Second ISO-NE Information Technology (IT) Stakeholders Forum

1
Second ISO-NE Information Technology (IT)
Stakeholders Forum

• September 9, 2004
• ISO New England

2
Opening Remarks

• Welcome Message and Agenda
• Jamshid Afnan, Vice President and Chief
  Information Officer

3
Technology/Standards

• Welcome, Status of Technology/Standards
  Directions at ISO-NE and National Standards
  Directions
• Eugene Litvinov, Director, Technology

4
Technology Stakeholders ForumTechnology/Standards
Working Group

• September 9, 2004
• ISO New England

5
Web Site Architecture Redesign Project

• Presented by Ron Coutu, Michael Gilmore
• and Aurangzeb Agha
• ISO New England

6
Todays Goals

• Project background
• Site user profiles and key business needs
• Technical directions and implementation plans
  (Mike Gilmore)
• Technical design discussion (Aurangzeb Agha)

7
Web Site Architecture Redesign Project Background

• Presented by Ron Coutu
• ISO New England

8
Prior to the launch of this project, stakeholder
feedback had identified the need for a range of
site improvements

• Improved Search to find information in site
• Improved site navigation and content organization
• Usability
• Consistency
• Specific online enhancements to more easily
  access data
• LMP Map
• New England Data Portal
• New England Data Ticker
• Selectable LMP and Load Data
• Wireless Data
• Color-Coded Settlements Calendar
• The specific enhancements were added in June
  2003. The site redesign project was developed to
  address the search, navigation, and content
  organization issues and identify additional
  stakeholder needs

9
Improved Search was identified as critical need
from early user feedback

• Search results often are not relevant

10
Improved Content Organization was identified as
critical need from early user feedback

• Some content areas are not easily accessible from
  home page or level 2 navigation (e.g.,
  ICAP/UCAP). Information has become nested in
  site as site content has grown

11
Consistency of page flows / content organization
needed across various content areas as site has
grown
Committees Page
Participants Committee
Reliability Committee
The page flows and organization of content across
committees varies by committee and by task force
within committee. Consistency would improve
usability.
Transmission Task Force
12
ISO-NE initiated a Public Site Redesign project
based on Stakeholders feedback

• Stakeholder needs
• Stakeholders identified the Public Site as
  mission critical, but that fundamental
  improvements are necessary
• Based on this feedback, ISO-NE determined that to
  meet stakeholder business needs it must redesign
  Public Web Site
• Usability
• Consistency
• Scalability  
• Project phases
• The Web Site Redesign Project has three phases
• An Evaluation Phase (completed)
• Then a Design Phase (completed)
• Followed by an Implementation Phase (in-progress)
• Phase 1 Look and Feel, Content Management and
  Search
• Phase 2 Scalable architecture and Dynamic
  Reporting
•  

13
The redesign is centered around meeting your
business needs as stakeholders

• Review of your past feedback to ISO-NE about
  improving the web site
• Stakeholder feedback from forums
• E-mail feedback
• Stakeholder interviews to identify and prioritize
  your suggested improvements
• In-person and telephone interviews
• Site improvement surveys
• Review of other independent system operator sites
  to identify best practices for meeting your web
  site needs
• Updates to stakeholders on redesign progress
• Review of a redesign prototype to gain your input
  on usability

14
Summary of Stakeholder Profiles
Titles Job/Role High level site needs
Trader
Mgr, RT Markets
Mgr, Planning Ops
Regulator
Data Scraper
Manages projects, assets, contracts, reporting
and dispatch
Represents states interests in the electricity
markets
Develops the systems that interface with the
ISO-NE site
Trades on the wholesale electricity market
Administers companys market portfolio

• Calendar(s) with registration, trading and bid
  deadlines
• Committee info organized and searchable by topic
  or committee
• List of the latest info on FERC orders, Market
  Rules, power emergencies, etc.
• Easy access to White Papers
• Downloadable Morning Report

