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  • Stuck with Documentum Still? Do MORE with Oracle WebCenter!

    - by Michael Snow
    WEBCAST TODAY!! 03/22/12 Do you need to lower costs? Raise Productivity? Foster Innovation? Improve Online Engagement? But you’re still stuck with Documentum? Step away from the ledge – there is hope – let us help you. Top 4 Content Imperatives · Lower Costs - Reduce labor, maintenance fees, storage and electrical consumption · Raise Productivity - Automation and integration, communication, findability · Foster Innovation - Enable collaboration, expertise location · Improve Online Engagement – enable user-driven, dynamic marketing initiatives With the coming technology wave we see four content imperatives. Every organization has had to reduce costs, cost cutting has become a way of life. Everyone is working three jobs as positions are eliminated. And so we have to reduce labor, reduce maintenance, and reduce money we are wasting on things like storing content that is redundant or no longer useful. We also, to fill that gap, need to raise productivity. Knowledge workers represent the fastest growing segment of the workforce, accounting for 40%-75% of the employees at organizations in sectors like financial services, life sciences, healthcare and retail.  What’s more, their wages total 18 percent of the United States GDP. And so we can’t afford information systems that don’t let our top performers be the best they can be. We look to automate the content processes, provide ways to integrate that content into our processes, provide communication to make decisions, and to make content more findable so people can make the right decision and move the process forward. And really to get ourselves out of the current financial status, we can only cut costs so far. We have to innovate out of economic tough times – to find new products and new markets. And to enable the innovation process, we have to enable collaboration and expertise location. So much of innovation is about building on innovations that have come before. To solve problems, we have to be able to find what our organization has already created. We find that problems we need to solve have already been solved if we can find the right document, the right person. So we have to provide systems that enable us to stand on the shoulders of our organization’s accomplishments. Good content drives great marketing. Online engagement is growing as an absolute necessity for modern growing marketing organizations that require the business users be enabled for dynamic marketing content creation, updates and targeted content creation and management. Unfortunately – if you are currently stuck with Documentum, you are really lacking in your Web Experience Management capabilities. Documentum previously used FatWire for web publishing. Now FatWire is part of Oracle. Oracle provides powerful web engagement capabilities: Increase sales and loyalty by optimizing online engagement Create, manage and moderate contextually relevant, targeted and interactive online experiences Optimize customer engagement across, web, mobile and social channels Manage large scale multichannel global online presence with integration to enterprise applications Enable business users to control their content and make their own updates Publish content from native files – enable navigation of project documents, procedures, policy information Enable content display and updates from existing web applications – one click to drag and drop content management functionality So you get the ability to self-publish information and make it navigable, to move the process of publishing from IT to business users, and the ability to address a whole new area of user engagement with web experience management. So… if you are still stuck with Documentum and don’t know what to do – contact us – not only will Oracle help you step away from the ledge, but also with the MoveOff Documentum program, we are offering you a way – trade-in your Documentum licenses for a 100% credit on Oracle WebCenter. How’s that for a nice bonus? It’s time to stop maintaining Documentum, and to start innovating with Oracle WebCenter. Learn More Here! To learn more about what Oracle WebCenter can offer you today – join us for a webcast – your eyes will be opened to all that’s possible. Do More with WebCenter: Extend Beyond Content Management

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  • OEG11gR2 integration with OES11gR2 Authorization with condition

    - by pgoutin
    Introduction This OES use-case has been defined originally by Subbu Devulapalli (http://accessmanagement.wordpress.com/).  Based on this OES museum use-case, I have developed the OEG11gR2 policy able to deal with the OES authorization with condition. From an OEG point of view, the way to deal with OES condition is to provide with the OES request some Environmental / Context Attributes.   Museum Use-Case  All painting in the museum have security sensors, an alarm goes off when a person comes too close a painting. The employee designated for maintenance needs to use their ID and disable the alarm before maintenance. You are the Security Administrator for the museum and you have been tasked with creating authorization policies to manage authorization for different paintings. Your first task is to understand how paintings are organized. Asking around, you are surprised to see that there isno formal process in place, so you need to start from scratch. the museum tracks the following attributes for each painting 1. Name of the work 2. Painter 3. Condition (good/poor) 4. Cost You compile the list of paintings  Name of Painting  Painter  Paint Condition  Cost  Mona Lisa  Leonardo da Vinci  Good  100  Magi  Leonardo da Vinci  Poor  40  Starry Night  Vincent Van Gogh  Poor  75  Still Life  Vincent Van Gogh  Good  25 Being a software geek who doesn’t (yet) understand art, you feel that price(or insurance price) of a painting is the most important criteria. So you feel that based on years-of-experience employees can be tasked with maintaining different paintings. You decide that paintings worth over 50 cost should be only handled by employees with over 20 years of experience and employees with less than 10 years of experience should not handle any painting. Lets us start with policy modeling. All paintings have a common set of attributes and actions, so it will be good to have them under a single Resource Type. Based on this resource type we will create the actual resources. So our high level model is: 1) Resource Type: Painting which has action manage and the following four attributes a) Name of the work b) Painter c) Condition (good/poor) d) Cost 2) To keep things simple lets use painting name for Resource name (in real world you will try to use some identifier which is unique, because in future we may end up with more than one painting which has the same name.) 3) Create Resources based on the previous table 4) Create an identity attribute Experience (Integer) 5) Create the following authorization policies a) Allow employees with over 20 years experience to access all paintings b) Allow employees with 10 – 20 years of experience to access painting which cost less than 50 c) Deny access to all paintings for employees with less than 10 year of experience OES Authorization Configuration We do need to create 2 authorization policies with specific conditions a) Allow employees with over 20 years experience to access all paintings b) Allow employees with 10 – 20 years of experience to access painting which cost less than 50 c) Deny access to all paintings for employees with less than 10 year of experience We don’t need an explicit policy for Deny access to all paintings for employees with less than 10 year of experience, because Oracle Entitlements Server will automatically deny if there is no matching policy. OEG Policy The OEG policy looks like the following The 11g Authorization filter configuration is similar to :  The ${PAINTING_NAME} and ${USER_EXPERIENCE} variables are initialized by the "Retrieve from the HTTP header" filters for testing purpose. That's to say, under Service Explorer, we need to provide 2 attributes "Experience" & "Painting" following the OES 11g Authorization filter described above.

