Profile: LES is a publicly owned utility providing electricity to 120,000 customers in the Lincoln area. Their mission is “To provide energy and services of superior value and enhance growth and development of the greater Lincoln area.” Six divisions carry out this mission: Administration, Power Supply, Engineering, Operations, Finance & Accounting, and Consumer Services. This is the fourth consecutive year LES has presented a new challenge for Design Studio to solve.

Problem/Opportunity: Lincoln Electric System has several methods of generating electricity for its customers. One such method involves purchasing natural gas. Tracking purchases becomes difficult since they are made through multiple contracts, many of which run three years into the future. Support is also needed to help determine which contracts provide the greatest benefit for the purchase or sale of natural gas at any given time.

Solution: The Design Studio team is developing a Gas Transaction System (GTS) that will provide decision-makers with relevant information that is both up-to-date and easily accessible. This centralized, web-accessible, transaction management system will allow both the entry and review of data related to gas contracts and electricity usage. The reporting provided by the system includes tables and interactive charts with sorting and filtering functions.

Benefits: This decision support system will enable Lincoln Electric System to operate more efficiently and help them make more informed decisions with respect to natural gas purchases. Ultimately, this will help keep electricity costs low for LES customers.

Technologies:

Visual Basic .NET
Oracle 9i Release 2
Chart Director
.NET Framework 1.1
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise