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Oslo, Norway March 2013 Tieto Energy and Utilities AMI challenges White paper
Oslo, Norway
March 2013
Tieto Energy and Utilities
AMI challenges
White paper
Table of Contents 1 A world of change for the energy industry ...................................................................................... 3
1.1 Deregulation and liberalization of energy markets .................................................................. 3
1.2 Operational efficiency .............................................................................................................. 3
1.3 Growth in renewables, micro production and energy management ....................................... 3
1.4 Harmonized and integrated energy markets ........................................................................... 3
1.5 From manual readings to AMI and Smart Grids ....................................................................... 4
1.6 Where there is change there are opportunities ....................................................................... 5
2 Tieto — industry expertise and delivery capability ......................................................................... 6
2.1 Engaged in the energy industry ................................................................................................ 6
2.2 International experts – local delivery ....................................................................................... 6
2.3 Thought leaders within our industries ..................................................................................... 7
2.4 Expertise across industries ....................................................................................................... 7
2.5 From vision to results ............................................................................................................... 7
2.6 AMI experience ........................................................................................................................ 7
3 AMI – from reading cards to M2M communication ........................................................................ 9
3.1 Planning phase ......................................................................................................................... 9
3.1.1 Outsourcing or using internal resources? ..................................................................... 9
3.1.2 Organisational attention on all levels up to top management ................................... 10
3.1.3 Functional scope of AMI .............................................................................................. 10
3.1.4 Procurement process .................................................................................................. 10
3.1.5 Communication plan ................................................................................................... 10
3.1.6 Technology choices ..................................................................................................... 11
3.1.7 IT-‐architecture ............................................................................................................. 11
3.1.8 Information-‐security ................................................................................................... 14
3.2 Rollout phase .......................................................................................................................... 15
3.2.1 Data quality issues ...................................................................................................... 15
3.2.2 IT-‐systems readiness ................................................................................................... 15
3.2.3 Rollout plan ................................................................................................................. 15
3.2.4 Rollout and handling of exceptions ............................................................................. 16
3.3 Operations phase ................................................................................................................... 16
3.3.1 Organization of operations ......................................................................................... 17
3.3.2 Governance model ...................................................................................................... 17
3.3.3 AMI operations on operational level .......................................................................... 19
4 Summary ........................................................................................................................................ 22
1 A world of change for the energy industry Welcome to Tieto. As an experienced AMI actor we would like to share with you our view on the challenges and opportunities facing the utility industry as AMI are rolled out on a large scale all over Europe.
The energy industry is in rapid change and in the years ahead this development will accelerate and significantly alter the structure and dynamics of the industry. Some of the most important trends are discussed below.
1.1 Deregulation and liberalization of energy markets New regulations on both national and international (EU) level are transforming the market. Competition is increasing through regulatory changes. The former national monopoly energy markets are forced into open competition. As a result, many formerly national companies expand their business into new markets. New players are also entering the markets because of the low entry barriers.
Energy companies also face new challenges with products that are not possible to differentiate. Sale of a neutral commodity (kilowatts) provides a perfectly transparent market. This is something customers are increasingly aware of, and make use of.
AMI is part of the operation and management of the electricity grid which still is strongly regulated. It is however heavily influenced by the deregulation and liberalization of the rest of the market.
1.2 Operational efficiency A transparent market evokes a continuous pressure on cost reduction. Examples of known measures to reduce operating costs are:
• Introduction of e-‐invoicing • Outsourcing of IT applications and operations • Centralization and cost-‐sharing of market functions • Increasing the degree of customer self-‐service • Cost savings by minimizing manual processes, particularly in customer service • Digitalizing business and work processes to allow a higher degree of automation
These trends will also influence the monopoly part of the business, forcing network companies to rationalize and empower their business with digitized services and automated processes.
1.3 Growth in renewables, micro production and energy management Another driver is the rapid growth in renewable energy resources, micro production of energy and the strong increase of number of electrical cars. This puts the grid under stress and paves the way for smart metering, demand response programs and smart grid technology.