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  • Oracle MDM Maturity Model

    - by David Butler
    A few weeks ago, I discussed the results of a survey conducted by Oracle’s Insight team. The survey was based on the data management maturity model that the Oracle Insight team has developed over the years as they analyzed customer IT organizations to help them get more out of everything they already have. I thought you might like to learn more about the maturity model itself. It can help you figure out where you stand when it comes to getting your organizations data management act together. The model covers maturity levels around five key areas: Profiling data sources; Defining a data strategy; Defining a data consolidation plan; Data maintenance; and Data utilization. Profile data sources: Profiling data sources involves taking an inventory of all data sources from across your IT landscape. Then evaluate the quality of the data in each source system. This enables the scoping of what data to collect into an MDM hub and what rules are needed to insure data harmonization across systems. Define data strategy: A data strategy requires an understanding of the data usage. Given data usage, various data governance requirements need to be developed. This includes data controls and security rules as well as data structure and usage policies. Define data consolidation strategy: Consolidation requires defining your operational data model. How integration is to be accomplished. Cross referencing common data attributes from multiple systems is needed. Synchronization policies also need to be developed. Data maintenance: The desired standardization needs to be defined, including what constitutes a ‘match’ once the data has been standardized. Cleansing rules are a part of this methodology. Data quality monitoring requirements also need to be defined. Utilize the data: What data gets published, and who consumes the data must be determined. How to get the right data to the right place in the right format given its intended use must be understood. Validating the data and insuring security rules are in place and enforced are crucial aspects for full no-risk data utilization. For each of the above data management areas, a maturity level needs to be assessed. Where your organization wants to be should also be identified using the same maturity levels. This results in a sound gap analysis your organization can use to create action plans to achieve the ultimate goals. Marginal is the lowest level. It is characterized by manually maintaining trusted sources; lacking or inconsistent, silo’d structures with limited integration, and gaps in automation. Stable is the next leg up the MDM maturity staircase. It is characterized by tactical MDM implementations that are limited in scope and target a specific division.  It includes limited data stewardship capabilities as well. Best Practice is a serious MDM maturity level characterized by process automation improvements. The scope is enterprise wide. It is a business solution that provides a single version of the truth, with closed-loop data quality capabilities. It is typically driven by an enterprise architecture group with both business and IT representation.   Transformational is the highest MDM maturity level. At this level, MDM is quantitatively managed. It is integrated with Business Intelligence, SOA, and BPM. MDM is leveraged in business process orchestration. Take an inventory using this MDM Maturity Model and see where you are in your journey to full MDM maturity with all the business benefits that accrue to organizations who have mastered their data for the benefit of all operational applications, business processes, and analytical systems. To learn more, Trevor Naidoo and I have written the Oracle MDM Maturity Model whitepaper. It’s free, so go ahead and download it and use it as you see fit.

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  • Columbus Regional Airport Authority Cuts Unbudgeted Carryover Costs for Capital Projects by 88% in One Year

    - by Melissa Centurio Lopes
    Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} The Columbus Regional Airport Authority (CRAA) is a public entity that works to connect Central Ohio with the world. It oversees operations at three airports?Port Columbus International Airport, Rickenbacker International Airport, and Bolton Field Airport?and manages the Rickenbacker Inland Port and Foreign Trade Zone # 138. It was created in 2002 through the merger of the Columbus Airport Authority and Rickenbacker Port Authority. CRAA manages approximately 100 projects annually, including initiatives as diverse as road and runway construction and maintenance, terminal improvements, construction of a new air traffic control tower, technology infrastructure development, customer service projects, and energy conservation programs. CRAA deployed Oracle’s Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management to create a unified methodology for scheduling and capital cash flow management. Today, the organization manages schedules and costs for all of its capital projects by using Primavera to provide enterprise wide visibility. As a result, CRAA cut unbudgeted carryover costs from US$24.4 million in 2010 to US$3.5 million in 2011?an 88% improvement. "Oracle’s Primavera P6 and Primavera Contract Management are transforming project management at CRAA. We have enabled resource-loaded scheduling and expanded visibility into cash flow, which allowed us to reduce unbudgeted carryover by 88% in a single year.” – Alex Beaver, Manager, Project Controls Office, Columbus Regional Airport Authority Challenges Standardize project planning and management for the approximately 100 projects?including airport terminal upgrades to road and runway creation and rehabilitation?that the airport authority undertakes annually Improve control over project scheduling and budgets to reduce unplanned carryover costs from one fiscal year to the next Ensure on-time, on-budget completion of critical infrastructure projects that support the organization’s mission to connect Central Ohio with the world through its three airports and inland port Solutions · Used Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management to develop a unified methodology for scheduling and managing capital projects for the airport authority, including the organization’s largest capital project ever?a five-year runway construction project · Gained a single, consolidated view into the organization’s capital projects and the ability to drill down into resource-loaded schedules and cash flow, enabling CRAA to take action earlier to avert the impact of emerging issues?including budget overages and project delays · Cut unbudgeted carryover costs from US$24.4 million in 2010 to US$3.5 million in 2011?an 88% improvement Click here to view all of the solutions. “Oracle’s Primavera solutions are the industry standard for project management. They provide robust and proven functionality that give us the power to effectively schedule and manage budgets for a wide range of projects, from terminal maintenance, to runway work, to golf course redesign,” said Alex Beaver, manager, project controls office, Columbus Regional Airport Authority. Click here to read the full version of the customer success story.

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  • SQL Script to Assign All Items to ALL Sites with Dynamics GP

    - by Ryan McBee
    v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} Normal 0 false false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} When setting up new items within Microsoft Dynamics GP, you will often run into the error message below which reads “This site is not assigned to the selected item.  Do you want to assign this site?”  The fix is quite simple given that you simply click the Add button below which opens up the Item Quantities Maintenance window which you will hit the save button and proceed with the entry of your Sales Order or Purchase Order.   If you have a lot of new items into GP and have just one Site ID setup, the best approach to assigning your items to a particular site is by going to the Site Maintenance Window which is located in Cards>>Inventory>>Site.  Once you are in the window below, you can click the Assign button to assign Items to the Site selected.     However, if you have you a lot of Sites and Items created, this can be quite a cumbersome and time consuming process.  For that, I have created the following SQL Script below that Assigns all Items to all Site ID’s within Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010.    declare @item varchar(100)       , @loc varchar(100)       , @ItemExist int         DECLARE TablePositionCursor CURSOR FOR         SELECT itemnmbr from IV00101 i         OPEN TablePositionCursor       FETCH NEXT FROM TablePositionCursor INTO @item       WHILE (@@fetch_status <> -1)             BEGIN                         DECLARE TablePositionCursor2 CURSOR FOR                         select locncode from IV40700                   OPEN TablePositionCursor2                   FETCH NEXT FROM TablePositionCursor2 INTO  @loc                   WHILE (@@fetch_status <> -1)                         BEGIN                           SELECT @ItemExist = isnull(count(*), 0) FROM IV00102 where ITEMNMBR = @item and LOCNCODE = @loc                                                 if @ItemExist  = 0                               BEGIN                                      insert into iv00102 values(                                     @item                                     ,@loc                                     ,''                                     ,2                                     ,''                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,'01/01/1900'                                     ,''                                     ,'01/01/1900'                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,'01/01/1900'                                     ,'01/01/1900'                                     ,'01/01/1900'                                     ,'01/01/1900'                                     ,0                                     ,''                                     ,''                                     ,''                                     ,1                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,1                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,1                                     ,2                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,1                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,3                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,''                                     ,''                                     ,''                                     ,''                                     ,''                                     ,''                                     ,''                                     ,''                                     ,1                                     ,1                                     ,''                                     ,1                                     ,1                                     ,0                                     ,1                                     ,1                                     ,1                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,0                                     ,0                                       )                         END                               FETCH NEXT FROM TablePositionCursor2 INTO @loc                         END                   DEALLOCATE TablePositionCursor2                     FETCH NEXT FROM TablePositionCursor INTO  @item             END       DEALLOCATE TablePositionCursor     The script below works just for GP 2010 since the columns in the IV00102 have changed from version to version.  If you need it for prior versions, please email me and I will send it to you.   Disclaimer: I tested this on limited data, if you find an issue or have a suggestion for improvement, please let me know and I will post the update here for everyone.  This blog is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

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  • What is the best practice, point of view of well experienced developers

