Analyzing and Applying SAP Market Communication Architecture for Utilities

SAP Cloud for Utilities foundation is a cloud solution delivered as a software-as-a-service product.

The solution will be delivered on the SAP Business Technology Platform delivered and uses many of the services provided by this platform.

The Meter Operator System (MOS) or Meter Operator is responsible for operating the metering devices of a metering location (MeLo).

The Distribution System Operator (DSO) or Distributor is responsible for operating the distribution grid and the network location (NeLo).

The Supplier (SUP) is responsible for the billing of energy to- and from a market location (MaLo).

The Party Responsible for Settlement (PRS) or Settlement Coordinator is responsible for energy quantity settlement and the financial compensation, when too much or too little energy is delivered.

The separation of business system and market communication system divides the overall process as follows:

• The processing part runs in SAP S/4HANA Utilities.
• The communication part runs in SAP Market Communication for Utilities called MaCo Cloud.

The SAP Market Communication for Utilities Cloud is made up of three parts.

The first part, called Market Processes, manages how market processes are set up and run automatically based on market rules.

The second part, Market Messages, handles the exchange of EDIFACT messages with external market partners using either email or AS4 format.

The third part, Market Partners, takes care of creating and updating the information about market partners.

The Application Process Engine (APE) component replaces the Common Layer and offers the technical framework needed for operations.

APE operates in both the business system and the market communication system. It tracks the progress of market message transfers in a transfer document, known as TDOC, and the progress of market process execution in a process document, called PDOC.

Within APE, the Common Utilities Layer (UCOM) helps connect SAP S/4HANA Utilities to the MaCo Cloud.

The Utilities Solution for Germany (US4G) component is the successor of IDEX and controls for example:

• Geschäftsprozesse Kundenbelieferung Elektrizität (GPKE) with the Start-of-Supply process
• Wechselprozesse Meßwesen (WIM) with the Start-of-Meter Operation process

SAP S/4HANA Utilities runs both in SAP GUI and SAP Fiori as it can be deployed as a private cloud (on-premise) or public cloud.

SAP Market Communication for Utilities runs only in SAP Fiori as it can only be deployed as a public cloud.

The UI for configuration, process monitoring (PDOC), message monitoring (TDOC) and market partner maintenance is provided by SAP Fiori.

The separation of business system and market communication system divides the overall process as follows:

• The processing part runs in SAP S/4HANA Utilities.
• The communication part runs in SAP Market Communication for Utilities called MaCo Cloud.

The MaCo Cloud does not store its own master data, like business partner or point-of-delivery information. Instead, it needs to request this data from the business system to send or receive information to or from market partners. Communication between the MaCo Cloud and the business system is handled using transfer documents, known as TDOC.

The MaCo Cloud takes care of all processes that should not be influenced by the customer. On the other hand, the business system concentrates on business data and processes, without dealing with market communication processes and data.

The figure shows the MaCo Cloud receiving a registration request from the business system of the new supplier (SUPN) and handling the communication with the external market partner, the distributor (DSO).

The data exchange concept between business process and market communication process is explained in detail in the following figures.

The image illustrates how messages are exchanged between the business system, market communication system, and external market partners.

In the top section, it shows how business messages move between the business system and the market communication system. Since processes are divided into business and market communication parts, they need to exchange data such as master data or energy data. Whenever these two systems interact, they transfer business messages to share information.

The Application Process Engine (APE) component operates within both the business system and the market communication system. APE tracks the progress of each business or market message transfer using a transfer document, or TDOC. It also records the progress of each process execution with a process document, or PDOC.

The bottom section illustrates how market messages are transferred between the market communication system and the market partner. The Market Message Transfer (MMT) component works only in the market communication system. MMT acts as the middleware for all message transfers to and from the market communication system. It manages the exchange of market messages with external market partners and is responsible for packaging and unpacking these messages into email or AS4 formats.

The figure shows the business message transfer between the business system and the market communication system.

The upper part shows the business message transfer in the direction from the business system to the market communication system.