• Price and load datahistorical, RT and DA
• Data sort capability by specific zone(s),
  node(s), hub, date(s), format (graphical or
  table, CSV or HTML)
• Price alerts
• Access to secure sites from ISO-NE home page
• Better organization of data

• Consistent format for data and reports
• Alerts via email prior to any format changes, new
  data or maintenance with a sample file
• CSV format preferred XML is inefficient PDF
  difficult to scrape
• Compressed files to aid throughput

• Improved Search
• Subscription feature for specific Special
  Notices, updates to Market Rules and committee
  documents
• Whats New with direct links to the latest
  information
• Document descriptions
• Cross-referenced data and information

• Site-wide and contextual search, i.e. within
  specific areas or documents
• RT estimates of actual load in each zone
• Pricing trend data for specific nodes longer
  trends
• Selectable reports
• Long-term archival of data and information, but
  accessible the same day via the web site

15
Summary of High Priority Stakeholder-driven
Initiatives

• Alert Me About Important Information Relevant to
  Me
• Watch List with Alerts
• Improved Special Notices with Alerts
• Document Subscription with Alerts

• Help Me Easily Find the Information I Need
• Site Content Reorganization
• Improved Search Engine
• Related Information Tied Together by
  Links

• Improve Specific Areas of the Site to Help Me in
  My Job
• White Papers / ISO-NE News Area
• Improved Whats New
• Improved Calendaring / Easy Access to Meeting
  Materials
• Extended Document Archiving Capability
• Improved Online Training Support

• Let Me More Easily Access the Data and Reports I
  Need
• Enhanced Selectable Reporting
• Improved Data Download / eData Feed
• Provide Additional Zonal / Nodal Reports
• Multi Select Zonal / Nodal Data
• Extended Data Archiving Capability
• Enhanced Morning Report / 7-day
• Forecast

16
Project Phase 1 Evaluation Phase (completed)
August 2003
October 2003
Strategic Plan Development
Investigation

• Understand the Content
• Public site
• Intranet
• Competitive site assessments
• Current state area maps
• Understand the Business
• Internal business representative interviews
• Understand the Users
• Intranet user interviews
• External stakeholder interviews
• Understand the Technology
• Backend architecture assessments
• Content management assessments
• Web architecture assessments
• Data report assessments

• Kickoffs
• Schedule meetings
• Schedule interviews

• Synthesis
• Draft initiatives
• Brainstorming
• Prioritization session

• Redesign Strategy Presentation

17
Project phase 2 Design Phase (completed)
November 2003
February 2004
Design Phase
User Interface Design Validation
User Interface Design
Functional Tech Design Validation

• Information Architecture
• Design
• Review with ISO-NE and revise
• Visual Design
• Design look and feel
• Review with ISO-NE and revise

• Functional Specifications
• Use Cases
• Technical Architecture / Component Design
• Architecture Specification
• Data flow diagrams
• Data models
• Capacity plans
• Detailed Design Specifications

• Build Public site HTML prototype
• Usability Research Take prototype through
  usability test
• Incorporate findings from Usability test into
  final designs
• Develop style guide

18
User Interface Design Validation (Complete) -
Usability Testing - Jan 2004
19
User Interface Design Validation (Complete)
Usability Testing - Jan 27, 28 29, 2004

• Twenty users One hour sessions using
  prototype model
• Positive feedback
• Very, Very intuitive!
• This is excellent!
• I love it!
• You get a 10 from me!
• You have done an awesome job!
• Areas for improvement
• Add System Load to Zonal Price Ticker
• Improve location of some areas
• Demand Response
• Operating Reserves
• Overall, were impressed with
• Home page - Look Feel Navigation
• Power system condition, Zonal Price Ticker
  Quick Links

20
Web Site Architecture Redesign Technical Direction

• Presented by Michael Gilmore
• ISO New England

21
How did we proceed?

• Need to step back reevaluate
• current design vs. Stakeholder requirements since
• existing Website will not meet their needs

