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Precision Valley Communications Reduces HFC Design Time by 80 Percent Using Bentley Software

Precision Valley Communications Reduces HFC Design Time by 80 Percent Using Bentley Software
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Precision Valley Communications Reduces HFC Design Time by 80 Percent Using Bentley Software - 1

CASE STUDY Project Summary Organization: Precision Valley Communications Location: Washington, D.C. United States Project Objective: • Execute a field survey of a major cable company’s network, including 586 miles of conduit, 2,400 manholes, and over 200,000 multiple-dwelling units. • Complete a major network redesign to move all equipment from manholes to breakout pedestals to reduce rented duct space and increase accessibility for field crews. Products used: Bentley Coax, Bentley Fiber Fast Facts • To meet highly demanding deadlines, PVC switched mid-project from a competing solution to Bentley’s HFC network engineering solution. • The solution’s MicroStation-based CAD environment, HFC-specific workflows, and optimized Oracle Spatial integration boosted productivity and reduced errors. • Bentley software enabled PVC to switch between the 870 MHz and 1 GHz design specifications required in the network, providing the flexibility to modify designs without jeopardizing the project schedule. ROI • Bentley Coax and Bentley Fiber enabled PVC’s expert engineers to meet the demanding project schedule milestones and secure ongoing funding for the project. • In total, PVC saved over 20 months in time – equivalent to 18 thousand man-hours drafting as-built survey data and design construction drawings, including permitting. • This 80 percent reduction in labor saved over USD 1 million in design, drafting and permitting efforts. Precision Valley Communications Reduces HFC Design Time by 80 Percent Using Bentley Software Accelerates Delivery of Advanced Broadband Services for the U.S. Capital Facing Impossible Obstacles Precision Valley Communications (PVC), a premier supplier of communications network mapping and engineering to the broadband industry, was five months into a project to survey and redesign a hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) network for a major cable company in Washington, D.C. Despite over 25 years in the business and 400 years of combined field mapping experience, things weren’t going well. “We had four highly productive drafters using software that competes against Bentley’s hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) network engineering solution, and it took them five months to post 122 miles of as-built survey drawings,” explained John Notarangelo, Director of Business Development at PVC. With only 21 percent of the 586 miles of survey completed, this USD 145 million project was way behind schedule. “Missing the schedule deadlines meant the funding would be pulled and the project terminated,” he added. “Without the field as-builts done, we couldn’t complete the redesign in time to submit for permit approval by the city.” “Using the competing software product and four highly productive drafters, it took us five months to post 122 miles of as-built survey drawings. After switching to Bentley Coax and Bentley Fiber, those same resources completed approximately 400 miles in approximately seven weeks.” To be fair, PVC faced an unusually complex set of project challenges. For example, the team had to physically survey 2,400 of the city’s 3,167 manholes while adhering to the District of Columbia’s traffic control regulations – no small task. In addition, they had to physically survey nearly 225,000 multiple dwelling units, including high-profile and high-security sites such as embassies and congressional staff offices. Each of these locations required special preparations just to gain access. Despite the scope and complexity of the survey, PVC’s management team knew the delays weren’t the result of a labor skill set issue. “We’d assigned four of our best drafters to convert the field survey notes into as-built drawings,” noted Notarangelo. “After analyzing the situation, it was clear that our biggest productivity obstacle was the software tool that our client mandated we use to document and design.” Bentley’s MicroStation-based CAD environment and HFC-specific workflows boosted productivity and accuracy. Choosing the Right Tools for the Job Using this non-Bentley software, PVC’s drafting team experienced significant workflow impediments. This was due in part to an inefficient integration with the enterprise spatial database, which resulted in time-consuming database transactions. For example, deleting a network tap triggered the software to validate the data integrity of every piece of upstream equipment in the database, which could take up to 10 minutes or more. If one of the calculations was found to be out of spec, the user would have to make another change and incur additional delays. These constant workflow interruptions crushed design productivity. Looking ahead, management could see that if they were forced to use the client’s specified software for the design phase of the project, the design team would experience these

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Precision Valley Communications Reduces HFC Design Time by 80 Percent Using Bentley Software - 2

“The time and cost savings achieved with Bentley software secured ongoing project funding and enabled the successful delivery against an accelerated schedule.” — John P. Notarangelo, director of business development, Precision Valley Communications Find out about Bentley at: www.bentley.com Contact Bentley 1-800-BENTLEY (1-800-236-8539) Outside the US +1 610-458-5000 Global Office Listings www.bentley.com/contact same types of inefficiencies yet again. “It was clear that if we wanted to be successful, we needed more efficient software tools.” As a long-time user of Bentley software, PVC...

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