Nine capabilities required for an effective OMS system

BY MICHEL GILLES, Intergraph

Increasing or maintaining power reliability is the fundamental charter for utility companies. For electric utilities to meet customer expectations and adhere to government regulations, they require an efficient way to restore power as quickly as possible when service interruptions occur. While advanced distribution management systems have a role to play in the evolution of a Smart Grid, core outage management fundamentals remain incredibly important for most utilities. Outage management systems (OMS) provide the foundation for improving outage response and restoration times, benefiting overall operational efficiency, and increasing reliability.

A comprehensive set of integrated tools power these capabilities, seamlessly managing operational and customer data across the enterprise. However, which applications are effective for the modern electric utility? Electricity Today Magazine and Intergraph offer a few tools every electric utility should have in its outage management toolbox.