level	Intermediate
	Type	Video
	Description	This session will show you how you develop a utility network prototype using your own data. It will include an overview of all the different types of training and learning resources offered by Esri along with a list of free solutions and data models you can use to get stated with the process.

The next presentation discusses some of the best practices and tips to consider when implementing a utility network.

	Title	UC 2022 – ArcGIS Utility Network: Implementation Considerations and Tips
	Level	Intermediate
	Type	Video
	Description	Learn from Esri’s professional services team about what they have learned after many Utility Network implementations.

The following technical article was written by Esri Professional Services to discuss the overall workflow for migrating data to a utility network, along with the importance of establishing a repeatable procedure that includes quality assurance.

	Title	Utility Network data migration best practices
	Level	Advanced
	Type	Article
	Description	This technical article describes the best practices for the solutions, processes, and quality assurance for performing data migration into the ArcGIS Utility Network.

Utility Network Package tools

Learn more about the tools used to deploy utility networks.

This first article includes an overview of the tools included in the Utility Network Package toolbox that is used to deploy the Utility Network Foundation.

	Title	An overview of the Utility Network Package toolbox
	Level	Advanced
	Type	Documentation
	Description	The Utility Network Package toolbox contains tools to create and configure utility networks using asset packages. At the root level of the toolbox, the Stage Utility Network tool can be accessed.

This next article is a reference to the schema of the Asset Package that is used to describe the data model and configuration of a utility network. It is important to understand this schema when performing data migration to ensure that all tables are properly populated.

	Title	Asset Package Schema
	Level	Advanced
	Type	Documentation
	Description	Learn about all the tables and fields in an asset package.

Error analysis and resolution

This section shows tools available to help customers get over the initial hurdle of topology errors when they implement. Getting an error-free network topology is an important part of any implementation, and there are tool tools to automate much of the analysis and act as a force multiplier for resolving errors. Before you consider automating any error resolutions make sure you have a strong understanding of the different approaches to resolving errors discussed in the earlier articles.

The first article shows the overall workflow for identifying and resolving topology errors using the Migration toolset. This information is important for those who do data migrations or users who want to do a data assessment of their own data.

	Title	Analyzing Topology Errors
	Level	Intermediate
	Type	Article
	Description	This article shows you how the new Migration toolset can help you analyze and resolve quality assurance issues you need to create a utility network.

The second article shows examples of each type of error and examples of the most common types of actions you can apply using error resolutions using the tools included in the Migration toolset. This information is important for those who want to understand the results of an error analysis in order to resolve the errors, regardless of whether they plan on resolving them manually or using the automated tools.

	Title	Resolving Topology Errors
	Level	Intermediate
	Type	Article
	Description	Learn how to use the Analyze Network Data and Apply Error Resolution tools to identify and resolve topology errors with your utility network data.

Configuration considerations

This article shows how you can use the Migration toolset to make adjustments to the network rules in your model. This includes a process for calculating a new set of network rules using the current connectivity in your data, then evaluating the validity of each new rule before applying them to your model. This information is intended for users who are implementing their utility network who are looking for a way to streamline their network rules.

	Title	Refining your connectivity rules
	Level	Intermediate
	Type	Article
	Description	Learn how to use the Migration toolset to analyze your network data to optimize the connectivity rules of your utility network.