1.4 Harmonized and integrated energy markets As if these challenges were not enough, the energy industry is also experiencing a wave of harmonization and integration between markets. The Northern European markets are front runners with cross-‐border transmission capabilities, the common established financial market Nord Pool and the planned Nordic common retail market.
1.5 From manual readings to AMI and Smart Grids The figure below illustrates the evolution of the energy industry during the last century and shows how AMI is an important foundation and catalyst for the changes discussed in this chapter.
Traditionally the utility industry had electromechanical meters (black color, “Traditional”, in the illustration), one way flow of energy from production facilities to end consumers and the meter readings were collected manually. The capacity for energy supply was larger than the demand, the end-‐user services were very limited and billing was done once a year.
The replacement of traditional meters with smart meters (green color, “AMI”, in the illustration) enables automatic collection of meter readings, process automation and billing on actual consumption. The end consumer gets better control over their own consumption, but is not able to influence the energy costs to a great extent.
Demand/response solutions (orange color, “Demand Response”, in the illustration) were dynamic pricing is used as tools for balancing the demand and supply of energy and to reduce peaks, has been tested in pilot projects all over Europe. Some utilities have also introduced this as a commercial service, in some cases also combined with automatic or manual control of loads. The end user can then be an active participant in the energy market and influence his own energy cost in an active way.
What we now call Smart Grids (red color, “Smart grid”, in the illustration) is characterized by the introduction of distributed energy production, increasing number of electrical cars, possibilities for energy storage and heavy use of information technology in the grid. This opens up for increased use of renewable energy resources, new end user services and new business models. What the Smart Grid will eventually look like remains to be seen, but it is unquestionable that AMI is an important foundation.
1.6 Where there is change there are opportunities Liberalization and deregulation of energy markets and Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) including smart metering are important to increase customer engagement and competition. They enable both cost savings and new end-‐user services.
In a relatively short time period, customers will require billing on actual energy prices, consumption governed by price signals, distributed micro-‐generation of electricity, electric cars and real opportunities for local storage of electricity.
These changes opens up opportunities for your utility company and in this white paper we will guide you into making the right decisions and being aware of the pitfalls.
2 Tieto — industry expertise and delivery capability Tieto combines deep industry knowledge with proven capabilities to deliver and is the perfect partner to build leaders within the energy industry.
With a solid foothold in the Nordic markets and representation in 30 countries, Tieto has solutions and expertise available across the European region. This gives Tieto a unique understanding of different local markets and regulations. With the framework in place, our established standard solutions can be adapted to our customer's needs.
This provides quick, efficient sharing of experiences across countries. Experiences that Tieto brings from deregulating Nordic markets are highly relevant when liberalizing other European markets.
2.1 Engaged in the energy industry The energy industry has long been a prioritized industry in Tieto Corporation, which has contributed to our unique experience and strong references. Tieto has 700 dedicated, talented employees who work across the value chain of the energy industry; our customers are most of the major players in the markets.
2.2 International experts – local delivery Tieto is a leading player in the Nordic utility and AMI market and has project experience and dedicated experts in this area. Together with the local delivery capabilities in other Northern Europe regions this is a unique success factor. The local resources can be supplemented by near shore sites with thousands of IT-‐experts in Ostrava (Czech) and Pune (India). This gives Tieto delivery capability for large projects all over Europe.
2.3 Thought leaders within our industries Tieto is dedicated to continue building the information society, where IT fosters productivity and innovation. We believe that being thought leaders in information technology is not enough; we put a lot of efforts in developing the energy industry as a whole as well.
As a partner of Tieto, you will always be kept up to date with the latest thoughts and reflections on innovations and the market.
2.4 Expertise across industries Tieto is building the information society across multiple industries. Many of the challenges facing the energy industry today have already been taken care of in other industries. Especially the Telecom business has many similarities with the energy industry. In Telecom they have been through a wave of liberalization, have faced the challenges of de-‐commoditizing their product and lived through mergers and acquisitions. The same development is seen in the utility business, but we a time delay of about 10-‐20 years. Tietos cross-‐industry focus ensures that innovations from other industries are introduced to the utility business.
