Per the IEC 61968 Interface Reference Model, the Network Operations function defined in this part of IEC 61968 provides utilities with the means to supervise main substation topology (breaker and switch state), feeder topology and control equipment status through SCADA, AMI and other data sources. It also provides the means for handling network connectivity and loading conditions. Finally, it makes it possible for utilities to locate customer telephone complaints and coordinate activities of field crews with respect to planned and unplanned outages.

IEC 61968‑3 specifies the information content of a set of message payloads that can be used to support many of the business functions related to network operations. Typical uses of the message payloads defined in IEC 61968‑3 include data acquisition by external systems, fault isolation, fault restoration, trouble management and coordination of the real-time state of the network.

The scope diagram shown in Figure 1 illustrates the possibility of implementing IEC 61968‑3 functionality as either a single integrated advanced distribution management system or as a set of separate functions – OMS, DMS and SCADA. Utilities may choose to buy these systems from different vendors and integrate them using the IEC 61968‑3 messages. Alternatively, a single vendor could provide two or all of these components as a single integrated system. In the case of more than one system being provided by the same vendor, the vendor may choose to use either extensions of the IEC 61968 messages or a proprietary integration mechanism to provide enhanced functionality over and above what is required/supported by the IEC 61968‑3 specification. While this is a possible implementation, Subclause 4.3 defines the scope in terms of business functions that are implemented in common vendor offerings.

Annexes in this document detail integration scenarios or use cases, which are informative examples showing typical ways of using the message payloads defined in this document as well as message payloads to be defined in other parts of the IEC 61968 series.