Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management Features and Functions Overview 388664

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Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management Features and Functions Overview

This document describes the Features and Functions of Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management V2.0.1. THE CONTENT IN THIS DOCUMENT IS INTENDED FOR USE AS PART OF A PROPOSAL DOCUMENT AND IS
THEREFORE ALWAYS SUBJECT TO THE APPROPRIATE REVIEW AND APPROVAL PROCESSES TO ENSURE ACCURACY AND COMPLIANCE WITH CURRENT RESPONSE GUIDELINES.
I. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management Overview ......................................................................... 2 Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management Product Overview ...................................................... 3 Sample Screens .......................................................................................................................... 3 Benefits and Features ................................................................................................................. 5 Oracle Utilities Application Framework ....................................................................................... 6 Usability Features .......................................................................................................... 6 Technologies Used ........................................................................................................ 8 II. Business Functionality .................................................................................................................... 10 360 Degree View....................................................................................................................... 10 360 Degree View - The Users Starting Point .............................................................. 10 360 Degree View Device .......................................................................................... 11 360 Degree View Service Point ................................................................................ 11 360 Degree View Measuring Component ................................................................. 11 360 Degree View Usage Subscription ...................................................................... 12 360 Degree View Contact ......................................................................................... 12 Device Management ................................................................................................................. 13 Device .......................................................................................................................... 13 Measuring Components ............................................................................................... 13 Device Configuration .................................................................................................... 13 Device Installation ........................................................................................................ 13 Service Point ................................................................................................................ 14 Device and Service Point Installation Relationships .................................................... 14 Contacts ....................................................................................................................... 14 Service Providers ......................................................................................................... 15 Measurement Cycles ................................................................................................... 15 Validation, Editing, and Estimation ........................................................................................... 15 General Validation, Editing, and Estimation Features ................................................. 16 VEE Rule Assignment and Execution .......................................................................... 16 VEE and Other Standard Rules ................................................................................... 17 Estimation .................................................................................................................... 18 VEE Exception Management ....................................................................................... 18 Usage Management .................................................................................................................. 18 Calculating Usage ........................................................................................................ 19 Sample Usage Rule ..................................................................................................... 19 Time-of-Use Mapping................................................................................................... 20 Demand Management / Response .............................................................................. 20 Usage Subscriptions / Transactions ............................................................................ 20 Net Metering................................................................................................................. 21 Manipulating Measured Values.................................................................................... 21 Aggregations ............................................................................................................................. 21
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General Features ...................................................................................................................... 22 Multi-Service ................................................................................................................ 22 Unit of Measure ............................................................................................................ 22 Multi-Market ................................................................................................................. 22 Deregulated Market Participants.................................................................................. 22 Multi-Language ............................................................................................................ 22 Unmetered Usage ........................................................................................................ 23 Reporting...................................................................................................................... 23 Normalized Interval Reporting ..................................................................................... 23 Integration ................................................................................................................................. 23 Integration with Device Head-End Systems ................................................................ 23 Integration with Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway................................................... 24 CIS Integration Foundation .......................................................................................... 25 III. Framework and Product Tools ...................................................................................................... 26 Framework for Adding Custom Business Logic ........................................................................ 26 Standard Measurement Services................................................................................. 26 Apply Formula Service ................................................................................................. 27 Oracle Utilities Application Framework Development Tools ..................................................... 28 Flexible Architecture..................................................................................................... 28 Portal Zone Configuration Tools .................................................................................. 29 Implementation Application Launch Buttons ................................................................ 30 Third-Party System-Screen Initiation ........................................................................... 30 Automatic Process to Populate Language Tables ....................................................... 30 XAI XML Application Integration Tool ....................................................................... 31 Process Management Tools ........................................................................................ 32 Invoking Business Logic .............................................................................................. 32 Application Viewer........................................................................................................ 33 Source-Code Viewer .................................................................................................... 33 Bundling ....................................................................................................................... 33 Revision Control ........................................................................................................... 34 Operational Tools ...................................................................................................................... 34 To Do Foundation Tools .............................................................................................. 34 Automatic Retry............................................................................................................ 35 Batch Controls and Multi-Threaded Processing .......................................................... 35 Security ........................................................................................................................ 35 LDAP Integration .......................................................................................................... 36 Audit Trails ................................................................................................................... 36 Documentation and Online Help .................................................................................. 37
Contact the TUGBU Content Management Team: tugbu_proposal_center_ww@oracle.com
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I. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management Overview

Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management V2.0.1 is a commercially available application, which contains productized functionality to facilitate the loading, validation, estimation, and editing of measurements associated with Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) / Smart Meters and traditional one-way meters. The Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management application is designed for the highest levels of automation and scalability to address a clients current and future requirements. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management processes inbound meter data, from any meter manufacturer or type meter, and then automatically validates and corrects (if required) the data. Both the raw and corrected data are immediately available for use and review by users. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management is designed to be the single database-of-record to provide timely and accurate meter data for downstream systems. Meter data is the cornerstone of any energy enterprise, affecting billing, settlement, load research, pricing, forecasting, and revenue management. Meter data must be virtually error free or each subsequent business function will be adversely affected. Bad data can translate into a loss in revenue, incorrect settlement statements, and subsequently improper decision-making. An effective meter data management system (MDMS) identifies and corrects these problems to reduce a companys risk exposure and efficiently provides validated usage data across the enterprise. As an effective MDMS, the Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management application improves operational efficiency, accelerates revenue, and reduces customer service costs. The dramatic increase in the number of utilities moving to Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) / Smart Meters requires an advanced meter data management system (MDMS) to provide:

Comprehensive functionality that addresses and adapts to mission critical business processes and initiatives, like Smart Grid and Smart Metering A 360 Degree View device portal that provides advanced navigation and operational analytics to improve operational efficiency Reduced total cost of ownership and project risk by providing standard productized functionality:

Bill determinant processes for the most complete and accurate meter-to-bill information Bill determinant rules that allow clients to quickly and easily build complex usage transactions with no programming Aggregation processes to provide summarized data to downstream systems
A customer information system (CIS) integration foundation to reduce the cost of integration A product built with pure service oriented architecture (SOA) and open technologies to lower integration and support costs A system that scales to address the requirements at the largest utilities in the world
Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management addresses the above requirements and many more.
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Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management Product Overview

Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management (V 2.0.1) integrates with multiple AMI/meters as depicted on the top right of the illustration below. As shown in the center box, Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management acts as the central data repository for all usage information thereby providing validated clean data for downstream systems such as Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing shown at the bottom.
MV-90
Fusion Middleware & Smart Grid Gateway
L+G Meters
Meter Data Management

Devices Events Usage Sub. 360 Portals Bill Determinants Aggregation VEE VEE Groups Service Points Exception Man. Custom Rules Reporting BI Customer Self Service
Application Framework
Fusion Middleware
Other Systems: Billing, Work Management, etc.
Customer Care and Billing
FIGURE 1: ORACLE UTILITIES METER DATA MANAGEMENT OVERVIEW
Sample Screens
The Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management application provides comprehensive and robust user interfaces. The screenshots below depict Oracle Utilities Meter Data Managements 360 Degree View device portal. The 360 Degree View allows the user to view data for devices, measuring components, service points, usage subscriptions, and contacts. These user interfaces contain portals and zones of relevant information showing the information of most concern to the user. The zones and portals provide
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access to commonly required information and thus reduce clicks and needless navigation to get to other related data. While the product provides robust web pages that will address a vast majority of our users requirements, the Oracle Utilities Application Framework also provides a flexible architecture that allows clients to extend or add user interface components. Users are not limited to the base-packages search and maintenance pages; implementations can configure the software to find, display, and edit information in a variety of user-defined portals and zones.
FIGURE 2: SAMPLE 360 DEGREE VIEWS
FIGURE 3: AMI STATUS AND INTERVAL DATA
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Benefits and Features