2.5 From vision to results Tieto is well equipped to handle clients' strategic challenges. We provide a full range of IT-‐based solutions and services for the entire “ecosystem”, from the server room to the customer relationship. Tieto will take you from vision to result, from start to finish.
2.6 AMI experience Tieto has extensive experience from AMI as IT product supplier, managed service operator and business consultants. Some examples are mentioned below.
Our multi meter vendor end-‐to-‐end AMI solution, AMIRO, is developed to be prepared for future changes in regulations, technology and customer demands.
What can the energy industry learn from Telecom and financial services?
The energy industry has been working for a long time on good solutions for advance payment.
Here Tieto can re-‐use experiences from similar projects in telecom and financial services. Using your mobile, you can find out or update your own balance at any time.
Based on experiences from other industries, Tieto has developed a concept for prepayment/credit-‐based real-‐time account for the energy industry. Being a market leader in several industrial sectors, Tieto has the expertise and experience that can accelerate innovation in the energy industry.
In 2005/06 Tieto was responsible for the implementation of E.ON Elnäts smart metering project in Skåne, Sweden. After rollout the project has been operated as a managed service from the AMI service center in Lillehammer, Norway.
Fortum successfully executed a major rollout of 900,000 smart meters in less than three and a half years using Tieto’s Workflow Management System (WMS). WMS enabled Fortum to retain full ownership of the process, regardless of the contractor, sub-‐process, or technical solution.
The Norwegian utility company Skagerak Energi AS managed a 96% hit rate on meter changes at first attempt during their pilot project for 5,000 household meters using Tieto’s AMI rollout planning, appointment scheduling and resource scheduling application.
In the rest of this document we will share with you important lessons learned and give good advice on the way forward for utilities entering the road to AMI.
Smart Grid
AMIRO WMSWorkflow and Process ManagementConfigure – Automate -‐ Integrate
HSDP : High performance and realtime
AMIRO MDMMetering Data ManagementCollect -‐ Process – Deliver/Store
AMIRO UMMIndependent GatewayMulti Meter VendorMulti comm techMulti UtilityMulti Protocol
Head-‐end
Gateware
OMNIA Suite
Gridstream
NES
Other
Workorder Logistics
AMIRO AMI ToolDashboard web GUIOperate – Monitor – Analyze -‐ Report
UMM format based on CIM 61968 standard
AMIRO UMMIndependent GatewayIntegrationESBBack-‐endReal-‐timeBatch
AMIRO AMAMI Asset ManagementRoll-‐out Operation
Maps Communication Event/Alarm
AAA protocol based
secuity
solutio
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Commun
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Back-‐end
Communication technologies
GPRS Mesh PLC
Net stations
Concen
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3rd party channel
HAN – Hom
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Smart M
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ESB
Realtime applicationsRate/Charge
Outage Mgmt
Fraud Mgmt MDM
ERP
GIS
CIS
EAM
Realtim
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Field Service-‐ One or several providers-‐ Internal or external
Contract/SLA
WO’s
Operational staff
End to end AMI solution
AMIRO -‐ Component based flexible AMI IT solution• High Performance• Process Oriented• Modular• Independent (based on standards)• Future proofDeployed in the cloud (as a service) or on premise with flexible ”plug and play” integrations to Head-‐end and Back-‐end components.
Thought leadership in AMI and Smart Grid• Selected technology and
communication partners• Best practise solutions• Research projects• Proven security and communication
solutions
Tieto can also offer AMI Managed Services and hosting services
Tieto integration
services
3 AMI – from reading cards to M2M communication AMI is a challenging experience that transforms the operation of a utility. Learning from experience is a key success factor for managing the transformation from manually read meters to integrated and automated business processes built upon a machine-‐to-‐machine (M2M) infrastructure of interconnected devices.
In this chapter we will share with you important learning’s from our AMI projects and emphasize strategic decisions that must be made in different phases of the project.
