1 TDTWG Update to RMS Wednesday February 14 th, 2007

2 Officers 2007 Officers were elected at the February 1 st TDTWG meeting Chair - Jesse Cline with EC Power representing Just Energy Vice Chair - Annette Morton with AEP

3 5 Primary Activities in Progress 1.Define Processes for Notifications of ERCOT system failures 2.Monitor/Support Implementation of SCR745 3.Addressing ERCOT System Outages and system failures 4.Advise Market of Day Light Savings time change and the possibility of system impacts. 5.Provide input to Phase 2 of the Retail Market Transaction Processing Service Availability (RMTPSA) AKA SLA

4 #1 1.Continue working with CCWG, COPS, ERCOT Client Relations to ensure a comprehensive plan for ERCOT notifications related to system issues. December 14 th, joint meeting/conference call with TDTWG and CCWG. Two immediate requests were made of ERCOT.

5 #1 Continued ERCOT please send notifications from one single party instead of multiple parties. ERCOT granted the request and Implemented a change in process effective January 2007 ERCOT please notify the Market ASAP of unplanned outages and ASAP once systems are restored, even if this is outside of business hours. ERCOT stated they are unable to implement due to staffing constraints. They will implement this process with SCR748.

6 #2 2. Continue working with ERCOT to support implementation of SCR745 including the new architecture design TDTWG continues to stay engaged in the activities necessary to support this implementation and will stay involved through stabilization to ensure the system changes accomplish the intent.

7 3. Continue working with the ERCOT Manager of Operations to address each system incident. At the 2-1 TDTWG meeting, system incidents for December and January were reviewed. Many were the result of “fall out” from a implementation related to RBP/TIBCO or SCR745. Many were unrelated to any implementation. New SCR(s) may need to be created to resolve some of the instances with the same root cause. #3

8 #4 4. Day Light Savings Time ERCOT and Market Participant systems will most likely be impacted by the change in Day Light Savings time. TDTWG is working with ERCOT to provide updates to Market Participants and assist as needed.

9 #5 5.Continue working with ERCOT and MPs to revise the Retail Market Transaction Processing Service Availability (AKA SLA) document. A market workshop has been scheduled for February 27 th. TDTWG met and determined some suggestions for considered changes to the current document.

10 #5 Continued 5a. Current State of the RMTPSA document Document only addresses system outages Document does not take into consideration “degradation of service” issues or “fallout” Limited systems in scope Defined maintenance windows for planned outages (every Sunday, one weekend a month, 36 hours) ERCOT to maintain availability processing of 99.25% outside of maintenance windows

11 #5 Continued 5b. Impact of SCR 745 In 2005 with the approval of SCR745, it was noted that system availability would be able to be increased from 99.25% to 99.9% excluding planned maintenance windows. The RMTPSA document should reflect this including an effective date. Note: The stabilization period for SCR745 should be considered in setting the effective date of 99.9% for system availability.

12 #5 Continued 5c. Service Degradation Issues “Service Degradation” as defined by TDTWG… ERCOT Systems not processing successfully for instances other than unplanned/planned outages. TDTWG suggests the term “Business Process Failures” instead of “Service Degradation”.

13 #5 Continued Business Process Failures (Service Degradation) Following an implementation it is not uncommon to experience a minor amount of “fallout”. Workshop attendees should discuss what could be considered an “acceptable” amount/number of “fallout/system issues that can occur during a stabilization period. Note: “acceptable fallout” should be able to be directly tied to an implementation for an associated system and estimated/set in advance. Once the stabilization period has expired or acceptable “fallout” has been reached, there should be zero “fallout”.

14 #5 Continued TDTWG has identified the following categories of “Business Process Failures”. At a minimum, they include: Duplicate Transactions created by ERCOT Delays Slow system performance Data Loss Failed (bad data/error flow control, exceptions) Accessibility issues API GUI Timeout API TML

15 #5 Continued 5d. ERCOT system maintenance Through daily system maintenance, ERCOT may notice there is a strong possibility of a system failure in the immediate future, Currently when this happens they notify the market in advance and take an outage. If less than 10 days notification is provided this is identified as an unplanned outage. At the Dec 14 th meeting, TDTWG and CCWG discussed that while ERCOT should be proactive in system maintenance, it may not always be possible for 10 days notification to take place. Suggestion: Workshop attendees should discuss possibility of a language change to allow an acceptable number of these scenarios that would not be identified as an unplanned outage or define conditions which would not require a 10-day notification.

16 #5 Continued 5e. Systems in Scope Review the list of “systems in scope” for accuracy. Changes may be needed since some systems have changed. Determine if additional systems should be included.

17 February 27th Workshop RMS members and guests are invited to attend the Retail Market Transaction Processing Availability Workshop scheduled for February 27 th. The workshop will be facilitated by Aaron Smallwood, with ERCOT.

18 Thank You