“Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth.”

– Robert Frost, from “The Road Not Taken“

Are you at this juncture? Wow! The view must be awesome overlooking into your GIS future, but we don’t envy you.

The decision you are trying to make will influence your utility’s GIS for years to come with all the superpowers that the Utility Network could bestow upon you. Decisions are always difficult because of the alternate realities that could happen if you went one way instead of the other.

We have a couple of decision trees that can help you pick what is best suited for your agency.  Make sure you validate your requirements against both the trees. These decision trees are the first step towards validating your need for a utility network.

 The first tree shown below is from Esri and considers your current functional needs such as tracing and editing.