An AMI project can be divided into three main phases:
1. Planning phase 2. Rollout phase 3. Operations phase
Even though the phases for simplicity sake are handled as distinct in this document, please remember that they are more or less overlapping and decision’s made in one phase have strong impact on subsequent phases.
3.1 Planning phase In the planning phase the scope and ambitions of the AMI project are laid out. Key topics to address in this phase are discussed in this chapter.
3.1.1 Outsourcing or using internal resources? AMI projects in European countries have been performed using different procurement models. Some utilities have executed the entire project using only internal resources, while others have outsourced parts or the whole process. There are failures and successes for both models and there is no correct answer in general what is right for your utility. Within outsourcing there are also sub-‐categories like:
• Outsourcing of rollout only • Outsourcing of operations only • Outsourcing of both rollout and operation
Before selecting your approach you should consider the following factors:
• Outsourcing reduces risk, but has a risk fee • Outsourcing of operations profits on economy of scale, as the AMI operator normally has
several large projects in operation • Outsourcing requires a good definition of the project scope and well defined governance
models • The follow up of sub vendors (on meters, communication, etc) requires a lot of resources,
outsourcing simplifies the process with only one contractual counterpart • Internal projects requires the build-‐up of a large temporary project organization • All the required competence for executing an AMI project is probably not present in your
existing organization
3.1.2 Organisational attention on all levels up to top management An AMI project influences every employee in a utility and most business processes are changed. A successful implementation requires involvement of all parts of the organisation, from the installers in the field to customer service and all the way up to top management.
A good approach is to perform a business process analysis describing processes AS-‐IS (before AMI) and TO-‐BE (after AMI) involving cross-‐organisational teams. As a consequence of this the IT infrastructure should also be evaluated, to realize which parts could be kept as is, and which needs change or upgrades.
3.1.3 Functional scope of AMI The functional scope of AMI can vary from just automating the meter value collection process, to full automation and surveillance of the low voltage network. The ambitions must be decided in the planning phase. Potential services to consider include:
• Breaker on all meters to automate the connection and disconnection process • Substation surveillance • Low voltage network monitoring of earth faults, voltage levels and outages • Load control • Energy displays and energy management
Whether or not you should aim for these kinds of services will depend on your business case for the services in question. However, remember that the AMI infrastructure you are implementing will have a long lifetime and must be prepared for future, not yet known, demands. It is always a good idea to have future options for getting maximum profit from your investments.
3.1.4 Procurement process The procurement process must be planned in detail, involving all parts of the organisation, working out detailed technical, economic and legal requirements.
Potential cooperation with other utilities should be considered to get better bargaining power and to share resources.
It’s also a good idea to include one or more pilots as part of the process to get a hands-‐on proof of concept from the supplier and to work out and tune business processes.
3.1.5 Communication plan “It takes a lifetime to build a good reputation and 5 minutes to ruin it”. An AMI project affects each and every customer and employee of a utility. In a short period of time you will visit every one of your customers. Care should be taken to prepare and educate both your employees and your customers.
A thorough communication plan must be worked out already in the planning phase. Involve professional resources and evaluate timing, message, channels and audience. Be innovative and extend the traditional communication channels with digital supplements like Facebook and Twitter.
Ensure that your recipients understand the message and avoid utility specific jargon. The message must be repeated and updated several times during the lifetime of the project, and is of special importance when you start visiting customers and rolling out meters.
3.1.6 Technology choices AMI-‐technology has existed for several decades and is now reaching maturity. Still there are important technology choices to be made. The battle between powerline communication and radio technology is still raging and both have their pros and cons.
Powerline uses the utilities existing infrastructure for communication but is vulnerable to noise and is proprietary in the sense that it is (almost) only used in the utility industry. There are also competing standards like Lonworks and the G3 and Prime alliances to consider, and it is not apparent today what is the best choice.
Radio is a more generic technology, also used in consumer electronics, but has drawbacks when it comes to need for external antennas and ability to penetrate in cellars and other areas with difficult communication environments. 6Lowpan is however a promising standard, which also opens up for “the internet of things” and future possibilities.
