Streamlining business and technology processes in electric power industry
The main integration management problems currently facing the electric power industry are:
- many different platforms used to provide an operating environment for applications such as hardware,
operating systems, and component technologies like CORBA, DCOM, and Web Services
- many different communication infrastructure technologies used to move data within a network
- different security technologies used to secure information carried on the communication network
- various data management and exchange technologies, including format and exchange mechanisms
as well as a wide variety of utility data semantics (i.e. many different meanings for common business
entities such as circuit breakers or electric power exchange schedules)
Enterprise service bus
Successful integration of various power industry
application systems requires a method that does
not disturb existing applications. This requires
building wrappers for existing applications. In
general, wrappers are responsible for exposing the
functionality of a wrapped application in a way that is
compatible with the common methodology. The most
signifi cant benefi t of this approach is that it is neutral
technology and legacy applications do not need to be
rewritten.
IEC CIM provides standard objects for the
interoperation of systems and applications used for
production, transmission, distribution, and electricity
market functions. These objects can be structured
according to XML schemes so that actual XML
messages exchanged via ESB can be validated to
represent an enterprise-wide common language.
Service oriented architecture and web portal as unifyied application frontend
SOA is a computing paradigm that utilizes services as fundamental
elements for developing applications or software systems. Services
are autonomous, self-describing, and open components, which
support rapid, low-cost composition of distributed applications.
Under SOA, any software component or a hardware device can be
considered a service.
Basic services, their descriptions, and basic operations, such
as publication, discovery, selection, and binding, constitute
the foundation of SOA. Since services may be offered and
communicate over local network, Intranet, or Internet, SOA
provides a distributed computing infrastructure for both intra and
cross enterprise application integration and collaboration.
In SOA, services are usually exposed as Web Services. Web
Services are specifi c kind of services whose service descriptions
and transportation utilize open Internet standards. Laying on
the groundwork of service-centric infrastructure and having all
advantages of SOA, Web Services based framework surpasses
other service-oriented computing paradigms by standardization and
wide availability.
Web Portal offers a single point of
personalized, unifi ed access to applications,
content, processes, and people. Web Portal
delivers integrated content and applications,
plus offers a unifi ed, collaborative workplace.
Web Portal also provides other valuable
functions such as security, search, and
workfl ow. Web Portal is an open, standard
- based framework supporting a wide array
of options across databases, directories,
platforms, and security. Web Portals are the
next-generation desktop, delivering e-business
applications over the Web to many different
client devices. Web Portals are designed
to meet the needs of all enterprises, from
small and medium businesses to the largest
enterprises that demand the most scalable,
secure, and robust infrastructure.
Croatian TSO - integrated enterprise information system
During years, KONČAR has implemented many systems
and applications to support business processes of Croatian
Transmission System Operator (TSO). These products
range from real-time systems specialized for monitoring
and control of the electric power grid to specialized
applications supporting everyday business activities:
SCADA, Measurement System, TASE.2 Gateway
- Electronic Highway, TASE.2 Gateway NonEH
node, Automatic Generation Control, some Energy
Management System Applications.
Going towards the fully integrated Croatian TSO
enterprise information system, KON AR considers
the fi rst step, the transition phase, to be a very
important factor for the future development. The
transition phase includes introduction of Enterprise
Service Bus and Service Oriented Architecture to the
TSO information system.
Chosen application systems to be integrated
through the ESB are new systems, such as Outage
Management, Transfer Capacity Management and
Scheduling, which are exposed to the outside world
as Web services. Some functions of the existing EMS
system will also be integrated.
As opposed to the real-time information bus, Enterprise
Service Bus, which represents a pivot of the backoffi ce
domain, is equipped with many additional functionalities.
Besides connecting all systems, service bus provides more
complex functions, such as message transformation and
routing, and business process orchestration. The architecture
of the backoffi ce domain represents true implementation of
the Service Oriented Architecture paradigm. Systems that are
part of the backoffi ce domain are divided into two categories.
One is represented by server components exposed through
Web services and the other one by graphical user interfaces
realized through Web Portal. Server components implement
business process logic, such as Outage Management,
Transfer Capacity Auction and Scheduling.
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