    - by Damien MIRAS
    My manager pushes me to use his self defined best practices. All of these practices are based on is own assumptions. I disagree with them and I would like to have some feedback of well experienced people about these practices. I would prefer answers from people involved in the maintenance of huge products and people whom have maintained the product for years. Developers with 15+ years of experience are preferred because my manager has that much experience himself. I have 7 years of experience. Here are the practices he wants me to use: never extends classes, use composition and interface instead because extending classes are unmaintainable and difficult to debug. What I think about that Extend when needed, respect "Liskov's Substitution Principle" and you'll never be stuck with a problem, but prefer composition and decoration. I don't know any serious project which has banned inheriting, sometimes it's impossible to not use that, i.e. in a UI framework. Design patterns are just unusable. In PHP, for simple use cases (for example a user needs a web interface to view a database table), his "best practice" is: copy some random php code wich we own, paste and modify it, put html and php code in same file, never use classes in PHP, it doesn't work well for small jobs, and in fact it doesn't work well at all, there is no good tool to work with. Copy & paste PHP code is good practice for maintenance because scripts are independent, if you have a bug somewhere you can fix it without side effects. What I think about that: NEVER EVER COPY code or do it because you have five minutes to deliver something, you will do some refactoring after that. Copy & paste code is a beginners error, if you have errors you'll have the error everywhere any time you have pasted it's a nightmare to maintain. If you repsect the "Open Close Principle" you'll rarely get edge effects, use unit test if you are afraid of that. For small jobs in PHP use at least something you get or write the HTML separately from the PHP code and reuse it any time you need it. Classes in PHP are mature, not as mature as other languages like python or java, but they are usable. There is tools to work with classes in PHP like Zend Studio that work very well. The use of classes or not depends not on the language you use but the programming paradigm you have choosen. I'm a OOP developer, I use PHP5, why do I have to shoot myself in the foot? When you find a simple bug in the code, and you can fix it simply, if you are not working on the code where you have found it, never fix it, even if it takes 5 seconds. He says to me his "best practices" are driven by the fact that he has a lot of experience in maintaining software in production (14 years) and he now knows what works and what doesn't work, what the community says is a fad, and the people advocating such principles as never copy & paste code, are not evolved in maintaining applications. What I think about that: If you find a bug fix it if you can do it quickly inform the people who've touched that code before, check if you have not introduced a new bug, ideally add a unit test for it. I currently work on a web commerce project, which serves 15k unique users per day. The code base has to be maintained and has been maintained this way since 2005. Ideally you include a short description of your position and experience in terms of years effectively maintaining an application which has been in production for real.

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  • Oracle MAA Part 1: When One Size Does Not Fit All

    - by JoeMeeks
    The good news is that Oracle Maximum Availability Architecture (MAA) best practices combined with Oracle Database 12c (see video) introduce first-in-the-industry database capabilities that truly make unplanned outages and planned maintenance transparent to users. The trouble with such good news is that Oracle’s enthusiasm in evangelizing its latest innovations may leave some to wonder if we’ve lost sight of the fact that not all database applications are created equal. Afterall, many databases don’t have the business requirements for high availability and data protection that require all of Oracle’s ‘stuff’. For many real world applications, a controlled amount of downtime and/or data loss is OK if it saves money and effort. Well, not to worry. Oracle knows that enterprises need solutions that address the full continuum of requirements for data protection and availability. Oracle MAA accomplishes this by defining four HA service level tiers: BRONZE, SILVER, GOLD and PLATINUM. The figure below shows the progression in service levels provided by each tier. Each tier uses a different MAA reference architecture to deploy the optimal set of Oracle HA capabilities that reliably achieve a given service level (SLA) at the lowest cost.  Each tier includes all of the capabilities of the previous tier and builds upon the architecture to handle an expanded fault domain. Bronze is appropriate for databases where simple restart or restore from backup is ‘HA enough’. Bronze is based upon a single instance Oracle Database with MAA best practices that use the many capabilities for data protection and HA included with every Oracle Enterprise Edition license. Oracle-optimized backups using Oracle Recovery Manager (RMAN) provide data protection and are used to restore availability should an outage prevent the database from being able to restart. Silver provides an additional level of HA for databases that require minimal or zero downtime in the event of database instance or server failure as well as many types of planned maintenance. Silver adds clustering technology - either Oracle RAC or RAC One Node. RMAN provides database-optimized backups to protect data and restore availability should an outage prevent the cluster from being able to restart. Gold raises the game substantially for business critical applications that can’t accept vulnerability to single points-of-failure. Gold adds database-aware replication technologies, Active Data Guard and Oracle GoldenGate, which synchronize one or more replicas of the production database to provide real time data protection and availability. Database-aware replication greatly increases HA and data protection beyond what is possible with storage replication technologies. It also reduces cost while improving return on investment by actively utilizing all replicas at all times. Platinum introduces all of the sexy new Oracle Database 12c capabilities that Oracle staff will gush over with great enthusiasm. These capabilities include Application Continuity for reliable replay of in-flight transactions that masks outages from users; Active Data Guard Far Sync for zero data loss protection at any distance; new Oracle GoldenGate enhancements for zero downtime upgrades and migrations; and Global Data Services for automated service management and workload balancing in replicated database environments. Each of these technologies requires additional effort to implement. But they deliver substantial value for your most critical applications where downtime and data loss are not an option. The MAA reference architectures are inherently designed to address conflicting realities. On one hand, not every application has the same objectives for availability and data protection – the Not One Size Fits All title of this blog post. On the other hand, standard infrastructure is an operational requirement and a business necessity in order to reduce complexity and cost. MAA reference architectures address both realities by providing a standard infrastructure optimized for Oracle Database that enables you to dial-in the level of HA appropriate for different service level requirements. This makes it simple to move a database from one HA tier to the next should business requirements change, or from one hardware platform to another – whether it’s your favorite non-Oracle vendor or an Oracle Engineered System. Please stay tuned for additional blog posts in this series that dive into the details of each MAA reference architecture. Meanwhile, more information on Oracle HA solutions and the Maximum Availability Architecture can be found at: Oracle Maximum Availability Architecture - Webcast Maximize Availability with Oracle Database 12c - Technical White Paper

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  • 101 Ways to Participate...and make the future Java