22
Current Web Site History

• In existence since early 1990s
• Hits when web site first placed in service 1,000
  per month
• Hits since SMD placed in service 1.4 Million
  per day
• Evolved over time on ad hoc basis as needs
  surfaced
• With SMD, information delivery needs exploded
• Current architecture cannot continue to support
  rate of changes being requested without redesign

23
Current Web Site will not meet Stakeholder needs

• Search function is not effective
• No Content Management Process
• No consistent look and feel, or style of
  presentation
• Reliability
• Uses hard document links in various areas
• Does not fully support the Selectable Reporting
  needs
• Does not allow for efficient caching of
  Selectable Report data
• Problem resolution is time consuming
• Does not standardize notification of data
  availability
• Does not standardize source of data
• Architecture is a mixture of various technologies
• Architecture is not service based

24
From Technical perspective, what do we need to do?

• Minimal requirements for identified Stakeholder
  Primary initiatives
• Purchase, Develop and Integrate
• Effective Content Management System and establish
  governance process
• An industry proven Search Engine
• Replace existing web site with an architectural
  foundation that supports Stakeholder initiatives
• Develop and implement a scalable software
  architecture
• Purchase and integrate a reliable, robust and
  scalable hardware architecture
• Migrate existing Selectable Reports and External
  Applications (ex. LMP Map, Ticker, neData
  Portal, etc.) to new architecture

25
Pre-Implementation Plan Prototype
Design(complete)

• Based upon the Stakeholder requirements, a design
  was created.
• Based upon that design, risk areas for technology
  development were identified and concepts proved
  during the Proof of Concept Prototype Phase
• Areas focused on included
• Internal application monitoring needs
• Replacement for Meeting Calendar
• Mapping generic design to Interwoven TeamSite
  Content Management Software
• Mapping ISO-NE web content governance process to
  Interwoven TeamSite Content Management Software
• Validating web site template design to Interwoven
  TeamSite Content Management Software
• Mapping generic design to Autonomy Search
  software
• Defining and validating content collections to
  Autonomy Search software
• Validation of site build design using various
  prototype methods
• Validate server hardware and software needs
  including purchase/set-up of development
  environment

26
Pre-Implementation Plan Prototype
Design(complete)

• Areas focused on included(continued)
• Web-tier prototype including interaction with
  Content Management Software, Search Software and
  end-user Presentation
• Web-tier to Middle-tier prototype to prove design
  to support the dynamic reporting needs of the
  various Operational Reports (e.g. 5-minute LMP
  prices)
• Middle-tier prototype to prove design for
  collection of source data based upon a Service
  Oriented Architecture design
• Back-end system reconciliation of the true
  System of Record for source data
• Validation of archival needs

27
Implementation Plan Key Dates

• Overall project timeline 8/2004 2005/2006
• Implementation Plan Phased Delivery Approach
• Phase 1 8/2004 Summer 2005 (In-service date)
• Complete Content Reorganization, Look Feel
• Complete CMS, Search engine, Scalable
  Architecture
• Phase 2 8/2004 End of 2005/Beginning 2006
  (In-service date)
• Complete Dynamic Data Reports, Porting ISO
  Applications, Back-end, Mid-tier, Web-tier

28
Web Site Architecture Redesign Technical Design

• Presented by Aurangzeb Agha, IT Web Supervisor
  and Web Project Technical Lead
• ISO New England

29
Technical Architecture Goals

• Security
• Scalability
• Consistent software architecture
• Redundant hardware architecture
• Sessionless or persistent sessions
• Maintainability
• Consistent software architecture
• Design and coding standards
• Reliability
• Consistent delivery of data
• Single source of data
• Systems, application, and network monitoring
• Automatic failover

30
Design Web Tier

• Role
• Presentation of data and content
• Technology
• J2EE
• Data Access Objects (DAOs)
• Hibernate (Data caching)