Listed below is a summary of some benefits and features provide with the Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management product. Benefits and Features Common look and feel Fusion-based User Interfaces Shares the framework with Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing and Oracle Utilities Mobile Workforce Management Validation, Editing, and Estimation (VEE) Rules and Groups Bill Determinants Aggregations Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) Software Faster, easier configuration Common industry technologies (Java, XPath, XML, etc.) 360 Degree View Advanced Navigation Measurement Data Views and Overlays Standard VEE Rules and Groups Complex rule assignment and reuse Custom Rules Automatic exception retry Device Setup Checks VEE Bill Determinant Checks Usage Subscriptions Bill Determinants Web Services and Business Services (SOA) Meters and Meter Data Grid Devices and Sensor Data Weather Data Measurements of any kind Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway CIS Integration Foundation SOA: Web Services, Business Services Designed for scalability from the ground up Customizations use the same technology as the base package Enable superior performance for customizations SOA Fusion, Database Exadata
Built on the OUAF
More Productized
Reduced TCO (Total Cost of Ownership)
Enhanced Usability
Advanced Validations
End-to-End Validations
Data Dissemination
More than just Meters
Integration Capability
Scalability and Performance
Uses Oracle Technologies
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Oracle Utilities Application Framework

Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management is built using Oracle Utilities Application Framework. This is the same framework utilized by other Oracle applications such as Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing and Oracle Utilities Mobile Workforce Management. To provide clarity, the information in this document, about the framework, is to provide the reader an overview of the framework components utilized by Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management. Please refer to the Oracle Utilities Application Framework Features and Functions document for a more complete overview of this framework.
Usability Features
Web Browser User Interface
Users work with Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management via a standard web browser, Microsoft Internet Explorer. This makes the application easy to use and reduces the training time required to learn a new type of user interface. Many familiar browser concepts such as favorites, drill-down hyperlinks, back/forward, pop-up windows, and history buttons are available.
Dashboard
The dashboard is a common area of the screen populated with commonly used functions. It can be minimized to increase the working pane, but always remains available while the user is navigating through related pages. Among others, it can contain such content zones as:

User-defined Favorites (navigation links) Current Context (related data items) Alert Zones Work Lists (list of items to revisit) To Dos
The dashboard allows users to navigate through the application while keeping a steady reference point on the current search context.
Portals and Zones

Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management is built using Oracle Utilities Application Frameworks portal and zone architecture. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management consists of web portals that can be easily changed, and new portals and zones can be easily created by an implementation team. These portals can have an unlimited number of zones and allows the user to see the most useful information possible in the order that is easiest to use. The framework provides portal preferences capability, which allows for setting up portals differently per user or per template user (if a subset of users requires uniform settings). Among other things, these preferences determine whether or not zones are expanded or collapsed initially and the order in which these zones are displayed. Zones can be configured to retrieve information matching a search criteria (query zones), display grid-like information about an object (info zones), and to show other types of HTML (map zone); and all these can be accomplished via metadata.
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Both portals and zones can be secured through application service security, and each zone within a portal can be secured independently, so that a user that has access to a portal can be restricted from seeing specific zones.
Context Menus and Drilldowns

Context menus allow the user to move quickly to transactions related to the selected object while keeping the current record (e.g., service point, device) in context. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management provides fast-access buttons and hyperlinks to take users quickly to the appropriate information. Business Process Assistant (BPA) scripts can also be configured into the context menus to facilitate quick and easy launching of a common process.
Alerts
Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management maintains and displays alert information, which contains messages highlighting a variety of important situations that deserve special attention. User-defined alerts can easily be added to the standard list. For example, the application can be configured to show an alert if more than a configurable number of exceptions occur for a given measurement.
Work Lists
Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management includes work list functionality that allows users to keep a list of records the user would like to revisit. This feature is analogous to a sticky note that allows a user to easily select one of the records from the saved search results. For example, the user can search for service points using a specific set of criteria and add the returned list of service points to a work list. The user is able to select any item on this list without having to repeat the search.
Toolbar Buttons
A toolbar within the browser window provides shortcuts to frequently used functions, such as the ability to quickly return to items like the 360 Degree View or To Dos. Buttons such as Back/Forward navigation or scrolling through Previous/Next records also aid navigation.
Links and Sortable Searches

Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management provides many portal and zones that provide users with a view of the key data relationships. These structures provide links to other related items and subsequently facilitate context-driven navigation to these items. For example, from the 360 Degree Service Point portal, a user can drill into key data relationships like device, device configuration, installation activities, contacts, and usage subscriptions. In addition, many of the columns in a search results table can be sorted by clicking on the sort column. This facilitates the location of a particular record and reduces search times.
User Display Preferences

Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management allows users to define his or her own display preferences. Users can set default items including, among others:
Home page
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Language Dashboard width Portals and zones preferences Favorite links
Online Help with Searchable Index

Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management includes context-sensitive online help with a searchable index. While most user queries about the meaning or importance of a particular field on the current window can be answered very quickly, the index facilitates further research on a topic of interest. For additional information, please refer to the Documentation and Online Help subsection.
Configurable User Interface

Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management provides a variety of robust web pages that can address a large number of requirements for a utility. Since the Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management is built using Oracle Utilities Application Frameworks portal and zone architecture, users can easily extend or add user interface components as part of its implementation. Users are not limited to the base package supplied portals and zones. Implementations can configure the software to display information in a variety of user-defined portals and zones. Virtually any format supported by HTML is possible. Map zones can be dynamically generated by Oracle Utilities Application Framework for general-purpose use or used as a starting point for custom enhancements.
Scripting With the Business Process Assistant

The Business Process Assistant (BPA) functionality aids the correct and efficient completion of business processes by allowing business users to configure screen flow. For example, a BPA script can be configured to walk the user through the process of setting up a service point and device including capturing all related information for an implementation. Business Process Assistant scripts can interact with the standard application services and standard transaction navigation components to provide a seamless process flow. For additional information, please refer to the Business Process Assistant subsection.
Technologies Used
Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management is a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) application. All services are accessible as web services and are XML-based. The application is built using open technologies like Java, XML, and XPath. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management exposes its functionality and facilitates integration through XML-based web services. Any application or tool that can send and receive XML documents can access the rich set of business objects in Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management, making integration easier with other enterprise applications. This also makes the setup of custom web portals simple and straightforward. From the beginning, the application has been designed with performance and scalability in mind. It is build on a proven, scalable architecture and can utilize technologies such as Real Application Clusters (RAC), partitioning and compression. Scalability is also accomplished by using an N-tier architecture.
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Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management is an N-tier client server application with the following tiers:

Client A web browser based thin client that contains the user interface to the product. Web Server A Web Server provides the pages that are displayed on the client web browser and act as a conduit to the business objects. Business Application Server A Business Application Server provides processing of business functions like validating measurements and creating bill determinants. Database Server A database management system is responsible for retrieval and storage of product data.
There are a number of possible hardware deployment options with the product:

All tiers can be on a single machine, shared machines, or on separate machines. All tiers can exist on single or multiple machines for clustering support. Load balancing solutions can be used at the hardware and/or software level.
FIGURE 4: PLATFORM DEPLOYMENT OPTIONS
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II. Business Functionality

Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management is a commercially available application, which contains productized functionality to facilitate the loading, validation, estimation, and editing of measurements associated with Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) / Smart Meters and traditional one-way meters. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management addresses the following business processes:

Defining devices, device configurations, service points, and device installations Loading of readings and events from a head-end system or other sources Automatic validation, editing, and estimation of measurement data Calculation and publishing of bill determinants and other usage data for use by downstream systems such as billing, pricing, etc.
Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management can be broken down into the following functional areas:

360 Degree View Device Management Device Installation Validation, Editing, and Estimation Usage Management Aggregation General Features Integration
360 Degree View

