Milsoft Utility Solutions

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Milsoft Current News June 2025 Edition

 

SUMMER 2025 EDITION

New User Feedback System

Milsoft has launched a new system that allows you to vote on existing enhancements and create new ideas.  This new UserVoice system can be accessed by logging into MyMilsoft.com and clicking on your desired product area. There you will see a new section containing the top ranked ideas for that product and the ability to go into the UserVoice system and vote for yourself. Have a great idea that’s not on the list, write it up and post it for others to view.  As we start work on these items, the Milsoft product team will update the UserVoice system with a status and expected release version. We hope you’ll add this tool to your toolbox to continue to help us advance our products for you.

Coming Soon: Version 25.1 Beta Release

Milsoft’s upcoming Version 25.1 release—now in Beta—introduces major usability upgrades across WindMil, DisSPatch, and OMS. The new Display Tab offers a centralized way to control Map Layers, Map Points, Outage Overlays, and Weather Maps. WindMil users will benefit from Field Preview windows, updated capacitor analysis behavior, and refined concentric neutral cable data. DisSPatch users will find enhanced tag sizing controls and more flexible crew assignment in the Assessment Manager. OMS enhancements include AI-powered voice transcription for IVR, improved fault locator options, and a new integration with Verizon Connect AVL. The public-facing Web Outage Viewer now supports Unauthenticated Outage Reporting and hides outages from view. AMI Auto Restore can also be set to act only on verified outages. This feature-rich release streamlines workflows, saves time, and brings more automation and insight to your operations. Stay tuned—the full rollout is just a few weeks away, packed with tools our users have been asking for.

UC 2025 in the Books

 

We set yet another record attendance at the 2025 UC.  A sold out Expo with some of the industries best vendors, over 100 sessions dedicated to the products you use, and a lot of fun; Nashville had it all. We want to thank everyone for taking the time to come to Nashville and enjoy the conference with us.

 

If you didn’t get to make it this year, plan now for 2026 as we will be visiting Milsoft’s home state in Austin, TX, June 16 – 18, 2026. See you there!

Milsoft Founder Honored with Prestigious

IEEE Award We are proud to announce that Milsoft founder and Chairman of the Board, Wayne Carr, has been named the recipient of the 2025 IEEE PES Award for Excellence in Power Distribution Engineering. This prestigious honor recognizes his groundbreaking contributions to electric power distribution that have improved reliability and sustainability across the industry. Selected through a highly competitive and rigorous process, Wayne’s work has had a lasting impact on how utilities approach distribution engineering challenges. His leadership and innovation have shaped industry practices and inspired the next generation of engineers. Upcoming Training Events in Dallas

Upcoming Training Events in Dallas

Dallas/Southlake Training Events DisSPatch/OMS August 5 – 7 (17 seats available) LightTable Coordination and Arc Flash August 12 – 14 (18 seats available) Milsoft Model Editing August 18 – 19 (12 seats available) WindMil Basic Analysis August 20 – 21 (11 seats available) WindMil Advanced August 26 – 28 (13 seats available) Regional Training Dates

Off the Clock: Wayne Carr

I like to say I’m semi-retired—which means I work on what I want, when I want. It’s a blessing from God that, at 77, I can still stay connected to Milsoft, its people, and our customers. I especially enjoy reconnecting with longtime friends and meeting new ones at the Users Conference. My most important job is caring for Carol, my wonderful wife of 55 years. Her health challenges have slowed her down, and I’ve learned to help with laundry, make beds, and even cook a little—all of which I find surprisingly rewarding. I still love yard work—it keeps me active and feels like “real” exercise, unlike the gym. I also enjoy fishing, especially fly fishing in the mountains, though I’m happy casting a line anywhere. Time with our grandchildren is the greatest joy. Their games, performances, and celebrations remind me that grandchildren are truly one of life’s richest blessings.

