IEC 61968-1:2003

Application integration at electric utilities - System interfaces for distribution management - Part 1: Interface architecture and general requirements

Is the first part in a series of standards that define interfaces for the major elements of an interface architecture for Distribution Management Systems. Identifies and establishes requirements for standard interfaces based on an Interface Reference Model. This set of standards is limited to the definition of interfaces and is implementation independent; it provides for interoperability among different computer systems, platforms, and languages.
This publication is of core relevance for Smart Grid.

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 07-Oct-2003
• ICS: 33.200 - Telecontrol. Telemetering
• Technical Committee: TC 57 - Power systems management and associated information exchange
• Drafting Committee: WG 14 - TC 57/WG 14
• Current Stage: DELPUB - Deleted Publication
• Start Date: 30-Oct-2012
• Completion Date: 26-Oct-2025

Relations

• Revised: IEC 61968-1:2012 - Application integration at electric utilities - System interfaces for distribution management - Part 1: Interface architecture and general recommendations
• Effective Date: 05-Sep-2023

Overview

IEC 61968-1:2003 - Application integration at electric utilities - System interfaces for distribution management - Part 1: Interface architecture and general requirements - defines the architecture and general requirements for standard system interfaces used in Distribution Management Systems (DMS). It is the first part of the IEC 61968 series and establishes an Interface Reference Model (IRM) and rules for interface definitions that are implementation-independent. The standard promotes interoperability across disparate computer systems, platforms and languages and is of core relevance to Smart Grid integration and utility application integration.

Key topics and technical requirements

• Interface Reference Model (IRM): Defines the domain, business functions and logical interfaces that form the basis for subsequent parts of the IEC 61968 series.
• Interface Architecture: Describes architecture patterns and methodologies for defining standard interfaces between DMS components and external systems.
• Interface Profile Components: Covers component adapters, middleware adapters, middleware services and communication services that enable message brokering and loose coupling.
• Information Exchange Model (IEM): Requirements for data exchange semantics and management services to ensure consistent information flow among applications.
• Component reporting and error handling: Guidelines for consistent reporting, exception messaging and operational diagnostics across interfaces.
• Security and authentication: Identification of security threats, required security functions, integrity management and the role of security agents for safe inter-application exchanges.
• Maintenance and performance considerations: Guidance on maintainability, versioning and performance expectations for inter-application integration.

Practical applications and users

Who benefits from IEC 61968-1:

• Utility architects and system integrators designing DMS interface architectures.
• Vendors of DMS, SCADA, AMI, OMS, GIS, ERP and asset management software seeking interoperable integration.
• Project managers and engineers implementing Smart Grid programs that require standardized messaging and loose coupling between legacy and new systems.
• Middleware and integration platform providers building adapters, brokers or communication services tailored to utility use-cases.

Typical uses:

• Designing interface contracts between network operations, records & asset management and corporate systems.
• Specifying middleware adapters and message brokers for event-driven data exchange.
• Ensuring secure, maintainable, and platform-independent integration of utility applications.

Related standards

• Other parts of the IEC 61968 series (detailed interface specifications for network operations, records & asset management, etc.)
• Complementary standards in the Smart Grid ecosystem (for semantic models and power-system exchange), including IEC TC57 publications.

Keywords: IEC 61968-1, Distribution Management System, DMS, Interface Reference Model, application integration, Smart Grid, interoperability, middleware, system interfaces.

Standards Content (Sample)

INTERNATIONAL IEC
STANDARD
61968-1
First edition
2003-10
Application integration at electric utilities –
System interfaces for distribution management –
Part 1:
Interface architecture and general requirements

Reference number
Publication numbering
As from 1 January 1997 all IEC publications are issued with a designation in the

60000 series. For example, IEC 34-1 is now referred to as IEC 60034-1.