360 Degree View - The Users Starting Point
The 360 Degree View search engine allows searching for device, measuring components, service points, and / or usage subscriptions by a variety of search criteria. Users can search by name/address, entity identifiers, or system IDs. Once the selection request has been entered, the software returns the desired records. The screen organizes these results based on the type of search requested: name, address, identifier, etc. The application also populates the common portal area called the dashboard. The dashboard includes basic information related to the record that remains available while navigating through related pages. Please refer to Usability Features for more user interface features.
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The 360 Degree View allows the user to view data for devices, measuring components, service points, usage subscriptions, and contacts from a single set of portals. The 360 Degree View has a separate portal for each type of object:

Device Service Point Measuring Component Usage Subscription Contact
The portals contain zones of relevant information showing the information of most concern to the user. The zones and portals provide access to commonly required information and thus reduce clicks and needless navigation to get device related details. The Oracle Utilities Application Framework Portal and Zone framework is open, allowing implementers to configure additional zones. For additional information, please refer to the subsection about Portal Zone Configuration Tools.
360 Degree View Device

The device related tab of the 360 Degree View contains zones that provide the following:

Device Overview High level information such as device, service point, installation details and usage subscriptions Device Configuration Overview Information associated with the devices configuration details (including measuring components), associated service points, installation details, etc.
360 Degree View Service Point

The service point related tab of the 360 Degree View contains zones that provide the following:

Service Point Overview High level information such as device, service point, device configuration, installation details and usage subscriptions Measuring Component Types Information related to the measuring component types configured for the service point Interval Consumption History Displays a graph of consumption for a selected interval measuring component type Scalar Consumption History Displays a graph of consumption for a selected scalar measuring component type Timeline Displays a timeline of events for the service point including usage transactions, activities, and exceptions related to validation, editing, and estimation (VEE) processing
360 Degree View Measuring Component

The measuring component tab contains zones that provide the following:
Measuring Component Overview High level information such as service point, device and device configuration
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Device Configuration Overview Displays the associated devices configuration details including measuring components, associated service points, installation details, etc. Viewing / editing of measurement data for a given period in graphical and tabular formats. Other capabilities include:

Quickly identifying measurement data that has been replaced or that required editing Overlaying select Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) events like outages and restoration activities Overlaying VEE exceptions Overlaying device off and removal history Overlaying interval curves from different devices, including weather, profile data, similar customer data, or contrasting them with the same customers data from last month, last year, etc. For example, the zones can automatically compare measurement data to weather data. Visualizing scalar data as interval data (profiling) Viewing time-of-use mapped interval data with the ability to change the time-of-use schedule and view the resulting effect Quickly viewing a summary of measurement edits Various zones to analyze historical trends for a customer by time-of-use period
360 Degree View Usage Subscription

The usage subscription related tab contains zones that provide the following:
Usage Subscription Overview Basic information such as usage subscription, main customer, and service point for selected subscription
Usage Transaction History List of usage transactions for each usage subscription including various usage detail zones
Timeline Displays a timeline of events for the usage subscription including usage transactions, activities and exceptions related to VEE processing
360 Degree View Contact

The contact tab contains zones that provide the following:

Contact Overview Basic information related to the contact such as name, phone number, email address, etc. Contacts Service Points Lists the service points related to the contact including the relationship type Contacts Usage Subscriptions List of usage subscriptions related to the contact including the relationship type
The user interfaces can display phone numbers and addresses in the countrys/regions preferred format.
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Device Management
The primary purpose of the device management functional area, in Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management, is to address requirements related to the maintenance of physical devices in the field.
Device
A device is usually a physical object that can produce data to be handled by the software. The software includes standard product functionality to set up assets like devices and related equipment. While a device is usually a meter, a device could also be an In Home Display (IHD), a smart thermostat, or another type of demand response capable device. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management tracks a variety of information related to devices that may be useful to a company. Examples include the type of device, serial number, manufacturer / model, head-end system and status. The application also includes functionality to allow for multiple device identifiers like serial number, badge number, AMI ID, etc.
Measuring Components
A measuring component is a channel that records a stream of data to be recorded in the software. In Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management, each measuring component has a unit of measure (e.g., kWh, CCF, degrees) and attributes defining how it is to be read. Examples include time-of-use, number of digits, multiplier, subtractive or consumptive, whether it is an interval channel or scalar register. A device may consist of a combination of both interval and scalar measuring components that exist at a particular point in time. In most cases, measuring components will be linked to a physical device. However, Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management allows measuring components to be used as standalone entities to allow users to perform other business operations without affecting existing live measurement data. The software allows users to save actual measurements to Scratchpad Measuring Components that can be edited without changing real data. Users have the option to promote the scratchpad data to production data if required. Examples include the ability to manipulate or experiment with measurement data to determine the affect certain functions may have on the data. For example, smoothing spikes on test interval data prior to similar functions being deployed to a wider set of measurement data for operational purposes.
Device Configuration
A device can have many configurations, over a period of time. A configuration consists of one or more measuring components. In most situations, the physical identifiers of a device do not change. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management allows a company to easily keep track of when configurations associated with a device changed for historical purposes.
Device Installation
The primary purpose of the Device Installation functional area, in Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management, is to address requirements related to the maintenance of service points and installation of
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physical devices / meters in the field. The application also includes processes and objects to know if the device is installed, connected, commissioned, etc.
Service Point
A service point is a physical location at which a company supplies service. In Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management, the service point describes the basic information about each location or address serviced by the company. The service point also includes the type of service being supplied, how it will be measured (such as the cycle time period in which the meter is read), field information (such as warnings and instructions), status, market and general contact information. Life support requirements may also be indicated on a service point (for a hospital, for example). A relationship can be specified to create a hierarchy of service points. On each service point, users will be able to specify a parent service point. Sample use of this feature would be to link each condominium in a building to a parent service point that represents the common areas of the building itself. Another example would be a deregulated service point that allows multiple devices per service point. In this example, the parent service point would be the market service point ID and the children service points would relate to the individual devices.
Device and Service Point Installation Relationships

When consumption is to be measured at a service point, a device is required to be installed. At any instant in time, a service point will have zero or one device installed. A device can only be installed at one service point at a time. Over its lifetime, a service point may have many devices installed and a device may also be installed at many service points. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management records the relationship between a device and the service point it serves. The application captures the history of the devices stored at a service point that allows consumption to be calculated over time. The application can capture the installation details, turning on / off of devices and removal details for a device at a service point. With the complete history available online, users can view the history of a device through its lifetime or see the history of a service point, including all devices installed over time.
Contacts
Contacts are individuals or business entities with which a company interacts. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management can record associated contacts with a service point and usage subscription. The type of information that can be captured includes:

Name Phone Numbers (e.g., business, home, mobile) Email Addresses Other identifiers (e.g., social security number, license number)
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Service Providers
Service providers are external entities that serve various roles relative to the application. In Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management, service providers can include head-end systems, billing system to which the application sends bill determinant data, market participants in a deregulated environment, outage management systems that receive meter event data from the application, and other parties that require or provide information to the software. Two expanded examples from above include:
Head-end systems are systems that collect measurement data and meter events for eventual submission to a meter data management system. Many devices can communicate through a single head-end systems and a utility may have many head-end systems through which they communicate with devices. In deregulated markets, a utility can send or receive information from a variety of market participants. Examples include an energy supply company receiving consumption data or a meter service provider requesting to ping a meter to verify connectivity between a meter and its headend system.
Measurement Cycles
For meters that are manually read, each service point typically belongs to a specific measurement cycle and route. Each cycle has a user-maintained schedule indicating when the service points in the cycle should be read. A route is a group of properties whose meters can be read by a meter reader on a given day or partial day. The sequence in which service points are read within a route is also stored on the service point. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management stores these attributes for use by handheld systems and devices. The application can also be configured to download manual read schedules to a handheld system. The handheld system is then responsible for downloading the details to the utilitys handheld devices. As the meter reader walks from property to property, they are shown information about the service points and meters being read, and can enter the meter readings into the handheld devices. Once downloaded from the handheld devices, the Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management software provides capabilities to load the meter read data. Whether loading reads from traditional manual processes or from automatic meter reading systems, the storage of the data is the same. This same measurement cycle can also be used as a bill cycle to drive a push bill determinant process where the Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management software sends bill determinants out to a destination billing system.
Validation, Editing, and Estimation