31
Design Web Tier
32
Design Search

• Role
• Index content
• Retrieve content
• Find similar documents
• Technology
• Third Party Tool (Autonomy)
• Future Strategies
• Use meta-data from CMS

33
Design PubDB

• Role
• Public information/data
• Operational and real-time data
• Technology
• Oracle 10g
• Initial Data Retention Strategy
• Less than 1 hour data 6 Months
• All Others 2 Years
• Future Strategies
• Service-base architecture for direct queries

34
Design Content Management System

• Role
• Ease content creation
• Enforce governance
• Simplify content deployment
• Technology
• Third Party Tool (Interwoven)
• Future Strategies
• Integrate automated meta-data

35
Design Mid Tier

• Role
• Extract, Transform, and Load data from source
  databases into PubDB
• Technology
• J2EE
• JMX
• JMS
• Oracle Advanced Queue (AQ)

36
Design Mid Tier
37
Design Physical Architecture
38
Design Production Environment Detail
39
Pre-production Sandbox

1. Push Integration to Sandbox (where applicable)
2. Expose Sandbox to participants
3. Push Sandbox to Production (Integration release
   to Production)
4. Changes visible in Production

40
Governance Design

• The need for governance
• Ad-hoc, un-controlled posting
• Lack of site consistency
• No ownership
• Governance in action
• Content strategy
• Establish ownership
• Establish process
• Content structure
• Business Units
• Content Leads
• Corporate Content Manager

41
Governance Design Web Governance
42
Technology Evaluation

• Newly Purchased Tools
• Content Management Systems
• Vignette
• Documentum
• Interwoven
• Search
• Why not Google?
• A black box
• Remote administration
• Lacked some end-user requested features
• Autonomy
• Verity
• Lucene

• Reuse Tools
• Application Server
• BEA Web Logic
• Database
• Oracle

43
Proof of Concept
44
Current State of Upcoming ISO-NE Homepage
45
Questions

• What questions do you have?

46
Technology Stakeholders ForumLunch Break in
Progress until 1230

• September 9, 2004
• ISO New England

47
Customer and Asset Management System(CAMS)

• Presented by David Cavanaugh, Manager, Customer
  Services, ISO New England

48
What is Customer Asset Management System?

• Web Based Application
• Eliminates Forms
• Customer Facing Application
• Accessed via Digital Certificate
• Customers Control their information

49
What can I do with CAMS?

• Committee, Persons and LRP Data Management
• Contact Information
• Committee Representative
• User Registration
• Real-Time Audit Ability of Data
• Digital Certificate Management
• Application Access
• Run Reports

50
Roles and Responsibilities
51
Hierarchy of Roles
Security Administrator (SA)
Persons Viewer Only
Load Response Maintainer Viewer
Customer Maintainer Viewer
52
Security Administrator

• Assigns Roles To Other Employees
• Customer Viewer or Maintainer
• LRP Viewer or Maintainer
• Person Viewer
• Maintains User Information
• Digital Certificate
• Application Access
• Address
• Contact Information

53
CAMS User Information
54
Security Administrator

• Name
• Phone
• email
• Contact

Register Persons

• Add
• Remove
• Change
• View

Application/Roles

• Reissue
• Renew
• Reject
• View

Digital Certificates

• Add
• Remove
• Change
• View

Committee Member
55
CAMS Application Information
56
Customer Maintainer / Viewer
Duns Number
Address

• Add
• Remove
• Change
• View

Trading Symbol
Affiliations
57
CAMS Company Information
58
LRP Asset Maintainer/Viewer
View
Create
LRP Assets
Update
Retire
59
CAMS Load Response Assets
60
Person Viewer

• Basic
• Certificate
• Committee
• Applications
• Roles
• Contact

Person

• Members
• Types

Committee
61
CAMS Person Information
62
Summary of Roles and Responsibilities
63
Development Progress