1. A business process or a job triggers the transfer of a business message. APE creates a TDOC and adds it to the processing queue.
2. APE picks up the TDOC from the queue and processes it. The business message leaves the business system towards MMT in the cloud.
3. MMT receives the business message and hands it over to APE in the cloud. APE creates a TDOC and adds it to the processing queue.
4. APE picks up the TDOC and processes it. The business message receipt is completed and the market process can start or continue.

The lower part shows the business message transfer in the other direction from the market communication system to the business system.

1. A market process or a job triggers the transfer of a business message. APE creates a TDOC and adds it to the processing queue.
2. APE picks up the TDOC from the queue and processes it. The business message leaves APE in the cloud towards MMT in the cloud.
3. MMT sends the message to the business system. APE picks up the message and creates a TDOC and adds it to the processing queue.
4. APE picks up the TDOC and processes it. The business message receipt is completed and the business process can start or continue.

The figure shows the market message transfer between the market communication system and the external market partner (EMP).

The upper part shows the market message transfer in the direction from the market communication system to the external market partner.

1. A market process triggers the transfer of a market message. APE creates a TDOC and adds it to the processing queue.
2. APE picks up the TDOC from the queue and processes it. The market message leaves the MaCo Cloud towards MMT.
3. MMT picks up the market message, creates an EDIFACT file, packs it into e-mail or AS4 format and sends the market message to the EMP.
4. The EMP receives the market message and responds with a positive acknowledgment (CONTRL) message.

The upper part shows the market message transfer in the other direction from the external market partner to the market communication system.

1. The EMP sends a market message, an EDIFACT file in e-mail or AS4 format, to your own market partner's address.
2. MMT receives the market message, unpacks and checks it, and sends a positive acknowledgment (CONTRL) back to the EMP and hands the message from the market partner and the acknowledgment (CONTRL) back to the EMP over to APE.
3. APE creates a TDOC for the market message receipt and adds it to the processing queue.
4. APE picks up the TDOC and processes it. The market message receipt is completed and the market process can start or continue.

• New report /APE/RP_TRIGGER_PDOC_MASS in SAP S/4HANA Utilities for mass triggering of process documents. Replacement for report /IDXGC/MASS
• New report /APE/RP_TRIGGER_TRDOC_MASS in SAP S/4HANA Utilities for mass triggering of transfer documents
• Checks can be defined in the same way as BPEM
• For each faulty PDoc there is an exception document (Own app: Monitor exception documents)

SAP Cloud for Utilities foundation, also known as Measurement Concept Management, or MCM for short, is a new SAP solution aimed mainly at the distributed generation market. The solution serves to enable customers to manage, streamline and unify processes around installations including decentralized energy resources throughout their whole lifecycle, from their creation to the final shutdown. See MCM Planet Utilities Workzone for further information.

In measurement concept management, we distinguish between three main dimensions: classes, models, and instances.

A measurement concept class outlines the technical and physical structure of the installation. On the other hand, a measurement concept model describes the commercial structure.

A measurement concept model is always built upon a measurement concept class. You can create various measurement concept models based on the same class, which we will explore later with the energy-feed-in example.

Finally, a measurement concept instance is the actual representation of a measurement concept model at a specific end-customer's location.

MCM Cloud App "Manage Measurement Concept Classes"

Here you can see the MC class for the standard consumption use case.

MCM Cloud App "Manage Measurement Concept Models".

Here you can see the MC model for the standard consumption use case.

MCM Cloud App "Display Measurement Concept Instances".

Here you can see one instance of the MC model "Standard consumption".

As you can see on the top a MC instance is a concrete installation at one specific address.

Standard Consumption Scenario follows a quite common scenario in which the Consumer is plugged into the grid and uses the electricity from the grid to power its own devices. The energy taken from the grid is the one the consumer is being charged for.

Here you can see the first example – standard consumption in the MCM Cloud

This means that the house owner only consumes electricity from the grid for example to use his/her household devices.

So the energy is only flowing in one direction. The energy consumed is measured with one single meter "GridM". In the upper right you can see the so-called "network graph".

Let’s have a deeper look on the next slide.

This is the commercial model which belongs to the standard consumption use case. In addition to the measurement concept class, in the measurement concept model you define market locations.

