| GISdevelopment.net ---> GITA 2000 ---> Operations Support |
DMS - The integration solution for GIS/SCADA/OMS
Roger Langsdon
MITS Ltd
474 Flinders St
Melbourne Vic 3000
Australia
Roger Langsdon
MITS Ltd
474 Flinders St
Melbourne Vic 3000
Australia
Introduction
Distribution Management Systems (DMS) are considered an integral step in the systems integration puzzle that utilities strive to complete. The ability to access and analyse real-time customer and network data from a standard user interface has an overwhelming attraction to modern utilities that are searching for a competitive advantage in a new and volatile competitive market place.
The major decisions facing the potential users of DMS are not the choices in vendor but the choices regarding the fundamental architectural approach. A further complication is the knowledge that the decisions made today, regarding the DMS design, will set the path for an integration strategy that will ultimately benefit or hinder future system and business growth opportunities.
This paper aims to highlight the major approaches to DMS architecture, discuss relevant criteria to assist the decision making process and present and discuss a potential solution to the question of DMS architectural design that will offer the greatest flexibility and long term benefits.
The need to integrate
Utilities rely on a number of computer based systems such as GIS, SCADA, Trouble Call, Customer Information and Works Management. While these systems continue to faithfully serve it is their ability to communicate and interact with each other that provide the maximum benefit to the business.
Many steps have already been taken towards integrating such systems and it is the presence of an overall strategy that guides both short and long term decisions towards a target solution.
In the early history of Distribution Management Systems the technology was seen simply as an exercise in integrating GIS and SCADA technology. Since then the picture has grown far more complicated but the need to merge real-time and spatial data remains a core element. Early solutions to this challenge therefore centered on two major alternatives.
Previous Options:
Option 1:
Build the DMS within the SCADA system
In the early 1990's the importing of GIS data into a real-time SCADA system had been achieved and deployed in isolated projects. What this approach tended to do however, was force the SCADA system to deviate from its original design characteristics. Fundamentally, SCADA systems are designed with a purposely sized database, very high-speed data event processing, high reliability and rather simple graphical display functionality. The data volume associated with GIS systems was substantially higher than that of typical SCADA systems and the spatial data display requirements were considerably different to the rather basic single line diagrams SCADA systems were designed to display. As a consequence, compromises had to be made to achieve this architecture and still today, SCADA systems struggle to provide a powerful and responsive geographical data display environment.
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.
Modular design
Many utilities despite having employed different IT strategies face similar IT challenges. Legacy Customer Information Systems (CIS) that are purely 'premise' based are being replaced with client-server 'account' based systems. Integrated Financial, Asset and Works Management Systems are generating a great deal of interest and a plethora of legacy and homegrown independent systems have IT managers scratching their heads.
What are needed by organisations looking to fully exploit their technology investments are solutions that can support the current systems and offer a solid foundation to build and integrate new systems and applications.
Historically real-time systems such as SCADA systems, have been managed separately from other IT systems. A DMS offers the opportunity to finally integrate real-time data with corporate information systems in a secure and manageable fashion.
A modular approach to Distribution Management Systems allows SCADA, GIS and other external systems to live out their natural life-cycle and eventually be replaced with products from any preferred vendor. An internal modular approach allows a company to tailor design the system by installing only the specific DMS software applications for which a business need has been identified. It also enables the system to be implemented in manageable increments.
DMS business objectives
Distribution Management Systems serve to satisfy high-level business objectives within an organisation. This is achieved by providing a wide array of efficiency gains and customer service tools that assist both operational and non-operational areas of a business. In addition to the core beneficiaries of a DMS e.g. Control Room Operators, Dispatchers, Customer Call Takers and Field Crews, a range of other potential beneficiaries of an effectively designed and deployed DMS within an electrical utility include Asset Managers, System Planners, Energy Traders, Media Relation Personnel etc.
Immediate DMS benefits for electric utilities often include standardising work practices, automating manual tasks and operating the network at higher utilisation while maintaining service levels and reliability. The establishment of a single realtime network model presents the potential for significant operational and business improvements. Other benefits include computerising mapping systems and empowering the workforce to manage customer queries and emergency situations more effectively. While many of these benefits are achievable regardless of the DMS architecture employed, it is the future applications, which some utilities are already exploring, that will truly test the robustness of a DMS design.
Organisations are therefore encouraged to look at both the current and future applications of a Distribution Management System when assessing fundamental DMS architectural options.
It may be argued that given the huge potential of DMS technology, the architecture that offers the greatest flexibility and options, while maintaining price and performance requirements, is the wisest approach to take.
