Articles
Savings Behind the Software: How Advanced Meter Information Systems Boost AMR Value
AMRA News, March 2006 by Chris King
When utilities invest in an AMR system, they sometimes couple it with a meter data management system or MDMS. Such systems typically contain a data warehouse and perform data validation, editing and any estimation necessary when gaps in the data occur. An advanced meter information system – also called an AMIS – is a suite of software that includes a meter data management system, plus it supports the AMR system life cycle from equipment installation through operations and maintenance all the way through retirement of the system. In addition, the AMIS delivers a valuable extra: It adds the secret sauce of business process management to the AMR deployment.
Now, an AMIS is proving to be an essential ingredient for utilities considering large-scale AMR. Utility systems are typically designed to support exchanging 2 percent to 3 percent of the utility’s meters each year, with perhaps another 2 percent added in for new growth. For utilities rolling out AMR, the daily volume of data and number of transactions to process will be orders of magnitude greater than normal, and installations bring a corresponding increase in the number of things that can go wrong. The meter installation rate of a typical large-scale installation may exceed 3,000 meters per day, 10 to 20 times more activity than business as usual. While the automation of data collection from field metering devices provides huge labor-savings, utilities must map out the new business processes required to install, operate and maintain this new infrastructure. In this context, an AMIS provides the information necessary to help manage the new infrastructure and to automate business processes that support it. With AMIS-enabled business process management or BPM, the utility reduces the costs of AMR implementation and operations, while unlocking the value of AMR data. BPM increases efficiency in meter installation, meter asset management, system operations, exception handling and management and management reporting.
The AMIS tracks meters, communications modules, and other AMR assets from factory shipment through field installation, operation and eventual retirement. One benefit stemming from the AMIS is knowing which devices are in- and out-of-warranty. Another plus is the ability to produce equipment failure reports to support root-cause analysis. For example, a new component introduced in manufacturing that results in premature failures may be tracked via production lot numbers. The AMIS also automates exception processing, greatly reducing manual processing costs. Exceptions occur throughout the installation and operation of AMR systems.
Some examples:
- Lot rejection
- Factory record error
- Order or shipment error
- Late or missing shipments
- Data errors in meter reading routes
- Installation data-capture problems
- Equipment failure on installation
- Meter socket failures
- Inconsistency in data between utility systems, such as the utility CIS vs. the AMR system
- Missing data
- Failure of validation tests
These exceptions are costly to handle manually but, worse, they make it more difficult to use the AMR data for purposes other than billing.
Utilities implement AMR to replace manual meter reading, but the real goal is to have and to use the new and improved data to operate better. The AMIS marries the AMR data and systems with the utility’s business processes for service disconnection, outage management, restoration verification, meter maintenance, equipment repair and other activities. The AMIS ensures that these business processes receive the data when they need it and how they need it.
The AMIS also separates the sources (new and existing AMR systems) of the data from the uses (the legacy IT systems, as well as new or updated systems), so that the utility’s systems do not need to be modified to be able to use AMR data. This greatly reduces both cost and risk, two common features of major utility IT system changes. The bottom line? An AMIS improves return on AMR investments by providing an MDMS and a major ladleful of that secret sauce of business process management.