    - by heathervc
     In case you missed it earlier today, and as promised in BOF6283, here are the 101 Ways to Improve (and Make the Future) Java...thanks to Bruno Souza of SouJava and Martijn Verburg of the London Java Community for their contributions! Join or create a JUG Come to the meetings Help promoting your JUG: twitter, facebook, etc Find someone that can give a talk Get your company to sponsor (a meeting, an event) Organize an activity (meetings, hackathons, dojos, etc) Answer questions on a mailing list (or simply join!) Volunteer for a small, one time tasks (creating a web page, helping with an activity) Come early to an event, and help to carry the piano Moderate a list or add things to the wiki Participate in the organization meetings or mailing lists Take pictures of an event or meeting and publish them online Write a blog about an event or meeting, to help promote the group Help record and post a session online Present your JavaOne experience when you get back Repeat the best talk you saw at JavaOne at a JUG meeting Send this list of ideas to other Java developers in your area so they can help out too! Present a step-by-step tutorial Present GreenFoot and Alice to school students Present BlueJ and Alice to university students Teach those tools to teachers and professors Write a step-by-step tutorial on your blog or to a magazine Create a page that lists resources Give a talk about your favorite Java feature or technology Learn a new Java API and present to your co-workers Then, present in a JUG meeting, and then, present it in an event in your area, and submit it to JavaOne! Create a study group to get certified or to learn some new Java technology Teach a non-Java developer how to download the basic tools and where to find more information Download and use an open source project Improve the documentation Write an article or a blog post about the project Write an FAQ Join and participate on the mailing list Describe a bug in detail and submit a bug report Fix a bug and submit it to the project Give a talk about it at a JUG meeting Teach your co-workers how to use the project Sign up to Adopt a JSR Test regular builds of the Reference Implementation (RI) Report bugs in the RI Submit Feature Requests to the spec Triage issues on the issue tracker Run a hack day to discuss the API Moderate mailing lists and forums Create an FAQ or Wiki Evangelize a specification on Twitter, G+, Hacker News, etc Give a lightning talk Help build the RI Help build the Technical Compatibility Kit (TCK) Create a Podcast Learn Latin - e.g. legal language, translate to English Sign up to Adopt OpenJDK Run a Bugathon Fix javac compiler warnings Build virtual images Add tests to Java Submit Javadoc patches Give a webbing Teach someone to build OpenJDK Hold a brown bag session at work Fix the oldest known bug Overhaul Javadoc to use HTML Load the OpenJDK into different IDEs Run a build farm node Test your code on a nightly build Learn how to read Java byte code Visit JCP.org Follow jcp_org on Twitter Friend JCP on Facebook Read JCP Blog Register for JCP.org site Create a JSR Watch List Review JSRs in progress Comment on JSRs in progress, write and track bug reports, use cases, etc Review JSRs in Maintenance Comment on JSRs in Maintenance Implement Final JSRs Review the Transparency of JSRs in progress and provide feedback to the PMO and Spec Lead/community Become a JCP Member or associate with a current JCP member Nominate to serve on an Expert Group (EG) Serve on an EG Submit a JSR proposal and become Spec Lead Take a Spec Lead role in an Inactive or Dormant JSR Nominate for an Executive Committee (EC) seat Vote in the EC elections Vote in EC Special Elections Review EC Meeting Summaries Attend Spec Lead calls Write blogs, articles on your experiences Join the EC project on java.net Join JCP.Next on java.net/JSR 358 Participate on the JCP forums and join JSR projects on java.net Suggest agenda items for open EC meetings Attend public EC teleconference (2x per year) Attend open EC meetings at JavaOne Nominate for JCP Annual Awards Attend annual JavaOne and JCP Annual Awards Ceremony Attend JCP related BOF sessions and give your feedback to Program Office Invite JCP program office members to your JUG  or meetup Invite JSR Spec Leads to your JUG or meetup And always - hold a party!

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  • Best way to load application settings

    - by enzom83
    A simple way to keep the settings of a Java application is represented by a text file with ".properties" extension containing the identifier of each setting associated with a specific value (this value may be a number, string, date, etc..). C# uses a similar approach, but the text file must be named "App.config". In both cases, in source code you must initialize a specific class for reading settings: this class has a method that returns the value (as string) associated with the specified setting identifier. // Java example Properties config = new Properties(); config.load(...); String valueStr = config.getProperty("listening-port"); // ... // C# example NameValueCollection setting = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings; string valueStr = setting["listening-port"]; // ... In both cases we should parse strings loaded from the configuration file and assign the ??converted values to the related typed objects (parsing errors could occur during this phase). After the parsing step, we must check that the setting values ??belong to a specific domain of validity: for example, the maximum size of a queue should be a positive value, some values ??may be related (example: min < max), and so on. Suppose that the application should load the settings as soon as it starts: in other words, the first operation performed by the application is to load the settings. Any invalid values for the settings ??must be replaced automatically with default values??: if this happens to a group of related settings, those settings are all set with default values. The easiest way to perform these operations is to create a method that first parses all the settings, then checks the loaded values ??and finally sets any default values??. However maintenance is difficult if you use this approach: as the number of settings increases while developing the application, it becomes increasingly difficult to update the code. In order to solve this problem, I had thought of using the Template Method pattern, as follows. public abstract class Setting { protected abstract bool TryParseValues(); protected abstract bool CheckValues(); public abstract void SetDefaultValues(); /// <summary> /// Template Method /// </summary> public bool TrySetValuesOrDefault() { if (!TryParseValues() || !CheckValues()) { // parsing error or domain error SetDefaultValues(); return false; } return true; } } public class RangeSetting : Setting { private string minStr, maxStr; private byte min, max; public RangeSetting(string minStr, maxStr) { this.minStr = minStr; this.maxStr = maxStr; } protected override bool TryParseValues() { return (byte.TryParse(minStr, out min) && byte.TryParse(maxStr, out max)); } protected override bool CheckValues() { return (0 < min && min < max); } public override void SetDefaultValues() { min = 5; max = 10; } } The problem is that in this way we need to create a new class for each setting, even for a single value. Are there other solutions to this kind of problem? In summary: Easy maintenance: for example, the addition of one or more parameters. Extensibility: a first version of the application could read a single configuration file, but later versions may give the possibility of a multi-user setup (admin sets up a basic configuration, users can set only certain settings, etc..). Object oriented design.

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  • mysql master-master setup as a way to simply master-slave promotion

    - by Chris Go
    I'm trying to see if the following plan is viable. Goal here is to be able to do HA (uptime) and not necessarily for load -- writes are fine on one MySQL 5.5 server (with innodb) but not really possible when the database is down. Currently, I have a master-slave replication setup which works fine except it doesn't have automatic promotion (obviously). what I am planning on doing is setup master-master replication to possibly do this "automatic promotion" using Amazon Route 53 DNS Failover (Health checks). What I am trying to avoid is to NOT have to do the auto-increment trick because the "business folks" got used to the auto-incrementing PK as consecutive numbers (yeah, I know this is bad but data is from 2004). So, setup the master-master replication WITHOUT the auto-increment collision prevention bit. The primary master is db1.domain.com and secondary master is db2.domain.com In Amazon Route 53, setup DNS Failover record for db.domain.com - primary failover is db1.domain.com - with a TCP healthcheck on IP address port 3306 - secondary failover is db2.domain.com - with a TCP healthcheck on IP address port 3306 Most of the time (99%), unless tcp://db1.domain.com:3306 is dead, db1.domain.com will be served up on DNS hits to db.domain.com. In fact, hopefully this is 100%. The possible downsides of this is the loss of a primary key (collision) and I think I am OK with losing one order. We are a low data volume B2B business and can just call our client up if this occurs (like an order disappearing). Does this sound like a good plan? Then I will also run another slave replication on db1.domain.com as "master" to a slave-db1.domain.com -- not sure why, maybe for heavy SELECTs?