Future DMS applications
While utilities all apply individual strategies to systems integration, there are clear and distinctive trends emerging within the industry.
Mobile Data Terminals linked through Computer Aided Dispatch systems are providing cost savings and efficiency improvements for utilities wishing to improve the management of their field operations. Global Positioning Systems add yet another tool to improve resource management and crew response times. Sophisticated Voice Response Units with dynamic data links to SCADA and metering information, are driving up the baseline for customer service levels that companies will be forced to achieve if they wish to remain competitive. Caller Line Identification can enable a personalised recorded message, greet and respond to an individual customer who calls with a query or outage report. A Distribution Management System provides the critical link between the customer and the realtime state of the network that these technologies require.
The introduction of a contestable market place has seen a dramatic emphasis placed on the issue of metering. Metering Data Agents will soon be gathering huge volumes of metering information that will be disseminated to national authorities, distribution companies and energy retail organisations. Integrating metering information into a DMS environment provides an organisation with an opportunity to monitor not only usage data but also quality and reliability of supply. The ability to then control and coordinate customer load from a central control system becomes possible.
Progressive organisations are beginning to invest in technologies such as Intranet applications that access corporate data warehouses. The significant benefits these technologies provide include protecting the integrity of critical data while making the data available corporate wide through a standard desktop. Platforms such as DMS take giant steps towards making network and customer data available to data warehouses that can then provide managed access, via the Internet, to selected customers, authorities and other relevant external parties.
While new SCADA, Trouble Call, Customer Information Systems etc. all have additional features over their previous versions, they are all essentially replacements of existing systems. DMS however can be considered a totally new tool to an organisation. By integrating customer and network information onto a common platform and providing a standard user interface, a business is free to explore dramatic process re-engineering opportunities that without such a system would be impossible.
Industry direction
The dynamic nature of the power industry has seen a dramatic shift in focus by utilities worldwide. Pressures to satisfy both shareholder and customer expectations are forcing utilities to strive for new levels of customer service and operational efficiency. By examining the evolving industry direction, future opportunities to apply DMS technology can be explored.
The competitive energy trading market, that is still very much in its infancy, is placing high demands on the people and systems involved with the purchase, sale and distribution of energy. Trading platforms are being developed that will eventually require real-time access to customer and network data. The ability for energy traders to be able to control customer demand could provide significant financial rewards by reacting in real-time to fluctuating energy trading prices.
Product diversification has already seen electric and gas utilities branch out into new service streams including telecommunications, banking etc. These developments all present demands on systems that can link the business with the customer and control the services and products being supplied. DMS is emerging as a key technology in the integration of new and sophisticated competitive technologies. Utility sales and marketing teams are identifying growing customer demands for differentiated products and services, but currently lack the technology or infrastructure to deliver such options.
Acquisitions and mergers of utilities are becoming an ever-increasing occurrence within the industry. With every merger comes a new set of challenges for the companies involved including aligning business directions, integrating different technologies, blending work cultures and coping with high levels of change and uncertainty. Systems need to be adaptable and able to respond to rapid changes in direction.
An aging workforce in many specialist areas of the power industry raises concerns of skill succession, and the direction most utilities are taking is to reduce the dependence on highly experienced individuals by migrating detailed information into operational computing systems. Organisations are then free to fill previously specialised engineering and operational roles with employees that have a rich set of generic skills including interpersonal communication, clear decision making abilities and excellent computing skills.
The issues discussed in this section paint a fairly confusing picture for the utility industry as a whole. What is required for an IT strategy to survive such a volatile climate is the underlying ability to provide fast and reliable access to critical information and provide an environment for the quick development and implementation of emerging systems and technologies.
Conclusion
As utilities compete to become successful Total Service Providers they place greater emphasis on utilising technology to provide a competitive advantage. Strategies that deliver hard benefits today as well as laying foundations for future diversification are being employed worldwide. Adopting a holistic view of the company and the industry when considering DMS architectural options protects both the short and long-term interests of the business.
The challenge to integrate critical data, such as that contained within GIS, SCADA and other business systems presents fundamental decisions that will set the course for future development.
By choosing a DMS that remains independent of any specific GIS or SCADA product, a business receives optimum performance from a purpose built system and retains maximum flexibility to explore future business and technical initiatives.
Many companies that have successful deployed a DMS, state quite clearly that the DMS proved to 'Integrate the Business, not just the Data'.
Can a DMS provide the platform for real-time, spatial and corporate integration?
Yes, if it is designed to do so.