Advanced DMS: Enabling Interoperability for Advanced Distribution system Applications
Creators: B. R. Williams
A. Renjit
M. Mukherjee
A. Bose
A. Sharma
G. Taylor
Publisher: name: IEEE
Year: 2023

Modern electric power distribution systems are continuously evolving to accommodate the growing numbers of distributed energy resources (DERs) and enable enhanced data availability for sustainable operation and analysis. To take advantage of distribution automation and manage the increasing penetrations of DERs, distribution utilities require advanced applications for planning, operations, management, and control that use data from diverse sources and may incorporate distributed approaches. However, utilities are facing the strategic challenge of integrating new technologies at scale while ensuring safe, reliable, resilient, and cost-effective operation of distribution systems. Traditional distribution management systems (DMS) are typically isolated from or loosely coupled with proprietary enterprise applications such as DER management systems (DERMS), outage management systems (OMS), asset management systems (AMS), customer information systems (CIS), and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), which often uses their own data models and/or proprietary protocols and are frequently not transportable between vendors. Utilities need to understand, monitor, and control the fundamental technologies underlying the modern distribution network and implement an integrated approach to deploy successful solutions and optimize their systems. Towards this goal, the concept of an advanced distribution management system (ADMS) has been recognized and increasingly accepted as a solution to meet the new demands of the modern, integrated distribution systems. ADMS presents a platform-based solution that enables the integration and operation of advanced applications through well-defined interfaces, enabling functionality, interoperability, and forms of interactions. Despite their well-established benefits, there are roadblocks to deploying and adopting ADMS platforms: which includes lack of understanding of the functional and data requirements for deploying a diverse set of applications, high cost of creating custom interfaces for enabling interoperability, unsecured and non-standardized interfaces, data availability and applications. This panel proposal aims at structured discussion of global experts from distribution utilities, enterprise system vendors, academia, and national laboratories to present different perspectives about the functional requirements of an ADMS towards enabling interoperability and achieving successful advanced application deployments. The panel would benefit attendees from diverse communities of power engineering through shared conventional wisdom along with best practices learned by distribution utilities and system vendors that have successfully made the journey and achieved operational rollouts of advanced applications and ADMS.
Presentations in this panel session:
- An Industry Perspective to Integrating Advanced Distribution System Applications (23PESGM4171)
- Role of a DERMS within an ADMS (23PESGM4172)
- Standards-based Approach for Development and Deployment of Advanced Distribution System Applications (23PESGM4174)
- CIM-based Data Integration and Simulation Platform for Distribution Utilities (23PESGM4175)
- Advanced Distribution Management System using Interoperability Standards: Learnings from UI-ASISST Project (23PESGM4176)
- Regulatory Adoption of Common Information Model as a Distribution Network Data Exchange Standard (23PESGM4177)
Modern electric power distribution systems are continuously evolving to accommodate the growing numbers of distributed energy resources (DERs) and enable enhanced data availability for sustainable operation and analysis. To take advantage of distribution automation and manage the increasing penetrations of DERs, distribution utilities require advanced applications for planning, operations, management, and control that use data from diverse sources and may incorporate distributed approaches. However, utilities are facing the strategic challenge of integrating new technologies at scale while ensuring safe, reliable, resilient, and cost-effective operation of distribution systems. Traditional distribution management systems (DMS) are typically isolated from or loosely coupled with proprietary enterprise applications such as DER management systems (DERMS), outage management systems (OMS), asset management systems (AMS), customer information systems (CIS), and advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), which often uses their own data models and/or proprietary protocols and are frequently not transportable between vendors. Utilities need to understand, monitor, and control the fundamental technologies underlying the modern distribution network and implement an integrated approach to deploy successful solutions and optimize their systems. Towards this goal, the concept of an advanced distribution management system (ADMS) has been recognized and increasingly accepted as a solution to meet the new demands of the modern, integrated distribution systems. ADMS presents a platform-based solution that enables the integration and operation of advanced applications through well-defined interfaces, enabling functionality, interoperability, and forms of interactions. Despite their well-established benefits, there are roadblocks to deploying and adopting ADMS platforms: which includes lack of understanding of the functional and data requirements for deploying a diverse set of applications, high cost of creating custom interfaces for enabling interoperability, unsecured and non-standardized interfaces, data availability and applications. This panel proposal aims at structured discussion of global experts from distribution utilities, enterprise system vendors, academia, and national laboratories to present different perspectives about the functional requirements of an ADMS towards enabling interoperability and achieving successful advanced application deployments. The panel would benefit attendees from diverse communities of power engineering through shared conventional wisdom along with best practices learned by distribution utilities and system vendors that have successfully made the journey and achieved operational rollouts of advanced applications and ADMS.
Presentations in this panel session:
- An Industry Perspective to Integrating Advanced Distribution System Applications (23PESGM4171)
- Role of a DERMS within an ADMS (23PESGM4172)
- Standards-based Approach for Development and Deployment of Advanced Distribution System Applications (23PESGM4174)
- CIM-based Data Integration and Simulation Platform for Distribution Utilities (23PESGM4175)
- Advanced Distribution Management System using Interoperability Standards: Learnings from UI-ASISST Project (23PESGM4176)
- Regulatory Adoption of Common Information Model as a Distribution Network Data Exchange Standard (23PESGM4177)