EnergyIP Core Functionality
eMeter EnergyIP captures the complex relationships among devices, premises, customer accounts, users, applications, networks and services that must be managed in any Smart Grid. With its automated process and workflows, EnergyIP provides real-time information and automation to integrate enterprise systems and drive Smart Grid Management, acting as the “central nervous system” of your utility.
Data Synchronization Engine
The key to providing useful information to all parts of your business is ensuring the data is synchronized across your organization. The EnergyIP Data Synchronization Engine manages the synchronization of data with the AMI, Customer Information System (CIS), and other enterprise applications.
The Data Synchronization Engine supports the use of FlexSync real-time web services. FlexSync is an incremental, transactional- based approach to synchronizing data. Changes to master data contained in utility systems (CIS, WMS, or other system) are reflected in real-time, keeping EnergyIP up-to-date with the most recent information. For processes such as meter changes and rate changes, this approach improves billing accuracy and reduces rework would be necessary without proper synchronization.
Data Repository
The Metered Usage Data Repository (MUDR) is the data store that maintains the meter readings, register reads, interval records, outage and restoration events, and event logs. The MUDR also maintains derived or computed data, along with trace of versions and audit trails, which is important to keep your auditors happy.
The Metered Usage Data Repository (MUDR) uses database partitioning to achieve highly scalable performance even with extremely large data stores. In order to meet a typical utility’s AMI system requirements, the MUDR may store and have available on-line any amount of data but typically has 13 to 36 months of meter readings—including daily electric and gas register reads, interval data reads, derived billing determinants, meter event logs, and computed or derived data.
Service Oriented Architecture
Your meter data management platform needs to be built around service-oriented architecture (SOA) that integrates all of your legacy, current, and future systems with no loss of data and without the need to update existing systems. You need your energy information platform to deliver a consistent way of viewing information across all the types of meters and meter-data collection systems that you might use in the future. This ensures that you don’t have to retrain all your people every time you add a new kind of meter.
EnergyIP’s open service-oriented architecture (SOA) insulates you from complexity and lowers total cost of ownership by enabling seamless integration and non-disruptive change within your enterprise application environment.
Workflow Engine
The Workflow Engine in EnergyIP is a persistent application that maintains and handles requests that require workflow processing. The engine is also responsible for tracking the progress of open transactions. It tracks the state of each operation, captures time-outs on failed transactions, and progresses the state machine for multi-state operations.
Audit Tracking
We know that keeping good records is serious business. EnergyIP provides extensive logging and audit features in support of system operations and Sarbanes-Oxley requirements. Audit trail is a configurable feature that allows users to choose business components and fields to audit, and to determine the scope of the audit. EnergyIP allows you to choose to audit all activity, or to limit the scope of auditing to those operations performed by certain responsibilities, positions, or employees.
Reports & Reporting Framework
EnergyIP stores a massive amount of meter read, event, asset and workflow data. But, the data itself is not very useful for decision-making if you can’t make sense of it. In order to mine all of the data to help make better business decisions and find data anomalies and trends, we provide a wide range of standard pre-built reports with EnergyIP. These reports are based on best-practices that we’ve uncovered as we’ve worked with our clients. The framework also enables you to create custom reports and configure how and when you receive them.
Validation, Estimating & Editing (VEE)
The EnergyIP VEE (Validation, Estimation and Editing) application performs real-time register read and interval data validation and estimation according to configurable rules. The VEE application also allows graphical editing of metered data. With VEE you can instantaneously verify the accuracy of interval data and make corrections in real-time. This ensures you have the most current and accurate data to drive billing or customer service; and to optimize just-in-time operations.
Analytics Foundation
The Analytics Foundation for eMeter EnergyIP allows you to quickly turn your AMI data into actionable information that can be leveraged across your utility. The Analytics Foundation is separate from the EnergyIP core transaction database, so that you have access to near real-time data without compromising operational performance. Your data is transformed into a star-schema so that the data can be easily analyzed and reported on using the reporting tools included in EnergyIP or any other reporting/BI tool. Learn more about the Analytics Foundation.