Cary Hamar Promoted to VP of Support

Abilene, Texas, January 8, 2021 – Milsoft made a critical change in customer support leadership in 2020. Daffron & Associates’ acquisition made it necessary to bring two support teams working on two very different platforms together. Milsoft promoted Cary Hamar to VP of Support to lead this ambitious effort. We are proud to announce that Cary has exceeded expectations in establishing one team under one support umbrella. “Cary has done a great job bringing structure, organization, and leadership into the critical business of supporting all our customers,” says Brian Carr, CEO of Marketing.

Cary joined Milsoft in 2014 after honorably serving a 20-year career in the U.S. Air Force as a Standardization and Evaluations Flight Engineer. Cary brings a wealth of experience in the leadership of small and large teams across various competencies. Mr. Hamar holds a B.S. in Occupational Education and Computer Information Systems from Wayland Baptist University.

About Milsoft
Since 1989, Milsoft has become an industry-leading utility software solution provider to more than 1,100 utilities, consultants, universities, and research labs. The Milsoft suite of utility solutions includes Engineering Analysis, Outage Management, Geographic Information System, Field Engineering, IVR Communications, and Accounting and Utility Billing.

Milsoft To Release New Line of Mobile Apps

Abilene, Texas – July 20, 2020 – Milsoft has entered into a joint development agreement with Reavis Code Utility Solutions. After acquiring Daffron & Associates in 2019, Milsoft has seen a dramatic increase in the need for robust field solutions. This venture will bring a new line of mobile and field applications powered by RC MapEngine™ to Milsoft’s renowned, high-quality engineering and operations solutions as well as its new CIS platform. Milsoft promises to deliver on applications that will improve workflows and efficiencies with best-in-class solutions for field mapping, field staking, and mobile outage, to name a few.

Reavis Code has developed a powerful cloud-based mapping platform under the brand RC MapEngine™.  All applications offered to customers will leverage the RC MapEngine platform to provide fast, easy-to-navigate applications in a connected or disconnected environment.

Ushering in new Milsoft field solutions does not change anything when it comes to the existing Milsoft relationships or Milsoft supported solutions. Milsoft will continue to work with Partner Software, GeoDigital, Daffron Staking customers, and others who integrate their staking systems into the Milsoft platform. Milsoft will continue to promote and offer customers choices and will continue to support a best-of-breed approach within our applications.

Having staking and other field applications under the Milsoft Utility Solutions umbrella will open up possibilities that Milsoft hasn’t previously had when it comes to integrations and product capabilities. All products developed as part of this agreement will be fully marketed, sold, and supported by Milsoft, ensuring the same level of service our customers have come to expect.

“Ever since Milsoft entered the GIS market in 2010, our customers have repeatedly asked for a Milsoft Staking solution. We believe that Reavis Code gives us a huge advantage in creating a trusted, experienced, high-quality solution that will exceed our customer’s expectations and change the market.” Brian Carr – CEO of Marketing, Milsoft.

“Throughout my career in the electric utility market – almost 25 years now – Milsoft has set the quality standard for engineering, integration, and customer support. I’ve worked closely with their staff on numerous projects over the years that moved our industry forward in critical ways. I’ve devoted my career to developing powerful, map-based applications for users throughout a utility organization, especially those in the field who work dangerous jobs in the harshest conditions. With Reavis Code, I’ve got the best team and the best opportunity to focus on that passion. With Milsoft, we’ve got a partner that allows us to maintain that focus while serving far more customers.” Paul Reavis – Reavis Code.

About Milsoft

Since 1989, Milsoft has become an industry-leading utility software solution provider to more than 1,100 utilities, consultants, universities, and research labs. The Milsoft suite of utility solutions includes Engineering Analysis, Outage Management, Geographic Information System, Field Engineering, IVR Communications, and Accounting and Utility Billing.

About Reavis Code

Reavis Code Utility Solutions is a software development and consulting company located in Athens, Georgia. Paul Reavis and Jody Wheeler founded the company to serve their customers with powerful and customizable field software solutions and integrations. Each has over two decades of experience in the industry, with a deep understanding of how to empower engineering and operations staff in the field with the latest mapping technology and data. Mike Niemi completes the leadership team with broad expertise, currently focused on mobile and cloud platforms. Learn more at Reavis Code.