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  • Sharing large (multi-Gb) files with clients

    - by Tim Long
    I wasn't sure if this was the best place for this question, but I think it is squarely in the realm of the IT admin so that's the reason I put it here. We need to share large files (several Gigabytes) with external clients. We need a simple way of reliably and automatically publishing these files so that clients can then download them. Our organization has Windows desktops and a Windows SBS 2011 server. Sharing from our server is probably suboptimal from the client's perspective, because of the low upstream bandwidth of typical ADSL (around 1 Mbps) - it would take all day (9 hours for a 4Gb file) for the client to download the file. Uploading to a 3rd party sever is good for the client but painful for us, because we then have to deal with a multi-hour upload. Uploading to a third-part server would be less problematic if it could be made reliable and automatic, e.g. something like a Groove/SharePoint Workspace, simply drop the file in and wait for it to synchronize - but Groove has a 2Gb limit which is not big enough. So ideally I'd like a service with the following attributes: Must work for files of at least 5Gb, preferably 10Gb Once the transfer is started, it must be reliable (i.e. not sensitive to disconnections and service outages) and completely automatic Ideally, the sender would get a notification when the transfer completes. Has to work with Windows based systems. Any suggestions?

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  • unable to ping hostname, but \\hostname\\c$ works!?

    - by ciscokid
    I'm having a strange issue on my initial lab setup. Situation: Host with OS Server 2008 R2 64bit, on this host a Virtual Machine in Hyper-V with OS Server 2008 SP1 32bit. The virtual machine has a fixed ip, and is referring to itself for the preferred DNS Server (dns server role has been installed). The host has tcp/ip set to automatic (so automatic ip from router, and dns/gateway = router). Both are able to ping each other on IP address (same ip range). Both are NOT able to ping each other on hostname (sounds logic because virtual machine dns server does not yet have a dns record for the hostmachine). But here's the strange thing: I am able to set up a working network mapping on the Virtual Machine to the host: \hostname\c$. The first thing I thougt was 'something' is blocking the ping request, so I completely disabled Windows Firewall on both Virtual Machine and host. Still pinging on hostname in both ways didn't work, yet I am able to access the network mapping on hostname. There is no extra software installed on both systems (clean windows server 2008).Can someone tell me what is causing this? I always thought: ping on IP address works = network mapping on IP address works. Pinging on hostname doesn't work = network mapping on hostname doesn't work neither. Where am I wrong? Looking forward to your advice!

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  • How to set the VirtualDocumentRoot based on the files within

    - by Chuck Vose
    I'm trying to set up Apache to use the VirtualDocumentRoot directive but my sites aren't all exactly the same. Most of the sites have a drupal folder which should be the root but there are a few really old drupal sites, a few rails sites, some django sites, etc. that want the Document root to be / or some other folder. Is there a way to set up VirtualDocumentRoot based on a conditional or is there a way to use RewriteRule/Cond to detect that / is the incorrect folder if there is a drupal folder or a public folder? Here's what I have so far: <VirtualHost *:80> # Wildcard ServerAlias, this is the default vhost if no specific vhost matches first. ServerAlias *.unicorn.devserver.com # Automatic ServerName, based on the HTTP_HOST header. UseCanonicalName Off # Automatic DocumentRoot. This uses the 4th level domain name as the document root, # for example http://bar.foo.baz.com/ would respond with /Users/vosechu/Sites/bar/drupal. VirtualDocumentRoot /Users/vosechu/Sites/%-4/drupal </VirtualHost> Thanks in advance! -Chuck

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  • Windows Service with a Logon user set

    - by David.Chu.ca
    I have a service running in a box with Windows XP and a box of Server (2008). The service is configured as autmactic mode with a logon user/pwd set. The log on user is a local user. The service requires this user setting in order to run. The issue I have right now is that the box intermittently reboot itself. I am going to investigate what is causing the reboot (hardware or application). Regardless the reason, what I need is that the service should be able to recover itself into running state after the reboot. I think the configuration should be able achieve this goal since the user/pwd having been set and its mode being automatic. Do I need to log in as that user to bring the service back? (sometimes the reboot happens in the midnight) I am not sure if there is any difference between Windows XP and Windows Server (2008). The only thing I realize is that when there is a unexpected reboot, the Windows Server will prompt a dialog to explain the previous reboot. Will this prevent any automatic service running or the service will run only the reason has been set?

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  • VPN issue: SSTP Service service started and then stopped

    - by Ampersand
    When I was trying to set up a VPN connect on my laptop running Windows 7 Ultimate, I got this error: Network Connections Cannot load the Remote Access Connection Manager service. Error 711: The operation could not finish because it could not start the Remote Access Connection Manager service in time. Please try the operation again. I traced through some service dependencies and discovered that Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol Service was set to Manual. However, when I try to manually start the service, I get: Services The Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol Service on Local Computer started and then stopped. Some services stop automatically if they are not in use by other services or programs. Setting all the services involved to Automatic did not help. SSTP just showed Automatic and Stopped in the Services panel. I found a solution that involved booting in Safe Mode and deleting the contents of C:\Windows\System32\LogFiles\WMI\RtBackup. This solution worked, and I could set up a vpn connection, but only until I rebooted again. TL;DR I'm looking for a way to permanently enable Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol Service and other vpn-related services permanently so I don't have to reboot into safe mode and delete files every time I need to connect to a vpn.

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  • Why Is Volume Shadow Copy Services stopping?

    - by David Mackintosh
    I am running Windows 7 Professional, 64-bit. I am running a backup-over-the-internet software client which depends on the Volume Shadow Copy Services running. Since I installed Service Pack 1 (or rather, didn't object when Windows Update forced Service Pack 1 on me) the backup service is failing to back everything up because VSC isn't running. Most of the time it fails to back up such noise as the Security Essentials database or the Messenger Live contact list -- stuff I really don't care about -- but I don't want to fall into the trap of accepting an Error-state backup as "normal". At the recommendation of the backup software, I have set the VSC service startup mode to be Automatic. When I look in the Event Log, System channel I can see at boot time: The Volume Shadow Copy service entered the running state. ...and then two or three minutes later: The Volume Shadow Copy service entered the stopped state. How do I figure out why VSC is stopping? At the suggestion of the backup vendor, I have already followed the suggestions from http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/940184 net stop SENS net stop EventSystem net start EventSystem net start SENS net stop COMSysApp net stop SwPrv net stop VSS cd /d C:\Windows\system32 regsvr32 ole32.dll /s regsvr32 oleaut32.dll /s regsvr32 vss_ps.dll /s vssvc /register /s regsvr32 /i swprv.dll /s regsvr32 /i eventcls.dll /s regsvr32 es.dll /s regsvr32 stdprov.dll /s regsvr32 vssui.dll /s regsvr32 msxml.dll /s regsvr32 msxml3.dll /s regsvr32 msxml4.dll /s net start SwPrv net start VSS net start ProtectedStorage ...and per http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940184 I have deleted the key tree HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\EventSystem\{26c409cc-ae86-11d1-b616-00805fc79216}\Subscriptions I have also run chkdsk /F and chkdsk /R on both permanent hard disks. (I had a similar problem with another computer (same OS, same failure, same start point after SP1 install) but the problem went away when I forced Volume Shadow Copy Services to Automatic startup rather than Manual. I did not have to resort to following the Microsoft KB instructions.)