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edition numbers 1.0, 1.1 and 1.2 refer, respectively, to the base publication, the

base publication incorporating amendment 1 and the base publication incorporating

amendments 1 and 2.
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INTERNATIONAL IEC
STANDARD
61968-1
First edition
2003-10
Application integration at electric utilities –
System interfaces for distribution management –
Part 1:
Interface architecture and general requirements

 IEC 2003  Copyright - all rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from the publisher.
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For price, see current catalogue

– 2 – 61968-1  IEC:2003(E)
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 4

INTRODUCTION .6

1 Scope . 7

2 General . 7

2.1 Overview of the IEC 61968 series. 7

2.2 An example using the IEC 61968 series. 8
2.3 Overview of IEC 61968-1. 9
3 Interface reference model .10
3.1 Domain.10
3.2 Business functions.10
3.3 Interface reference model .11
4 Interface architecture.17
4.1 General .17
4.2 Requirements analysis methodology.18
5 Interface profile.18
5.1 Components .18
5.2 Component adapters .19
5.3 Interface specification.20
5.4 Middleware adapter .21
5.5 Middleware services .22
5.6 Communication services .23
5.7 Platform environment.23
6 Information exchange model .23
6.1 General requirements .23
6.2 IEM management related services .24
7 Component reporting and error handling.25
7.1 General .25
7.2 Error message handling.25
8 Security and authentication.26

8.1 General .26
8.2 Security threats .26
8.3 Security functions .27
8.4 Management of integrity and security.28
8.5 Security agent .28
9 Maintenance aspects .29
Annex A (informative) Distribution management domain.30
Annex B (informative) IEC 61968 series development process .33
Annex C (informative) Inter-application integration performance considerations .58
Annex D (informative) Views of data in a conventional electric utility.60
Annex E (informative) Business functions.63

61968-1  IEC:2003(E) – 3 –
Figure 1 – Distribution management system with IEC 61968 compliant

interface architecture . 6

Figure 2 – Example utility implementation of the IEC 61968 series. 9

Figure 3 – Typical applications mapped to interface reference model .11

Figure 4 – Overview of the interface profile and corresponding subclause numbers .18

Figure A.1 – Hierarchy of complexity in a system environment .30

Figure A.2 – General utility structure .31

Figure B.1 – Process 1A: IEC Technical Committee 57 Working Group 14 process for

developing future parts of the IEC 61968 series .34

Figure B.2 – Process 1B: (Continuation) IEC Technical Committee 57 Working Group
14 process for developing future parts of the IEC 61968 series .35
Figure B.3 – Process 2A: Typical business subfunctions of DMS and external systems.36
Figure B.4 – Process 2B: (continuation) an overview of an utility's application of the
IEC 61968 standard .37
Figure B.5 – Typical components of major DMS business functions – Part 1 .39
Figure B.6 – Typical components of major DMS business functions – Part 2 .40
Figure B.7 – Integration scenario example (from: data acquisition for external EMS).47
Figure B.8 – Message data model example (from use case 46:data acquisition for
external EMS) .55
Figure B.9 – CIM top level package.56
Figure D.1 – Database views depend on the time and user .61
Figure E.1 – Map of typical utility systems to the business functions of the IRM .63
Table 1 – Document overview for IEC 61968-1. 9
Table 2 – Interface reference model.12
Table A.1 – Examples of data exchange in a company environment.31
Table A.2 – Data categories .32
Table B.1 – Use case template.42
Table B.2 – Example steps in a Use Case (From: Data Acquisition for External EMS).45
Table B.3 – Information model (from: data acquisition for external EMS).48
Table B.4 – Commonly used verbs .50
Table B.5 – OAG verbs .53
Table C.1 – Typical load scenario .58

Table C.2 – Example of typical transaction volume for DMS.59
Table E.1 – Typical information exchanged among business functions of the IRM.64

– 4 – 61968-1  IEC:2003(E)
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION

____________
APPLICATION INTEGRATION AT ELECTRIC UTILITIES –

SYSTEM INTERFACES FOR DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT –

Part 1: Interface architecture and general requirements

FOREWORD
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International Standard IEC 61968-1 has been prepared by IEC technical committee 57: Power
system control and associated communications.
The text of this standard is based on the following documents:
FDIS Report on voting
57/650/FDIS 57/668/RVD
Full information on the voting for the approval of this standard can be found in the report on
voting indicated in the above table.
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.

61968-1  IEC:2003(E) – 5 –
IEC 61968 consists of the following parts under the general title Application integration at
electric utilities – System interfaces for distribution management:

Part 1: Interface architecture and general requirements

Part 2: Glossary
Part 3: Interface standard for network operations

Part 4: Interface standard for records and asset management

The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until 2005.

