DCC Industry Day – July 2015
Q&As
This document provides a summary of the questions raised by attendees to the DCC Industry Day
in July 2015, and the responses provided by DCC. You may wish to read them in conjunction with
the slides from the event – available on the DCC website.
If you have queries about DCC’s activities, get in touch with us at contact@smartdcc.co.uk.
Session – Introduction Session
Question
RDPs are already on track in terms of
readiness for SIT. Are there material
changes for RDPs when DUIS plus uplift
with IRPs comes in?
Answer
For RDPs there should not be any impact of
IRPs as they won't use meter functionality
during SIT. In their role of Network Operator
it is possible there will be an impact.
DCC’s Industry Test Services team
manager has been arranging meetings with
RDPs in preparation for SIT.
Would it be possible to produce role based
guidance (e.g. a view focused on Network
Operators, on Other SEC Parties, etc.)?
How does SMDA fit with and what are the
dependencies to and from DCC?
If SMDA is not ready for 1 April, how will
this be managed by DCC?
This is something DCC is looking at and
would like to provide something for the next
Industry Day. We would be happy to
circulate this to attendees to the
Introductory Session for
information/suggestions on development.
SMDA is an Industry-led initiative. SMDA
can choose to use DCC services. If they do
so, then they will need to meet various
criteria such as security requirements for
using test environments, requirements for
gaining Test Certificates and obligations
when using remote test labs. These are
being set out in the Enduring Testing
Approach Document. They'll also need the
ability to send Service Requests and will
need a DCC Gateway Connection.
DCC has no dependency on SMDA,
although we welcome the extra confidence
that SMDA may provide to the roll-out of
smart meters, interoperability and
interchangeability.
As far as DCC is aware SMDA will be ready
by 1 April. SMDA readiness has no impact
on DCC as we have no dependency on
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SMDA. A potential impact is that Suppliers
could choose to delay the start of their
mass roll-out until the SMDA has provided
some level of assurance to Suppliers.
DCC meets SMDA on a regular basis to
share information.
What roles do DECC/DCC/SECAS play? It
DECC (as government) sets policy which is
can often being confusing to understand the
the focus of their consultations. DCC
differences especially when all three are
consult and provide information on how we
issuing consultations.
have interpreted those elements of the
SMIP that DCC delivers. SECAS supports
SEC Parties and administer the Code which
is the focus of their consultations.
Session – Testing
Question
Answer
Will the Device Methodology only be run
once?
Yes, it will not be repeated now the devices
have been selected.
When will the final version of the UEPT
(User Entry Process Testing) Guide be
ready?
We anticipate it will be ready around
October 2015.
Why are other devices such as CADs
(Consumer Access Device) not included in
the earlier stages of testing?
The early test stages prove connectivity
across the WAN (Wide Area Network) and
not the HAN (Home Area Network) where
the CAD connects to.
Will the SREPT (SMKI and Repository
Entry Process Tests) document be
published in time for Parties to give 60
working days’ notice of their intention to
start testing?
The version submitted to the Secretary of
State was published in time for this
notification. We await any comments from
DECC ahead of the document being
baselined or designated.
How long will test labs be available for?
Indefinitely. They are provided as part of
enduring testing. There may be a possibility
that they are scaled down but it will depend
on changes in the industry.
When will the test environments be made
available?
Current plan is 1 February 2016. The same
environment will be provided for Interface
Testing and End to End Testing. The
production environment is separate.
Will the test environment be made available
any earlier than 1 Feb?
The environment supporting SMKI and
Repository Entry Process Tests will be
available in November 2015, subject to
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successful testing. Environments
supporting User Entry Process Testing and
End to End Testing will not be available
before 1 February 2016.
Is there a priority for those using NGIS (Non
Gateway Interface Specification - non DCC
Users) in SREPT?
No.
Session – Programme Update
Question
Answer
The DCC live date seems to be always a
year away. How will DCC bring this in so
Parties have a date to aim for?
The rate of change to the design has been
high to date. DCC has now baselined the
design to allow build to commence. For
DCC Live in April 2016, we have frozen the
scope at GBCS v0.8.1 which has provided
our Service Providers with a stable baseline
against which to deliver.
Beyond April 2016, we are working on a
strategy for how to incorporate known
change in a managed, prioritised way.
