Five Minute Settlement (5MS) commences on Friday 1^st October 2021.

For many months, we have been working on upgrades to all of our software, including the two versions of NEMreview that are currently in use:

v6 Installed Software Current Release

v7 Web-based App (Under Development) Beta Version Available

Version 6 is the current release of the software, and is installed software. Was… Pre 5MS – v6.4 was the most recent version, released in 2020, but some clients were running earlier versions. Now is … Post 5MS – this has been superseded by version 6.5 (the installer for which can be downloaded here).

All clients who have purchased access to NEMreview v6 are also provided early access to a pre-release beta of NEMreview v7. You can log into this here: app.NEMreview.info … just create an account just for yourself using your work email address (if your domain name is on our list of licensed users, it will enable your access). — Note… if you have access to NEMreview v6 as part of your licence to ez2view, then you can log in at app.ez2view.info and not the URL above.   It’s a more powerful version of NEMreview v7.

 

(A) What’s changed with each version

Let’s start with v6 and then move onto v7 to explain the approach we have taken in upgrading the software….

… but firstly, remember that we’re only continuing to provide v6 (as installed software) until we have developed v7 sufficiently (as an online service) so that clients can fully migrate to v7, and we can switch v6 off.  That’s part of the ongoing development of v7 that is continuing.

v7 has been available for many months now, and we know there is a bit of diversity in how clients use the software:

Subset #1)   Some clients (not many) still exclusively just use v6
Subset #2)  Other clients use v6 for some things that v7 does not do, but moreso use v7.  You might have seen us doing this, in articles utilising NEMreview on WattClarity (mostly v7 but occasionally still v6).
Subset #3)  Still other clients (a growing number) don’t bother with the installed v6 and just use v7.

We’re not rushed to meet an arbitrary release date for v7 (we’d rather ensure it does everything we want it to do before calling it ‘finished’) … and this approach has influenced the decisions we have made in this upgrade, as noted below…

(A1) What’s different in NEMreview v6 (v6.5 for 5MS)?

When we created the structure behind NEMreview v6 many years ago:

 1)  The software focused exclusively on trading data … which was 30-minute cadence until the commencement of 5MS on 1^st October 2021.
2)  The software included an option for a local updater, which fewer and fewer clients were using … instead opting to utilise the (default) ‘Web Database’ option.

Given all of the above we have taken the approach of:

1)  Removing, entirely, the local Updater (such that all copies of v6.5 will source data from the ‘Web Database’; and
2)  Continuing (in v6.5) with all data being 30 minute in cadence/granularity.

This obviously does not match with the new 5-minute trading periods that commence on 1^st October 2021, but we reason that this is a pragmatic solution given that:

Reason #1)  Most use of NEMreview v6 is to perform longer-term trending of aggregated data; and
Reason #2)  Most clients use NEMreview v7 for any querying of shorter-term data.

With these decisions made:

1)   what’s happened with the installed software in v6.5 has been focused on implementing these decisions
2)  and we have also taken this opportunity to clean up some other things as well
3)  the legacy v6 Help Site is being updated to reflect how the software has changed.
4)  We are also in the process of updating Bidders, Owners and Traders (which we know is out-of-date) and will make that live when we are finished that in the coming days…

Remember that you can download the v6.5 installer here.

(A2) What’s different in NEMreview v7 (now in 5MS)?

Recently in 2021 we have developed this handy NEMreview v7 Help Site – which is aimed at helping v7 users gain more value from the software.  We’ll link to some of the new pages on this site below.

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As far back as 2017, when we began developing NEMreview v7, we were very conscious that we needed to incorporate data of different cadence in the underlying ‘Trends Engine*’ that supports this software.

*  Note that a larger and more functional version of the ‘Trends Engine’ also sits behind several functions available in our ez2view software subscription.

As such, there has always been data of 5-minute cadence in the software, and data of 30-minute cadence (and also temperature readings at various cadence, ASX Energy data each market day, LGC registration each year, and so on).

All that is happening with the transition to 5MS is that ‘trading’ data will transition from 30-minute cadence to 5-minute cadence.

So it’s not a big change, in the front end – though we have invested time at the back end to change the way in which the data is sourced (partly prompted by the need to upgrade the AEMO NEM data source to the MMS v5.0 schema).   It’s been a bigger change at the back end.

Note that:

Watch for #1)  It might mean you need to revise some of the aggregation queries you have created with the data (e.g. if you have summed trading data, you will be adding 12 data points together in an hour, rather than 2).

Watch for #2)  Some of the facets (described here) that used to be in the software have been removed to avoid confusion … where clients had used these in their queries we have made an attempt to migrate these to a logical alternative, but you might want to check any saved queries you have.

Watch for #3)  If you notice any changes in performance recently (compared to how it was in August 2021, say), please let us know – as we would would very much like to hear from you … whether the change is better, or worse (indicating teething issues still to resolved).

 

(B) What’s coming in future?

As we discussed in this article, 2020 was a very busy year for us, including with respect to developments in NEMreview.

You won’t see the changes we have made (behind the scenes, in back-end infrastructure that supports the ‘Trends Engine’) as part of the process of getting ready for 5MS … but this also brings us another big step closer to being able to add in the additional other data sets that we envisaged making available to NEMreview clients in v7.

Next Step 1)  We envisage investing some time to focus on the completion of GenInsights21 in Q4 2021, which will also help us prioritise which data sets should be the focus for initial addition into the software.

Next Step 2)  We look forward to delivering you more functionality through NEMreview v7 and would ask you to contact us if you have questions, or suggestions for improvement.

Next Step 3)  Of course, if you know of people who can work with us to help us with this backlog of work, please let us know?