The configuration process to create a utility network starts with the creation of the utility network dataset and continues through tasks to set up the network classes and properties in the utility network. This process involves adding, assigning, and setting up many geodatabase components such as subtypes, domains, rules, network attributes, network categories, and so on. While much of the configuration can be completed using the tools in ArcGIS Pro, the process is heavily reliant upon geoprocessing tools for the scripting and automation.
Note:
As an alterative to manual configuration, a best practice is to begin your implementation with a Utility Network Foundation if one is available for your industry, to reduce the time and effort required to implement a utility network. These solutions provide a set of tools for network creation and configuration along with a baseline model that you can extend or modify as necessary. You can also the tools in the Migration toolset or the Utility Network Migration Wizard to migrate existing data into a utility network while maintaining your current schema to support basic editing and tracing workflows without using a predefined industry model.
The process to manually configure a utility network uses a combination of geoprocessing tools from the following toolboxes and toolsets:
Reference the specific toolset topics for a list of tools.
The table below describes tools from the Data Management Tools toolbox that can be used to configure a utility network.
| Data Management tools | Description |
|---|---|
| Add Attribute Rule | Adds an attribute rule to a dataset. |
| Add Coded Value to Domain | Populates a coded value attribute domain with the code and description pairs. The code and description pairs represent acceptable values for the field the domain is assigned to. |
| Add Field | Adds attribute fields to the feature classes in a domain network. |
| Add Subtype | Creates additional subtype values to represent different assets for a feature class. In utility network feature classes, the default field specified for subtypes to be created is the ASSETGROUP field. |
| Assign Default to Field | Creates a default value for a specified field when new rows are added to a class with the option to add subtypes to participate in the default value setting. An example of configuring default values for fields at the subtype level for the utility network is when the ASSETGROUP field is set for the subtype field when utility network feature classes are configured. Attribute domains for the ASSETTYPE field can be set as the default at the subtype level. |
| Assign Domain to Field | Assigns an attribute domain to a specified field with the option to assign to a field by subtype. |
| Create Domain | Establishes new attribute domains in the geodatabase where the utility network resides. Depending on the type of attribute domain created, use the Add Coded Value to Domain or Set Value For Range Domain tool after you run this tool. |
| Register as Versioned | Enables versioning on the dataset for multiuser editing. This is one of the last steps performed using the utility network feature dataset before enabling the network topology. |
| Set Value for Range Domain | Sets the minimum and maximum values for an existing range domain. |
| Update Geodatabase Connection Properties to Branch | Updates a database connection to branch versioning. This ensures that branch versioning is used for the versioning type when registering datasets as versioned. |