GUI Display Guidelines Drive Winning SCADA Projects Koustuv Ghoshall and Larry D.Douglas? cm orm the vr face (UD)product can determine From a project management how successfully the dispatchers core of any supervisory control point of view,emphasis will accept the new system.An and data acquisition (SCADA) opinion survey of electric utilities system.The efficiency of a GUI on operational productivity conducted a few years ago by an system can easily determine the independent market-research productivity of operations of any has caused a paradigm agency found that a majority of energy management system shift in SCADA/EMS those surveyed considered ease (EMS).Over the last couple of graphical user interfaces of operations of user interfaces years,the entire concept of GUl and full-graphics capabilities as systems has changed probably the principal factors that deter- more than any other aspect in a mine an efficient GUI system. SCADA/EMS system.Electric utilities have increasingly Graphical user interface has become one of the primary felt the need to automate their operational features to tools necessary for distribution automation.For any keep pace with changing technology,particularly the electric utility that is planning a SCADA/EMS system for way their operators interface with the distribution sys- the future,GUI will constitute a growing portion of the tem.This rapidly changing philosophy with which the utility industry views GUl systems today has resulted in a so-called paradigm shift,from the project management point of view.Though the basic functionalities that constitute a SCADA/EMS-GUI system more or MULTI-VENDOR INTERFACE Product-n less remain the same,the areas where today's GUls differ from the ones of the past Product-1 decade are mainly in the visual presentation of information to the operators and the mode of operation of the various functions.Tech- SCADA/EMS GUI SYSTEM nological advancements are enabling sys- tems to be more and more open by breaking the barriers of proprietary platforms.and today's GUI systems become more and more versatile with many advanced functions to facilitate operations. With a plethora of GUI vendors in today's marketplace.each of which claims to have Operator Console Operator Console the perfect product for a prospective cus- tomer's needs.how does the future Figure I.An open GUI system SCADA/EMS customer decide which product is the most suitable for his or her operational needs? budget.To ensure its proper investment,the concerned Lately,this has become one of the most important pro utility must invest a major amount of its resources in the ject management issues at the very onset of a new project planning stage toward developing GUI display SCADA/EMS project.The proper choice of the user inter- guidelines.This article enumerates the major parame- ters that should be evaluated at the very beginning of a SCADA/EMS project to choose the most efficient GUl Garland Power Light product.Though every customer's needs are different. 2 Johnson Yokogawa Corporation any GUI system still should have the following chief 55N95015694/540L99EEE ADnl199439