Glossary of Terms

Term

Definition

Base Time Zone

This is the time zone defined on the Installation Options - Framework. All date/times stored in the system are governed by this time zone. See also: Standard Time and Legal Time

Bill Determinants

Measurement data summarized for use by a billing application. Bill determinants can take the form of TOU-mapped interval consumption, scalar consumption, scalar readings, and/or interval consumption obtained via measurements. One good example of bill determinant is TOU-mapped interval consumption, which reduces a full month's worth of interval data into several buckets of consumption based on time of use.

CIS (Customer Information System)

A generic term for the system used to store customer and billing information at a utility.

Consumption

A measurement by a given device of the amount of energy, water, gas, etc. consumed over a given time period. Synonymous with the term "measurement".

Contact

A customer that should be contacted in association with a Service Point or Usage Subscription.

Customer Modification (CM)

This refers to code or configuration that's been added by your organization.

Device

A physical meter, communication module, or some other device out in the field.

Device Configuration

This keeps a record of which types of data should be measured for the device.

Device Event

An alarm or warning sent from a device that may indicate an issue with normal operations (examples: theft, memory failures, etc.).

Dynamic Option

Used to specify terms that override how usage is normally calculated - such as a critical peak period that affects the TOU mapping of interval consumption.

Factor

A centrally stored set of values for use in validation rules, bill determinants calculations, and other processes. A factor can have different values depending upon some definable attribute of a system object, such as customer size associated with a Service Point. The values are effective-dated so that changes over time are retained. Examples of factors can include minimum/maximum thresholds, loss factors, etc. Classes of factors are defined that can have numeric values (as in the above examples), or values pointing to profile measuring components or VEE groups.

Function - Measurement

An online-initiated action applied to measurement data, comprising one or more measurement services.

Initial Measurement Data (IMD)

The data measured on a device that is sent to Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management is stored in this initial record while it's being processed.

Install Event

An instance of a specific device installed at a Service Point. This also includes a record of any time the service was turned on or off.

Legal Time

This refers to a method of storing date/time information where there is an adjustment made to the date/time during periods where Daylight Savings Time (DST) is in effect. There are two offsets against Universal Coordinated Time (UTC): (1) when DST is in effect, (2) when DST is not in effect.

On the day that day that DST begins the clock moves forward by a period of time equal to the DST offset. For example, if DST takes effect at 2:00AM and the offset is one hour then the clock moves from 1:59:59AM to 3:00:00AM skipping 2:00:00AM - 2:59:59AM.

On the day that DST ends the clock is moved backwards thus recording a period of time equal to the DST offset twice, the first recording of that period is with the UTC offset for DST being in effect, the second recording of that period is with the UTC offset for DST not being in effect. For example, if DST ends at 2:00AM and the offset is one hour then the clock would repeat the hour from 1:00:00 to 1:59:59.

Manufacturer

The company that manufactured a device.

Measurement

This is the final, validated measurement information from a device. Measurement data is used in calculation of usage as part of the Usage Transaction process.

Measuring Component

A logical container for measurement data. These are often channels for physical devices but can also be aggregators, weather data, or any other form of measurements.

Out-of-the-box (OOTB)

This refers to code or configuration that's provided as part of the product delivered by Oracle (as opposed to a Customer Modification).

Profiling of Scalar Data

The process of applying an interval consumption "shape" to a scalar measurement, using an existing interval measuring component. The individual interval values are adjusted such that when totaled, they equal the value of the scalar measurement.

Service Point

A location at which a company supplies service. Used to store information describing the type of service and how it is measured.

Service Quantity Identifier (SQI)

Used to further distinguish between measured quantities that have identical UOM/TOU combinations (i.e. Generated, Consumed, etc.)

Service Type

The type of service being delivered at a Service Point (i.e. electric, gas, water).

Standard Time

This refers to a method of storing date/time information where there is no adjustment made for daylight savings time. A constant offset with Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) is maintained throughout the year.

Sub Usage Subscription

A "child" Usage Subscription that is subordinate to another Usage Subscription (such as when a utility is issuing a bill for a third party service).

Time Of Use (TOU)

A bucket of time throughout a day that's used for summarizing measurement data. These are often given a descriptive name as well (i.e. On Peak, Off Peak, etc.)

To Do

A work item that should be reviewed by a user. A To Do is related to data issues, incorrect processing, or other problems that occur within the system.

Unit Of Measure (UOM)

A metric of how measurement data is measured (i.e. kWh, kVARh, CCF, etc.)

Usage Calculation Group

A set of sequenced usage calculation rules used to calculate usage for a Usage Subscription.

Usage Calculation Rule

Business rules / logic used to calculate usage (bill determinants), such as a TOU-mapped consumption calculation. Each rule is a modular unit that can be grouped together and sequenced within a calculation group.

Usage Calculation Rule Eligibility Criteria

User-definable conditions that could cause a given usage calculation rule to be applied or skipped. This could involve the evaluation of some attribute of the device or measuring component, or some other important attribute.

Usage Subscription

A record of an ongoing request to send one or more Service Points' usage to one or more external systems (such as a billing application).

Usage Transaction

A record of bill determinant calculations for a Usage Subscription.

Usage Transaction Exception

An exception generated during the usage transaction process. Exceptions are assigned a severity that is used in determining whether or not the usage transaction should be transitioned into a requiring approval or resolution.

Validation, Estimation, and Editing (VEE)

The process by which initial measurement data is validated, estimated (if necessary) and edited (if necessary) based on a set of user-defined rules.

VEE Exception

An exception generated during Validation, Estimation and Editing (VEE) processing of initial measurement data. Exceptions are assigned a severity that is used in determining whether or not the initial measurement data should be transitioned into an exception state.

VEE Group

A collection of VEE Rules.

VEE Group Matrix (Factor)

A VEE Rule within a VEE group can be configured to pick from a list of VEE groups (referred to as a matrix) whose rules to execute next. This list of VEE groups is configured as the values of a factor. One example of its use could be to call geographically-specific VEE groups from within a larger-purpose group. A residential VEE group might contain

a rule that will pick the VEE group to execute based on Service Point location, where the VEE Group Matrix specifies:

Service Point in the North - VEE Group N

Service Point in the East - VEE Group E

Service Point in the South - VEE Group S

VEE Rule

Standard and custom Validation, Estimation and Editing (VEE) Rules that perform checking and/or manipulation of initial measurement data.

VEE Rule Eligibility Criteria

User-definable conditions that could cause a given VEE Rule to be applied or skipped. This could involve the evaluation of some attribute of the device or measuring component, or some other important attribute.