#1 most frequent
United States of America
71.2%37 installations of 52
What is Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management (MDM)?
Oracle supplies a suite of utilities management applications, including the Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management (MDM) application.
Categories & Use Cases
Who Buys & Uses Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management (MDM)
#2 most frequent
Canada
11.5%6 installations of 52
#3 most frequent
India
7.7%4 installations of 52
MDM - If You're Willing to Pay the Price
Pros
- Integration-wise, MDM syncs with the OU product CCB without issue.
- The documentation behind the functional use of MDM is well maintained. This helps functional analysts when business issues arise and DBAs for technical issues.
Cons
- Integration-wise, MDM is flawless with CCB, but the amount of time it takes to load and interpret daily reads is nearly prohibitive. Through a process called "meter interrogation," Oracle is supposed to process initial reads into final measurements. This is supposed to run three times a day, but because the process is so resource-intensive, we are only able to run it barely twice a day. Production resources lag during this time and user experience is reduced.
- The amount of data the MDM require to be kept in just two of the thousands of database tables indicates a very poor design, or at least a poor integration of the Lodestar product that they purchased and turned into MDM. The initial measurements and final measurements tables take up around 85 to 90 percent of the database. This bloatedness in database size translates into slower performance for the front-end user as well as real costs in terms of data storage. Any user using Oracle's Exadata software will pay dearly for not having a purge and archive strategy.
Return on Investment
- Our former mainframe system would not have been able to handle the new requirement we have in Pennsylvania for 15-minute interval reads. MDM being able to handle this with base functionality saved us the cost of developing a custom solution for this.
- MDM's hardware requirements are quite expensive, especially if you want the best performance technically and for the front-end user, as you must purchase Oracle's Exadata hardware. This capital expenditure has been heavy for our utility and supported by increased tariff measures.
Other Software Used
MBS inSite eCommerce, Cherwell Service Management, Jenkins
A complex but powerful tool for managing meter data
Pros
- It is highly configurable.
- It is user-friendly for those who are computer savvy.
- It is highly extendable and customizable.
Cons
- In some ways, MDM is too customizable. There is a delicate balance to be struck between allowing implementers the ability to create custom algorithms to meet their business needs and making those features part of the base product. Lots of things can go wrong if you customize it too much.
- The cost/time to upgrade is very high.
- Cost of ownership is very high.
Return on Investment
- We use it daily and for the most part works on its own without manual intervention.
- When manual intervention is required, 90% of the time only simple interventions are required.
- The integration with our CIS helps keep everything in sync.
Other Software Used
Oracle Utilities Opower Energy Efficiency Cloud Service, Toad for Oracle
Oracle Utilities MDM Review
Pros
- Gathers consumption data from analog and smart meters and validates, edits, and estimates (VEE) meter data automatically or manually.
- It manages the massive influx of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and traditional meter data.
- MDM is designed for the highest levels of automation and scalability to meet the current and future needs of utilities.
Cons
- Configuring the batch on different servers using the same SPLEBASE on a shared mount is a lot complex to configure. Appreciate it if there is a way to do it in simpler way.
Return on Investment
- It avoids a ton of manual effort and streamlines the reading process.
Other Software Used
Oracle Customer Care and Billing, Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management, IBM Maximo
Oracle Meter Data Management (MDM) a good product
Pros
- Data Management is crucial and MDM does this well
- Device Configuration organization
- Readings, usage, measurement units, service points, device management
Cons
- Unfamiliar areas can be harder to use. If you know what your doing everyday your fine, but at times, I find myself in unfamiliar application aspects where some clearer tip buttons with better details could help the reason know what they need to do and guide them more clearly.
- Error message codes could be more helpful, sometimes I get error messages, I look them up and there's not much information on it. Therefore, I am not sure how to fix the error.
Return on Investment
- Preventing errors for us always turns into money saved. Error flags that MDM throws help to prevent incorrect data entry, which almost always turns into money and time spent on sending somebody out into the field to ensure accurate data was given. So by not allowing for the possible errors, we save money.
- No Negative Impacts.
Alternatives Considered
Oracle Customer Care and Billing
Other Software Used
Oracle SQL Developer, Oracle Customer Care and Billing
