Oceania CIM UG survey questions

Draft (version 3)

[Please increase this if you edit and email back. Also please keep Track Changes on]

Edited by / Date / Comments
K Rodrigues / 8 July 2015 / First draft. For review. Please see my request for your input, mostly in square brackets [ ]
F Maio / 9 July 2015
G Rozmus / 13 July 2015
K Rodrigues / 21 July 2015 / Just added some more products that support CIM
F Maio / 21 July 2015 / Fixed FMs initial grammar errors
M Smith / 21July 2015 / Review comments
M Smith / 11 August 2015 / Accept changes

Australia is experiencing rapid changes within the Electricity industry. A myriad of challenges and opportunity is upon us with constant changes including:

  • Deregulation and privatisation;
  • Big Data challenges from an increased penetration of the Internet of Things (IoT) to enable greater analysis, decision making and business process automation;
  • Electricity supply divergence as we see an increased penetration of renewables as well as the imminent expansion of energy storage;
  • Falling or flat demand due to greater demand management systems and efficient building design;
  • Convergence of OT and IT, enabling greater information sharing across the enterprise as well as centralised security, availability and performance management;
  • Leveraging of industry standards to help improve enterprise integration through a common language between vendors, systems and organisations.

The IEC CIM (Common Information Model) standards provide a framework for achieving interoperability between many of the systems/entities comprising the Smart Grid. These standards are a series of interface specifications based on a common model of utility operations that support (1) the exchange of power system network models and market data between transmission/distribution operators and (2) the exchange of real-time transactional messages, thus facilitating the integration of applications both within the enterprise and with neighbouring utilities and trading partners. The key component supporting these information exchanges is a common unified abstract UML model that provides data understanding through the definition of shared data and identification of the relationships of the data within an enterprise.

The aim of this survey is to establish what’s of interest in the CIM standards arena and how the Oceania chapter of the CIMug can better focus its efforts in addressing this interest.

We had our first Australasia CIM conference in February 2014. Do you see value in having another local meeting (conference) and how many people is your organisation likely to send?

  • Very likely to attend
  • Somewhat likely to attend
  • Unlikely to attend

Nr of people likely to attend: [free text? Or create separate question with tick boxes for number ranges?]

Preferred City: Free text

Do you see value in attending webinars/ online forums with topics such as local implementation projects as well as general CIM information/updates from the US or Europe?

  • Very likely to attend
  • Somewhat likely to attend
  • Unlikely to attend

Comments: Free text

What is your preferred frequency for webinars / online forums?[we could combine this question with the one above actually]

  • Never
  • Every 6 months
  • Every 12 months

--> Please provide details. You may also include specific topics of interest [free text]

What is your preferred frequency for Information Alerts via email – e.g. new interesting articles/webinar presentations posted on CIMugsite

  • Never
  • Every 3 months
  • Every 6 months
  • Every 12 months
  • Ad-hoc whenever new information becomes available

--> Please provide details. You may also include specific topics of interest [free text]

Do you have a need for structured CIM training?

  • No
  • Classroom training
  • Online training

--> Please provide details [free text]

Which category best describes your organisation?

  • Transmission Network Service Provider, TNSP
  • Distribution Network Service Provider, DNSP
  • Utility with both distribution and transmission, TNSP and DNSP
  • Generator
  • Retailer
  • Regulator
  • Consultant or Engineering Firm providing services to Utilities
  • Software Vendor/Integrator
  • Demand side participant (interest in Green Button standards)

Is your organisation currently using CIM?

  • No
  • For interfacing internal data / applications with each other
  • For sharing data with other organisations (B2B)
  • As part of a vendor product (e.g. network modeller)

--> Please provide details [free text]

[Can we skip a number of the remaining questions if they answer No above?]

Does your organisation have any projects or initiatives in the pipeline for implementing CIM based solutions?

  • No
  • Yes

--> Please provide details [free text]

Please list any CIM-ready products that you already have (e.g. Alstom e-terrasource, Siemens ODMS, PSS® SINCAL, OSIsoft PI AF/SISCO CIM Adapter, Open Source e.g. CIMTool, Cimphony,CimSpy etc.).

Please estimate the level of experience / expertise your organisation has with CIM

  • None
  • Limited expertise, rely heavily on consultants
  • One or two internal resources who are proficient at CIM integration and /or CIM model management
  • Several internal resources who are proficient at CIM integration and /or CIM model management

--> Please provide details [free text]

The CIM provides astandardinformationmodel whose purpose is to facilitate data sharing among electric organisation industry software applications. Data exchange solutions leveraging shared data models (like the CIM) are often referred to as using a “semantic model”-based approach. What it your organisation’s experience with semantic model-based integration:

  • Have done it and used the CIM as the basis for the shared data model
  • Have done it but used a shared data model other than the CIM
  • Have toyed with doing semantic model-based integration solutions, but never could get over the initial design “hump”
  • Never considered doing semantic based-integration because it seemed too complicated
  • Haven’t really heard of shared data models and semantic-based integration

More and more vendor products are being delivered with CIM-based interfaces. Have you ever utilised a CIM interface on a product your organisation has deployed?

No

Yes - please comment on which product

What are the major challenges you see around deploying systems and/or developing products using the CIM?

Availability of CIM-based solutions

Need for customization during deployment of CIM model and standards

Cost

Difficulty in “selling” CIM-based solutions to management

Need for more training on CIM standards and their use

None

Other (please specify)

How can the CIM User Grouphelp you promote CIM adoption in your organisation?

[Free text]

Are you currently a member of the Oceania CIM Focus Group?

Yes

No

Would you like to jointhe CIM Users Group? It is free and is intended to help facilitate collaboration and peer support structure among the organisations in the Oceania region who have an interest in CIM

Please provide your contact details and email address to be added to the mailing list:

Yes

No

Please provide your contact details and email address to be added to the mailing list:

Would you like to play an active role in coordination and activities of the Oceania CIM Focus Group?

  • Liaison (e.g. communications with members)
  • Organisation (e.g. planning of webinars and meetings)
  • Convenor/Facilitator
  • Presenter
  • Reviewer (e.g. select articles distribution)
  • Technical expertise (e.g. provide answers to other members)

Comments: Free text