StationWare - Innovative Data Warehouse Solution

DIgSILENT StationWare is a reliable central protection settings database and asset management system, based on the latest .NET technology. StationWare stores and records all settings in a central database, allows modelling of relevant workflow sequences, provides quick access to relay manuals, interfaces with manufacturer-specific relay settings and integrates with PowerFactory software, allowing powerful and easy-to-use settings coordination studies.

The main applications are:

StationWare Structure

DIgSILENT StationWare is a centralised asset management system for primary and secondary equipment. The large number of individual settings for numerical relays nowadays requires careful management in order to function reliably.

Handling data from networks containing devices from various manufacturers can be problematic from an IT perspective, with each manufacturer requiring installation of its own software. StationWare is a user- friendly, multi-user web application that combines asset management of primary and secondary equipment, protection settings management and business process management. The electrical equipment is represented in a hierarchical structure.

All settings are stored in a manufacturer-independent format, traceability of settings changes is provided, document management functionality is included, and settings data is exchanged between manufacturer-specific relay settings software and PowerFactory. In order to cater for business processes related to electrical equipment and protection settings, StationWare allows the definition of company-specific workflows.

StationWare settings converter

StationWare Applications

Asset Management

All kinds of network equipment can be stored in StationWare. The assets are managed in a completely user-definable hierarchy consisting of locations and devices. It is possible to display locations and location-relevant information in a geographic map.

Location and device information can be defined as custom attributes for any type, depending on company requirements. Assets can be identified by a unique key, to link StationWare to other asset management systems. Access rights can be granted on the asset hierarchy according to a user’s field of responsibility. The StationWare topology for primary and signal connections provides the possibility to connect electrical devices to form a network.

Protection Settings Management

StationWare stores and records all settings associated with protection devices. A vast selection of device models is supported. User-defined device models can be created and imported with ease. Device models include multiple settings groups, range checks, descriptions, and units of measure­ment. The presentation of settings values faithfully reflects the original software.

The management of the protection settings bases on lifecycles. These lifecycles represent the workflows in the company and are completely configurable. Email notifications can be triggered on workflow events. All changes regarding settings, devices, and loca­tions are stored in an audit trail. Storing the data in a tamper-proof manner is essential for traceability and accountability.

Business Processes

Business processes in StationWare represent company-specific workflows related to the network equipment such as maintenance, commissioning or testing. Processes contain several tasks which map the steps that have to be processed during the execution of a process.

Every process type can be equipped with a fully-config­urable workflow lifecycle. Processes and tasks can be connected to devices and settings to indicate corre­lation. Examples of processes include maintenance, commissioning, cyclic protection tests, and arc-flash label creation. The latter process can be carried out in StationWare using specific arc-flash process lifecy­cles, reports, and scripts. Calculated arc-flash label parameters can be imported into StationWare from PowerFactory. Business process management contains the same features as settings management including email notifications and audit trail support.