Web deploying an integrated GIS/SCADA/OMS solution
Business objectives
Distribution Management Systems have the potential to deliver substantial
business benefits. These include 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 etc, is a range of other potential beneficiaries including Customers,
System Planners, Energy Traders, Media Relations and Suppliers.
Immediate DMS benefits for electric utilities include standardising work practices,
automating manual tasks, operating the network at higher utilisation levels and
improving service reliability. Other benefits include empowering the workforce to
manage customer queries and emergency situations more effectively. While many
of these benefits are achievable regardless of the DMS architecture, it is the ability
to support future applications, which some utilities are already exploring, that will
truly test the robustness of an open DMS design.
Industry Regulators will continue to demand greater reliability and reporting of
network outages. Market competition will force product/service differentiation
between utilities. The success in hitting these ever-moving goal posts will depend
greatly on the ability of utilities to leverage their Information Technology and to
deliver information to the people that need it to make effective decisions.
The need to integrate
Systems such as GIS, SCADA, Trouble Call, Customer Information, Customer
Relationship Management (CRM) and Works Management all hold pieces to the
puzzle in effectively managing the network and the customers. 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. Integrating
information from operational systems provides added value for decision making.
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.
STEP 1 - Achieving a single 'Operational' network model
Utilities have historically maintained several different network models. The GIS
system is usually the master repository for the static network model including
connectivity and attribute data. The SCADA maintains the real-time status of the
dynamic network elements, and other peripheral systems may maintain network
data specific to customers or devices.
If disparate data from GIS and SCADA systems need to be integrated - how and
where is the best place to store the resulting single real-time 'operational' network
model? There are three main options.
Option 1 - Build the DMS within the SCADA
Option 2 - Build the DMS within the GIS
Option 3 (preferred option) - Build the DMS as an independent platform
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 e.g. Simplification of the
network model.
