Grid Asset Graph Architecture for the Energy Transition.
We design CIM-aligned utility architectures — IEC 61968/61970 semantics over a grid asset graph — that reconcile the as-built network in GIS with the as-operated network in SCADA and ADMS. The blueprint gives planning, outage, and DER programmes one governed model of the grid.
Fragmented Silos
Legacy Utility systems and disconnected feeds.
CIM-Aligned Domain Design
Grid Asset Graph Blueprints
Production Reality
IEC CIM 61968/61970 Alignment
IEC CIM 61968/61970 Alignment
Grid Asset Graph Blueprints
DER-Ready Domain Design
Industry-Specific Friction Points
As-Built vs As-Operated Drift
GIS holds the as-built network, ADMS and SCADA operate the as-switched one, and the SAP asset master describes a third. Without an architectural reconciliation layer, every load study and outage analysis starts with a topology argument.
No Common Semantic Model
Each system names conductors, transformers, and service points differently. Absent IEC CIM (61968/61970) alignment, every integration is a bespoke point-to-point mapping that decays with each ADMS, OMS, or MDM upgrade.
DER Growth Outpaces the Model
Rooftop solar, storage, and flexibility aggregated under FERC Order 2222 are reshaping the distribution edge, but legacy architectures model the network as passive load — leaving nowhere to represent DER registrations, telemetry, or dispatch.
How the Utility delivery flow works
This technical flow diagram reveals how Unolabs treats Utility data to deliver governed, production-ready outputs.
Source Layer
Model Audit
Auditing GIS, ADMS, MDM, and ERP schemas against IEC 61968/61970 classes to expose where the network models disagree.
Industry Logic
Domain Decoupling
Separating connectivity, measurement, asset, and customer concerns into bounded contexts with explicit stewardship.
Graph Blueprint
Designing the feeder-to-meter graph that reconciles as-built and as-operated topology for planning and outage teams.
Activation
Federation Design
Architecting federated ownership for grid data products under regulatory retention and audit obligations.
How the work is engineered for Utility
CIM-Aligned Domain Design
We map utility domains — Asset, Connectivity, Measurement, Customer, Outage — onto IEC CIM classes, so data products survive vendor swaps and system upgrades instead of being rebuilt with them.
Grid Asset Graph Blueprints
We design the traversable graph that joins GIS connectivity, SCADA measurement points, AMI service points, and asset work history into one navigable network model from substation to meter — or, for water and wastewater networks, from treatment works through DMA to service connection.
DER-Ready Architecture
We blueprint where DER registrations, IEEE 1547 interconnection data, and aggregated flexibility live in the estate, so DERMS, ADMS, and planning teams read the same picture of the grid edge.
Where the Real Work Is
You Implement a Profile, Not the Standard
IEC CIM spans thousands of classes, and attempting wholesale adoption is how utilities end up with a two-year modelling project and nothing in production. The real architectural decision is profile scoping: which classes and associations your meter-to-cash, outage, and connectivity domains actually need, documented as a governed profile with explicit extension rules. A tight profile gives integrations a stable contract; the rest of the standard stays available as vocabulary for the day a new domain needs it.
Connectivity Is Data That Decays
Field crews re-phase conductors, swap transformers, and cut new services faster than GIS edits catch up, so the meter-to-transformer mapping is wrong somewhere on the network every single day. An architecture that treats connectivity as static reference data institutionalises that error. We design connectivity as versioned, correctable data with a reconciliation loop — AMI-derived electrical evidence flagging where the mapped topology disagrees with observed behaviour, feeding corrections back through GIS stewardship rather than around it.
Design for the Next Vendor Swap
Every ADMS, MDM, and OMS in the estate will be replaced or upgraded on some multi-year cycle, usually more than once over the life of the data architecture. Point-to-point integrations die with each swap; that is where integration budgets actually go. Anchoring shared semantics to CIM classes and isolating each vendor system behind an anti-corruption layer means a replacement rewrites one adapter, not every consumer that ever touched the old system's schema.
Visible work products, not vague advice
Each deliverable is designed to be used by Utility architects, engineers, data owners, and operations teams after the engagement ends.
How We Measure the Architecture
Architecture only counts when it changes what teams can build on top of it. We baseline these measures against your current estate at kickoff and review movement with the same yardstick throughout.
Connectivity resolution rate
Percentage of service points that resolve through the asset graph to a live transformer and its feeder, with disagreements between GIS and observed AMI behaviour surfaced as a worked exception queue.
Profile coverage of in-scope entities
Share of entities in the agreed domains mapped to governed CIM profile classes, so 'CIM-aligned' is a checkable claim rather than a slideware adjective.
Time to onboard a new consumer
Elapsed days from a team requesting grid data to querying a governed data product through the shared model, measured before and after the architecture lands.
Competing definitions retired
Count of duplicate asset, measurement, and customer definitions consolidated into single governed sources — each retirement removes a reconciliation argument from every future project.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do we need to adopt the full IEC CIM standard to get value?
No — and attempting to is the classic failure mode. Value comes from a scoped profile: the specific IEC 61968/61970 classes your priority domains need, with documented extensions for what the standard does not cover. That profile is small enough to implement in months and stable enough to outlive vendor swaps.
Our GIS is years behind the field. Doesn't that sink the asset graph?
It reframes the work. The architecture treats GIS as the authoritative but imperfect source and pairs it with a reconciliation loop: connectivity versions carry confidence status, AMI-derived evidence flags where mapped topology disagrees with electrical behaviour, and corrections route to GIS stewards. The graph gets more trustworthy with use instead of silently wrong.
Where do DER and interconnection records fit in the design?
As first-class entities, not attributes bolted onto premises. The blueprint gives DER registrations, IEEE 1547 interconnection data, and aggregation relationships an explicit home linked to the service point and feeder they affect — so planning, DERMS, and hosting-capacity work read one consistent picture of the grid edge.
How an engagement starts
Send us your current integration map — however rough — before a discovery call, and we come back with a one-page read on which domains a CIM profile should cover first and where the asset graph pays back fastest.
Interested in the full industry blueprint?
We have deeper technical documentation for Data Architecture for Utility in the Utility sector.
Bring one asset that GIS and SCADA disagree on. We'll model its graph node together.