In addition to the communication technology, there are also important decision’s to be made regarding meter vendor, meter functionality and IT solutions.
3.1.7 IT-‐architecture The IT-‐architecture is a critical element of the AMI system, not only the architecture of the AMI system itself, but also the integration with legacy system. The following key attributes must be emphasized:
• Meter vendor flexibility • Unification and process-‐integration • Based on international standards (CIM, IEC) • High performance • Real-‐time capabilities
• Integrated surveillance and monitoring tools
3.1.7.1 Meter vendor flexibility From experience utilities often implement silos with one meter vendor, but are forced to integrate other vendors at a later stage due to systematic failures in meter batches, end-‐of-‐life for meter models, missing functionality or other reasons. If the system architecture is designed from scratch as a multivendor system this gives greater flexibility and reduced risk, when additional vendors are needed.
3.1.7.2 Unification and process integration The business processes in AMI is complex, involves a lot of sub-‐systems and handles big volumes of data.
Efficient operation of the system requires automated processes. Automation is much more than just IT-‐integration. To keep track of processes, sub-‐processes and exceptions, a process framework is needed that orchestrates procedures and handles branches in execution.
To have system flexibility for future changes in integration to third party systems or new meter or product vendors, it is also necessary to have a unified data model. A unified model translates meter values, events, alarms and work orders into a generic internal format that is independent of meter supplier, entrepreneur or any other 3rd party vendor. This gives robust business processes that can remain unchanged even though other parts of the system are changed.
3.1.7.3 Based on international standards Basing the solution and their interfaces on international standards with a common object model as system core, significantly reduces integration and adaption costs as the system evolves over time with need for new integrations and changes in architecture.
Relevant standards to consider are the IEC61968-‐x set of standards based on the CIM-‐model, M/441 by CEN/CENELEC/ETSI and DLMS/COSEM.
3.1.7.4 Performance The needs for performance will increase significantly in the future. This is both due market demands for better meter data resolution and new services, but also because the number of metering points increase over time as population increases and possibly new subsidiaries are incorporated in the company.
Large investments in existing systems and upgrade into new measurement solutions is, and will be, one on the main costs for energy utilities in the nearest future.
Collecting and handling hourly measurements has been a challenge for many system providers of legacy applications, the aging technical architecture was not always designed to handle high data volumes and high-‐speed transactions.
Going from one meter reading yearly to up to four readings per hour is of course a big change. But system providers with experience of large installations and from other industries know that it’s primarily about scalability and system design.
3.1.7.5 Real-‐Time capabilities But even with well-‐designed systems and architecture that meets the requirements of high data volumes, the questions still remains when it comes to new services. Measurements are today mostly used for monthly or quarterly billing and visualization purposes. Traditional utility billing solutions are critical applications, but designed for batched based operation. This is bad news since the architecture effectively hinders new services that are enabled by a speedy transaction process, services such as prepayment and mobility (e-‐vehicles), price-‐based consumption feedback and appliance automation.
Furthermore, to effectively influence consumer energy consumption patterns, current research shows that communication must be based not only on energy consumption in kilowatts. To be effective, the consumer feedback needs to be instant and based on pricing information. In reality this requires close to real-‐time processing.
The current representation of the value chain for measurement data will be highly questioned the upcoming years. The industry will need to develop new ways of handling the measurement process in order to comply with future requirements of new services. This volume challenge has already been solved in Telecom. Solutions for handling enormous amounts of CDRs (Call Detail Records) are standard for every Telecom service provider. If your prepaid subscription volume is empty, the call will be disconnected in seconds. You can use self-‐service portals for viewing the exact status of your bill. This is the future we will see in the utility business also, some more years down the road.
3.1.7.6 Integrated surveillance and monitoring tools An AMI infrastructure is a complex M2M (Machine-‐to-‐Machine) system that requires advanced surveillance and operation, and in some cases field work, to be stable, healthy and well-‐functioning. The competence requirements and tools necessary for this should not be underestimated.