At this date, the publication will be

• reconfirmed;
• withdrawn;
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
———————
Under consideration.
– 6 – 61968-1  IEC:2003(E)
INTRODUCTION
The IEC 61968 series is intended to facilitate inter-application integration, as opposed to

intra-application integration, of the various distributed software application systems supporting

the management of utility electrical distribution networks. Intra-application integration is aimed

at programs in the same application system, usually communicating with each other using

middleware that is embedded in their underlying runtime environment, and tends to be

optimized for close, real-time, synchronous connections and interactive request/reply or

conversation communication models. IEC 61968, by contrast, is intended to support the inter-

application integration of a utility enterprise that needs to connect disparate applications that

are already built or new (legacy or purchased applications), each supported by dissimilar

runtime environments. Therefore, IEC 61968 is relevant to loosely coupled applications with
more heterogeneity in languages, operating systems, protocols and management tools.
IEC 61968 is intended to support applications that need to exchange data on an event driven
basis. IEC 61968 is intended to be implemented with middleware services that broker
messages among applications, and will complement, but not replace utility data warehouses,
database gateways, and operational stores.
Utility control
center
Network Utility
Customer
expansion
business
inquiry
planning
systems
(ERP, billing,
energy trading,
Meter other systems)
reading and
ccontrol
Network
IEC 61968
operation
Distribution automation
compliant
Corporate
interface
LAN
architecture
Records Operational
and asset planning and
management optimization
Maintenance
Substation protection,
and
monitoring and control
construction
RTU communications
IEC  2315/03
Figure 1 – Distribution management system
with IEC 61968 compliant interface architecture
Figure 1 clarifies the scope of IEC 61968-1 graphically in terms of business functions and
shows a Distribution Management System with IEC 61968 compliant interface architecture.

61968-1  IEC:2003(E) – 7 –
APPLICATION INTEGRATION AT ELECTRIC UTILITIES –

SYSTEM INTERFACES FOR DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT –

Part 1: Interface architecture and general requirements

1 Scope
This part of IEC 61968 is the first in a series that, taken as a whole, defines interfaces for the

major elements of an interface architecture for Distribution Management Systems (DMS). This
part of IEC 61968 identifies and establishes requirements for standard interfaces based on an
Interface Reference Model (IRM). Subsequent parts of this standard are based on each
interface identified in the IRM. This set of standards is limited to the definition of interfaces
and is implementation independent. They provide for interoperability among different
computer systems, platforms, and languages. Methods and technologies used to implement
functionality conforming to these interfaces are considered outside of the scope of these
standards; only the interface itself is specified in the IEC 61968 series.
As used in the IEC 61968 series, a DMS consists of various distributed application
components for the utility to manage electrical distribution networks. These capabilities
include monitoring and control of equipment for power delivery, management processes to
ensure system reliability, voltage management, demand-side management, outage
management, work management, automated mapping and facilities management. The IRM is
specified in Clause 4.
2 General
2.1 Overview of the IEC 61968 series
As used in IEC 61968, a DMS (Distribution Management System) consists of various
distributed application components for the utility to manage electrical distribution networks.
These capabilities include monitoring and control of equipment for power delivery,
management processes to ensure system reliability, voltage management, demand-side
management, outage management, work management, automated mapping and facilities
management. Standards interfaces are to be defined for each class of applications identified
in the Interface Reference Model (IRM), which is described in Clause 4.
IEC 61968 recommends that system interfaces of a compliant utility inter-application
infrastructure be defined using Unified Modelling Language (UML).
The eXtensible Markup Language (XML) is a data format for structured document interchange

particularly on the Internet. One of its primary uses is information exchange between different
and potentially incompatible computer systems. XML is thus well-suited to the domain of
system interfaces for distribution management.
Where applicable, future parts of the IEC 61968 series will define the information required for
‘message payloads’. Message Payloads will be formatted using XML with the intent that these
payloads can be loaded on to messages of various messaging transports, for example OAG,
SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), etc. The XML encoding rules will be covered in a
future part of the IEC 61968 series.
Communication between application components of the IRM requires compatibility on two
levels:
• Message formats and protocols.
• Message contents must be mutually understood, including application-level issues of
message layout and semantics.
– 8 – 61968-1  IEC:2003(E)
Clause 5 defines abstract middleware services required to support communication between

the applications defined in the IRM. These services are intended to be deployed, with little

additional software required, by mapping them to commonly available services from various

messaging technologies including middleware such as message brokers, Message Oriented

Middleware (MOM), Message-Queuing Middleware (MQM), and Object Request Brokers

(ORBs). This clause is organized as follows:

• Subclause 5.1 identifies general requirements of the applications identified in the IRM.