• Person Registration Wizard

64
Interface Layout

• Tabbed index hierarchy
• Sub-Index
• Wizard style data entry
• Required fields color coded
• Summary page prior to submittal

65
Screen Shot Reg. Users
66
Screen Shot Reg. Users
67
Screen Shot Reg. Users
68
Screen Shot App. / Roles
69
Screen Shot Digital Cert.
70
Gaining Access and Training
71
How Access Is Granted

• ISO will give SA access
• Using Current Certificates
• Bridged at Midnight
• SA will give access to employees

Reg. Coordinator
Participant
72
Training

• September 2004
• Remote location accessibility
• Web based
• Task driven
• Indexed for quick refreshers

73
New SA Form

• Sent Thursday, June 03, 2004 to current SA via
  email
• Must be notarized
• Hard copy mailed the ISO
• Each company must have at least one form
  completed.
• Submittal deadline June 26, 2004
• Form can be found on the web under
• Support, Customer Service, Membership and
  Registration Information

74
Phased Implementation
75
Phases

• Phase I, Due October 2004
• Customer
• Persons
• Committee
• Phase II (To be Determined)
• Generation Assets
• Load Assets
• Tieline Assets

76
Summary
77
Roles Summary
78
Questions

• What questions do you have?

79
Technology Stakeholders ForumSecurity Working
Group

• September 9, 2004
• ISO New England

80
Welcome and Overview of ISO-NE Cyber Security
Team

• Joe Pereira, Manager, Cyber Security
• Chuck Noble, Infrastructure Security
• Mike Weeks, Security Engineer
• Robin Wheeler, Information Security

81
Update of Industry Activity

• Black-Out Response
• Prudent expenditures and investments for
  reliability are recoverable through transmission
  rates applies to physical and cyber security
• CIPC approved Security Guideline Timestamping
  of Operational Data Logs
• Confirm ES-ISAC as central point for Information
  sharing
• ES-ISAC communications enhancements

82
Update of Industry Activity continued

• Black-Out Response continued
• Establish clear physical/cyber security authority
  
• Procedures for information protection
• Implement NERC IT standards 1200 and 1300
• Security governance, secure systems management
• CIPC Risk Management Working Group
• Improve IT forensic and diagnostic capabilities,
  and vulnerability assessments
• Improve guidance on background checking

83
Update of Industry Activity -- continued

• Status Cyber Security Standard 1200
• One year extension until 13 AUG 2005
• Only RAs and CAs must Self-Certify
• Status Cyber Security Standard 1300
• First Draft scheduled for industry review and
  comment -- 15 SEPT
• Key focus on better definition of critical cyber
  asset

84
Update of Industry Activity - continued

• Electricity Sector Information Sharing and
  Analysis Center (ES-ISAC)
• Indications, Analysis Warning WG,
• Next meeting 21 SEPT, Chicago
• SOP (handout) review and revision
• Cyber Security Education WG
• Next meeting 8 SEPT, St. Louis
• CIPC (was CIPAG)
• Minutes (handout)
• Next meeting 16-17 SEPT, New Orleans

Postponed
85
Update of Industry Activity - continued

• Workshops
• Next All-Day Security Working Group Meeting
• ISSA Boston and Hartford chapters
• www.issa-ne.org
• www.issa-ct.org
• Hartford ISSA Workshop on Legal Issues in
  InfoSec
• 12 OCT at The Hartford Club
• Boston InfraGard Workshop on Forensics
• 13 OCT at Osram Sylvania in Danvers, MA
• NPCC Security Workshop
• 26-27 OCT in Boston

86
Questions

• What questions do you have?

87
Open Discussion

• Facilitation by Michael Gilmore, ISO New
  England

88
Closing Remarks

• Overall Feedback, Other Projects for Future
  Discussion, QA and Closing Remarks
• Jamshid Afnan, Vice President and Chief
  Information Officer

89
Thanks for attending

• Thank you and hope to see you at a future
  session!