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  • Network Load Balancing and AnyCast Routing

    - by user126917
    Hi All can anyone advise on problems with the following? I am planning on installing the following setup on my estate: I have 2 sites that both have a large amount of users. Goals are to keep things simple for the users and to have automatic failover above the database level. Our Database will exist at the primary site and be async mirrored to the secondary site with manual failover procedures.The database generate sequential ID's so distributing it is not an option. I plan to site IIS boxes at both sites with all of the business logic on them and heavy operations. The connections to SQL will be lightweight and DB reads will be cached on IIS. On this layer I plan to use Windows network load balancing and have the same IP or IPs across all IIS boxes at both sites. This way there will be automatic failover and no single point of failure. Also users can have one web address regardless of which site they are in automatically be network load balanced to their local IIS. This is great but obviously our two sites are on different subnets and as this will be one IP address with most of our traffic we can't go broadcasting everything across the link between the sites. To solve this problem we plan to use AnyCast routing over our network layer to route the traffic to the most local box that is listening which will be defined by the network load balancing. Has anyone used this setup before? Can anyone think of any issues with this? Also some specifics I can't find anywhere at the moment. If my Windows box is assigned an IP and listening on that IP but network load balancing is not accepting specific traffic then will AnyCast route away from that? Also can I AnyCast on a socket level?

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  • Did chkdsk make it harder to restore files?

    - by neyl
    My friend asked me to try and fix his loaded Sansa Clip + which wasn't playing. After opening it in MSC mode I discovered that the Music directory was empty and total of all files was only a few MB. However Disk properties showed me that it was 7Gb full. I then ran Tools - Error Checking and Windows dutifully informed me that disk was corrupt and I should run again Allowing Windows to Fix Errors. I did that and it told me everything was fixed and that all files were placed in FOUND.000 Dir. FOUND.000 was about 7.5 GB with FILE0000-1546 . CHK. (I am aware of methods like ChkBack to scan and convert to mp3 etc BUT Original filenames and structure needed!) Now I started getting worried that I made things worse! I have plenty of experience with Data Recovery Programs - Recuva, Restore My Files etc. and I was anyhow planning to use them to scan the drive. But NOW after CHKDSK "fixed" the drive maybe it modified critical FAT information vital for data recovery. So I run these programs and 0!!!. No trace of files! I tried a ton of Recovery Programs with same results TILL EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard found all files and I purchased program for $55! My Question In your opinion - did running CHKDSK with automatic fixing of errors make matters worse (i.e. many data recovery progs. didn't find a trace and they would have done if not for chkdsk) or was the filesystem too corrupt anyhow for regular File Recovery Progs.? If I would be a Professional - would I be responsible for running CHKDSK - automatic Fixing. Do you know of a better Data Recovery Program than EaseUs Data Recovery wizard - According to my experience I haven't found better!? Thanks

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  • Can't install Hyper-V in Windows 8 Pro. Causes boot loop, pain & suffering

    - by Nick
    Hardware: Intel i7 2600K (not overclocked, SLAT compatible, virt. features enabled in bios) Asus Maximus IV Extreme-Z (Z68) 16Gb RAM 256Gb SSD Other non-trivial working parts Adding Hyper-V is causing a boot loop resulting in an attempt at automatic repair by Windows 8 after the second or third loop: I'm trying to get the Windows Phone 8 SDK installed and I've narrowed down my troubles to the Hyper-V feature in Win8. This is required to run the WP8 emulator and there are no install options to omit this feature. My first attempt completely borked the OS as I did not have a recent restore point or system image, so I did a completely clean install and made plenty of backups/restore points. I skipped the SDK install and went straight for the windows feature add-on for Hyper-V. This confirmed that Hyper-V is the issue as the same behavior resulted. I cannot find any hint in the Event Logs. Cancelling automatic recovery causes the same behavior to repeat. I don't have any other VM products installed. My only recourse is to use a restore point, try something else, install it again, and see what happens. No luck so far. I'm on my 10th attempt here. Any help would be much appreciated.

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  • Adding a prefix or postfix to a Word 2013 quotation source

    - by user2690527
    I am using the German version of Word 2013, so I am not absolutely sure, if "quotation source" is the term being used in the English version. I am talking about the automatic text field, one can get via "References" (German: "Verweise"), "Insert quotation" (German: "Zitat einfügen"). Then one gets a drop down menu with all the entries from the biobliography, one can pick one and then an automatic text field is inserted into the text. After it is hopefully clear what I am talking about, here is the question: I choosed the citation style "ISO 690" that generates labels of the pattern "(author+year)" in round parentheses. Sometimes I have to append a prefix or postfix to the label, but this prefix/postfix must go into the parantheses. Is there any way how I can do this? For example, I can add page numbers to the end of a quotation label via a special dialog box that appears after a right click onto the text field and choosing "Edit quote" (German: "Zitat bearbeiten"). But there are a lot more cases of optional pre-/postfixes than page numbers. I am looking for a way to add general pre-/postfixes.

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  • Application/Server dependency mapping

    - by David Stratton
    I'm just curious as to whether such as tool exists (free, open source, or commercial but for a reasonable price) before I build it myself. We're looking for a simple solution to simplify taking web apps online and offline when a server is undergoing maintenance. The idea is that we be able to mark a server as unavailable, and then mark all dependent (direct and indirect) as offline. Our first proof-of-concept is running, and we created an aspx page that lists various applications that have an App_Offline.html file with a friendly "Down for Maintenance" message in a GridView. In the GridView, each app has a LinkButton that, when clicked, either renames the App_Offline.htm to App_Offline.html or vice-versa to take the app online and offline. The next step is to set up all of our dependencies. For example, our store locater would be dependent on our web services, which in turn are dependent on our SQL Server. (that's a simple example. We can easily have several layers, or one app dependent on multiple servers, etc.) In this example, if the SQL server goes down, we would need to drill down recursively to find all apps that depend on it, and then turn them off and on by renaming the App_Offline file appropriately. I realize this will be relatively simple to build, but could be complex to manage. I'm sure we're not the first team to think of this concept, and I'm wondering if there are any open source tools, or if any of you have done something similar and can help us avoid pitfalls. Edit - Update I found the category of software I'm looking for. it's called CMDB - (Configuration Management Database), and it's generally more of a Network Admin type tool than a developer tool. I found some open source products in this category, but none written in .NET. I had considered moving this question to ServerFault.com when I realized I was looking for a netowrk Admin type tool, but since I'm looking for code and a modifiable solution I'll keep the question here.

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  • How can I do rapid application development with ASP.NET MVC?

    - by Erik Forbes
    I've been given a short amount of time (~80 hours to start with) to replace an existing Access database with a full-blown SQL + Web system, and I'm enumerating my options. I would like to use ASP.NET MVC, but I'm unsure of how to use it effectively with my short timetable. For the database backend I'll be using Linq to SQL as it's a product I already know and can get something working with it quickly. Does anyone have any experience with using ASP.NET MVC in this way and can share some insight? Edit: The reason I've been interested in ASP.NET MVC is because I know (100% confirmed) that there will be more work to do after this first round, and I'd like my maintenance work to be as easy as possible. In my experience Webforms applications tend to break down over repeated maintenance, despite discipline. Maybe there's a middle ground? How difficult would it to be for me to, say, build the app with Webforms, then migrate it to MVC later when I have more time budgeted to the project? Edit 2: Further background: the Access application I'm replacing is used in some capacity by everyone in the building, and since it was upgraded from Access 98 to 2003 it's been crashing daily, causing hours of lost productivity as people have to re-enter data since the last backup. This is the reason for the short amount of time - this is a critical business function, and they can't afford to keep re-entering data on a daily basis.

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  • How can I tackle 'profoundly found elsewhere' syndrome (inverse of NIH)?

