Bring in grid data

What to send, how it gets in, and how to tell it arrived

This page is for utilities whose AMI, SCADA, and GIS data is set up with Texture's Solutions team. To connect customer devices or a fleet yourself, see How to connect.

Texture's Solutions team will work with your organization to develop a data intake plan tailored to your exact data sources and requirements. To get started, contact us.

How each kind of data comes in#

How files get to Texture#

When meter or SCADA data arrives as files, Texture picks them up from where your systems already put them:

• SFTP: Texture connects to your SFTP server, copies new files into Texture's storage, and processes them from there.
• Amazon S3: Texture collects new files from an S3 bucket you give it access to.

Texture's Solutions team sets up the connection to your file location. By default, Texture checks S3 for new files every 15 minutes and SFTP every hour, and processes each file as it arrives. The Solutions team also loads your grid topology files with you.

If your meters come from NISC's meter data management system, Texture polls it once a day.

What to prepare#

Before your intake plan starts, gather what applies to your sources:

• Access to your file location: your SFTP server details and credentials, or access to your S3 bucket
• Meter data: exports from your AMI head-end, or access to your meter data management system
• SCADA data: exports from your SCADA historian
• Grid topology: a GIS export for names, geometry, and meter numbers (GeoJSON or Esri JSON), a Milsoft WindMil .std file for the hierarchy, or both
• Site addresses: a list of service locations and their addresses

Make sure each meter number in your AMI data exactly matches the meter number on one consumer service point in your GIS. Use the meter number from your GIS data, not from your billing system. Texture uses that match to give the meter a site and a place on the map.

• If the number matches no service point, or more than one, the readings still arrive, but the meter has no site and no map pin.
• The service point needs an address. If more than one site is at that address, the meter isn't linked to a site.
• Generation meters link to their generator in your grid model and don't get a site.
• If the service point isn't loaded yet, the meter is placed the next time its readings arrive after the service point is loaded.

Send a file with File Exchange#

To send a one-off or large file, such as a full history export or a format Texture doesn't parse yet, go to Connect → File Exchange. Drop the file on the upload area, add a title and notes about what it contains, and click Upload. Any file type is accepted, and Texture follows up if it needs more from you.

The upload runs in the background while you keep working. Track it from the background tasks menu in the top navigation, or pause, resume, or cancel it on the File Exchange page. To see past uploads, click View history on the File Exchange page.

Check that your data has arrived#

The Solutions team tells you when your data is set up. You can also check it yourself:

• Open Explore. Sites and grid elements are on the map once GIS has placed them. Matched meters show up at their site. To find a meter that didn't match, search for its meter number.
• On a site, each meter card shows Last Reading. On a grid element with SCADA status readings, the time is on SCADA Status.

If something looks missing, see Troubleshoot missing data.

Next step#

Once your grid data is in, start at Your grid at a glance.