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Consulting

Smart Metering

Smart metering generally involves the installation of an intelligent meter at residential customers and the regular reading, processing and feed back of consumption data to the customer.

A "smart" meter has the following capabilities:

real-time or near-time registration of electricity use and possibly electricity gener-ated locally e.g., in case of photovoltaic cells;
Offering the possibility to read the meter both locally and remotely (on demand);
remote limitation of the throughput through the meter (in the extreme case cutting of the electricity to the customer)
interconnection to premise-based networks and devices (e.g., distributed generation)
ability to read other, on-premise or nearby commodity meters (e.g., gas, water).

Usually, a smart meter is considered for registry of electricity and gas use, but also water consumption registration is a possibility.Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
The 'intelligence' of the meter is incorporated in the electricity meter. It has three basic functions: measure the electricity used (or generated), remotely switch the customer off and remotely control the maximum electricity consumption. The electricity meter communicates by means of a modem. An important characteristic is the communication infrastructure used by the smart meter for this communication.

Amongst the possibilities are:

Power Line Carrier (PLC, using the existing electricity grid);
a wireless modem (GSM of GPRS) or an existing permanent internet connection (ADSL).

An interface connects the smart meter to home appliances or a home display. Appliances can be controlled directly and the display can be used to show (historic) energy data and energy cost.

A smart meter is a logical successor of the mechanical electricity meter, just as the pick-up, the dial phone and the typewriter are replaced with digital, more intelligent alternatives.

Project Management

Project management is the process of guiding a project from its beginning through its performance to its closure. Project management includes three basic operations:

Planning: Specifying the desired results, determining the schedules, and estimating the resources
Organizing: Defining peopleâ€™s roles and responsibilities
Controlling: Reconfirming peopleâ€™s expected performances, monitoring actions and results, addressing problems, and sharing information with interested people

Successful organizations create projects that produce desired results in established time frames with assigned resources. Most projects fail for lack of engaging certified and experienced project management consultants. Projects are carried out without following best practices.

The primary challenge of project management is to achieve all of the project goals and objectives while honoring the preconceived constraints. Typical constraints are

scope
time
budget

The secondary challenge is to optimize the allocation and integrate the inputs necessary to meet pre-defined objectives.

PRINCE2 is our project management methodology of choice in managing projects. All our project management consultants are PRINCE2 trained. We employ other project management methodology based on the nature of the project.

Regardless of the methodology employed, careful consideration is given to the overall project objectives, timeline, and cost, as well as the roles and responsibilities of all participants and stakeholders to ensure a successful project.

Sequence consults have certified project management consultants that help organizations manage their project from conception to closure.

IT Strategy

As IT becomes an increasingly important business tool for organizations of all sizes, it is vital to ensure that your business gets the most out of any system it introduces. In order to achieve this, you need to make sure that the IT system you choose supports your business and adds value to it.

The core purpose in developing an IT strategy is to ensure that there is a strong and clear relationship between IT investment decisions and the organizationâ€™s overall strategies, goals, and objectives.

Developing a sound IT strategy can be very important for one simple reasonâ€”an organization defines the IT agenda incorrectly or partially correctly, it runs the risk that significant organizational resources will be misdirected. Some, and perhaps most, resources may not be devoted to furthering strategically important areas. This risk has nothing to do with how well an organization executes the chosen IT direction. Being on time, on budget, and on specification is of diminished utility if the wrong thing is being done.

Business must be able to align IT with business objectives such that, the solution(s) implemented deliver real benefits to the business. Organizations need to have a comprehensive IT strategy document that serves as a policy document for the entire organization.

Information Technology strategy is a generation of an organization's overall objective(s), principles and tactics relating to the technologies that the organization uses. Such strategies primarily focus on the technologies themselves.

Sequence consult helps organization to develop and evolve an IT strategies that is sustainable and effective. We have several years of experience in helping organizations fine tune their IT strategy to meet with organizational objectives.