Our COVID-19 Precautions to Assure Uninterrupted Support

March 18, 2020, Abilene, TX:  Amid mounting U.S. concerns and warnings regarding the spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus), Milsoft and Daffron are closing public access to all of our office locations (Abilene, TX; Pensacola, FL; Bowling Green, MO; Fayetteville, AR; and Ontario, Canada) for the next two weeks, and thereafter to be determined as circumstances progress. During this time, most of our employees will be working remotely from home, in accordance with CDC guidelines, the latest governmental recommendations and applicable requirements.

Both Milsoft and Daffron are fortunate in that we have longstanding systems in place that allow our employees to be safely at home with their families, when and as needed, while diligently remaining on the job (not just on call, but actively on the job) with uninterrupted and undiminished functionality and service to you, our customers, including but not limited to all Hosted Daffron® and Milsoft IVR™ services as well as stand-alone software support.

Please rest assured that our unparalleled Customer Service and Support teams are ready and able as ever to take your calls and tend to your utility’s needs throughout this difficult time. As so many of you have found them to be during local disasters of storms, fires, freezes, and other disruptive acts of nature, our Support and Service lines are fully staffed and on the job, as are our trainers, remote installers, product developers, technical coders, and business personnel.

In short, both Milsoft and Daffron are completely open for business as usual — just without the physical handshake. Due to rapidly increasing restrictions on travel and face-to-face interactions, our regional account managers are not likely to be attempting personal sales calls or customer site visits any time soon, but they are on the job and readily available by phone, email and social media. Appointments previously set for site visits may need to be rescheduled or taken online, and our regional training sessions may be postponed. As our 2020 Users’ Conference is still on schedule for June 16-18 in Fort Worth, we continue to monitor advisories and conditions closely.

As always, please visit our website at www.milsoft.com or www.daffron.com, or call us at 1- 800.344.5647 (Milsoft) or 1-888.DAFFRON with any questions or concerns.

For more information on the coronavirus, we recommend getting updates and advice directly from the CDC’s website: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html.

We appreciate your confidence and wish you and your families well.

Strengthen Customer Communications With Milsoft Hosted IVR

Make it easy for your customers to access user-friendly automated customer service 24/7/365 when a live operator is not practical. Join the growing number of public power utilities turning to the hosted interactive voice response (IVR) system from Milsoft Utility Solutions.

In partnership with Hometown Connections, Milsoft provides the most powerful engineering, operations, and customer service software with the best technical support in public power.

Hosted IVR Solution

Deploy the Milsoft hosted IVR solution to eliminate busy signals, answer customer questions, assemble crews after hours, or alert customers of system status automatically. The benefits of the Milsoft hosted IVR communications system include:

  • Customers may access billing and service scheduling options through an intuitive and personal interface.
  • Telephone, email and text message options allow you to interact with your user base at any time using their preferred communications channels.
  • Customers can report outages and receive outage updates while keeping staff resources free to focus on restoring power quickly.
  • You can empower customers with add-on services such as bill payment and account inquiries.
  • Learn more by watching this Milsoft IVR video.
  • The Milsoft hosted solution provides all the benefits of IVR in a way that makes it practical for even the smallest public power system.
  • It is simpler and less expensive to deploy and maintain than on-site facilities.
  • You have more flexibility, capabilities, and availability while avoiding capital investment, equipment maintenance and upgrades, and staffing.
  • The call volume your utility can handle increases.
  • Equipped with the latest Storage Area Networks and cloud technologies, Milsoft can host your IVR in state-of-the-art facilities so secure and well regarded that the FBI is a client.
  • Highly regarded for a long and successful track record of service to public power, Milsoft offers one solution for all of your customer interaction needs.

