DMS - The integration solution for GIS/SCADA/OMS
Option 2:
Build the DMS within the GIS system
GIS systems have spent a good ten years maturing as a product. Their initial
application was centred on digitising data for an organisation and providing a
comprehensive asset database. By computerising maps and asset information, the
company enjoyed reduced maintenance efforts, significantly faster information
query response times and easy access to data for the entire company via computer
networks.
Once the information had been digitised, analysis on this data became possible and
a variety of analysis tools were developed to perform both simple and highly
complex analysis functions. Throughout this entire development however, GIS
systems were never designed or used as real-time operational tools. GIS platforms
were rarely deployed in such a manner as to guarantee 24 hour by 7 day
availability with seamless failover. The primary function of GIS systems was to
store data, provide a set of tools to maintain the data and allow easy importing and
exporting of data to other systems. As the business need developed to integrate
real-time data with geographical data, GIS companies recognised this, and began
developing strategies to adapt their systems. This adaptation however proved to be
a far more complex exercise than anticipated. The system performance that was
required to effectively handle real-time dynamic data was difficult to achieve on a
platform never intended to perform such high throughput levels.
While significant steps have now been made by GIS companies, the guarantees of
24 by 7 availability and the ability to process real-time data at up to 200 events per
second for 10 or 20 seconds, as in the case of storm conditions, remain promises
that GIS companies are still reluctant to make.
Suggested solution
build the DMS as an integration platform
Deciding on a solution to the integration challenge begins with identifying sound
philosophical positions on which to base the decisions. The philosophies that the
majority of utility companies are adopting include choosing best of breed products,
utilising modular design techniques and allowing the ultimate business needs to
drive the technical architecture.
Given that SCADA has major limitations regarding its ability to display spatial
data, and GIS has inherent problems managing real-time data, it would appear that
neither option provides an optimal solution for the business. Both options involve
compromising the specialised nature of each system and impose limitations for the
future development of other business systems.
A logical conclusion would therefore be to integrate SCADA and GIS data on a
platform that can support both spatial and real-time data while providing the
necessary performance requirements. This modular platform would also provide
the basis to integrate other data and related technologies such as trouble call and
customer information. This allows the user to put in place an integration platform
rather than just a distribution management 'product'. By utilising a modular
design, the user maintains the flexibility to choose best of breed products including
trouble call, dispatch, power analysis etc.
A complete DMS product therefore stands on its own merits as an integration
platform custom built to handle real-time and spatial data, with seamless interfaces
to external systems and a modular internal software structure. This solution
guarantees that current demands are met and future needs can be confidently
accommodated by simply building new modules and interfaces with the existing
'open' DMS platform.
This approach is regarded as the current generation of DMS technologies and is the
approach currently being employed by select DMS vendors in Australia, America
and the United Kingdom.
