IEC 61968-2:2004 – Application Integration at Electric Utilities: System Interfaces for Distribution Management – Part 2: Glossary

Scope and Purpose of IEC 61968-2:2004

Part 2 of the IEC 61968 series, published in 2004, serves as the foundational glossary for the entire family of standards dealing with system interfaces for distribution management at electric utilities. While the broader IEC 61968 framework (now commonly known as the ‘Utility Integration’ standard) focuses on information exchange between distributed software applications in a utility enterprise, IEC 61968-2 provides the unambiguous vocabulary required to implement these interfaces.

The standard defines more than 250 terms related to distribution management systems (DMS), electrical network operation, asset management, meter reading, and outage management. It harmonizes terminology that had historically varied between regions and legacy systems, thereby enabling clearer requirements and implementations across vendors, integrators, and utility teams.

Key objectives of IEC 61968-2:2004 include:

• Establishing a single, consistent lexicon for the electric distribution domain.
• Supporting the development of interface reference models (IRMs) defined in later parts of the series.
• Providing interoperability with the IEC 61970 Common Information Model (CIM) by aligning distribution-specific terms with transmission-oriented definitions.
• Facilitating the creation of procurement specifications, request-for-proposal documents, and integration test plans.

Technical Requirements: Terminology Structure and Naming Conventions

IEC 61968-2:2004 defines terms using a structured approach that aligns with the overall interface reference model. The standard segments vocabulary into logical domains:

• Network Operation – terms for switching, fault isolation, restoration, and voltage control.
• Records and Asset Management – definitions for equipment types, installation, maintenance, and condition assessments.
• Operational Planning and Scheduling – outage scheduling, work management, switching orders.
• Customer Support and Metering – billing, meter reading, load control, customer events.
• SCADA, EMS, DMS Integration – distinctions between supervisory control, energy management, and distribution automation.

Each term entry includes a unique identifier, a preferred definition, examples of usage, and, where applicable, reference to related terms. Definitions avoid ambiguous language and are written to be machine-actionable for future semantic web and ontology implementations.

Naming conventions are critical. The standard requires that class and attribute names use CamelCase, with the first letter of the term capitalized (e.g., SwitchOperation). Attributes are always written with a lower-case initial letter (e.g., normalOpen). Associations between terms follow the naming rules of the IEC 61970 CIM as a base.

Cross-Reference with the Common Information Model (CIM)

IEC 61968-2:2004 explicitly maps its glossary entries to the IEC 61970 CIM (version 10 and later). For example, the term Breaker is defined with a mapping to the CIM class Breaker in the Wires package, ensuring that a distribution network breaker is not confused with a transmission-level breaker. This traceability is vital for end-to-end data exchange between energy management systems (EMS) and distribution management systems (DMS).

Implementation Highlights and Practical Adoption

For system integrators and utility IT architects, IEC 61968-2:2004 is more than a dictionary—it is the entry point to the entire interface specification framework. A typical adoption roadmap includes:

1. Terminology Audit: Map existing database schemas, XML/JSON tag names, and business rules to the standard glossary. Identify gaps where legacy terms conflict.
2. Interface Design: Use the glossary to name message payload elements (e.g., for IEC 61968-4:2004 on network operation interfaces) consistently, reducing the need for complex XSLT transformations.
3. Testing and Validation: Create conformance tests that verify message payloads use standard term names and definition alignments. Tools like CIM RDF validators can automate compliance checks.
4. Training and Governance: All program documentation, from requests for proposals (RFPs) to operations manuals, should adopt the glossary to avoid million-dollar miscommunications during large-scale DMS modernizations.

A concrete case: A European distribution operator replacing its legacy SCADA with a modern ADMS saved €1.2M in integration costs after insisting that all vendors adopt the IEC 61968-2:2004 term set during the tender phase. The glossary enforcement eliminated custom mapping for eight sub-systems.

Compliance Notes and Certification

IEC 61968-2:2004 does not by itself offer a compliance or certification path. Conformance is demonstrated indirectly when a product or system passes interface tests for other parts of the IEC 61968 series (e.g., Part 3: Network Operation, Part 9: Meter Reading). However, there are important compliance considerations:

• Normative vs. Informative Terms: Only terms that are marked as normative in the glossary must be implemented as defined. Informative terms serve as guidance and are not subject to conformance tests.
• Extensions: Vendors may add proprietary extensions, but they must document any deviation from the core terminology. The IEC recommends using namespaces to separate standard terms from extensions (e.g., std:Breaker vs. vendor:SmartBreaker).
• Version Compatibility: Systems claiming compliance to the 2004 edition must not introduce contradictory synonyms. For example, Customer Account and Customer Agreement have distinct meanings in the glossary; using them interchangeably would violate conformance.

Legal and Procurement Considerations – Utilities in markets requiring IEC compliance (e.g., European EN 62325 framework, some Asian regulatory bodies) often mandate adherence to the IEC 61968 series. The terminology defined in Part 2 becomes a contractual baseline. In disputes, the glossary definitions prevail over local jargon.

Frequently Asked Questions

— Article reference year: 2026 —