Our objective is to get to a live system to
allow the start of SMETS2 roll-out as soon
as is humanly possible.
Session – Operations – DCC service readiness for go live
Question
Answer
What has DCC shared so far by way of
performance monitoring, is it just the
calculation methodology?
DCC circulated an ‘Introduction to
Performance Measures for SEC Parties’
slide pack last year. This listed DCC Code
performance measures plus underpinning
CSP/DSP published measures
Is DCC supporting multi-party testing?
The formal testing stages will not be multiparty. The “verification of process” referred
to in the presentation, which will take place
after go live, is to verify the end to end
ecosystem is working in the right way and
can be used at volume. There is a potential
that this will need to be multiparty in some
respects e.g. for Change of Supplier
verification.
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Will DCC wait until after go-live to check
key processes work like Change of
Supplier?
DCC is required to test with two Suppliers
to go live; it is not feasible to wait for all
parties to be ready. Therefore, interactions
between parties will need to be verified in
the live environment where there is a
breadth of users, equipment and scenarios.
DCC would seek to mitigate as many risks
as feasible, but the breadth of the full
market couldn’t be fully tested before live.
What is the scope of end-end testing?
Users test their own devices and systems,
over the DCC network.
Will the verification activities be against the
end-end environment or in the live
environment?
If Users find problems in their end-end
testing, DCC would want to work with them
to resolve and mitigate.Separately the
scope of “verification of process” has not
yet been established and will be subject to
consultation, but will be applied to the live
environment.
When will the Performance Measures be
reported from?
DCC is obliged to provide these from DCC
Live.
After go live, is there capacity constraint?
DCC will work with industry and DECC on
the governance of demand management.
The details on how this will be done will be
available at a future date.
How will the iterative release approach and
early life support be impacted?
The aim is to have the baseline build by
February 2016. There are additional
requirements outside of SEC still to be
included. The early life support proposal will
not be affected.
What expectations are there on Users for
unhappy path testing?
DCC will undertake checks to Service
Management processes as part of Business
Acceptance Testing (BAT). It would be
helpful if one or two early adopters confirm
that they can raise Incidents through the
Self Service Interface for DCC tracking.
Session – Delivering DCC live
Question
Answer
What functionality is included in the
“delivery baseline”?
The contracted baseline and Change
Request 91 - amendments to deliver Great
Britain Companion Specification (GBCS)
v0.8.1 - are determined. A few additional
elements need to be agreed for delivery in
release 1 (1 April 2016).
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DCC has published a statement of scope
for Release 1.0. LINK
When will stakeholders see the candidates
for the planned releases, as this is critical
information?
The content of release 1.0 is known; DCC
is now working on 1.1 and 1.2. There are
challenges in publishing the scope of these
later releases at this stage, as the
candidates included could change as the
analysis progresses. However, we will
publish an early indication of content during
Q3 2015 to SEC Parties via SharePoint.
This approach to a progressive release is
yet to be agreed with the SoS.
DCC is considering how to document the
changes in terms of single or multiple
versions of the affected design documents,
and also how stakeholders will be engaged
on the changes.
DCC sought feedback on the proposed
release approach presented in the session.
The proposed approach is not necessarily
optimal for Suppliers as end-end testing
could be done against a system not yet fully
developed, which adds complexity. Can
DCC not use the six weeks contingency
and deliver all functionality in one go?
Programmes of this size and complexity are
likely to be delivered in stages. DCC Users
will have different risk appetites and will be
planning to go live at different times.
Therefore an iterative approach is
preferable to manage the fluidity of the
design, challenges in delivery and defects
found during development and testing.
V1.0 of GBCS does not yet exist, and there
are future versions of the SEC to be
consulted on and designated.
Is the presented approach to be agreed by
the Secretary of State?
DECC is involved in developing the final
approach, as will Ofgem. DCC will engage
with the Smart Metering Implementation
Programme (SMIP) governance bodies and
with the wider stakeholder community. If the
approach as presented is broadly
supported by industry, DCC will take it to
DECC.
Is the main risk to a go live of 1 April 2016
issues uncovered in Systems Integration
Testing?
Yes, for DCC’s current scope to go live. For
Parties to go live there are other aspects.
How does use of contingency by DCC get
communicated to industry?
Any such identified requirement would be
raised through the Smart Metering Delivery
Group (SMDG) via the process published
by that forum.