One of the central components of the Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management application is the functionality associated with validation, editing, and estimation (VEE) of meter read data. The primary purpose of the validation, editing, and estimation functional area is the checking and cleansing of measurement data as it comes into the application. The process involves the following:
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Validation Validates that the initial measurement data is within expected tolerances and is correct Editing If the initial measurement data is incorrect in some way, the data can be changed Estimation If the initial measurement data is incomplete (e.g., missing intervals), missing values can be automatically estimated
General Validation, Editing, and Estimation Features

The general validation, editing, and estimation (VEE) features include the following:

The VEE processing can be called online / real time or in batch. Measurements can also be validated as a separate process from the loading process, if required. A framework to allow companies to easily configure custom rules where the standard rules provided do not address its specific business requirements:
Custom rules use the same framework as standard rules. This allows rules to be easily implemented and limits the performance risk associated with customizations Custom rules can access the same measurement and usage services used by the core product Rules can be written in XPath-based scripting or Java
A flexible architecture where users can define rule tolerances, exception codes, exception routing, rule sequencing, rule branching, custom rules, rule effective dates, etc.
VEE Rule Assignment and Execution

The Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management product provides a great deal of flexibility when assigning and executing rules. VEE rules are assigned to user-defined VEE groups, which can in turn be assigned to measuring components (meter channels) in a number of ways. This methodology reduces the amount of configuration required to define and maintain these VEE rules and groups.
VEE Rule Sequencing Individual rules can be sequenced as desired, and custom rules can be interspersed with the standard rules. This is important, for example, when total consumption is calculated or corrected to allow for final consumption to be determined prior to validations. Define Rules by Business Process Different groups of VEE Rules can be associated to different VEE processes that apply to a given measuring component or a large number of measuring components. For example, one group of rules could be used for initial loading, another group of rules for pre-billing estimation, and a third group of rules for data added online. Duplicate Rules The same rules can be called multiple times for a given VEE group. The context of how a rule is called is managed separately from the rule configuration, so that each instance of a rule can have different exception codes and rule tolerances. For example, the same rule can be used for a normal low check and a very low check within the same VEE group. VEE Branching functionality:
VEE Group Factor These factor groups determine if a VEE group should be called by looking at characteristic values (e.g., use this group if the service point is located in San Francisco, and use a different group of rules if the service point is located in Oakland). Rule groups can be associated with specific regions, customer types, device types or any other characteristic criteria thus allowing for dynamic execution of rules.
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VEE Rule Eligibility Criteria functionality All rules can have eligibility criteria to limit their application to specific regions, customer types, device types, contract terms, or any other attribute of an object (whether the attribute is implementation-specific, or standard base package). VEE Rule Groupings Rules can call other groups of rules
VEE and Other Standard Rules

Examples of some of the standard VEE rules provides in Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management include:
All Meters
Device Multiplier Check Checks to see to it that the device multiplier value of the incoming initial measurement data matches the multiplier value stored on the measuring component Unit Of Measure Check Checks to see that the Unit of Measure (UOM) of the incoming initial measurement data matches the UOM specified on the measuring components type Device Identifier Validation Checks to see that the device identifier value of the incoming initial measurement data matches the device identifier value stored on the device Negative Consumption Checks for negative consumption Zero Consumption Checks for zero consumption Generic High / Low Check Compares consumption of incoming initial measurement data against historical data as a means of demonstrating reasonableness of the data Interval Replacement Rule Determines whether or not an incoming initial measurement would replace any existing measurements and if so, whether or not to allow this to happen Interval Size Validation Checks to see that the interval size of the incoming initial measurement data matches the value defined in the measuring component type Interval Spike Check Examines incoming initial measurement data to identify intervals with conspicuously high usage relative to other surrounding intervals Energy Sum Check Checks the difference between the total consumption of incoming initial measurement against the total consumption (based on final measurements) for one or more related measuring components (same device over the same time period) Missing Quantity Identify interval measurements with missing values Interval Averaging Estimation Estimate gaps in interval initial measurement data based on averaging historical data for the same measurement Interval Interpolation Estimation Estimates gaps in interval initial measurement data using liner interpolation Interval Estimations based on Register Readings Adjust interval values based on the corresponding scalar values Interval Estimation based on a corresponding profile Estimate missing values based on a profile
Interval Meters
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Scalar Meters
Scalar Replacement Rule Identifies whether or not a scalar reading would completely replace an existing measurement and if so, whether or not to allow this to happen Scalar Estimation Estimates missing data based on historical data for the same measuring component Scalar Estimation based on a corresponding profile Estimate missing values based on a profile
Estimation
As mentioned above, the product includes pre-built methods for estimations. The Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management product includes numerous standard methods for estimating data including linear interpolation, historical like-day values, profile based estimation, and interval estimations based on register readings. In addition to the standard estimation methods provided by the base product, additional estimation rules may be added via configuration using Oracle configuration tools. The VEE groups allow multiple estimation rules to be run in sequence to support complex estimations. An example of this would be, first calling the profile based estimation rule and then calling the rule to estimate intervals based on register readings. The first rule will use a profile to get a realistic usage curve and the second rule adjusts the consumption to the correct level. Estimated measurements can also be validated using VEE rules designated especially for estimated readings and all estimated records are marked accordingly.
VEE Exception Management

VEE exception management is a key component of an efficient meter data management system. The Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management product provides comprehensive and integrated error handling to see that exceptions are handled in a timely manner. The functionality provided with the Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management product allows the user to view VEE exceptions and process errors. Exceptions can be informational or result in termination of the VEE process. Termination exceptions prevent measurements from being finalized and usage processing being undertaken. The application can log singular exceptions and create master exceptions based on multiple exceptions. The application can automatically route these errors to the To Dos for manual resolution. These exceptions reside in Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management exception tables and can be used to generate To Dos for user interaction. To Do functionality is a component, of the Oracle Utilities Application Framework, intended to manage manual work assigned to a user or a group of users. The user is provided with hints and workflow to assist in accessing the information and, if necessary, correcting the problem.
Usage Management
With the increasing usage of smart meters and interval data, most companies are required to turn interval data into billing units, also known as usage billing determinants, and then pass these onto an edge
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application to calculate the charges associated with the billing units. In some cases, other quantities may also be required to be calculated based on the rates that are applicable to a customer. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management reduces the impact on customer information systems that result from advanced metering infrastructure and complex tariffs. Although bill determinants are an important requirement for most customers, usage transaction data can be created and exported for other purposes also. Usage transactions can be used to assist other downstream processes and systems such customer self-service and settlement applications.
Calculating Usage
Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management provides standard functionality to produce usage transaction to pass onto edge applications. The functionality includes the following:

Usage transactions can be calculated and corrected online / real time, in batch, and via services Processes to determine which accounts are ready for bill determinant calculations Standard rules to calculate and validate common usage transactions including:

Scalar reads Time-of-use consumption (by applying time-of-use maps to interval data) Interval curves (either real or derived) Rules that allow users to define custom math formulas (see an example below) Standard verification rules such as comparing the current periods kWh to a tolerance
A framework to allow companies to configure additional usage calculation and / or verification rules where the standard rules provided do not address its specific business requirements A rich library of rules covering formulations such as interval data services, mathematical functions, calculating consumption, and many more Numerous features to simplify the maintenance of usage rules are available including:
Rules can be encapsulated into reusable rule groups that can be executed from other rules, thus reducing the requirement for redundant usage groups All rules can have eligibility criteria to limit their application to specific regions, customer types, meter types, contract terms, or any other criteria Sophisticated effective-dating logic allows usage transaction to be calculated for each period in which rules apply An unlimited number of scalar and interval values can be calculated
Sample Usage Rule

