Most of my conductors are there, but on top of that are many extra crazy loops and lines going every which way.

This indicates errors in your topology. The GIS represents networks as a graph, and edges and nodes only know what they are directly connected to. Directionality is determined at runtime. Windmil represents networks as a tree, and every section (devices are also sections) knows its parent.

The process of porting into Windmil converts the network from one form (graph) to the other (tree). We rely on the accuracy of particular information to produce a parent-section network. The required information includes operating voltage (for conductors), phase designation (for conductors and devices), normal position on each phase (for switchable devices) and whether a device is a transformer. Inaccuracies or incomplete data for any of those fields may not be readily apparent in the GIS, but will cause inaccuracies in the MultiSpeak XML, and the Windmil network.

There are several things you can do to improve the integrity of your GIS network before porting to Windmil:

• Ensure that every network feature you intend to export has an accurate phase designation value. Feeder Manager supports an option to ignore phasing on conductors. However Network Adapter for MultiSpeak cannot support this option. Network Adapter must determine the parent section on each phase for every device and every conductor. If a device or conductor has a phase designation value of null, it will be disconnected in the MultiSpeak XML and in Windmil.

• Create connectivity rules in ArcCatalog that restrict the cardinality of edge-edge and edge-junction connections. ArcMap does not enforce these rules, but ArcFM's QA/QC tool does apply them and tells you which features are in violation. For example, switchable devices should only be allowed to connect to two conductors. Just one or more than two would normally indicate an error in editing or conversion. Primaries should connect to secondaries only through transformers.

• If you have altered phase designations, normal positions, operating voltage, feederIDs, substation IDs, or anything else that is integral to Feeder Manager during a data conversion or batch editing procedure, run the Initialize Trace Weights tool in ArcCatalog.

• Network Adapter uses operating voltage on conductors to determine phase-specific connectivity through transformers. Ensure that operating voltage is correctly assigned to every conductor feature in the network.

• Use the Feeder Manager locator in ArcFM to select loops. Looped networks are rare in North America. Loops in your electric network often represent errors.

• If multiple instances of the same feature class appear in the map document, the resulting network may appear snarled in some locations. To resolve this issue, export each feature class only once from the current map document and then export again.