End-to-End Performance Testing for Storm Critical Systems

How do our utilities partners ensure that key IT systems will remain functional during extreme weather events such as thunderstorms, hurricanes and winter blizzards? The answer: by performing Seasonal Readiness Testing.

The Seasonal Readiness Test (SRT) is an integrated end-to-end performance test of select storm-critical applications and interfaces, such as Outage Management (OMS), Mobile Workforce Management (MWFM), Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), and Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) systems, for the purpose of verifying operational readiness ahead of summer and winter storm seasons. Such performance testing is crucial for assessing the health of an integrated application environment and its ability to handle high volume outages during a storm.

Olenick leads Seasonal Readiness Performance Testing using simulated system loads that span a range of storm levels from very small to extreme. Under these various system loads, we verify that applications do not fail, that queries complete in a reasonable amount of time, and that response times of user actions are realistic.  We have also recently introduced a rapid and pronounced storm profile to simulate customer traffic under worst-case conditions.

Olenick has been on the front line of this high-priority performance testing initiative with our Utilities partners for several years, including leading the first-ever company-wide SRT for a large U.S. based multi-Operating Company (OPCO) Investor Owned Utility (IOU).

Specific Test Scenarios for the SRT include:

Inbound outage reports, status inquiries and events

• From customer interaction channels (Web, Mobile, CSR, IVR, and Text Messaging)
• From the distribution network

Operational Procedures

• Dispatchers
• Crews
• Storm Operations Roles
• Management

Olenick led two first-of-their-kind SRT tests for a major utility in 2019. In May 2019 the Olenick team led the execution of our client’s first end-to-end Seasonal Readiness Test, encompassing twenty-six (26) connected applications across four of the utility’s Operating Companies. Olenick orchestrated the test, created and ran automation, and was responsible for compiling, analyzing, and reporting results.

This work has continued into our current project leading our client’s bi-annual Seasonal Readiness Test, which now covers thirty-nine (39) integrated and fully connected Storm Management, Communication, and Restoration applications. Work continues in support of multiple Operating Companies.

Olenick’s repeatable testing process facilitates multiple test runs each year and covers comprehensive SRT services including test development, planning, execution and reporting for the storm performance tests, as well as project management and automation.

Some of Olenick’s SRT best practices include:

• SRT Target Loads (Minor Storm, Major Storm, Mega Storm) are based on the number of customer outages during actual storms experienced by each OpCo dating back to 2003.
• Where possible, we replay actual outages from the peak hours of previous storms.
• We leverage application architectural diagrams that depict key system connections and data flows to architect the test automation and identify monitoring points.

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