Chapter 3 - Research tracks
The topic of this chapter is related to this work’s research tracks, which are depicted on the roadmap in Figure 3.1. Considering that the end user of a data visualization and analysis system are the DSOs, their requirements and needs come first when designing a dedicated application. User experience studies focused on the DSOs workflows are first presented. Secondly, the prior UX knowledge contributes to deriving a data-driven solution for the current electrical grid system.
Fig. 3.1:Roadmap of the PhD research.
3.1 User experience studies (UX) - Distributed Sys-tem Operators (DSOs)
In this section, the approach for performing UX studies is covered, where the users are the DSOs from Thy-Mors Energi (case study in Section 1.2.2).
The UX study was performed based on on-site interviews. The users’ daily work routine is analyzed via the ’Day-in-the-Life’ model and user profiles are created for the involved DSOs.
3.1.1 ’Day-in-the-Life’ Model
The purpose of utilizing the Day-in-the-Life Model [40] [39] in this work is for identifying where DSOs operations can be improved time-wise. A general user profile, as represented in Figure 3.2, can help in understanding a DSO’s routine in a normal working day. The Day-in-the-Life model brings together the overall structure of how work fits into the user’s day and how this is supported by different mobile and stationary devices. The focus of this model is on the different places, timings and platforms that together contribute to activities getting done.
Fig. 3.2:Day-in-the-Life Model applied to the Danish DSOs, showing scenarios for an operator on a shift at home, during transportation, at the TME headquarters and smaller offices.
Three main activities and spatial contexts are identified during the DSOs’
day in their weekly shift: at the work place, at home doing everyday activi-ties (on call) and at home during an ongoing event. An on call DSO has to live inside the distribution area and be able to act upon an event within 15
3.1. User experience studies (UX) - Distributed System Operators (DSOs)
minutes from its signaling. This limitation in the DSO’s daily life also implies interrupting everyday activities at any time of the day. The DSO might also need to call another colleague for knowledge sharing and advice, meaning that this limitation is general among the DSOs. At the work place, the DSO needs to be able to interrupt a routine activity and prioritize an important event. The DSOs communicate with both internal and external actors - cus-tomers (private households and companies), technicians, contractors, other DSOs and departments, through anerror messaging system. One artifact here is an SMS message to the customer informing them about a possible power outage. Having smaller sub-offices at several transformer stations in the dis-tribution area makes it possible for the DSOs to drive to the nearest office in case they are more than 15 minutes away from the official work place.
The user analysis during a working day can help establishing which of the work processes are most time consuming, so that they can be automated for an optimum operation and planning of the electrical grid.
For example, acting on a calling customer can involve less time if the exact event and location (address) of the customer are signaled through visual alarms. The demand of being able to work on the error within 15 minutes, as well as to being alert at all times, impact the timeliness of these alarms.
In order to achieve the automatic fault detection in the electrical grid, user experience studies have been made in order to establish what data and how the end user (DSO) wants to visualize it. The steps of these studies are:
• Establishing different user profiles from the control center – electrician, electrical engineer;
• Establishing different scenarios where errors are reported;
• Defining sequence models for the chosen scenarios and the current pro-cedures to address these errors;
• Identifying the main themes to be addressed as part of the final visual-ization prototype;
• Designing a prototype that would bring an automated solution to over-come some of the challenges reported by the evaluated users;
• Validate the solution by involving the different actors in the value chain (vendors and DSOs).
3.1.2 User profiles
User profiles are seen as part of the consolidation in relation to contextual design models, in which the focus is directed on the DSOs in their working environment, therefore they are the central part of the design process. The purpose of these profiles is to ensure that the system design will benefit the users’ workflow and, as a consequence, it will be more directed to the DSOs.
For this study, the following user profiles have been identified in Table 3.1.
Table 3.1:Distributed System Operator profiles based on on-site interviews.
Education Job title Time
in the company
Area of responsibility Competencies
1 Electrician System operator
3.5 years Planning, developing, building and maintain-ing transformer stations
Knowledge about building transformer stations
2 Electrical engineer
System operator
6 months Reviewing the 10/0.4 kV distribution stations and reporting of errors
Engineering back-ground
3 Electrician System operator
32 years Filing reports to the energy consumption agency, when the elec-tricians have solved an error;
Measuring the electricity grid
Experienced in the field and knowledge-able of the company working structure