IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2020 - 58

Geographical Information System-Advanced
Distribution Management System
Previously, the DMS and OMS were on different but integrated
platforms; each maintained its own internal model. They were
also integrated independently with the GIS. Since these were
different platforms, mismatches in the network model were
sometimes observed with respect to each other. Also, due to
technical constraints, a model exchange with the GIS could
happen only twice per month. By moving to a single platform
ADMS, both the DMS and OMSs can be integrated with the
GIS via a CIM adapter to import the electrical network. This
integration converts the GIS proprietary data to a CIM standard file to be utilized by the ADMS (see Figure 2). The data
transferred contain geographical information about assets and
the different attributes of the asset.
Network updates can be made either in the GIS or the
ADMS. All temporary changes are updated in the ADMS
first in real time, but if the alteration is of a permanent nature,
then we update it only in the GIS. To support this feature, the
ADMS implementation uses complex software routines that
coordinate updates to keep data consistent. As a result of this
feature, the network will be updated along with the consumer
supply status in the ADMS per actual site conditions in the
least possible time. This also means that the consumer supply status of each electricity consumer will be updated more
accurately during an outage, which will ultimately help to
improve customer satisfaction.

Enterprise Resource Planning-Advanced
Distribution Management System
The ADMS integrates with different pieces of the ERP system, which, in turn, allows for its full integration with the
corporate business process simplifying them.
✔ Customer relationship management: This contains
consumer information, complete billing cycle and service status, and payment details.
✔ Customer interactions: This is how the consumer care
center interacts with consumers through multiple interfaces such as an interactive voice response system
(IVRS) or short message service (SMS) (such as a
phone text message or voice call).
✔ Plant maintenance: All the maintenance processes
of electrical equipment (either preventive, predictive, or on an outage) performed at Tata Power Delhi

GIS
(Design)

CIM
Adaptor
GIS File

Distribution Limited (DDL) are tracked at one single location.
✔ Business intelligence: The ADMS sends its data to the
business intelligence system.
The ADMS communicates data bidirectionally with the
enterprise resource planning system. Data are transferred
bidirectionally with most systems except for the business
intelligence system, which is a one-way integration.
The ADMS is integrated with the customer relationship database to get all consumer related information, such
as consumer name, address, and meter number. It also
receives all operational complaints (such as no supply, voltage related, and fire or sparking) registered through any
medium such as IVRS, SMS, web portal, mobile app, or
direct call. These complaints are recorded in the ADMS as
incidents that need to be addressed; they are called a predicted outage until the actual fault location is confirmed by
the field crew. Once approved the outage status is changed
to confirmed.
The ADMS does not send details of consumers experiencing an outage to the ERP system. Whenever any consumer call/request is received, the ERP system sends a
request to the ADMS, which, in turn, sends back the power
status and estimated time to restoration. As shown in Figure 3, this redesign of the interface helps to reduce traffic
and decrease travel time drastically.
The ADMS interfaces with the plant maintenance system for the maintenance planning of any asset (transformer,
feeder, and switchgear). Whenever any shutdown request
is approved, an automated prearranged outage is created
in the ADMS against the same asset with shutdown time.
Similarly, information is sent to consumers affected during a shutdown to keep them informed. The business intelligence module is used to develop analytics and reports for
all operational data, such as analogs, alarms, outages, calls,
and documents.

Advanced Distribution Management
System-Field Force Automation
The ADMS interfaces bidirectionally with the field force system (sometimes also called the mobile workforce management system). All the outages created or predicted in ADMS
are reflected in the field force system instantaneously, which,
in turn, is used to manage and monitor outages and manage

Geographical
Information of
Assets

ADMS

Asset Attributes
and
Characteristics

figure 2. The GIS-CIM-ADMS interface.
58

ieee power & energy magazine

january/february 2020

IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2020

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