The Oracle Meter Data Management product includes a powerful usage calculation rule (Usage Rule Math) that can be configured to execute conditional formulas to perform complex calculations and interval curve derivation. User can quickly build complex usage transactions with no programming. The user interface allows users to define the inputs, outputs, and formulas used.
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Example: calculate the power factor curve using the formula This rule can:

Accept multiple curves of interval data as input Perform axis conversion to unify/align the UOMs (units of measure) and SPIs (seconds per interval) of the input interval data curves Allow for successively executed conditional formulas, including mathematical operations, to generate the derived output curve (e.g., excess demand) Apply TOU mapping to a derived output curve (e.g., derive a power factor curve and then perform TOU mapping to the curve) Define summarization methods Define if interval vectors are stored
Time-of-Use Mapping
Fundamental to interval billing are time-of-use (TOU) maps that group similar intervals and classify them into identified periods, usually for pricing purposes. For example, a typical months 720 hourly periods can be mapped to a smaller number of TOU periods, such as peak, off-peak, or shoulder. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management provides tools that help users define standard reusable templates and generate time-of-use maps. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management contains functionality that applies customers designated time-of-use map(s) to their actual time series usage data. There is no limit to the number or types of TOU periods.
Demand Management / Response

Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management provides functionality to address demand management / response pricing programs such as critical peak pricing (CPP) periods, and other demand response adjustments to time-of-use (TOU) consumption. Special demand management / respond options are triggered by the creation of events. Events can be identified as interruptions, curtailment requests, price events, etc. and stored in the application. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management has standard functionality to automatically calculate dynamic bill determinants for TOU consumption based on events.
Usage Subscriptions / Transactions

Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management can calculate and send bill determinants / usage to other systems such as a customer information system (CIS), an external billing system, customer self service, or some other application. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management allows users to define how a subscribing system expects usage to be summarized and exported. In most cases, the usage will be in the form of bill determinants for individual accounts. Usage subscriptions are therefore ongoing requests to send one or more service points usage to one or more external parties (e.g., a billing application or customer self service application).
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Once a system has subscribed to a service point or service points, it can receive records of usage for that service point. The records are referred to as usage transactions can include calculation periods, date breaks, usage values, etc.
Net Metering
Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management allows for net metering in various forms:

Interval devices with both positive and negative values Scalar meters that can spin backward Devices with both additive and subtractive channels Usage subscriptions that contain both additive and subtractive service points
Manipulating Measured Values

The Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management application is designed to produce bill determinants to accommodate rates that require manipulation of raw consumption data (for instance, the conversion of cubic feet into therms). It is also designed to calculate bill determinants for rates that require the calculation or derivation of new values that are used within the rate, such as when power factors are applied to demand or when special rates are applied to dynamically define excess demand. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management includes in the base package a rich library of these rules covering formulations such as interval data services, mathematical functions, calculating consumption, and many more.
Aggregations
The product includes functionality to automatically aggregate channels of data. This powerful feature allows clients to prepare aggregated data for down-stream applications and processes such as forecasting and distribution planning. Aggregated data can also be used by other meter data management related processes such as demand response planning and post event analysis. Aggregation processing can include multiple levels of aggregation for both scalar and interval devices (e.g., aggregation first to distribution transformer level, then, subsequently, to substation level). The application includes standard processes to aggregate data by geographic region, with an additional example configuration (distribution node) included in the demo database. Additional aggregation nodes can be added, as required. The product includes advanced functionality to normalize aggregated data, including:

Automatically converting scalar data to interval data using profiles or the straight line method Converting measurements to a standard unit of measure Scaling interval data to the desired interval length (seconds per interval (SPI))
Typically, the software would periodically aggregate consumption data in batches; however, users can reaggregate in real-time and can also create and execute ad hoc aggregations on the fly. The aggregation
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functionality takes advantage of advanced Oracle database techniques to optimize the performance of these aggregation processes. Aggregate curves can be accessed using views and services provided by the application. Using these services, the aggregated curves can also be manipulated and compared to other curves to support backend processes like revenue protection. Not For Measurements Only The aggregation functionality can be used to aggregate non-measurement values. An example of this might be to generate summary statistics for all of the VEE exception or AMI events.
General Features
Multi-Service
Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management can provide for any number of services / commodities including electricity, gas, water, sewer, wastewater, etc. The services to be offered are merely a configuration decision and new services can be introduced at any time without programming effort.
Unit of Measure
Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management is unit of measure (UOM) agnostic, meaning the system is able to address the requirements for any type of commodity that is measured.
Multi-Market
Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management can allow for multiple regulated and deregulated markets. Each service point can be associated to a unique market and therefore allows the product to be used by companies in multiple markets. While a service point can only participate in one market, a utility may service in multiple markets and different service points throughout the utilitys service territory can be linked to different markets.
Deregulated Market Participants

Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management can be used by deregulated market participants like retailers, system operators, generators, wholesalers, and utilities. Deregulated markets, market participant types, and market participants can be easily defined. Service points can be associated to multiple deregulated market participant types.
Multi-Language
Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management is a true multi-language product. For system operators / users, Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management permits set up of user interfaces to display information in the language of the operators / users choice, including languages that display text from right to left and double-byte character sets. Therefore, two users side-by-side using the same application could be seeing
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different languages in use for all menus, page descriptions, label descriptions, error messages, and warning messages. A dashboard zone allows users to switch the language display with the push of a button, if more than one language is available.
Unmetered Usage
Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management provides the capability to address requirements related to unmetered devices, such as streetlights or security lights, by using standard profiles as a typical reading. The application can be configured to calculate streetlamp consumption, for instance, based on wattage of the lamp and hours of daylight.
Reporting
Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management provides robust, web-enabled reporting capabilities via the Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher (Oracle BI Publisher) reporting tool. Reporting capabilities provided include online data viewing, graphing, and analysis via a standard report(s), as well as the ability to configure business and operational reports. Using this reporting tool, clients can implement custom business and operational reports. (Note that Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher must be licensed separately.) The Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management application allows for ad hoc reporting by providing printing and export to XLS buttons on most user interfaces.
Normalized Interval Reporting

In addition to providing services to access final measurements, the Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management application stores final measurements in a normalized form to allow for traditional SQL queries and reporting. Using Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher (separately licensed) or other reporting tools, users are able to access and report on the interval data stored in the data repository.
Integration
Integration with Device Head-End Systems
The Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management application provides functionality to interface with device head-end systems to receive measurements and events. The application can also be configured / extended to send and receive two-way commands including, among others, on-demand readings, meter connects, and meters disconnects. The application includes standard objects and processes to provide for this integration. The software includes the following functionality:

Standard measurement and event XML file formats Measurement and event upload processes User interfaces to view measurements and events Measurement and events subscriptions that allow downstream systems to subscribe to this data
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The capability to issue AMI commands directly from the user interface or as part of meter data management related business processes (e.g., via the Activity objects) Show the status of commands including those that are still in the process of being executed
Please note: custom head-end system interfaces will require tools to transform the incoming measurement and event data into the Oracle unified formats and orchestrate the complex AMI command activities. Oracle suggests Oracle Fusion Middleware components Oracle Service Bus (OSB) and Oracle BPEL Process Manager for these functions. (Oracle OSB and BPEL Process Manager are separately licensed products and are not included with the Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management application.)
Integration with Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway

The Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management product also supports AMI / Smart Meter communications via integration with the Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway product and one or more productized Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway Adapters (separately licensed). While clients can configure their own headend system interfaces, Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway provides this integration through, supported, productized AMI vendor adapters. Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway is a communications platform supporting interaction between edge applications, such as MDMS, and diverse device management head-end system applications. The product provides a unified format for measurement and device event data, leveraging vendor-specific adapters to retrieve, parse, and transform incoming data as required. Its meter command processes support complex message orchestration, leveraging vendor-specific adapters to provide a common set of commands that can be called by external applications using the same request format regardless of the vendor. The Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway is seamlessly integrated with the Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management product. The Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway product includes the following functionality:

Measurement Data and Device Event Loading vendor-specific adapters to parse and transform incoming data into the Oracle Utilities unified format. Measurement Data and Device Event Processing standard services and accompanying business objects to support loading of measurement data and device events. The product also supports the standardization of measurement status codes and device event types for transmission to subscribing systems. Command Requests standard services with accompanying business objects to orchestrate common business processes, via device communication, regardless of the head-end system, including commissioning, connect, disconnect, decommissioning, on-demand read, and device status check.
In addition to receiving measurements and events from the head-end systems, another key benefit of AMI vendor technology and Smart Metering is the capability to control these meters remotely via two-way communications (e.g., meter commands). While the capabilities of the meters, devices and associated AMI head-end systems can (and do) vary significantly, most vendors provide a core set of key, two-way commands including: On-Demand Read, Meter Ping / Device Status Check, Remote Connect / Disconnect and Device Commissioning / Decommissioning. The functionality provided by these commands is inevitably implemented in different ways depending on the underlying AMI vendor technology involved. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management, together with
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Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway, provides standardized business services to isolate the user or client system from the technical details of a particular AMI system. When the user or client system submits a command for a meter, Oracle standardized business services determine the AMI system to which the meter is connected and (via Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway) orchestrates the AMI vendor specific commands required to perform the requested service and, usually, processes a response. It should be noted that while these integration facilitating components are included in the Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management product, the actual vendor integration adapter products is licensed separately from the Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management product. This approach enables the client to license only the adapters required for its business and to benefit from the productized nature of the adapters.
CIS Integration Foundation

The product includes rich capabilities to aid integration with customer information systems (CIS) applications. The application includes foundational components to reduce the amount of work and risk associated with CIS integration projects. The CIS foundation components include objects, tables, and processes to support CIS integration for:
Master Data Synchronization (initial and ongoing)

Usage Subscriptions Contacts Service Points and Installation Events Devices, Device Configurations and Measurement Components Bill Determinant Requests Bill Determinant Responses and Errors Notice of Measurement Corrections Enhanced Bill Determinant calculation capabilities:
Bill Determinants

Date Breaks (e.g., different Bill Determinant values across the requested period due to, for example, changes in tariff)
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III. Framework and Product Tools

Oracle Utilities Application Framework and Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management offer a number of tools that assist with software implementation and operation. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management is built on the Oracle Utilities Application Framework that allows an organization to extend functionality through the creation of custom code or scripted logic at exit points defined throughout the application. This code is separated from core product code, so that the existence of extensions / customizations has no negative effect on the ease of product upgrades.
Framework for Adding Custom Business Logic

Oracle Utilities Application Framework and Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management come with a rich framework to build custom business logic. This includes custom VEE rules, bill determinants calculation rules, or other business logic. This custom logic can be built using the same measurement and usage services as the core product. This allows rules to be easily implemented and limits the performance risk associated with customizations. Approach to configuration of custom rules:
Rules can be written in XPath 2.0 based expressions or Java.
XPath 2.0 scripting (which uses Oracles XPath library) is a configuration-based alternative for creating custom rules that can orchestrate calls to base-package Java-based services that do the heavy lifting. Java Plug-ins Oracle Utilities Application Framework is built within Java, thus Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management harnesses the frameworks ability to expose plug-in points where mission-critical and complex functionality can be accomplished through custom Java development; when performance is absolutely required.
Performance monitoring statistics and debugging tools are provided to help system administrators determine if and where performance issues exist.
Oracle Utilities Application Framework offers a number of tools that assist with software implementation and extension of the application. Please see the Oracle Utilities Application Framework Features and Functions document for a complete overview of other framework tools.
Standard Measurement Services

Numerous standard services have been added to allow for custom business logic creation. These services are specifically designed for interval and scalar data operations.
Measurement Services Overview
Most of the services are written in Java.
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These are the same services used in our base package rules and thus have been tested and refined as part of the product. They can be called from Java or from XPath-based scripts. Services retrieve and manipulate data in a variety of ways. Please see a list of some the services below: Convert Scalar Consumption to Interval Data Convert the scalar values to interval data using one of the two methods:
Scalar Consumption Services
Based on an interval profile, the scalar consumption is distributed using the same relative curve as the associated profile The consumption is spread evenly over the interval period assuming a straight-line distribution
Retrieve Scalar Consumption This service retrieves scalar consumption Retrieve Interval Consumption This service retrieves interval consumption Create Intervals Create interval measurements Axis Conversion Perform conversions between data sets of diverse UOMs and interval periods. Listed below are two (2) examples:

Interval Consumption Services

Unit of measure (UOM) conversion (e.g., from kW to kWh) From different interval periods (e.g., from 15 minute kWh to 60 minute kWh)
Shift Intervals Shift interval measurements from one period to another Insert Intervals Insert interval values into a measurement Remove Intervals Remove interval values from a measurement Set Condition Set the interval condition (status) code (e.g., missing, outage, estimated) Extract Subset of Intervals Extract a portion of the interval measurements Merge Interval Combine interval measurements Apply TOU Map To Interval Data Applies a TOU map to interval data to show the TOU values (e.g., on-peak totals, off-peak totals) Apply Formula A user interface that allows users to define custom formulas
Apply Formula Service

This flexible service allows business users to define custom formulas. The Apply Formula Service can be used to perform tasks such as:

Take the average of two interval curves Pick maximum values per interval from two interval curves Return all interval values that have some input condition flag value (e.g., estimated) Return a percentage of missing intervals based on condition flag
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Adjust intervals to a scalar value to force all intervals to add up to a scalar value It can manipulate interval curves based upon a series of conditionally executed and configurable mathematical formulae (that can include configurable / derived constants)
Add Scalar Values To Intervals Allows users to add a user provided value to all intervals in a measurement Subtract Scalar Value To Intervals Allows users to subtract a user provided value to all intervals in measurement Multiply Intervals By Scalar Value Allows users to multiply all interval values in a measurement by a user provided value Divide Intervals By Scalar Value Allows users to divide all interval values in a measurement by a user provided value
Create a Condition Code Mask - for a given set of intervals, evaluate the condition (interval status code) for each, and create a new set of intervals, each with a value of either 0 or 1. Please note, that this ability is not restricted to condition codes.
Oracle Utilities Application Framework Development Tools

Oracle Utilities Application Frameworks includes development tools to assist with implementation and extension of the product. The application is supplied with the Oracle Utilities Software Development Kit (SDK). This kit includes a set of tools, guidelines, standards, and checklists to assist implementers with creating new functionality (batch jobs, reports, plug-ins, and user interfaces). The Developer Guides include standards for Java development, SQL development, database design, and naming conventions as an appendix. As long as the guidelines and standards are adhered to during creation, any extension work will be compatible with future upgrades. The following sections describe the architectural features that provide Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management the flexibility to respond to current and future business requirements.
Flexible Architecture
Extendable Data Model
Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management can link user-defined fields (i.e.; characteristics) to all core entities, including Device, Service Point, Measuring Components, Contact, etc. This feature allows the data model to expand without base application changes. These characteristic fields can be validated by the application using a list of predefined values, a validation algorithm, or a list of valid values in another existing table (e.g., Contact). File location characteristics can also be used to specify the URL of a related document or site.
Plug-In Architecture
The application can perform functions using user-defined algorithms, also known as plug-ins. For example, user-defined algorithms can be used to perform custom validation, editing, and estimation logic. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management provides many plug-in spots for commonly used business logic and new plug-ins can be written or scripted (through configuration and not programming) to introduce
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implementation-specific logic as required. Plug-In Scripts are created entirely with configuration whereas other algorithms may require development. The Software Development Kit provides standards and instructions for configuring new algorithms.
Configuration through Metadata Changes

