Set up IEE for Gap Fill Interrogation

The Gap Fill Interrogation (GFI) service is a proactive way for IEE to fill the read gaps from Itron OpenWay meters. If the Itron OpenWay meters have read gaps at the end of the AMI Readings Import VE window, the gaps are estimated, and a row is placed in the ReadingGap table for each gap of missing data. The GFI service scans the ReadingGap table and organizes like times together, and then performs a contingency read of the Itron OpenWay meters with missing data. Finally, the contingency reads are processed through ARI as historical data and the estimated data is versioned out. Perform the following configuration in IEE.

To configure Gap Fill Interrogation:

  1. Go to System Administration > System Admin > System Settings.

  2. From the Section dropdown menu, select AMI Communications.

  3. Under Gap Fill Bill Confirmation, configure the following:

    Stop Gap Fill Interrogation for Billed Version

    Set this to Stop Gap Fill at Billing Calculation to prevent IEE from replacing gaps in reading data after IEE has calculated determinants for that data. This helps ensure that the version of the read used to calculate determinants is flagged correctly as the billed version. If you do not need to track this, set this parameter to Never.

  4. Under Gap Fill Bill Contingency Read Parameters:

    • Enter True for each type of data you want to import during a contingency read call to the head end system. Contingency Read Parameters control the contingency request parameters and returns the requested results if the collection system supports that data type.

    • Enter False for types of data you do not need to import.

      Note: Requested data may be returned to IEE without storing it in the IEE database if IEE is not configured to receive it. For example, network statistics may be returned but not stored.

  5. Under Gap Fill Interrogation, configure the following parameters:

    Days To Retain Data

    Enter the number of days to retain the Gap Fill Interrogation data. The system stores the date ranges and IDs that must be gap filled. After the set number of days, the information is removed from the system and no further gap fill interrogations are performed.

    Maximum Allowed Contiguous Gap Hours for Meter

    Enter the meter's allowable contiguous gaps hours before a service order request triggers.

    Maximum Gap Hour for Gap Entry Generation

    Enter the maximum gap allowable. This is the largest gap of data to log to the database for which subsequent readings will be interrogated. Use this parameter only with AMI reading imports. Activate this functionality by including a gap check rule in the import validation. The recommended default is 120.

    Maximum Meter Communication Failure Count Retry

    Enter the number of times to retry if there is a communication failure with Itron OpenWay.

    Maximum Meters Per Request

    Enter the maximum number of meters to interrogate for each request.

    Maximum Read Retry Count

    Enter the maximum number of times to retry the interrogation if there is no response from the meter.

    Maximum Requests Per Minute

    Enter the number of gap fill requests to process per minute.

    Meter Communication Wait Timeout in Minutes

    Enter the time to wait, in minutes, for the Collection Engine to respond to a request.

    Meter Read Timeout in Minutes

    Enter the time to wait, in minutes, for a meter to respond with the gap fill data before re-sending the request.

    Minimum Gap Size in Minutes

    Enter the minimum time, in minutes, required for a gap to be identified as an interrogation candidate.

    Reading Gap Check Wait Time in Minutes

    Enter the time, in minutes, to wait before checking for new reading gaps in the database. This controls how often the gap fill interrogation service sweeps through its candidate list to process interrogation requests.

  6. Click outside of the modified field, then click Save.

Configuring the Gap Fill Interrogation Service

Add the Gap Fill Interrogation service to each server intended to perform the gap fill interrogation. In IEE, this process sweeps through the list of date ranges that indicate gaps in readings data and issues contingency read requests to fill those gaps.

To add the Gap Fill Interrogation service:

  1. Go to System Administration > Service Management.

  2. Select the appropriate server, and then click the Add Service button.

  3. From the Service Type dropdown menu, select Gap Fill Interrogation Service.

  4. In Service ID, enter a unique name for this service.

  5. Select a Preferred Server. IEE runs the service on the selected server. You must create a server before you can select it from the list.

  6. Select an Alternate Server. This server runs the service if the preferred server fails or becomes unavailable. Selecting an alternate server is not required.

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