In this example there is one market location for the consumption.

On the right bottom you can see that we have 2 formulas defined for this market location – one formula for the metering procedure "interval reading" and one formula for the metering procedure "meter reading". Here the formula is very easy : the energy amount which is assigned to the market location is the energy we measure with meter "GridMeter".

Standard Prosumer Scenario differs from the above scenario in a sense that now, the consumer is also a producer. One example would be installing a solar panel. Now, since the consumer (now prosumer) also uses the power generated by a new installation, the billing process changes.

MCM allows to update the user's metering scenario with every change a user might want to conduct to the existing concept.

In this example we have, as before, an actor "consumer" which is the apartment.

In addition we now also have another actor of type "producer", the solar panel which produces electricity.

The energy produced by the solar panel is measured with the meter "SolarM" which belongs to the metering location "generator Measurement".

As in the standard consumption there is a metering location "Grid Measurement" but now we do not only measure the electricity which is flowing from the grid to the apartment but also the electricity which is feed into the grid.

To define a commercial model based on the energy feed-in use case, we can define two market locations.

One consumption market location and one generation market location.

• Applications request new process against cloud application.
• Cloud application validates initial data and raises events using the SAP Event Mesh capability.
• SAP S/4HANA and back-end systems listen to new events and read and update data in the cloud application.

We see that the application is split into two parts.

At the top in the center, we see the cloud application built on the SAP BTP platform, and at the bottom we see the SAP S/4HANA backend that does all the master data changes.

This way, we have the best of both worlds. On one hand, SAP BTP gives us a flexible solution and the connectivity with the SAP event mesh, which is crucial in order to integrate third party systems.

At every major step of our standard process, an event gets sent out and that event can be used for example by one of the backend systems on the right side to react to it, get the data and start their downstream processes.

On the backend side on the application process engine side, the event creates a transfer document, which is an intermediate document that gets stored and triggers a process document.

This architecture will change based on the customer landscape, and process like Device Management or Energy Data Management could be handled in SAP S/4HANA for Utilities, SAP Cloud for Energy or third party applications.

Full integration between measurement concept management and the measurement concept management add-on for SAP S/4HANA Utilities

The MCM Cloud Application integrates natively with the SAP S/4HANA MCM Add-on using SAP Event Mesh to orchestrate the master data updates.

The SAP S/4HANA MCM Add-on requires configuration to properly update the data in S/4 based on the instructions coming from the MCM Cloud Application.

Process Steps:

• Applications request new process against cloud application
• Cloud app validates initial data and raises events via SAP Event Mesh
• SAP S/4HANA and backend systems listen to new events and read / update data in cloud application

SAP Cloud for Energy solution is purpose-built to manage and process big metering data. It is based on the open and global CIM-industry standard and thus easily integrates to upstream head-end and mediation systems and downstream applications like rating and billing.

Increasing Importance of Energy and Water Data in Basic Process Components of Energy and Water Data Management Systems

• Reliable and high availability
• Integration and Interoperability
• Enable intuitive and secured applications
• Security and GDPR compliance
• Embedded Analytics
• One source of truth and sharing of data
• Industry standards

E2E Smart Metering with SAP Cloud for Energy

• SINGLE SOURCE OF TRUTH consolidation of all smart metering data in one big unlimited big data enabled energy data platform
• SYNCRONIZE MASTER DATA Automated master data synchronization with SAP S/4HANA Utilities
• EASILY
• IMPORT DATA Import of time series and discrete metering data (CIM interface)
• FULLY MANAGE DATA Validation, estimation, and further processing of metering data
• INTELLIGENT USE CASES Identification and follow-up activities through Anomaly Detection and Event / Alert Management
• AUTOMATION improving the overall efficiency of the metering data lifecycle process through a highly automated E2E (End-to-End) solution
• BILLING DETERMINANTS Billing determinant calculation and integration to SAP S/4HANA Utilities
• EMBEDDED ANALYTICS Embedded monitoring dashboards and analytics
• DATA PROTECTION AND PRIVACY Secure, robust and certified (ISO, SOC etc.) Software as a Service
• STRATEGIC RELEVANCE SAP Cloud for Energy as a central element for new solutions around Distributed Energy Resources