    - by Alistair Knock
    How can I encourage colleagues to embrace small-scale innovation within our team(s), in order to get things done quicker and to encourage skills development? (the term 'profoundly found elsewhere' comes from Wikipedia, although it is scarcely used anywhere else apart from a reference to Proctor & Gamble) I've worked in both environments where there is a strong opposition to software which hasn't been developed in-house (usually because there's a large community of developers), and more recently (with far fewer central developers) where off-the-shelf products are far more favoured for the usual reasons: maintenance, total cost over product lifecycle, risk management and so on. I think the off the shelf argument works in the majority of cases for the majority of users, even though as a developer the product never quite does what I'd like it to do. However, in some cases there are clear gaps where the market isn't able to provide specifically what we would need, or at least it isn't able to without charging astronomical consultancy rates for a bespoke solution. These can be small web applications which provide a short-term solution to a particular need in one specific department, or could be larger developments that have the potential to serve a wider audience, both across the organisation and into external markets. The problem is that while development of these applications would be incredibly cheap in terms of developer hours, and delivered very quickly without the need for glacial consultation, the proposal usually falls flat because of risk: 'Who'll maintain the project tracker that hasn't had any maintenance for the past 7 years while you're on holiday for 2 weeks?' 'What if one of our systems changes and the connector breaks?' 'How can you guarantee it's secure/better/faster/cheaper/holier than Company X's?' With one developer behind these little projects, the answers are invariably: 'Nobody, but...' 'It will break, just like any other application would...' 'I, uh...' How can I better answer these questions and encourage people to take a little risk in order to stimulate creativity and fast-paced, short-lifecycle development instead of using that 6 months to consult about what tender process we might use?

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  • I read 3 pages of a JQuery book and here's my reaction and question

    - by George
    My jQuery reaction to the language's flexible "selectors" is probably rooted in this experience: I once had managed a project where a developer constructed a web page that was used by users to provide very flexible search parameters for a search screen using dynamic sql string building based on the user's specified search parameter. The resulting queries were usually very complicated and involved joins to many tables. One of the options that the user had was to choose from one of 3 an options. Depending on the user's choice for this option, the resulting SQL would need to query a different set of database columns. For example, if choice option "A" were selected, the resulting database columns queried would be prefixed with "A_"; if option "B" were selected, he resulting database columns queried would be prefixed with "B_" and so on. The developer choice to write all the complete SQL assuming that the user selected, for example, option "A" and therefore first constructed SQLs of this type: SQL = "SELECT A_COL1, A_COL2, A_COL3 FROM TABLE ..." and then after constructing one of a million possible variations on the Query From Hell, did something like this: If UserOption = "B" then SQL = SQL.Replace("A_","B_") 'replace everywhere End if He insisted that this was the easiest was to code it, and while I understood that, I was concerned about maintenance of this code. You see, this worked for a while, but as the search options grew and the database columns evolved, the various "REPLACE small substring" with another small substring had unexpected consequences when applied to an evolving database and new search options. My feeling is that code should be written as much as possible such that you can add to it without fear of breaking what is already there. I feel a better approach, though a bit more work, would have been to write a function to return the appropriate target column based on a common set name and the user selected option. OK, so what does this have to do with jQuery selectors? Are the ultra flexible JQuery selectors kind of like perform a "replace all" on a SQL string? Handy as hell but potentially creating a maintenance nightmare?

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  • The Benefits of Smart Grid Business Software