• Subclause 5.2 describes how standard information exchange services may either be

invoked directly from an application (native mode) or that software may be used to map

(adapt) an application to the information exchange services.

• Subclause 5.3 identifies standard services required for applications to exchange
information with other applications.
• Subclause 5.4 describes how information exchange services may either be supported
directly by middleware or that software may be required to map (adapt) the utility’s
middleware services to the standard information exchange services.
• Subclauses 5.5 to 5.7 describe environmental requirements for information exchange.
2.2 An example using the IEC 61968 series
An example of a typical utility’s implementation of the IEC 61968 series is provided in Figure
2. In this example, the utility has used interface adapters as a means of integrating many of
its legacy systems with other application systems that are IEC 61968 compliant. Note those
legacy systems and IEC 61968 series compliant systems both continue to use proprietary
integration techniques among their internal applications; only information that needs to be
exchanged among applications at the utility enterprise level is expected to use IEC 61968
series middleware services.
For the purposes of this example, the utility’s Outage Management System (OMS) is assumed
to already have the capability of issuing controls to and gathering device states from the
Distribution Automation System (DAS). As it is working acceptably for the utility, this interface
does not need to be changed. However, because other applications need to be notified when
distribution devices change state, the DAS publishes state changes through middleware
services. Another benefit of publishing events is that they can be recorded by an event history
application in a data store; this data can then be used in the generation of various types of
reports. As much of the information exchanged among these systems is useful for
management decision support, a data warehouse application has also been connected to the
IEC 61968 middleware services so that it may receive published information.

61968-1  IEC:2003(E) – 9 –
= IEC 61968 compliant interface

Trans Dist
DAC
Wires Wires
Model Model
VRU
Planning Outage
Customer
Information Distribution
EMS
management
systems
automation info. system
exchange
model
Interface adapter
Interface adapter Interface adapter
...
IEC 61968 compliant middleware services
Data
Event Human
Work
GIS Financial
warehouse
history resources management
IEC  2316/03
Figure 2 – Example utility implementation of the IEC 61968 series
2.3 Overview of IEC 61968-1
The organization of IEC 61968-1 is described in Table 1.
Table 1 – Document overview for IEC 61968-1
Clause Title Purpose
1 Scope Scope of IEC 61968, Part 1.
2 General Overview and examples.
3 Interface reference The domain relevant to the IEC 61968 series is described. For each
model relevant business function, a list of abstract components is provided,
which is described by the functions performed by the component.
future parts of the IEC 61968 series will define interfaces for these
abstract components.
4 Interface architecture The interface reference model for utility inter-application integration is
provided along with the rationale for its structure.
5 Interface profile Utility inter-application integration environmental requirements are

described. Abstract message passing services are defined that must
be available for applications to communicate information to other
applications, including publish and subscribe services.
6 Information exchange Metadata is used to describe event types that are published by
model applications. Applications subscribing to receive all messages for a
certain event type recognize the fields of a particular event message
once they have looked up the metadata for the event type in the
information exchange model. While many event types are described in
the IEC 61968 series, metadata is the means by which vendors and
utilities can add new event types without violating this standard.
7 Component reporting Requirements for audit trails and error message handling
and error handling authentication necessary to support utility inter-application integration
are described.
8 Security and Requirements for security and authentication necessary to support
authentication utility inter-application integration are described.
9 Maintenance aspects General maintenance requirements are specified.
Annex A Distribution An overview of business functions required for electric utility
management domain distribution management is described.

– 10 – 61968-1  IEC:2003(E)
Annex B IEC 61968 series The methodology used to determine interface architecture

requirements for utility inter-application integration is described.
Development process
Annex C Inter-application Some typical performance requirements necessary to support utility
integration performance inter-application integration are described. These requirements are of

considerations a general nature as specific implementation requirements will vary by

utility.
Annex D Views of data in a This annex describes some of the underlying principles of defining the

conventional electric reference data dictionary of a future part of the IEC 61968 series.

utility
Annex E Business functions This annex describes the typical data producer and consumer
subsystems for each DMS business function.

