This document will continue to evolve as existing sections change and new information is added. All updates appear in the following table:
| Date | Feature | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 28 AUG 2019 | Created initial document. |
This guide outlines the information you need to know about new or improved functionality in this update.
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Review the new Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT) to learn about the product's accessibility features.
Create and Manage Products and Contracts
Use new objects to support the following capabilities when you are primarily operating in a deregulated market:
- Create and manage products offered to your customers. Examples of a product include a single utility service such as electricity, or a product consisting of multiple utility services such as electricity and gas.
- Create and manage customer contracts between you and your end customer.
- Provide the ability to plug-in various eligibility criteria and rules to meet custom requirements.
Basic functionality will be supplied for each new maintenance object. Custom implementations and future releases may extend this functionality through business objects designed for specific business processes.
Additional Market Transaction Management Capabilities
Extend market message-related objects to support communicating the following when you are primarily operating in a deregulated market:
- Market usage or consumption
- Market charges
- Market payments
Basic functionality will be supplied for each enhanced maintenance object. Custom implementations and future releases may extend this functionality through business objects designed for specific-market business processes.
The DataConnect extract capability allows you to extract critical information from the Customer Cloud Service. Use these extracts to integrate Customer Cloud Service with other utility applications and cloud solutions, or to provide data to third party vendors.
New Customer Data and Billing Data Extract Files
Accelerate the processing of providing data to other on-premise applications and cloud solutions using new DataConnect file extracts. The file extracts include:
- Customer data (used to communicate required incremental changes in service agreement records, related account records, and/or main person linked to an account)
- Billing data
File formats will be tab delimited.
Asset Activities in Customer Cloud Service
Perform common device-related asset activities in the Customer Cloud Service using the Service Order Management component. This includes support for device testing and inspections.
Item Sync with Service Point Installation
Synchronize meter related assets from the asset management portion of Customer Cloud Service to the meter portion of Customer Cloud Service. This includes unmetered items such as current transformers, potential transformers, and AMI routers and collectors. These assets are synced as badged items and are installed on the service point.
Due to a new Smart Grid Gateway architecture, you can write and edit smart meter commands using only Oracle Utilities Application Framework tools.
Smart Grid Gateway Adapter Development Kit Smart Meter Commands
Add custom smart meter commands using the Adapter Development Kit.
Silver Spring Networks Smart Meter Commands
Issue smart meter commands using the Silver Spring Networks Adapter.
Use new data conversion tools. These staging table methods are the same methods used by the Customer Cloud Service for customer-related tables.
Information Lifecycle Management (ILM)
Support sub-retention periods with additional automation for ILM archiving processes. This includes objects like Activity that include data with diverse retention periods.
Oracle Utilities Analytics Visualization
Ask any questions of your data and discover the stories your data is telling using the rich pre-built analytical data models, metrics, and key performance indicators in Analytics Visualization. You can use Analytics Visualization to create your own calculations, visualizations, and filters to analyze the data exposed by the pre-built data models.
- Adjustment: This model can be used to analyze count and current amount of adjustment data by adjustment status, cancel reason, and adjustment type.
- Cases: This model can be used to analyze case data by attributes of Account, Case Type, Person, Premise, and User.
- Collection Process: This model can be used to analyze count and arrears amount of collection process data by collection status, collection status reason, collection process template, and attributes of Account.
- Customer Contacts: This model can be used to analyze customer contact data by attributes of Account, Person, Premise, and User
- Deposit Control: Deposit controls can be analyzed to find unexpected anomalies with their ending balance. For example, this model can be used to find whether there are balanced deposit controls with a non-zero ending balance, or if deposit controls created in the past have still not been balanced.
- Device Event: This model can be used to count, visualize, and analyze device events coming from smart meters. You can also look at meter read remarks from legacy meters.
- Field Activity: This model can be used to visualize Service Order Management field work and Smart Grid Gateway commands issued. Each of these analytics will include Counts, Duration, and tools to create additional calculations.
- Payment Header: This model can be used to analyze the count and payment amount of payment header data by payment status, pay cancel reason, and customer class.
- Payment Tender: This model can be used to analyze count and tender amount of payment tender data by tender status, tender type, cancel reason and customer class.
- Severance Process: This model can be used to analyze the count and arrears amount of severance process data by severance status, severance status reason, severance process template, and attributes of service agreement.
- Tender Control: This model can be used to analyze the starting and ending balances of balanced and open tender controls by Batch Control, Deposit Control, Tender Source, and User.
- To Do Entry: This model includes pre-built metrics that can be used to analyze To Dos by attributes of Account, Contact, Device, Person, Premise, Service Agreement, Service Point, Measuring Component, and Usage Subscription.
Utilities Application Framework
Oracle Utilities Analytics Visualization
Generate designated calendar and time dimensions for Oracle Utilities Analytics Visualization reports using new entities and processes. Oracle Utilities Analytics Visualization reports rely on designated calendar and time dimensions to support various hierarchical grouping by date and time.
XSLT Storage in the Database - SOAP Services
Store eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformations (XSLTs) in the database instead of the file system when processing inbound Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) web services and outbound messages.
Align more closely to industry standards using the new published URL for a REST web service.
REST Web Services Support Parameters and Additional HTTP Methods
Use new PUT, GET and PATCH HTTP methods, and path and query parameters.
Convert data for any maintenance object enabled for conversion using a new set of generic batch programs.
Experience better platform standardization. As part of our on-going cross-platform standardization efforts, such as accessibility compliance and laying a foundation for interoperability support, the Oracle Jet libraries have been upgraded to version 7.1.
Alternate Row Header on Data Explorers
Experience better accessibility now that Data Explorer zones support explicitly designating one or more columns as the row header.
Alternative Red Text Color Option
Experience better accessibility now that an alternative shade of red is available to apply to text for emphasis.
Batch Thread Error Handling Enhancement
Provide an automatic restart for batch threads that fail for technical reasons when running a batch process.
Market Transaction Management Environment Initialization
Initialize an environment to enable import of market transaction management metadata using a new batch program.
Configuration Updates on ILM Enabled Maintenance Objects
Use enhanced Information Lifecycle Management (ILM)-enabled maintenance objects.
Date and Time Extracted in XSD Format
Convert date and time fields to XML Schema Definition (XSD) format when you extract data.