Integrated Approach Improves Performance at New Braunfels Utilities

New Braunfels Utilities Thinks Out of the Box When Deploying Milsoft GIS/OMS/IVR

After about six years as a manager in the water and wastewater division for New Braunfels Utilities (NBU) in Texas, Trino Pedraza took the position of Systems Control Manager and brought his enthusiasm for thinking creatively about technology to his new Division.  At the time of Pedraza’s transfer in 2015, NBU had in place a preliminary technology roadmap for the future and a goal to converge the IT and OT functions. Pedraza garnered the financial and personnel resources to expand this technology vision and integrate all of the utility information systems to improve operations and customer services.

NBU delivers electric, water, and wastewater services to about 35,000 customers. The NBU leadership empowered Pedraza to improve the operations of the dispatch system and invest in advanced metering infrastructure, meter data management, outage management, interactive voice response, and a geographic information system covering all utility services. To begin this effort, he traveled to other utilities to investigate the ways in which they are using new technologies. Pedraza was particularly impressed by the Milsoft OMS/IVR deployment at Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative.

“NBU had purchased the Milsoft system back in 2006 but was not using all of its features and benefits,” Pedraza said. “At Bluebonnet, I saw the Milsoft system in action and returned determined to unlock its efficiencies and improvements for NBU staff and customers.”

In partnership with Hometown Connections, the utility services subsidiary of the American Public Power Association, Milsoft Utility Solutions provides public power utilities with powerful engineering, operations, and customer service software. Milsoft’s OMS/GIS/IVR and engineering analysis products maximize the utility’s ability to give employees and customers fast and accurate information. Milsoft has long been renowned for the superior performance of its maintenance and technical support team.

Prior to the deployment of the Milsoft system, line crews at NBU spent a lot of time trying to find the specific location of a service call or outage.

“The lack of good GIS information was the root of the problem,” Pedraza said. “As soon as we fired up the Milsoft system, we achieved what I call an early victory. Our crews got excited about the location improvements. They volunteered to sit with our team in the Control Center to fill in data about our service territory on the Milsoft mapping solution.”

As part of its Milsoft deployment, NBU is using the IVR platform for a Texting Outage Notification System. This new service is an added convenience for NBU electric customers to help make reporting outages and receiving notifications or updates about outages much easier. All customers with valid cell phone numbers in the utility database are automatically entered into the text notification system, with the ability to opt out upon request.

Customers enrolled in the program can text NBU and receive automated text notifications from NBU regarding outages.

Reporting an Outage

  • In the event of an outage, NBU electric customers enrolled in the Texting Outage Notification program are able to report an outage by text.

Checking the Status of an Outage

  • Once an outage is occurring at the customer’s location, they are able to text#Status to check on the status of an outage, and NBU’s notification system will then respond with the current status of the outage at the customer’s location.

NBU Notifies Customers of Outages

  • NBU is able to notify the customer that there is an existing outage at their location if it has been reported by another customer. In the event of an outage detected at a location, NBU will text the customer to notify them.

Notification of Restored Services

  • Whether the customer reported the outage or received notification of the outage from NBU, the customer will receive a final text when the outage has been restored.

In addition, NBU uses the Milsoft IVR system to send text messages or calls to customers with delinquent payment/service disconnect notices. According to Trino Pedraza, very few NBU customers have opted out of the notification system.

Customers may go online to see the Electric Outage Viewer, which displays the NBU system map with outage information.

Recently, NBU switched from the Milsoft IVR system that is installed on-site at the utility to Milsoft’s Hosted IVR solution. By moving to this cloud-based IVR system, NBU is no longer limited by the number of phone lines in the system. Because the hosted IVR allocates phone capacity on demand as needed, busy signals are a problem of the past.

“Everyone today is talking about the ‘Internet of Things,’ Pedraza noted. “But I prefer to talk about the ‘Integration of Everything.’ Our integrated information systems enable my team to think outside of the box, finding creative ways to serve our customers. For example, our MDM collects information on water usage as well as electricity. If the system detects higher than normal water usage, we can send a text message to a customer to warn them of a possible water leak.”