3 Interface reference model
3.1 Domain
Within this part of IEC 61968, the distribution management domain covers all aspects of
management of utility electrical distribution networks. A distribution utility will have some or all
of the responsibility for monitoring and control of equipment for power delivery, management
processes to ensure system reliability, voltage management, demand-side management,
outage management, work management, automated mapping and facilities management.
The distribution management domain may be organised as two inter-related types of
business, electricity supply and electricity distribution. Electricity supply is concerned with the
purchase of electrical energy from bulk producers for sale to individual consumers. Electricity
distribution covers the management of the physical distribution network that connects the
producers and consumers. In some countries, the responsibility of organisations may be
legally restricted and certain sections of the IEC 61968 series will be inapplicable.
A utility domain includes the software systems, equipment, staff and consumers of a single
utility organisation, which could be a company or a department. It is expected that within each
utility domain, the systems, equipment, staff and consumers can be uniquely identified. When
information is exchanged between two utility domains, then identifiers may need to be
extended with the identity of the utility organisation in order to guarantee global uniqueness.
3.2 Business functions
Various departments within a utility co-operate to perform the operation and management of a
power distribution network; this activity is termed distribution management. Other departments
within the organisation may support the distribution management function without having

direct responsibility for the distribution network. This segmentation by business function is
provided in the Interface Reference Model (IRM), which is described in detail in 3.3.
The use of a business-related model should ensure independence from vendor-produced
system solutions. It is an important test of the viability of this standard that the IRM be
recognisable to utility staff as a description of their own distribution network operation and
management.
Major utility business functions, which provide the top level categories of the IRM, are shown
in Figure 3 below.
———————
The work of the CIRED working group on distribution automation, published in 1996, is fully acknowledged in
the segmentation.
61968-1  IEC:2003(E) – 11 –
Distribution management Business functions external

business functions to distribution management

(AM) (OP) (EMS ) (SC)
(MC)
(NO)
Records and Operational Energy (RET) Supply
Maintenance
Network
asset planning and management and Retail chain and
and
operation
management optimization energy trading logistics
construction
Interface**Interface Interface**Interface Interface* Interface* Interface*
Standard: Part 3 Standard: Part 4 Standard: Part 5 Standard: Part 6 Standard: Part 10 Standard: Part 10 Standard: Part 10

IEC 61968 compliant middleware services

Interface**Interface Interface* Interface* Interface* Interface* Interface*
Standard: Part 7 Standard: Part 8 Standard: Part 9 Standard: Part 10 Standard: Part 10 Standard: Part 10 Standard: Part 10
(NE) (MR) (ACT)
(CS) (HR)
Network Meter Customer (FIN) (PRM)
Customer Human
extension reading and account Financial Premises
support resources
planning control management
Electric distribution network Generation and transmission management,
enterprise resource planning, supply chain, and
planning, constructing,
maintaining, and operating general corporate services
IEC  2317/03
* Under consideration
Figure 3 – Typical applications mapped to interface reference model
3.3 Interface reference model
It is not the intention of this standard to define the applications and systems that vendors
should produce. It is expected that a concrete (physical) application will provide the
functionality of one or more abstract (logical) components as listed in this standard. These
abstract components are grouped by the business functions of the interface reference model.
In this standard, the term abstract component is used to refer to that portion of a software
system that supports one or more of the interfaces defined in future parts of the IEC 61968
series. It does not necessarily mean that compliant software is delivered as separate
modules.
In this subclause, the definitions of business functions defined in Subclause 3.2 are further
extended into:
• Sub-business functions (second column of Table 2).
• Abstract components (third column of Table 2).
NOTE Some abstract components may be used by several different business functions. For example, a
component like power flow can be used for network operation, short term operational planning and optimisation,
and long term network extension planning. Much of the information exchanged for power flow purposes in each of
these areas will therefore use many of the same information exchange message types (see Clause 5).
Applications from different vendors package the functionality of these abstract components in
different ways. To use the IEC 61968 services, each application must support one or more of
the interfaces for the abstract components.
This part of IEC 61968 describes infrastructure services common to all abstract components
whilst future parts of the IEC 61968 series will define the details of the information exchanged
for specific types of abstract component.