Users may access certain portions of the metadata that defines software properties and behaviors through a browser based user interface that helps them configure and modify:

Menu setup Lookup table data Table/field data for audit trails and multi-language attributes System message category and system messages Audit-table queries Portal zones
Browser User Interface Exits

Browser user interface exits override or extend the base user interface behavior. Interface exits can be used to:

Hide or disable fields based on implementation-specific criteria Extend validation of fields (This does not override existing system validations.) Define default values Provide other field manipulations
Please note, that this feature, which is available only on certain transactions, allows implementers to include specific JavaScript in system-generated pages. The Software Development Kit provides standards and instructions for creating the exit code.
Server Side User Exits or Change Handlers

Change Handlers are provided with the Java services to add event-driven logic to entities. Server Side logic generally is used to perform additional validation or custom business logic from within the Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management application.
Java Framework for Real-Time Calls

The framework on the Web Application Server provides user exit points where Java extensions can be introduced for real-time calls.
Portal Zone Configuration Tools

Portal Zones are customizable on portal pages through configuration of the zone content, providing extra usability and advanced customization of Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management. The application includes several application interfaces for implementers to maintain the metadata related to portal zones. Portal zones can be Informational or Query related. Query Zones provide configurable input search
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criteria and results. Information Zones can have filters and additional columns available for users to drag and drop into the output results so that the display of the zones information is dynamic based on user requirements. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management can maintain and display help text for fields and zones on the user interfaces. These short and concise explanations provide for a self-documenting application. For instance, implementations can provide help text for device identifier fields, describing the expected format of the value to be entered.
Custom Searches
The flexible search features permit implementers to define their own search zones or to augment exiting search zones without sacrificing future upgrade flexibility.
Implementation Application Launch Buttons

Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management can launch external web applications via navigation keys located within the metadata. These keys are available from within the applications menu. Implementers can configure and arrange menus by changing metadata. The application launcher allows data definitions to be passed to the external application. Typically, this would be context-specific information available on the current transaction that might be applicable to the external application, such as an account number.
Third-Party System-Screen Initiation

Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management application pages can be launched from external applications. Implementers can define the location to be accessed and provide relevant key data so that the application opens with the desired context. The location is a value that forms part of the URL used to launch a page in the application. This is defined in the metadata. Also helpful in this context is the XML schema document, which defines the pages data structure and all the properties of the data on the page, including the key required to access a particular business object. A Business Process Assistant (BPA) script can also be specified as part of the URL to launch a client side BPA script as part of the page location from another application. Temporary variables can also be passed as input to the script.
Automatic Process to Populate Language Tables

An automatic batch process copies language-sensitive tables from one language code to another. While this does not provide translation, it does take care of the tedious task of creating the new language records, and it provides default information from which translators can work.
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XAI XML Application Integration Tool

XML and System Integration
XML Application Integration (XAI) assists in integrating Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management with other applications regardless of the platforms or operating systems used. XAI provides an integration platform to:

Provide information feeds for web-based customer portals Fit seamlessly with web based applications Facilitate fast implementation of batch interfaces Integrate with other XML-compliant enterprise applications
XAI exposes Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management business logic as a set of XML-based web services (XML wrapped in SOAP envelopes). These services can be invoked by different transport methods (e.g., Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or Java Message Service (JMS)). Consequently, any application or tool that can send and receive XML documents can access the rich set of Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management business objects. All services are accessible as web services and are XML-based. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management exposes its functionality and facilitates integration through XML-based web services. Any application or tool that can send and receive XML documents can access the rich set of business objects in Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management, making integration easier with other enterprise applications.
The Schema Editor

To facilitate the process of exposing Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management business objects as XML schemas, the XAI tool provides a Schema Editor. This editor is a graphical tool to create, import, and maintain XML schemas. The Schema Editor provides automated wizards to import schemas residing in existing data structures and documents. The Schema Editor can import schemas from Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management business objects, Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) data sources, and sequential files.
XAI Real-Time Outbound Messaging

XAI includes a real-time engine that allows synchronous messages. This message engine is designed to send out XML messages in real time, and wait for a response. Should the response time out, an error is raised.
Web Services with XAI

The XAI Tool allows for Web Services Description Language (WSDL) to expose XAI services as web services. A WSDL Generator creates the .wsdl files that describe the service in a standard format for use as a web service.
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Process Management Tools

Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management provides a number of tools to define business processes and help users of the application execute processes both quickly and in a standardized manner.
Business Process Assistant

The Business Process Assistant (BPA) is an interactive tool that both documents business processes and navigates users through the steps involved in business processes. Each BPA script covers a single specific process, such as creating a device and installing it at a service point. Each script is completely configurable by business analysts. The BPA functionality helps standardize business processing and provides guidance for infrequent tasks. It is also useful for user training. The BPA appears in the main browser window (below the toolbar and above the main portal tabs) at the time when a script is chosen and it provides a high degree of interactivity with the transaction shown directly below. Scripts can be defined with multiple steps to guide a user through a series of user interface workflow(s).
Invoke UI Map
User Interface (UI) maps allow a Business Process Assistant (BPA) script to display a form either for display or input purposes in one of three areas: the BPA area, the object display area, or in a separate popup window.
Invoke Business Object

Business Objects can be defined for custom definitions of how a company uses the Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management base packages generic business or maintenance objects. For example, the Device business object is intentionally generic so each implementation can configure it to match the companys requirements. BPA scripts can interact with business objects to add, change, delete, and read data.
Invoking Business Logic

Invoke Business Service
In the same way that a Business Object is used to simplify a maintenance object, a Business Service can be used to simplify a back-end application service. A Business Service provides a simpler data interface for the Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management application services, thus making interaction with the actual services much easier.
Invoke Service Script

