AITP Lehigh Valley Meets
The next meeting of the Lehigh Valley Chapter of AITP is Wednesday, January 17, 2006 @ 5:30 PM at Christopher's at the Columbian Home, 1519 Greenleaf Street, Allentown, PA
Below is the meeting announcement and specific location directions. Also attached in MS WORD format is a more formal announcement if you would like to distribute the announcement to others. We are looking forward to seeing you again on 1/17.
--------------Meeting Announcement------------------------------
Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP) Lehigh Valley Chapter
JANUARY MEETING
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Discussion Theme:
"Our GIS Journey - From Engineering Tool to Corporate Asset Repository"
Speaker: Mr. David Walton, Director of Information Technologies for PPL Electric Utilities and PPL Gas Utilities
Over the past ten years the PPL GIS system has grown into a corporate critical application that is used by all the PPL Corporation delivery companies to manage their critical assets. At last count, PPL Electric Utilities keeps track of over two million poles, substations and transformers. PPL Telcom is also using the GIS to manage some of their assets that exist within the PPL Electric Utility territory. PPL Gas Utilities is also managing their network of pipes, valves and regulators in a separate GIS. The GIS currently serves as a key component of our application architecture and is a critical component in support of key utility processes such as work management, outage management, engineering and attachment revenue.
PPL uses ESRI database technology and Miner and Miner engineering tools as well as a handful of home grown tools to form the core of our GIS environment.
The presentation will focus on the history and growth of our environment and PPL has evolved from purely an engineering application to one which is used to enable a number of utility processes. Our story will include sharing some of the bumps and bruises obtained along the way, creative uses of the system, some success stories as well as some lessons learned.
Dave Walton is director of Information Technologies for PPL Electric Utilities and PPL Gas Utilities. A member of the Information Services Department, he is responsible for all information technology activities for the two companies.
Walton joined PPL in 1976 as a programmer in ISD's financial group. Since then, he has worked as a system coordinator in the Fuels Department, customer system analyst in ISD, manager-Continuous Improvement in the former Power Production Department, and manager-Info Solutions-Customer Care. Active in the community, Walton is president of Push the Rock Inc., a nonprofit sports ministry that runs camps and overseas outreach trips. He also coaches soccer for the
Western Lehigh Soccer Club and is a member of the Elder Board of Faith Evangelical Free Church. Walton is listed in Marquis Who's Who in America, United Who's Who and America's Registry of Outstanding Professionals. A graduate of King's College, Walton earned an MBA from Lehigh University.
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Meeting Location
Christopher's at the Columbian Home
1519 Greenleaf Street, Allentown, PA
Directions to the Columbian Home:
Traveling west on Rt. 22 from Bethlehem: Exit at the 15th Street exit.
Turn
left at the bottom of the ramp (15th St.) Stay on 15th Street for about 1 mile. Turn right onto Greenleaf St. It will be the first right after the traffic light at Roth Ave.
Traveling East on Rt. 22 from West Allentown: Exit at the 15th Street exit.
Turn right at the bottom of the ramp (15th St.) Stay on 15th Street for about
1 mile. Turn right onto Greenleaf St. It will be the first right after the traffic light at Roth Ave.
From Tilghman Street: Turn onto 15th Street towards Rt. 22 (right if traveling west left if traveling east). Make a left on to Greenleaf St.
(~1/4 mile)
Refreshments: Cocktail hour and a Buffet Dinner. Cost is $16 for AITP members, $23 for non-members. It is very important for us to get an accurate count of attendance to ensure enough food. Please respond to the reservations notice below.
Schedule:
5:30-6:30 -- Time to gather & network; Cash Bar 6:30-7:30 - Dinner 7:30-8:30 - Meeting and Speaker's Presentation 8:30 -- Adjournment & home (or wherever)
Reservations: Please email Sharon Deibert at sdeibert@enter.net or Tom Emmerth at temmerth@compuserve.com. We need this number so that an adequate room size and amount of food can be ordered.