– 12 – 61968-1  IEC:2003(E)
IEC 61968 series defines that:

a) An inter-application infrastructure is compliant if it supplies services defined in this part of

IEC 61968 to support at least two applications with interfaces compliant to sections of

future parts of the IEC 61968 series.

b) An application interface is compliant if it supports the interface standards defined in future

parts of the IEC 61968 series for the relevant abstract components defined in the interface

reference model.
c) An application is only required to support interface standards of the applicable

components listed in column 3 of Table 2. It is not required to support interfaces required

by other abstract components (column 3 of Table 2) of the same business sub-function

(column 2 of Table 2) or within the same business function (column 1 of Table 2). While
this standard primarily defines information exchanged among components in different
business functions, it will occasionally also defines information exchanged among
components within a single business function when a strong market need for this
capability has been realised.
Table 2 – Interface reference model
Business functions Business sub-functions Abstract components
Network operation (NO) Network operation monitoring Substation state supervision
(NMON)
(Refer to future IEC 61968-3)
Network state supervision
Switching action supervision
Management of data acquired from
SCADA and metering systems
Management of data acquired through
operation (field crews, customers,
scheduled and unscheduled outages)
Alarm supervision
Operator and event logs
Weather monitoring (lightning
detection)
Network control (CTL) User access control
Automatic controls:
Protection (fault clearance)
Sectionalising
Local voltage/reactive power control

Assisted control:
Remote switch control
Load shedding
Voltage reduction broadcast
Local control through field crews
Safety document management
Safety checking and interlocks
Major incident co-ordination
61968-1  IEC:2003(E) – 13 –
Business functions Business sub-functions Abstract components

Fault Management (FLT) Trouble call handling and coherency

analysis (LV network)
Protective relays analysis
Fault location by analysis of fault
detectors and/or trouble call
localisation
Supply restoration assessment
Customer incident information
Operation feedback analysis Mal-operation analysis
(OFA)
Network fault analysis
Quality index analysis
Device operation history
Post-disturbance review
Operation statistics and Maintenance information
reporting (OST)
Information for planning
Information for management control
Network calculations – Load estimation
real-time (CLC)
Energy trading analysis
Load flow/voltage profile
Fault current analysis
Adaptive relay settings
Dispatcher training (TRN) SCADA simulation
Records and asset Substation and network Equipment characteristics
management (AM) inventory (EINV)
Connectivity model
(Refer to future IEC 61968-4)
Substation display
Telecontrol database
Geographical inventory Network displays
(GINV)
Cartographic maps
Asset investment planning Maintenance strategy
(AIP)
Life-cycle planning
Reliability centred analysis
Engineering and design standards
Performance measurements
Risk management
Environmental management
Decision support
Budget allocation
Maintain work triggers
Asset maintenance groups (lists)
Asset failure history
Asset financial performance
Thermal ratings of network equipment
and lines
– 14 – 61968-1  IEC:2003(E)
Business functions Business sub-functions Abstract components

Operational planning and Network operation simulation Load forecast

optimisation (OP) (SIM)
Power flows computation
(Refer to future IEC 61968-5)
Contingency analysis
Short circuit analysis
Optimal power flow
Supply restoration assessment
Switching simulation
Incident simulation
Weather forecast analysis
Fire risk analysis
Thermal ratings of network equipment
and lines
Switch action Release/clearance remote switch
scheduling/operation work command scheduling
scheduling (SSC)
Field crew loading analysis and work
order scheduling
Customer outage analysis and
information
Power import scheduling and
optimisation (IMP)
Maintenance and Maintenance and inspection Maintenance program management
construction (MC) (MAI)
Maintain work triggers
(Refer to future IEC 61968-6)
Asset maintenance groups (lists)
Manage inspection readings
Asset maintenance history
Asset failure history
Work order status tracking
Work order closing
Financial control
Construction and design Work initiation
(CON)
Work design
Work cost estimation
Work flow management
Work order status tracking
Work order closing
Financial control
Work scheduling (SCHD) Work task planning
Crew management
Vehicle management
Equipment management
Material coordination
Permit management
61968-1  IEC:2003(E) – 15 –
Business functions Business sub-functions Abstract components

Field recording and design Field design

(FRD)
Field inspection results
Crew time entry
Actual materials
Work dispatch (DSP) Field status tracking