    - by Sylvie MacKenzie, PMP
    Smart Grid Background What Are Smart Grids?Smart Grids use computer hardware and software, sensors, controls, and telecommunications equipment and services to: Link customers to information that helps them manage consumption and use electricity wisely. Enable customers to respond to utility notices in ways that help minimize the duration of overloads, bottlenecks, and outages. Provide utilities with information that helps them improve performance and control costs. What Is Driving Smart Grid Development? Environmental ImpactSmart Grid development is picking up speed because of the widespread interest in reducing the negative impact that energy use has on the environment. Smart Grids use technology to drive efficiencies in transmission, distribution, and consumption. As a result, utilities can serve customers’ power needs with fewer generating plants, fewer transmission and distribution assets,and lower overall generation. With the possible exception of wind farm sprawl, landscape preservation is one obvious benefit. And because most generation today results in greenhouse gas emissions, Smart Grids reduce air pollution and the potential for global climate change.Smart Grids also more easily accommodate the technical difficulties of integrating intermittent renewable resources like wind and solar into the grid, providing further greenhouse gas reductions. CostsThe ability to defer the cost of plant and grid expansion is a major benefit to both utilities and customers. Utilities do not need to use as many internal resources for traditional infrastructure project planning and management. Large T&D infrastructure expansion costs are not passed on to customers.Smart Grids will not eliminate capital expansion, of course. Transmission corridors to connect renewable generation with customers will require major near-term expenditures. Additionally, in the future, electricity to satisfy the needs of population growth and additional applications will exceed the capacity reductions available through the Smart Grid. At that point, expansion will resume—but with greater overall T&D efficiency based on demand response, load control, and many other Smart Grid technologies and business processes. Energy efficiency is a second area of Smart Grid cost saving of particular relevance to customers. The timely and detailed information Smart Grids provide encourages customers to limit waste, adopt energy-efficient building codes and standards, and invest in energy efficient appliances. Efficiency may or may not lower customer bills because customer efficiency savings may be offset by higher costs in generation fuels or carbon taxes. It is clear, however, that bills will be lower with efficiency than without it. Utility Operations Smart Grids can serve as the central focus of utility initiatives to improve business processes. Many utilities have long “wish lists” of projects and applications they would like to fund in order to improve customer service or ease staff’s burden of repetitious work, but they have difficulty cost-justifying the changes, especially in the short term. Adding Smart Grid benefits to the cost/benefit analysis frequently tips the scales in favor of the change and can also significantly reduce payback periods.Mobile workforce applications and asset management applications work together to deploy assets and then to maintain, repair, and replace them. Many additional benefits result—for instance, increased productivity and fuel savings from better routing. Similarly, customer portals that provide customers with near-real-time information can also encourage online payments, thus lowering billing costs. Utilities can and should include these cost and service improvements in the list of Smart Grid benefits. What Is Smart Grid Business Software? Smart Grid business software gathers data from a Smart Grid and uses it improve a utility’s business processes. Smart Grid business software also helps utilities provide relevant information to customers who can then use it to reduce their own consumption and improve their environmental profiles. Smart Grid Business Software Minimizes the Impact of Peak Demand Utilities must size their assets to accommodate their highest peak demand. The higher the peak rises above base demand: The more assets a utility must build that are used only for brief periods—an inefficient use of capital. The higher the utility’s risk profile rises given the uncertainties surrounding the time needed for permitting, building, and recouping costs. The higher the costs for utilities to purchase supply, because generators can charge more for contracts and spot supply during high-demand periods. Smart Grids enable a variety of programs that reduce peak demand, including: Time-of-use pricing and critical peak pricing—programs that charge customers more when they consume electricity during peak periods. Pilot projects indicate that these programs are successful in flattening peaks, thus ensuring better use of existing T&D and generation assets. Direct load control, which lets utilities reduce or eliminate electricity flow to customer equipment (such as air conditioners). Contracts govern the terms and conditions of these turn-offs. Indirect load control, which signals customers to reduce the use of on-premises equipment for contractually agreed-on time periods. Smart Grid business software enables utilities to impose penalties on customers who do not comply with their contracts. Smart Grids also help utilities manage peaks with existing assets by enabling: Real-time asset monitoring and control. In this application, advanced sensors safely enable dynamic capacity load limits, ensuring that all grid assets can be used to their maximum capacity during peak demand periods. Real-time asset monitoring and control applications also detect the location of excessive losses and pinpoint need for mitigation and asset replacements. As a result, utilities reduce outage risk and guard against excess capacity or “over-build”. Better peak demand analysis. As a result: Distribution planners can better size equipment (e.g. transformers) to avoid over-building. Operations engineers can identify and resolve bottlenecks and other inefficiencies that may cause or exacerbate peaks. As above, the result is a reduction in the tendency to over-build. Supply managers can more closely match procurement with delivery. As a result, they can fine-tune supply portfolios, reducing the tendency to over-contract for peak supply and reducing the need to resort to spot market purchases during high peaks. Smart Grids can help lower the cost of remaining peaks by: Standardizing interconnections for new distributed resources (such as electricity storage devices). Placing the interconnections where needed to support anticipated grid congestion. Smart Grid Business Software Lowers the Cost of Field Services By processing Smart Grid data through their business software, utilities can reduce such field costs as: Vegetation management. Smart Grids can pinpoint momentary interruptions and tree-caused outages. Spatial mash-up tools leverage GIS models of tree growth for targeted vegetation management. This reduces the cost of unnecessary tree trimming. Service vehicle fuel. Many utility service calls are “false alarms.” Checking meter status before dispatching crews prevents many unnecessary “truck rolls.” Similarly, crews use far less fuel when Smart Grid sensors can pinpoint a problem and mobile workforce applications can then route them directly to it. Smart Grid Business Software Ensures Regulatory Compliance Smart Grids can ensure compliance with private contracts and with regional, national, or international requirements by: Monitoring fulfillment of contract terms. Utilities can use one-hour interval meters to ensure that interruptible (“non-core”) customers actually reduce or eliminate deliveries as required. They can use the information to levy fines against contract violators. Monitoring regulations imposed on customers, such as maximum use during specific time periods. Using accurate time-stamped event history derived from intelligent devices distributed throughout the smart grid to monitor and report reliability statistics and risk compliance. Automating business processes and activities that ensure compliance with security and reliability measures (e.g. NERC-CIP 2-9). Grid Business Software Strengthens Utilities’ Connection to Customers While Reducing Customer Service Costs During outages, Smart Grid business software can: Identify outages more quickly. Software uses sensors to pinpoint outages and nested outage locations. They also permit utilities to ensure outage resolution at every meter location. Size outages more accurately, permitting utilities to dispatch crews that have the skills needed, in appropriate numbers. Provide updates on outage location and expected duration. This information helps call centers inform customers about the timing of service restoration. Smart Grids also facilitates display of outage maps for customer and public-service use. Smart Grids can significantly reduce the cost to: Connect and disconnect customers. Meters capable of remote disconnect can virtually eliminate the costs of field crews and vehicles previously required to change service from the old to the new residents of a metered property or disconnect customers for nonpayment. Resolve reports of voltage fluctuation. Smart Grids gather and report voltage and power quality data from meters and grid sensors, enabling utilities to pinpoint reported problems or resolve them before customers complain. Detect and resolve non-technical losses (e.g. theft). Smart Grids can identify illegal attempts to reconnect meters or to use electricity in supposedly vacant premises. They can also detect theft by comparing flows through delivery assets with billed consumption. Smart Grids also facilitate outreach to customers. By monitoring and analyzing consumption over time, utilities can: Identify customers with unusually high usage and contact them before they receive a bill. They can also suggest conservation techniques that might help to limit consumption. This can head off “high bill” complaints to the contact center. Note that such “high usage” or “additional charges apply because you are out of range” notices—frequently via text messaging—are already common among mobile phone providers. Help customers identify appropriate bill payment alternatives (budget billing, prepayment, etc.). Help customers find and reduce causes of over-consumption. There’s no waiting for bills in the mail before they even understand there is a problem. Utilities benefit not just through improved customer relations but also through limiting the size of bills from customers who might struggle to pay them. Where permitted, Smart Grids can open the doors to such new utility service offerings as: Monitoring properties. Landlords reduce costs of vacant properties when utilities notify them of unexpected energy or water consumption. Utilities can perform similar services for owners of vacation properties or the adult children of aging parents. Monitoring equipment. Power-use patterns can reveal a need for equipment maintenance. Smart Grids permit utilities to alert owners or managers to a need for maintenance or replacement. Facilitating home and small-business networks. Smart Grids can provide a gateway to equipment networks that automate control or let owners access equipment remotely. They also facilitate net metering, offering some utilities a path toward involvement in small-scale solar or wind generation. Prepayment plans that do not need special meters. Smart Grid Business Software Helps Customers Control Energy Costs There is no end to the ways Smart Grids help both small and large customers control energy costs. For instance: Multi-premises customers appreciate having all meters read on the same day so that they can more easily compare consumption at various sites. Customers in competitive regions can match their consumption profile (detailed via Smart Grid data) with specific offerings from competitive suppliers. Customers seeing inexplicable consumption patterns and power quality problems may investigate further. The result can be discovery of electrical problems that can be resolved through rewiring or maintenance—before more serious fires or accidents happen. Smart Grid Business Software Facilitates Use of Renewables Generation from wind and solar resources is a popular alternative to fossil fuel generation, which emits greenhouse gases. Wind and solar generation may also increase energy security in regions that currently import fossil fuel for use in generation. Utilities face many technical issues as they attempt to integrate intermittent resource generation into traditional grids, which traditionally handle only fully dispatchable generation. Smart Grid business software helps solves many of these issues by: Detecting sudden drops in production from renewables-generated electricity (wind and solar) and automatically triggering electricity storage and smart appliance response to compensate as needed. Supporting industry-standard distributed generation interconnection processes to reduce interconnection costs and avoid adding renewable supplies to locations already subject to grid congestion. Facilitating modeling and monitoring of locally generated supply from renewables and thus helping to maximize their use. Increasing the efficiency of “net metering” (through which utilities can use electricity generated by customers) by: Providing data for analysis. Integrating the production and consumption aspects of customer accounts. During non-peak periods, such techniques enable utilities to increase the percent of renewable generation in their supply mix. During peak periods, Smart Grid business software controls circuit reconfiguration to maximize available capacity. Conclusion Utility missions are changing. Yesterday, they focused on delivery of reasonably priced energy and water. Tomorrow, their missions will expand to encompass sustainable use and environmental improvement.Smart Grids are key to helping utilities achieve this expanded mission. But they come at a relatively high price. Utilities will need to invest heavily in new hardware, software, business process development, and staff training. Customer investments in home area networks and smart appliances will be large. Learning to change the energy and water consumption habits of a lifetime could ultimately prove even more formidable tasks.Smart Grid business software can ease the cost and difficulties inherent in a needed transition to a more flexible, reliable, responsive electricity grid. Justifying its implementation, however, requires a full understanding of the benefits it brings—benefits that can ultimately help customers, utilities, communities, and the world address global issues like energy security and climate change while minimizing costs and maximizing customer convenience. This white paper is available for download here. For further information about Oracle's Primavera Solutions for Utilities, please read our Utilities e-book.

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