Will there be a final release at some point?
Yes. We are working on a strategy and will
confirm the number once we have a
finalised strategy. The Enduring Release
Will DCC set out the maximum number of
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releases?
Strategy is from Release 2 onwards.
When will DCC understand the gap
between the delivery baseline and design
baseline as described in the presentation?
When the changes included in “work stream
3” have been finalised, DCC will review and
confirm the final scope for release 1 in April
2016. This will show any scope deferred to
later release(s).
What is an IRP? And when will they be
resolved? When will industry know what the
changes are to the Code and GBCS?
Issue Resolution Proposals are raised
against GBCS as potential issues and are
identified through e.g. testing, zigbee
development. TSIR assesses the IRPs and
determines if fixes should be implemented.
We are working on an emerging strategy to
incorporate the IRPs which will prioritise
IRPs into bundles for development releases
post Release 1.0.
IRPs have been categorised but the
impacts have yet been fully identified. The
triage process is being used to prioritise
issues. IRP details and their classification
are available from the DECC Huddle
service. DCC will share how IRPs are
prioritised into each Release Candidate as
soon as possible in Q3.
Is there a list of the IRPs and what Change
Requests have been raised for Parties to
see?
The information is available in DECC’s
Huddle.
Which version of GBCS are the DCC User
Interface Specification (DUIS) and DCC
User Gateway Interface Design
Specification (DUGIDS) aligned to?
The DUIS, DUGIDS and Message Mapping
Catalogue (MMC) currently published are
aligned to GBCS v0.8.1. Some IRPs will
necessitate changes to these design
documents if agreed.
How will participants test through the
releases (e.g. releases 1.1, 1.2 etc. as per
the presentation)?
Parties will not be expected to repeat the
full testing for each release. Further details
will be discussed throughout the
development of the approach.
How far apart will each release be?
It is likely to be equal to or more than two
months apart, but we cannot confirm this
yet.
Have the devices selected through the
Device Selection Methodology been
published?
Yes, it is available on the DCC website
LINK.
How much sight will Parties get of defect
changes in SIT? If there are later changes
then that might effect Parties ability to be
ready for the start of SIT.
DCC has shared its Test Issue Resolution
process with TDEG for comment. DCC will
use HP ALM to share information about
defects. The effect on Parties will need to
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be considered when deciding the best
resolution proposal.
Is there a difference between defects and
change?
From an overall SMIP perspective we have
moved into treating defects only to ensure
the service works. From a DCC Service
Provider (SP) contractual perspective these
are categorised as
-
Defects: Issues with the SPs'
implementation of the requirements
Changes: Issues with the
requirements provided to the SPs
for implementation.
Defects will be addressed at the cost of the
SP, changes in requirements required to
follow a contractual change process.
Will the fixed capacity release candidate
model span into DCC Live and beyond?
The Release Approach will be used until full
functionality (or as appropriate) is achieved
for Release 1 of DCC service. The
Enduring Release Management Strategy
will be used beyond release 1. Both have
common approaches.
How are we managing disruptive changes
for backwards compatibility?
These will be managed through
communications set out in the Release
Management Strategy which describes how
DCC will manage elements of backwards
compatibility.
Is the first release changing?
There are changes through GBCS. The
originally strategy was to modify the
timeline to cater for these changes; the
proposed model is structured to prioritise
changes within a distinctive time window.
Does this mean Release 1 in April 2016 will
not work?
GBCS v0.8.1 will be delivered on 1 April
based on a non-contingent plan. DCC
needs to talk to industry and DECC on
changes. Although the majority of the
service is expected to work, many of the
IRPs are to correct incompatibilities with
international standards (therefore devices
typically cannot be certified without these
changes).
In the testing session, it was mentioned that
large suppliers are obliged to be ready at
the start of SIT, meaning they are forced to
take Release 1.
This release approach is a proposal. We
need to be pragmatic and get regulation to
support the model but it’s recognised that it
is still a challenge.
How many releases will there be between
April to August 2016?
It is hoped it would be a two step process
from Release 1.1 to 1.2.
How much time will Users have from
The aim is to have a support window
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Release 1.1 to 1.2?
between releases. If Users wanted one
release then they would need to approach
DECC to request a big bang approach.
How will DCC consult with industry on
different releases/versions?
Proposed approaches will go through
transitional governance.
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