Real-time communication
Weather monitoring
Network extension planning
Network calculations (NCLC) Load forecast
(NE)
Power flows
(Refer to future IEC 61968-7)
Contingency analysis
Short-circuit analysis
Optimal power flow
Energy loss calculations
Feeder voltage profiles
Construction supervision Construction costing
(CSP)
Work management
Project definition (PRJ) Capital approval
Compliance management Safety compliance
(CMPL)
Technical compliance
Regulatory compliance
Customer Support (CS) Customer service (CSRV) Service requests
(Refer to future IEC 61968-8)
Construction billing inquiry
Work status
Self service inquiry (Web, VRU (Voice
Response Unit)…)
Customer connection
Turn on, turn off
Service level agreements
Trouble call management Outage calls

(TCM)
Power quality
Planned outage notifications
Media communication
Performance indices
Restoration projection/confirmation
Outage history
Meter reading and control Meter reading (RMR) Load characteristics
(MR)
Consumption meters
(Refer to future IEC 61968-9)
Quality factors
Load control (LDC) Meter parameter telesetting
Dynamic tariff application
Power modulation
– 16 – 61968-1  IEC:2003(E)
Business functions Business sub-functions Abstract components

External to DMS (EXT) Energy management and Transmission
energy trading (EMS)
(Refer to future IEC 61968-10) Generation

Energy trading
Retail (RET) Marketing and selling

Settlements
Customer registration
Product line diversification
Portfolio management
Supply chain and logistics Procurement
(SC)
Contract management
Warehouse logistics
Materials management
Customer account Credit status
management (ACT)
Outage history
Credit and collections
Billing and payment
Customer profiling
Financial (FIN) Activity based management
Accounts payable
Accounts receivable
Forecasting
Budgeting
General ledger
Regulatory accounting
Tax accounting
Treasury
Decision support
Performance metrics
Strategic planning
Business development
Budgeting
Regulatory relations
Premises (PRM) Address
Source substation
Meter information
Right of ways, easements, grants
Real estate management
61968-1  IEC:2003(E) – 17 –
Business functions Business sub-functions Abstract components

Human resources (HR) Health/safety reporting

Payroll
Safety administration
Training
Qualification tracking
Hours on shift information
Benefits administration
Employee performance, review, and
compensation
Recruiting
4 Interface architecture
4.1 General
This part of IEC 61968 describes utility inter-application infrastructure requirements
necessary to integrate components distributed throughout the enterprise. The services and
functionality described is independent of the underlying component-based infrastructure. In
the following requirements, an “event” is a unit of information exchange which is issued
asynchronously by its source (“push”). A “component” is a module of application software
which is a component of the integration bus as either a publisher or subscriber (receiver) of
an information exchange.
The business process begins by identifying the information to be exchanged and the
components involved. This typically involves one publisher that has the information and
initiates the exchange, and zero or more subscribers that will receive the information.
The IEC 61968 series requires that a compliant utility inter-application infrastructure:
a) Shall allow components to exchange information of arbitrary complexity.
b) Shall be able to be implemented using various forms of distributed component technology
(for example, CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture), DCOM (Distributed
Component Object Model), message brokers, message oriented middleware, relational
databases, object-oriented databases, or others). (See Clause 5).
c) Shall provide an information exchange model facility (see Clause 6) that users employ to

describe the information to be exchanged. This facility presents the user with the models
of events and the components to which they relate, and allows the new exchange to be
added to the old, so that a comprehensive corporate exchange model, tailored to a utility’s
specific needs, can be built rather than a collection of independent models.
d) Shall allow a publisher and/or subscriber component to be deployed by system
administrators independently of other components as long as interfaces remain the same.
e) Shall ensure that, once a given type of event is published, additional subscribing
components can be configured to receive the event without having to make any changes
or additions in the publisher component.

– 18 – 61968-1  IEC:2003(E)
4.2 Requirements analysis methodology

To help solve the problem of effectively sharing information across electric utility departments

and systems, a common modelling notation or language is needed. A modelling language

extends natural language by adding formal constructs to aid in communication by reducing

ambiguity. By using a common modelling language across the utility, utilities can better define

what information needs to be shared across departments.

This modelling language should be rich enough to detail the requirements, have a graphically

oriented (visual diagrams) to make it easy to use, be widely accepted, and supported by

reasonably priced tools. Refer to Annex B for further information regarding this methodology

that has been used for the development of the IEC 61968 series. The use cases used for the
development of the interface reference model will be compiled in a future IEC technical report.
5 Interface
...