IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2020 - 50

The utility can benefit tremendously and accelerate return on
investment if it is willing to share best practices and lessons
learned with other utilities in the ADMS user community.
Utility Considerations for the
ADMS Implementation Phase
✔ The implementation project should be staffed with a

mix of operational technology and IT personnel as well
as end-user representatives. Engaging resources with
power flow analysis skills, often from the planning
department, will be valuable during the advanced
applications commissioning as well as for staffing the
new role in the production system.
✔ The utility should strive to build at least a small, but representative, portion of the DNOM model as early as
possible in the project implementation and, if available,
use this early model in a DOTS environment. Besides
providing an environment for training and familiarization with the ADMS functions by eventual users, the
DOTS is useful for validating model management processes. These include the extract, transform, and load
(ETL) processes to move the core asset model data
from a source GIS to the DNOM. Many other types of
data, such as equipment description libraries, customer
connections and load characteristics, and protection
settings, will be required to populate the DNOM, and
they will need additional ETL processes. Furthermore,
integration mappings between equipment asset models and data acquisition systems will need to be maintained. Exercising and refining all of these model management processes is one of the best ways to ensure a
successful ADMS
✔ Those resources tasked with defining, configuring, and
testing the look and feel of the UI/UX will also benefit
from an operational DOTS environment throughout
the ADMS implementation. The DOTS provides a dynamic and interactive environment, much like a flight
simulator for pilots, where future end users can interact
with the ADMS and critique the UI/UX.
✔ More and more ADMS projects are following an
agile approach to system implementation and commissioning, which means that there will be multiple
deliveries of small incremental software releases, as
well as data model updates, throughout the course
of the project. To be confident that the new releases
are properly incorporated, a process should be implemented that includes automated regression testing to
verify that the system is working well with the utility's own DNOM. This is especially pertinent to the
advanced applications since they are very dependent
upon the DNOM.
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✔ A change management environment that makes

it easy for new end users of the ADMS to become
comfortable with the UI/UX and the capabilities of
ADMSs including advanced applications in a safe environment is important to garner acceptance of the
new system. Helping users feel at ease helps ensure
that they do not avoid the system out of fear of the
unknown or because they resent having to learn about
it. The DOTS environment is ideal for this process.
✔ Engage the end-user representatives in defining and
testing the situational awareness aspects of the UI/
UX from the onset of the project. Also, periodically
host show-and-tell sessions about the ADMS and advanced applications with a broader audience of future end users.
✔ In addition to holding regular project meetings between the utility and the ADMS solution vendor, the
utility should, if possible, participate in the vendor's
development process if product enhancements are being implemented. By attending incremental functional
review sessions with the development team, the utility
customer can help ensure that new functionality is behaving as intended.

Utility Considerations
for the ADMS in Production
✔ The utility can benefit tremendously and accelerate re-

turn on investment if it is willing to share best practices
and lessons learned with other utilities in the ADMS
user community. The priority placed on various objectives to pursue with the advanced applications varies
from utility to utility, perhaps driven by their local
regulatory environments. Often another utility in the
ADMS community has already forged the way with a
particular usage, such as conservation voltage reduction
or fault location, and will be willing to share its experience, which can save significant time and effort when
commissioning advanced applications.
✔ A robust model management process that is essentially seamless to the end users is critical for a successful ADMS. This refers to the process of marshaling
model updates, validating them, and finally propagating them to the online model without interrupting online operations. The utility must ensure that adequate
resources are available for the model management
process throughout the life of the system to maintain
a continuous return on the investment in advanced
january/february 2020
IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2020