Surveillance tools are needed to monitor and manage:
• Data collection and AMI service execution • Meter and concentrator infrastructure • Interfaces • Events and alarms • Work order flow
The tools need filtering functionality for sorting out important events and GIS support to be able to identify geographical correlations. Handling big amounts of metering points, including their related assets (meters, concentrators, antennas …), in an efficient and flexible way and focusing on the exceptions, is crucial for operation and rollout.
Even though you may already have an asset management system, the needs of AMI is so specialized that you probably will need a separate AMI asset management database, as part of the AMI system.
An integrated surveillance system tailor-‐made for AMI will reduce the number of employees necessary for operating the system and increase the quality of the delivered services
3.1.8 Information-‐security AMI and information security has been a controversial issue in several European countries. The requirements for cyber security have traditionally not been given high priority in AMI system design. The key elements that must be fulfilled are:
• Confidentiality ü Ensuring that information is not disclosed to unauthorized individuals or systems
• Integrity ü Ensuring that information cannot be modified undetectably
• Availability ü Ensuring that information is available when needed
• Authenticity ü Ensuring that data and transactions are genuine and that the parties involved are
who they claim to be • Non-‐repudiation
ü Ensuring that a transferred message has been sent and received by the parties claiming to have sent and received the message
Any AMI system must fulfil these basic requirements, and the matureness between system suppliers varies significantly.
The severity of information breaches may be split in the following categories:
Severity 1 (serious) Unauthorized information access, for instance meter measurement data or personal information is accessed by unauthorized individuals.
Severity 2 (critical) Unauthorized Information change, for instance meter measurement data or personal information is modified by unauthorized individuals.
Severity 3 (fatal) Unauthorized actions, for instance breakers are disconnected, software is upgraded or configurations are changed by unauthorized individuals.
It is of uttermost importance that information security is taken seriously, not only on sub system level but for the entire end-‐to-‐end business process. The precautions taken must be balanced against their probability to occur and sufficient measures must be implemented.
3.2 Rollout phase The start of the rollout phase is the real kick off for the project, where the utility staff and customers are exposed to the changes in business processes and infrastructure. Important topics to focus on are discussed below.
3.2.1 Data quality issues Data quality issues are a critical factor for a successful AMI rollout. It is a known problem for most utilities that the customer data is of poor quality. If the address, coordinates or technical information about the existing meter is wrong, this will impact the rollout. Data wash activities before the rollout will improve the quality somewhat, but there will probably still be issues that must be handled in the field. Routines must be prepared for that.
Remember also that the AMI rollout is a golden opportunity to greatly improve the data quality. Work out a master data strategy defining which registers are masters and slaves. Define processes and routines for correcting wrong data as part of the installers work list, when changing the meter.
3.2.2 IT-‐systems readiness A critical factor in all AMI projects is the IT-‐systems readiness. Even though every IT-‐system works well stand alone, there is very complicated data flows to be handled in AMI rollouts. Work orders are generated based on information in the customer information system and sent to installers PDAs. After installation of the meter, information about both the old and new meters is transmitted back to the central IT systems and used for updating various back office systems. The potential for exceptions is high in these transactions and the data flow logic must be able to handle this. In an AMI rollout a large amount of meters is changed every day and any errors or exceptions will soon lead to a large backlog.
The best way to tune the dataflow is to do thorough testing of the end-‐to-‐end dataflow before the rollout is started. Errors and deviations should be simulated to ensure that the systems handle this in a reasonable and consistent way. In addition it is advisable to also run a medium size pilot to test out the processes in real life. After fine-‐tuning of the processes you are ready for the big rollout.
3.2.3 Rollout plan A detailed rollout plan must be worked out, taking into consideration a lot of factors like placement of meters (available or behind locked doors), availability of customers (at home, at work, cottages), customer communication, rush hours in traffic, number of meters changed per day per installer, dataflow in meter change process, documentation of performed meter changes, training of installers, clothing of installers, delivery plan for meters, etc.