Pedraza added, “Our staff wakes up each day excited to go to work, enjoying the freedom to find new ways to use the Milsoft software. The Milsoft staff has been attentive to our needs and readily available for tech support. They share our enthusiasm for developing new applications and finding new ways to better serve our community.”

For more information:
Trino Pedraza
Utility Director
New Braunfels Utilities
tpedraza@nbutexas.com
210-705-9875

NRECA Announces Team for REACT Cybersecurity Project

ARLINGTON, Va. — The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) today announced a collaboration between N-Dimension Solutions, Inc., Milsoft Utility Solutions, and NRTC to develop “REACT”, a tool to rapidly detect cyberattacks and compromised utility systems.

REACT will advance the technologies of Essence, a prototype cybersecurity technology, with the Team’s existing commercial technologies in order to dramatically reduce the time it takes to detect a cybersecurity breach. REACT has the potential to benefit more than 3,000 utilities across the country.

“We are excited to work with NRECA and the rest of the REACT team to take our existing cybersecurity technology, enhance it, and create the next generation of cybersecurity solutions for utilities,” said Tom Ayers, President and CEO of N-Dimension.

Steve Collier, Director of Smart Grid Strategies at Milsoft agreed. “This is an unprecedented project that will enable our customers to benefit from enhanced cybersecurity”.

As Doug Lambert, NRTC’s Director of Technical Solutions, explained, “This technology is cutting-edge. REACT will be faster and more responsive than any other product out in the market today.”

REACT is funded by a competitive grant from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability. The program is managed by NRECA’s Business and Technology Strategies (BTS) unit. BTS provides guidance to electric cooperatives to help them make sound decisions, embrace opportunities, solve industry challenges, and continue to provide affordable and reliable electrical power.

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association is the national service organization that represents the nation’s more than 900 not-for-profit, consumer-owned electric cooperatives, which provide service to 42 million people in 47 states.

FCC Expands Utilities Communications Rights to Contact Customers

ABILENE, Texas – September 14, 2016 — On July 8th of 2016, the Federal Communications Commission made a Declaratory Ruling on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act in a manner that favored Electric Utilities in regards to how they communicate with their customers. The ruling essentially concludes that clients who provide their contact numbers to the utility, by default, have provided consent to be sent both emergency and non-emergency information relating to their utility. Customers that explicitly communicate their objection to getting non-emergency information while signing up for services are exempt. Before this ruling, it was unclear if only emergency related information was permissible to send to customers that had not provided consent to the utility to use their contact numbers. The TCPA changes open the door for utilities wishing to share more service information with their customers. These notifications should be related to services. For example, service outages or interruptions, meter work, vegetation management, eligibility for low-cost services, and missed payment(s) that could result in electric power cut off.

The ruling now provides significant protections from customers that have brought legal actions against utilities for use of their contact numbers for “non” emergency communications. The ruling has now clarified that while there is no “standard” established by the FCC for getting permissions from customers to be sent non-emergency information, the mere act of providing a contact number to the utility meets the bare minimum requirement of having provided consent. Mark Nielsen, Executive Chairman, TextPower Inc, says “this is an important and very positive development for utilities. The ability to now be absolutely confident that you can send text alerts without having to get customers or members to first “opt-in” massively increases the value of these alerts, especially in the case of widespread storms and outages where reaching as many as possible in the shortest period is critical.”

Milsoft’s position on this sensitive issue is that we still encourage the solicitation of consent for receiving non-emergency utility information related to their services. The FCC also recommends the practice of obtaining explicit consent from customers. However, the legal position technically no longer requires such approval. Milsoft believes that getting critical service information to your client base is a proven sure method of increasing customer service satisfaction and also aids in the effort to restore lost power by keeping your resources focused on power restoration. Moreover, the prolific use of smartphones has significantly reshaped the landscape of personal communications. We feel that all information about utility services are not only welcome, they are expected. We welcome the changes to the TCPA as it helps utilities better serve their customer base while protecting them from the very few that would perceive updates as unsolicited and illegal.

