Network management provides organizations with information regarding resource pathways, unacceptable redundancies, and under-utilized resources. Proper network management depends on the reliability of path information.
The management of paths allows organizations to optimize the delivery of resources and track the status of a network. In a utility network, paths are referred to as subnetworks. A single subnetwork can be used to model such things as a circuit in electric networks, a zone in gas and water networks, or a trunk line in a sewer network.
A utility network provides various architectural pieces for modeling different types of network topologies. The way a utility network is designed determines the network's structure or topology, the flow direction of the network commodity, the definition or make up of tiers and subnetworks, and what information is stored about subnetworks. To learn more about structuring your network, see Architecture.
There are various components and tools used to model, manage, and operate subnetwork information. The following list is the general workflow involved with configuring and managing subnetworks in a utility network:
- Add a domain network—Specify the tier definition for tiers (hierarchical or partitioned) and the subnetwork controller type (Subnetwork source or Subnetwork sink) for subnetwork controllers in a domain network. This determines the flow direction of the network commodity.
- Add tier group—Tier groups aggregate tiers to help organize subnetworks for domain networks with hierarchical tier definitions.
- Add a tier—Specify the rank of the tier and topology type (mesh or radial) of subnetworks in the tier. These determine the structure or topology of your network; ultimately impacting how your network is traced.
- Set the subnetwork definition—Specify the subnetwork definition for subnetworks in a tier. A subnetwork definition allows you to control what device and line features make up a subnetwork in a tier, what information is exported about subnetworks, and the barrier features that determine the extent (or end) of a subnetwork.
- Create or import subnetwork controllers—Add subnetwork controllers to a utility network. Certain terminals on device features in your network are set to be a subnetwork controller; determining the origin of a subnetwork.
- Connect features to the subnetwork controllers—Build out a physical subnetwork.
- Validate the network topology—Consume the modification made to your network and mark the subnetwork as dirty; indicating an update is required.
- Update the subnetwork—Run a single tool to apply the name of the subnetwork to connected features, update the Is Connected attribute for connected features, update the status of a subnetwork from dirty to clean in the Subnetworks table, generate a line in the SubnetLine feature class, and create or update a subnetwork system diagram.