The plan must also take into account the possibility of unexpected events like delayed meter deliveries, systematic failures in meter batches, problems with fitting meters in small cabinets, etc.
Depending on the number of installers you have available and your decision to insource or outsource, the physical installation of the meters may be done by yourself or an external company. Still there will be a need for thorough training of the installers and detailed routines for how the work shall be performed. The better the preparations the more smoothly the rollout will go.
3.2.4 Rollout and handling of exceptions In the actual rollout a large amount of installers is out in the field every day, meeting your customers and upgrading your infrastructure.
The key to a successful AMI rollout is the handling of exceptions. Exceptions will occur, probably more than you expect and in areas that you haven’t expected. Some typical exceptions have already been discussed like:
• Delayed meter deliveries • Space limitations in cabinets • Data quality errors
But there will also be others like for instance:
• Installers that doesn’t follow agreed procedures • Unexpected IT system downtime • IT system performance limitations
The best preparation is to plan for the unexpected and implement control routines and feedback loops that continuously improves routines and corrects errors as soon as possible.
A very high level of automation and flexible processes are needed. For a utility with 1.000.000 meters 1% exceptions means 10.000 meters that needs to be handled.
3.3 Operations phase Even though the full scope of the operations phase aren’t reached before all meters are rolled out, the phase still starts after the first meter is installed and delivering values. Therefore the operations phase should be planned early in the project.
Ensuring a cost efficient and stable operation requires a competent staff with the right skills and an optimal organization.
Integrated AMI surveillance and operations tools are important to operate the AMI infrastructure in a good way.
Field work must be minimized using remote operations as much as possible, and when on-‐site work is needed efficient processes and routines is necessary to minimize costs.
This chapter focuses on the efficient organization and split of work for the operational phase.
© 2010 Tieto Corporation
AMI Managed Service
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Meter Reading
Service Desk(ITIL Based)
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Communication• Remote Supervision• Incident Management• SLA Control / Follow -upCommunication
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3.3.1 Organization of operations Efficient operations of the AMI infrastructure require competent and well-‐trained personnel and a set of processes and routines adapted to the needs of AMI.
Experience has shown that ITIL, with some AMI specific adaptions, is a good framework to base the organization of operations.
3.3.2 Governance model An AMI adapted ITIL governance model in shown in the figure below with a separation between strategic, tactical and operational level:
ITIL processes as basis for AMI operations
The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a set of practices for IT service management (ITSM) that focuses on aligning IT services with the needs of business. In its current form (known as ITILv3 and ITIL 2011 edition), ITIL is published in a series of five core publications, each of which covers an ITSM lifecycle stage. ITILv3 underpins ISO/IEC 20000 (previously BS15000), the International Service Management Standard for IT service management, although differences between the two frameworks do exist.
ITIL describes procedures, tasks and checklists that are not organization-‐specific, used by an organization for establishing a minimum level of competency. It allows the organization to establish a baseline from which it can plan, implement, and measure. It is used to demonstrate compliance and to measure improvement.
Source: Wikipedia
The strategic level is the management group and overall responsible for the AMI operation. Strategic management involves making decisions about what overall objectives should be. Strategic management's planning is long term and considers where the business wants to be in two to three years’ time. Strategic management has the highest authority.
The responsibility on the strategic level includes: • Overall responsible for the operation • Management of contracts • Evaluate, recommend and decide new possibilities and opportunities • Receive and evaluate KPI’s from Service Delivery Manager • Handle escalations from Service Delivery Manager • Approve significant changes
The tactical level is responsible for the running of the AMI operation. Tactical management is termed as intermediate management. They have lower authority than strategic management. Tactical management involves making decisions about how an organization should go about achieving the overall objectives determined by strategic management. Tactical management decides what needs to be done within that year to implement the plan of strategic management.
