About Initial Measurement Data

Initial measurement data (IMD) is the term for measurement data in its initial (or raw) form.

Measurements read from a measuring component are referred to as "initial measurement data" (or initial measurements) and are used to record how much of the quantity (defined by UOM, TOU, and SQI) measured by the measuring component was consumed.

Initial measurement data for scalar measuring components contain a single "reading" or value, while initial measurement data for interval measuring components can contain multiple readings, one for each interval that falls between the start time and stop time of the measurement.

At a simple level, initial measurement data goes through the following process:

  1. Initial measurements are loaded into the system.
  2. Initial measurement data is validated, edited, and estimated (VEE). Please refer to About VEE for more details on the VEE process.
  3. Initial measurements are converted into final measurements and stored in the Measurement (D1_​MSRMT) table.
  4. If using Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management, final measurements are used to calculate usage (bill determinants, etc.). Please refer to About Usage Calculation for more details on the usage calculation process.

There are two ways in which initial measurement data is processed:

  • Legacy Measurement Processing involves creating records in the database for each initial measurement upon receipt. These records are updated through each stage of processing until the initial measurement is finalized, and are retained in the system until archived and/or deleted. Processing is defined based on the initial measurement data business object. Legacy Measurement Processing can be used with Initial Load, Manual, and Estimation initial measurement data. See Legacy Measurement Processing for more information.
  • Direct Measurement Processing involves processing incoming measurement data in memory, based on algorithms defined on an IMD type. If using Measuring Component Ordering, this also creates staging records for each initial measurement upon receipt (staging records are deleted once the measurement has been processed). Direct Measurement Processing is only supported for Initial Load measurement data. It does not support Manual or Estimation initial measurements. See Direct Measurement Processing for more information.

Only initial measurements can be edited directly by end users, and only when using Legacy Measurement Processing..

Quantities in an initial measurement can change during processing.

  • "Pre VEE" quantities are consumption values derived from the measurements recorded by the head end system or meter reader with the appropriate installation and measuring component multipliers applied.
  • "Post VEE" quantities are the "final" values, after VEE processing.

Changes in quantities can be based on a number of conditions, including:

  • VEE rules have changed the quantities because they are missing or obviously wrong. In this, the Pre VEE values are adjusted based on the specifics of the VEE rules applied to the initial measurement to create the Post VEE values
  • Manual changes by a user.

When using Legacy Measurement Processing, initial measurement data records contain both the original (Pre VEE) and final (Post VEE) versions of the quantities recorded by the measuring component.

When using Direct Measurement Processing, if any quantities are changed during VEE processing, original (Pre VEE) quantities are captured along with the final (Post VEE) quantities in the Measurement (D1_​MSRMT) table.

In addition to recorded consumption values, measurements also have condition codes, used to indicate the source and quality of a measurement. For example:

  • Regularly recorded measurements might have a condition code of "Regular"
  • Missing measurements might have a condition code of "Missing"
  • Estimated measurements might have a condition code of "External Estimated" or "System Estimated" based on where the estimation was performed.

Both Pre VEE and Post VEE values have their own condition code, which can also change during VEE processing. For example, a measurement that was missing in the Pre VEE document will likely become "System Estimated" in the Post VEE document once VEE has been executed.