CIM as a solution of choice

for Distribution System Operators

Aleksander Babs
Institute of Power Engineering
Gdansk, Poland

CIM Users Group

Gdynia, Poland
1-4, June 2015
 CIM today
Facts:

• CIM today is a mature solution for Distribution System Operators

enterprise application environments
• It has been implemented, tested and proven in many business
scenarios
• CIM UML model covers most application integration needs, it’s
also easy to customize
• Standard tools and integration patterns are available
• Many examples (messages, payloads etc) are available online

At the same time, it can be quite difficult to quickly implement a first

CIM based solution, as the learning curve is steep at the beginning.
The aim of this webinar is to present a concept of a CIM based
solution rather than concentrate on specific standards / IEC
documents (although some standards numbers will be shown!)
CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015
 Utilities – CIM in operation, 2010 vs 2013

For each of the following, please state whether your organization has in operation…

CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015

 CIM adoption for enterprise messaging

CIM emerges as a widely accepted solution for:

• information exchange between applications

• better data sharing
• systems integration based on standard payloads and definitions

CIM becomes nowadays an indispensable factor in a SOA-based

business environments….

….but where to start?

CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015

Contents of CIM packages – IEC 61968-11 & IEC 62325

IEC 61968-11 (Distribution)

IEC 62325 (Energy Market)

CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015

 Contents of CIM packages – IEC 61970-301
IEC 61970-301 (Transmission)

CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015

Standards landscape and CIM packages

This is where messaging happens

CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015

 IEC 61968 – Application Integration at Electric Utilities

• Contains general guidelines on how to integrate distributed and

disparate software application systems

CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015

 Interface Reference Model

IEC 61968 parts -3 to -9 specify reference interfaces describing the

most important business processes from the reference model

CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015

 IEC 61968 – Application Integration at Electric Utilities

• IEC 61968-3 to -9 and -13 define the information recommended

for message payloads.
• Payloads are formatted using XML, with structures defined using
XML Schema (IEC61968-3 to -9) or RDF schema (IEC 61968-13)
• IEC 61968 Recommends that the semantics of system interfaces
of a compliant utility inter-application infrastructure be defined
using Unified Modelling Language (UML)
Transport for messages can be realised through:
• JMS
• RESTFul HTTP
• Web Services

Message paths can be:

• direct – application-to-application
• indirect – through a service bus (ESB)
CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015
 Interface Reference Model – IEC 61968-3

Part 3 – Interface for Network Operations - defines an interface for

network operations, with an aim to cover most business processes
within operating networks.

Message types are typically used for the following processes:

• data acquisition by external systems
• fault isolation
• fault restoration
• trouble management
• maintenance of the plant
• commissioning of the plant

CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015

 Interface Reference Model – IEC 61968-4

Part 4 – Interface Standard for Records and Asset Management -

describes interfaces for records and asset management. Within the
standard, only message types for records and asset management
are covered by XML- schemes. Those messages comprise the areas
of network extension planning, copying feeder or other network
data between systems, network or diagram edits
and asset inspection.

CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015

 Interface Reference Model – IEC 61968-5

Part 5 – Operation Planning and Optmization – working draft – will

be based on IEC 61968-3 and will focus on interfaces for
operational planning and optimization, applicable for the following
use cases:
• carry out planned maintenance of High Voltage plant
• carry out planned maintenance with temporary equipment
• optimize voltage
• operational planning
• notify customer
• do field work under safe conditions
• fetch network data

CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015

 Interface Reference Model – IEC 61968-6, -7 and -8

Part 6 – Interface Standard for Maintenance and Construction –

defines an interface dealing with maintenance and construction.
Analogously, the message contents with regard to the business
processes are specified. Typical use cases are planned
maintenance, unplanned maintenance, conditional maintenance,
work management and new service requests.

Part 7 – Network Extension Planning – working draft – will cover

interfaces and relevant use cases for network extension planning

Part 8 – Interface Standard for Customer Support – defines

messages for customer support. Many business functions related
to customer services and trouble call management are supported.

CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015

 Interface Reference Model – IEC 61968-9

Part 9 – Interface for Meter Reading and Control – focuses on

meter reading as well as meter operation and control. Typical use
cases are:
• meter reading
• meter control
• meter events
• customer data synchronization
• customer switching

IEC 61968-9 defines how metering systems have to be integrated

with other systems and business processes within the application
area of IEC 61968 standard. The resulting main advantage is, that
the standard is not influenced by the development of the future
metering infrastructure and thus there is almost no risk that the
standards becomes obsolete
CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015
 CIM based typical integration project

For business specific needs, the following scenario can be applied:

• Identify the relevant interface (part 3 to 9)

• Confront with actual business requirements (use cases,
workflows, specific needs)
• Map to existing CIM UML model
• Create required CIM UML extensions
• Generate data exchange profile
• Generate message structures – XSD files
• Proceed with WSDL creation
• Get the developers to write the code servicing chosen
integration pattern

CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015

 Typical workflow for CIM profile building
Prerequisites:
1. Enterprise Architect with CIM EA plugin installed
2. CIMTool installed (optional – also possible to
create XSD files directly from CIM EA)
Steps:
1. Edit packages with CIM EA
2. Export XMI file from EA

1. Import XMI file to CIMTool

(import schema function)
2. Create new CIMTool profile
3. Edit classes and attributes
4. Generate XSD or RDFS
5. Use generated XSD for XML
based messages
CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015
 Messages encapsulation in Common Message Envelope
IEC 61968 is by definition transport independent, but most commonly
HTTP(S) and JMS are used.
At minimum, messages contain a verb, a noun and a payload

HTTP/HTTPS/JMS Transport level

SOAP Wrapper level

Enterprise Service
Bus (optional) Optional ESB

IEC 61968-100 How to send the information

IEC 61968-N What information is to be sent

CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015

 Typical workflow for CIM profile building – CIM EA

In CIM EA, select clasess, attributes and relations to be used for profile building

CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015

 Typical workflow for CIM profile building – CIMTool (1)

OWL tree in CIMTool, MeterReadings.owl

CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015

 Typical workflow for CIM profile building – CIMTool (2)

XSD structure in CIMTool, MeterReadings.xsd

CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015

 Typical workflow for CIM profile building – CIMTool (3)

Created XSD in CIMTool, MeterReadings.xsd

CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015

 Message headers for AMI – SCADA interface
Request Response

<ns1:Header>
<Verb>get</Verb>
<Noun>MeterReadings</Noun>
<Revision>1.0</Revision>
<Context>TESTING</Context>
<Timestamp>2015-02-01T12:00:00+01:00</Timestamp>
<Source>SCADA</Source>
<AsyncReplyFlag>false</AsyncReplyFlag>
<AckRequired>false</AckRequired>
<MessageID>MsgID00001</MessageID>
</ns1:Header>
<ns1:Header>
<Verb>reply</Verb>
<Noun>MeterReadings</Noun>
<Revision>1.0</Revision>
<Context>TESTING</Context>
<Timestamp>2015-02-01T12:00:00+01:00</Timestamp>
<Source>AMI</Source>
<AsyncReplyFlag>false</AsyncReplyFlag>
<AckRequired>false</AckRequired>
<MessageID>MsgID20001</MessageID>
<CorrelationID>MsgID00001</CorrelationID>
</ns1:Header>

In a response message payload, a collection of records is returned,

the number of records is equal to ReadingType x UsagePoint, given in
a request message.
In requests for interval data ("meter measurement profiles"), the
number of records returned is equal to ReadingType x UsagePoint x
number of intervals (note that this may be a huge data collection)
CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015
 Naming convention for messages - example
Example of naming convention for XML messages:
WebserviceMethodName_OperationName_OperationType

Translates into (just two message types listed below):

• GetMeterReadings_GetMeterReadings_Request (verb: get, noun: MeterReadings)
• GetMeterReadings_GetMeterReadings_Response (verb: reply, noun: MeterReadings)
• GetMeterReadings_GetMeterReadings_Failure (no verb, used to signal error)

• ReceiveMeterReadings_CreatedMeterReadings_Event (verb: created, sends an event)

• ReceiveMeterReadings_CreatedMeterReadings_Reponse (verb: reply, event reception ACK)
• ReceiveMeterReadings_CreatedMeterReadings_Failure (no verb, used to signal error)

WSDLs required:
• GetMeterReadings.wsdl (on AMI side)
• ReceiveMeterReadings.wsdl (on SCADA side)

CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015

 CIM based solution in practice from a DSO perspective
Goal: implement workforce management system (WMS) that can be
easily integrated into business environment.

Minimum requirement: grid incidents observed in SCADA and

acknowledged by the operator should be seamlessly directed to the
application and handled appropriately (work priority, route
optimisation, asset info etc)

Solution:
1. In a tender process, make it clear that the software vendor should
provide an application that enables CIM based messaging
2. Define desired integration pattern (transport, message paths etc)
3. Define XSDs that will be used for messages exchange between
SCADA and WMS application and provide them to the vendor
4. Make sure the implemented messages are correct (try SoapUI!)
CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015
 Definition of XSD in detail for a specific business case (1)
1. Check which reference model is relevant. In this case it is 61968-6

CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015

 Definition of XSD in detail for a specific business case (2)
2. Use Enterprise Architect to look into relevant classes and attributes
Work Overview Assets Overview

CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015

 Definition of XSD in detail for a specific business case (3)
3. Extend and customize clasess and attributes as needed

CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015

 Definition of XSD in detail for a specific business case (4)
4. Define XSDs for all use cases and information flows (e.g. incident
work order from SCADA to WMS application, incident result from
WMS to SCADA etc)

CIM Users Group Meeting – Gdynia, Poland – 1-4 June 2015

CIM as a solution of choice
for Distribution System Operators

Questions?