The following responsibility is included: • Secure all elements included in the delivery including deliveries from own organization and
sub suppliers • Follow up on key KPI’s for the service delivery • Create and maintain internal plans for the operations organization • Plan and execute management meetings • Handle escalations • Commercial follow up (income and expenses) • Proactive risk handling • Report and reconcile SLAs to the customers Service Level Manager (SLM) • Operational follow up on sub supplier services and agreements • Follow up on internal deliveries on operational level (i.e. IT infrastructure operation or IT
application operation)
• Managing current service and IT configuration and controlled handling of changes on services and IT
• Overall responsibility of all security related aspect in the AMI service delivery
The operational level consists of all key components necessary for delivering complete AMI operations. This management translates the goal of tactical management into operational. The daily routine based work is done by operational management. This is also known as operating core.
The operational level is split into the following four elements or packages:
• IT infrastructure operation • IT application operation • Operation of meters and communication infrastructure • AMI service operation
The operational level is described in more detail in the next chapter.
3.3.3 AMI operations on operational level A simple overview over the operational level is shown below:
IT infrastructure operation consists of ensuring the availability and performance of the end-‐to-‐end IT infrastructure (hardware, software and communication) in order to support the service level requirements of applications. This may be done by the AMI service operations team or outsourced to an IT-‐provider or internal IT department.
This include management, operation and maintenance of hardware, servers, network, network components, firewalls, OS, basic software, databases and system components with corresponding continuity solutions designed for high availability.
Application operation is the process of ensuring the availability and performance of all IT-‐applications involved in a given AMI operation. This may be done by the AMI service operations team or outsourced to an IT-‐provider or internal IT department.
The main tasks are: • Surveillance of processes, batch jobs and message exchange • Maintain, survey and clean up databases, log files and other storage areas • Keep basic software and system components updated, install upgrades and updates • Proactively evaluate and recommend actions to avoid incidents or security breaches • Proactively evaluate and adjust parameters and configurations to optimize performance and
availability • Survey and check backup • Handle incidents and problems • User administration
Meter and communication infrastructure operation is the surveillance and monitoring of field placed devices. An AMI solution includes a large population of field placed devices -‐ meters, concentrators and other equipment. They communicate with the central IT solution through various communication carriers like power line communication (PLC), radio communication and mobile or broadband networks. The field equipment constitutes a large Machine-‐to-‐Machine (M2M) infrastructure, which requires special competence and skills to operate and maintain. Main tasks include:
• Survey the communication infrastructure and ensure that all field placed devices are communicating and delivering values
• Handle incidents by remote operation or if necessary initiate field work • Upgrade software and configurations of meters and communication infrastructure
AMI service operation is the end-‐product, which is based on the underlying elements (IT infrastructure operation, IT application operation and meter and communication infrastructure operation). The main tasks include:
• Follow up of service delivery according to SLA • Incident and problem management • Follow up and coordinate underlying elements (IT infrastructure operation, IT application
operation and meter and communication infrastructure operation)
The Service desk is the Single Point Of Contact (SPOC) on the operational level and normally organized as part of the AMI service operation. It is available for reporting incidents and questions regarding delivery of services. It also handles 1st line of support.
4 Summary In this white paper we have shared our experiences and recommendations, learned from extensive experience in several AMI projects in various countries. AMI is a challenging venture, but will give important business improvements and open up for new possibilities if conducted wisely.
In this summary we would like to repeat our main recommendations.
Do a thorough analysis in the planning phase, involving cross-‐organizational teams, and evaluate: • Insourcing or outsourcing • Business process changes • Functional scope of AMI • Technology choices and future IT-‐architecture • Internal and external communication plan
In the rollout phase focus on: • Data quality issues • Detailed planning • Handling of exceptions
For the operations phase, remember: • The operations phase starts as soon as the first meter is rolled out • Operational challenges should not be underestimated • The right organization is a key to efficient operations • Integrated surveillance and monitoring tools are essential
We hope that this white paper have been enlightening and has given a broader perspective on AMI.
Tieto is happy to help you and share our industry expertise from the utility sector. Please get in touch if you are interested in our IT products, services or qualified advice on your AMI journey.
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