Distribution grids need data and systems to drive safe and reliable operations.  As SCADA, distribution automation, and outage management systems prove, dramatic improvement in grid efficiency and reliability can be achieved through increased real-time analytics driven by larger data volumes.  The Smart Grid increases the volume and variety of grid management data available by hundreds- potentially thousands- of orders of magnitude. Legacy applications for grid operations are generally not equipped to handle even the increase in data from today’s smart meters and sensors, much less maximize data use.  A new set of functions is emerging to respond to this challenge  - Advanced Distribution Management.  This Oracle paper reviews how Advanced Distribution Management organizes and analyzes the enormous volumes of new, near real-time data, and why it is so important for today’s utilities to leverage this mission-critical capability.

As Utilities plan new service options and programs that respond to emerging customer and community needs, questions naturally arise about the ability of existing computer hardware, technology, and software applications to handle the new demands. Can utilities move forward with the confidence that today’s information infrastructure can perform functions like prepay, demand response, and customer portal access to near real-time data without sacrificing the rapid and dependable throughput of batch bills that ensures timely revenue flow?  Currently, few utilities – even those with highly advanced billing systems—can answer that questions definitively—and with good reason.  Financial prudence dictates that utilities structure IT to accommodate current needs. Thus, a utility using a monthly billing cycle typically sizes to accommodate 21 overnight billing runs per month plus an allowance for anticipated and unanticipated delays.  This sizing is unlikely to be a helpful measure of the potential to speed up billing in order to accommodate additional customer demands.  To help utilities gain a better sense of maximum billing and customer program performance, Oracle is conducting tests that run Oracle applications on Oracle Exadata and Exalogic.  The results permit utilities to measure their own systems’ performance and gauge their estimated future requirements against hardware and software available today. The test described in this paper – the first of many planned --- demonstrates that Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing can process routine customer bills on Oracle Exadata in a fraction of the time used by most utilities today, reducing overnight billing runs to a few minutes.

Around the word, utilities are under pressure. Citizens demand energy and water that won’t undermine environmental quality.   Regulators see action on Smart Grid and Smart Metering initiatives that add intelligence to infrastructure.  Customers see  additional choice and convenience – but without additional costs.  Oracle can help. This brief summarizes how we offer utility experts, mission-critical software applications, a rock-solid operational software software suite, services, storage and world-leading middleware and technology that help address these challenges.  We understand the complexity around Smart Grid initiatives implementations and the unknown.  Oracle provides flexible, innovative technology and applications that increase efficiency, improve stakeholder satisfaction, future-proof your organization, and turn data into actionable information.