Capabilities

Our highly automated end-to-end (E2E) metering data solution offers robust and flexible validation, estimation, and editing (VEE) of metering data. By intelligently using central master data from SAP S/4HANA Utilities, we ensure data accuracy and reliability. This seamless integration not only enhances operational efficiency but also increases customer satisfaction through automated and flexible processes. Our solution provides a comprehensive approach to managing metering data, minimizing manual intervention and reducing errors. This means faster response times and better service for customers, ultimately leading to a more reliable and efficient utility management system.

User Interface

Our solution features intuitive and state-of-the-art user interfaces that enhance the overall user experience. With role-based apps and seamless app-to-app navigation, users can effortlessly switch between tasks, improving productivity. The configurable screens allow for customization according to individual needs, ensuring that each user has the most relevant tools at their fingertips. This flexibility and ease of use lead to increased operational efficiency, as tasks are completed more quickly and accurately. Overall, our system provides a user-centric approach that supports smooth and efficient workflows, enabling your organization to achieve higher performance levels.

Analytics

Our solution offers advanced analytical capabilities for operational monitoring straight out of the box. It supports mass data export, enabling the upload of time series data to external analytic tools such as SAP SAC. This facilitates comprehensive meter master data and time series reporting, providing detailed insights into your operations. The result is enhanced transparency and significantly reduced manual effort, allowing your team to focus on more strategic tasks. By leveraging these powerful features, you gain a clearer understanding of your data, leading to more informed decision-making and improved operational efficiency.

Cloud Quality / Security

Our solution ensures that sensitive metering data is protected and secured by SAP, adhering to high standards with security certificates such as ISO and SOC 2. This robust security framework guarantees the utmost data protection for our users. Additionally, we offer a fast time-to-market for innovations, with updates and new features being rolled out as frequently as weekly. By leveraging outsourced data storage, we not only enhance scalability but also significantly lower the total cost of ownership (TCO). This combination of security, agility, and cost-efficiency makes our solution an excellent choice for modern utility management.

Integration

Our solution complements processes in SAP S/4HANA Utilities by offering seamless integration for master data synchronization. We leverage industry standards such as IEC-61968-9 for integration with Head-End-Systems, ensuring compatibility and reliability. This standard integration simplifies the synchronization of critical data across systems, reducing both implementation and maintenance efforts. As a result, organizations can achieve greater efficiency and accuracy in their operations, with less time and resources spent on system upkeep. By streamlining these processes, our solution enhances overall productivity and operational effectiveness, making it an ideal choice for modern utility management.

Outlook

Our solution features smart alert and event management, ensuring timely responses to critical issues. It also supports distributed energy resource management, optimizing the use of decentralized energy sources. Enhanced partner enablement through our platform provides seamless integration and collaboration, empowering partners to leverage our robust ecosystem. Additionally, our solution is future-proof, crafted as a strategic SAP Industry Cloud solution. This guarantees long-term viability and scalability, allowing businesses to adapt to evolving industry demands. Together, these capabilities create a comprehensive, reliable, and forward-thinking approach to managing modern utility operations efficiently and effectively.

Our approach yields significant benefits, starting with a 40% reduction in development and integration costs. By co-developing Meter Data Management Software and co-designing it with SAP and Capgemini, we streamline processes. Joint IT infrastructure and maintenance, along with shared development costs, create economies of scale for licensing and maintenance expenses.

We also achieve approximately 10% direct savings on procurement costs by combining the procurement of smart metering systems. This strategy promotes market standardization and further gains economies of scale.

Additionally, we realize about 60% savings in Data as a Service costs by using electricity meters as local hubs for electricity, gas, and water data. High network performance and long battery life, coupled with local gates for client data access, enhance efficiency.

Lastly, we attain roughly 10% savings on installation costs by installing meters for electricity, gas, and water in a single visit. This leads to substantial gains in planning and transport time, economies of scale with subcontractors, and the convenience of one visit for customers.