Service scripts can be thought of as configurable common routines that can be invoked from BPA scripts, other service scripts, and the XAI adaptor. Through the configuration of scripts, additional business rules can be introduced into the application without programming (i.e.; business rules can be set up via configuration).
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Invoke Function
Scripts can invoke functions that act as a way for the script to call Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management page services to retrieve information without having to navigate to their user interface transactions. Functions can reference base package application services or can be created for specialized purposes.
Script Merge
Script Merge allows the implementer to merge scripts by moving steps from one script to another and then renumbering the steps.
Application Viewer
The Application Viewer is an online, interactive tool that shows the internals of the application. It is the central repository for all technical application details, including the Data Dictionary, XML Services, Algorithm Documentation, To Do Type Documentation, Batch Program Documentation, and JavaDocs. The Data Dictionary describes the database schema and graphically illustrates relationships among tables. The data dictionary lists every table in the application. For each table, the fields are shown, along with a visual representation of the foreign key relationships for the table being displayed. A user may follow a foreign key link by clicking on a child or parent table. Clicking on a field will display the fields attributes, including description, data type, and size. Note that each tables maintenance program is shown as a hyperlink; if selected, it transfers the user to the source-code viewer. The data dictionary is also linked to the online help documentation, allowing for dynamic reference of a field to the online transaction description of how it is used in the application.
Source-Code Viewer
The source-code viewer is an online tool that lets users browse the source code of modules that execute on the application server. This feature is particularly useful when creating new plug-in algorithms or batch processes, as it shows how the base application is coded. In a similar fashion to the data dictionary, the source code viewer allows for hyperlinks to other programs called from the starting-point program. The left-hand frame shows a tree structure of the displayed program, facilitating quick navigation within the program. There is also detailed documentation available on each of the standard plug-in algorithms that are provided with the base package software.
Bundling
Bundling is a tool to move data configurations across Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management environments and is mostly applicable for advanced configuration environment base objects. There are two types of bundles first, an Export Bundle is a collection of entities to be shipped to another environment; second, an Import Bundle contains the XML snapshot of the entities to be applied to a target environment. Bundling is primarily used for copying demo data configurations that customers may find useful for their implementations.
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Revision Control
Revision Control is a tool used to manage revisions and track user changes on metadata objects. It includes features for check out, check in, revert, delete, and restore actions. It also includes supervisory actions such as forcing an object to be checked in while still being checked out by another user. This tool is very useful when working in a distributed development environment. It allows a user to lock an object while being worked on and check it in once finalized. It also provides audits trails of changes made to an object over time and the ability to reinstate an earlier version of an object. The tool also includes the ability to recover a deleted version.
Operational Tools
The Oracle Utilities Application Framework includes Operational Tools that are used during the day-today operation of the application.
To Do Foundation Tools
To Do lists are work items that describe work to be done via human intervention. Numerous events, such as VEE or bill determinant failures, can trigger the creation of To Do lists. Each type of message appears in a unique To Do List, to be worked by assigned users or groups. Listed below are some of the To Do features provided with the framework: To Do Foundation Tools Type Description Individual messages that appear in a To Do List are called To Do Entries and each entry is assigned a specific To Do Role. The role defines the user(s) who may look at and work on the entry. Entries include features that assist drillTo Do Lists down to the appropriate transaction(s). Supervisors may review any entry and may assign or reassign entries to users. Entries can be assigned either individually or in groups. Each To Do Entry has a To Do Log, which tracks assignment changes to the To To Do Log Do and allows for the entry of comments. Users can forward a To Do either to another user or to a role. A pop-up To Do Forwarding window captures both the new assignee and details about why the entry is being forwarded. A To Do Search provides enhanced search and display options for To Do To Do Search Entries. An Alert highlights the existence of any open or being worked To Do. The To Do Alerts drill-down for the alert will show the related To Dos. An e-mail attribute enables background processing to create and send an e-mail to a To Do user. This feature permits the creation of To Do summaries that To Do Summary Eremind users, on a regular basis, of incomplete To Dos and alert them to new Mail To Do entries. Please note, that the creation of the e-mail background process is an implementation task. To Do Management A dashboard zone is available for users to manage his or her To Do entries.
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Automatic Retry
The product includes functionality to enable the automatic retry of VEE and usage transactions (e.g., bill determinants) residing in an error state. If the error condition is determined to be no longer present, then the transaction will be transitioned to an appropriate non-error state and any open To Dos associated with that transaction will be closed. This capability is especially useful when, for example, a configuration error has caused the exception and thousands of errors have been generated (e.g., a factor used by high/low processing has not been configured properly). In such a case, the resulting measurement and usage transactions can be configured to retry every X minutes, so that once the factor is corrected the software will automatically process the transaction and any related To Do entries will be completed with no manual work or cleanup required.
Batch Controls and Multi-Threaded Processing

Oracle applications batch-process submission tools are ideally suited for ad hoc batch runs. Companies may use an external batch-scheduling tool for regular scheduled requests that include multi-threaded job dependencies. Batch processes can run concurrently with any other process or real-time update request. When Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management deals with batch processes that have high volumes of data, it runs them in parallel to reduce processing time. This is also known as multi-threading. The online batch submission page enables running a request for a specific background process. When submitting a background process online, standard parameters may be overridden, and additional parameters may be specified for the selected background process. After submitting the background process, this page displays the status of the submission. The batch process pages show the execution status of batch processes. For a specified batch control ID / run ID, the tree shows each thread, the run-instances of each thread, and any messages (informational, warnings, and errors) that occurred during the run. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management batch processes are restartable. If the process is interrupted unexpectedly, the job restarts itself when it is re-executed. Batch processes are also reproducible. Even when data is interfaced out of the application, it is possible to reproduce the interface data so that it can be sent again or used for audit purposes.
Security
Oracle Utilities Application Framework and Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management provide application security. A web-based screen is provided for all security administration. Authorization is provided by the application and can be synchronized with a LDAP-compliant server like Oracle Access Manager (OAM) to make it easier to manage users and user groups. Authentication must be provided by the web server or a single sign on (SSO) products like Oracle Access Manager. Oracle Utilities Application Framework assigns users to groups with specific levels of access to the software. Users may belong to multiple user groups. Authorization features are provided to control access to features like menus, portals, zones, screens and buttons. The software can also be used to control users access rights to data such as update vs. view-only. Using the same security framework, system administrators can control access to the applications services based interfaces.
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Oracle Utilities Application Framework maintains security at the following levels:

Service Level, which is typically represented as a page or a zone. Action level, which permits security administrators to define which actions user groups may execute for each transaction. Field Level security, using the frameworks Service Type definitions, which can be used to define field level security in the security tables. (Implementations will use this security data to restrict access to certain fields.) Row Level security, implemented in a similar fashion as Field Level security, where the implementation will modify the Allow Row Script parameters/scripts on user interface zones to restrict access by row level information.
LDAP Integration
Many organizations utilize Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) for defining user security (Oracle Access Manager can be used for these purposes). This integration feature allows an import of existing LDAP users and groups to Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management. Once imported, all Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management user and group functions are available. If a new user is defined in LDAP and connected to various user groups, that user can be imported into Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management, along with all the groups of which the user is a member. Likewise, if a new user group is created in LDAP, the user group can be brought into Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management along with its population of users. This feature reduces the maintenance burden of user security for those clients making use of LDAP.
Audit Trails
Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management permits the auditing of data changes by users on particular fields, as specified during implementation. When a change is made to an audited field, the application captures the user, the date/time, the prime key of the row, the before/after images of the field value, and the database action performed. The application also permits audit queries based on users or tables, fields, and keys. Depending on specification, users may view audited changes to a:

Table Row in a table Field in a table Given field on a specific row
Auditing for a field can be activated purely with changes to the metadata; no code compilation is required. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management also provides audit view and logs for measurements to show who made a change and when it was made.
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Documentation and Online Help

Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management documentation describes the features and functions provided in the meter data management application. It also provides tips and techniques on how an end-user may use the application. End-users are the primary audience for this manual and it is available online. This help is context-sensitive, showing the appropriate help documentation to describe the current window. A Configuration Guide is also provided that describes how to configure Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management. It is intended for implementers and system administrators responsible for configuration and initial setup of the application. The Oracle Utilities Application Framework documentation describes the common framework and system utilities available with Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management. These items include documentation for the XML Application Integration (XAI) tool, batch scheduler, report submission, audit trails, data dictionary, and the source-code viewer.
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F EBRUARY 2011

Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management Features and Functions Overview

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Contact the TUGBU Content Management Team: tugbu_proposal_center_ww@oracle.com

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Copyright and Restricted Rights Legend

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I. Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management Overview

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Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management Product Overview

Fusion Middleware & Smart Grid Gateway

Meter Data Management

Customer Care and Billing

FIGURE 1: ORACLE UTILITIES METER DATA MANAGEMENT OVERVIEW

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FIGURE 2: SAMPLE 360 DEGREE VIEWS

FIGURE 3: AMI STATUS AND INTERVAL DATA

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Benefits and Features

Built on the OUAF

Reduced TCO (Total Cost of Ownership)

More than just Meters

Scalability and Performance

Uses Oracle Technologies

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Oracle Utilities Application Framework

Portals and Zones

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Context Menus and Drilldowns

Links and Sortable Searches

User Display Preferences

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Language Dashboard width Portals and zones preferences Favorite links

Online Help with Searchable Index

Configurable User Interface

Scripting With the Business Process Assistant

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FIGURE 4: PLATFORM DEPLOYMENT OPTIONS

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II. Business Functionality

360 Degree View

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Device Service Point Measuring Component Usage Subscription Contact

360 Degree View Device

360 Degree View Service Point

360 Degree View Measuring Component

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360 Degree View Usage Subscription

360 Degree View Contact

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Device and Service Point Installation Relationships

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Validation, Editing, and Estimation

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General Validation, Editing, and Estimation Features

VEE Rule Assignment and Execution

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VEE and Other Standard Rules

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VEE Exception Management

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Sample Usage Rule