If you have any questions regarding the FCC ruling and how it affects your utility, please contact us at your convenience. You can also download your copy below or view a short video on the subject by Milsoft’s texting partner, TextPower Inc.

To download a copy of the FCC ruling, click here..

To view a video by TextPower on the FCC ruling, click here.

About Milsoft Utility Solutions

The Milsoft team has provided industry leading engineering and operations (E&O) software and much acclaimed customer service and support to electric utilities and related organizations in the US and abroad for more than 25 years. More than 1,000 utilities, consultants, universities, research labs and others use Milsoft software. Milsoft’s Engineering & Operations System integrates Engineering Analysis, Outage Management, Geographic Information, Field Engineering and IVR Communications with each other and with a utility’s other systems, applications and data to enable the most efficient and effective planning, operation and management of an intelligent grid. Learn more at http://www.milsoft.com

About TextPower

TextPower provides text-messaging (SMS) solutions for mission-critical applications ranging from immediate 2-way communications with customers/staff to high security authentication of remote users.  Our SmartAlerts™ platform serves dozens of utilities across North America with solutions designed for utilities to receive and send notices of outages to and from consumers, provide real-time load control alerts, Beat The Peak or conservation notices, improve collections with real-time disconnect or low balance alerts, simplify field crew communications, and provide integrated texting solutions with the utility’s outage management system and billing system. Learn more at www.textpower.com

Milsoft and FieldWorker Complete Interoperability Testing

ABILENE, Texas – December 18, 2013 — Milsoft Utility Solutions, Inc., Milsoft Utility Solutions and FieldWorker Products Ltd. have successfully passed interoperability tests for the interface between Milsoft’s E&O System, including its Outage Management System (OMS), and FieldWorker’s custom enterprise mobility solutions in compliance with the MultiSpeak® 3.0 standard. The interoperability enables a utility’s workers in the field to obtain information about all current service outages, including outage cause codes, on their mobile devices without the need for an active server network connection. They can also update outage cause codes as well as close / restore an outage from the field without having to contact the dispatcher. The FieldWorker mobile solutions automatically acquire outage information and update Milsoft OMS through the MultiSpeak web service method by periodically calling the Milsoft E&O System web server. This is consistent with Milsoft’s and Fieldworker’s shared goal of enabling their users to do their jobs more more easily, effectively and efficiently.

About Milsoft Utility Solutions

The Milsoft team has provided industry leading engineering and operations (E&O) software and much acclaimed customer service and support to electric utilities and related organizations in the US and abroad for more than 25 years. More than 1,000 utilities, consultants, universities, research labs and others use Milsoft software. Milsoft’s Engineering & Operations System integrates Engineering Analysis, Outage Management, Geographic Information, Field Engineering and IVR Communications with each other and with a utility’s other systems, applications and data to enable the most efficient and effective planning, operation and management of an intelligent grid. Learn more at Milsoft.

About FieldWorker Products Ltd.

Since 1995 FieldWorker has been implementing enterprise mobility solutions to maximize our customers’ productivity, their internal IT resources and to optimize their Operation budgets delivering quick ROI. Using their proprietary OTC platform, client business processes are automated resulting in better management oversight of their staff and contracted worker’s performance. No matter your requirements, FieldWorker will configure answers for your business challenges. Using current devices native functionality, FieldWorker captures all manner of digital inputs into smart business applications for maximum client benefit. FieldWorker combines the right applications, and appropriate hardware with our core technology services and skill sets to construct solutions that are tailored to your specific business needs. Selective when partnering with like ‘best in class’ Enterprise Solutions Providers, FieldWorker delivers on their ‘software for life’ promise to deliver long-term customer value. Learn more at FieldWorker.

About MultiSpeak

The MultiSpeak Specification is an industry-wide software standard that facilitates interoperability of diverse business and automation applications used in electric utilities. It has been developed and maintained by a collaboration of NRECA and the over 100 software vendors, consultants and utilities that are members of the MultiSpeak Initiative.  Learn more at: MultiSpeak.

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