MultiSpeak® is a software specification designed to help small electric utilities, such as electric cooperatives, automate their business processes and exchange data among software applications. While it was developed specifically to aid small electric utilities, MultiSpeak may also provide value to other utilities and organizations.

The MultiSpeak specification helps vendors and utilities develop interfaces so that software products from different vendors can interoperate without requiring the development of extensive custom interfaces. It is expected that MultiSpeak will make cost-effective, integrated software applications more readily available to utilities.

The foundation of the specification is an agreement among participating vendors on just what data objects should be exchanged to integrate different kinds of software applications. The specification defines standardized interfaces among software applications commonly used in small utilities, and it offers guidelines on how software vendors should implement those interfaces to give utilities the most value from the integration. Finally, MultiSpeak operates an independent software-testing program to assure utilities that software products claiming compatibility with the specification actually “work as advertised.”

The MultiSpeak specification is designed so that the details of an interface should not vary substantially, regardless of the applications being integrated. Changes in one vendor’s software should not require changes in another vendor’s interface.

Unfortunately, the requirements for integration of software applications for utilities are too complicated and diverse for any single specification to provide a universal “plug-and-play” solution. The MultiSpeak specification has been designed from the ground up to address the majority of the common integration challenges of small utilities, but it is not guaranteed to address all integration needs. Your vendors may need to fine-tune their MultiSpeak interfaces or create special interfaces to meet the specific needs of your utility. Additional work would be most likely if you have any of the following circumstances:
Not all your software products support MultiSpeak3.

• Your MultiSpeak-compatible software applications do not support all the defined data flows
• You need to integrate software that uses significantly different versions of MultiSpeak or that sends data using different communications transfer options.
• Your organization wants to send data items that have not been defined in MultiSpeak. (MultiSpeak defines a vast number of data, but there are special situations that are not addressed.)
• Your software solutions were implemented in a nonstandard way. For example, the following situations would alter the effectiveness of MultiSpeak-defined interfaces: storing critical data in nonstandard data fields, having poor quality data, or using unusually formatted data.

MultiSpeak3 supports batch file transfers and real-time transport using web services, which standardize the transport of instructions and data among MultiSpeak-compatible software applications. MultiSpeak3 defines more than 200 unique Web service methods to implement real-time data and process integration. Methods defined include those that request or publish data, along with procedure calls to perform specific standardized business processes, such as reading or disconnecting customer revenue meters.

Web services offer several key advantages for improving business processes at electric distribution cooperatives. Applications can be tightly integrated, enabling utility employees to work in the software application that they are most familiar with, rather than taking time to switch to another application.

A web service is like writing a contract for two different programs that outlines how a service is going to be performed for you. This is a powerful and popular technology. If you have used the Internet to check the local temperature or book an airline flight, you have used a web service to perform that task. A web service can be administered over the Internet or on an intranet using Internet technology.

The previous version of MultiSpeak, Version 2.2, offered a very powerful and flexible messaging framework that was state of the art at the time that Version 2.2 was released. The flexibility of the messaging framework, however, came at the price of complexity. Many of the MultiSpeak vendors found implementing this version daunting.

Since Version 2.2 was released, web services standards have evolved and industry acceptance matured to the point that the application of web services in utilities was appropriate and their adoption industry-wide was nearly ensured. A significant number of software development toolkits that support new web services standards also became available. These new tools enable vendors—and even co-ops themselves—to develop web services interfaces rapidly. We are starting to see the results now in new MultiSpeak web services-enabled applications.

Version 2.2 interfaces were certified using compliance testing, a means to verify that a single software application, acting in isolation, supported the requirements of the specification. Two compliant applications that shared a common interface were more likely, but not certain, to work together. Version 3.0 interfaces are tested for interoperability. An interoperability test certifies that two software applications (typically provided by two different vendors) actually work together to support some utility business process.

It is still possible for a vendor to test a single product in isolation by testing the product’s compatibility with a batch data transfer or using a web services testing harness. The testing harness acts as a universal client or server, providing a partner for the software under test.

In interoperability testing, two products (typically from different vendors) are submitted for joint testing. The vendors develop an assertions document that states the joint MultiSpeak functionality that they wish to claim and how those capabilities may be used to support utility business processes. The independent testing agency then verifies that the two products integrate as described and that the integration is achieved using MultiSpeak. The verified assertions document is then posted on the MultiSpeak web site (www.MultiSpeak.org) for download by interested parties. You may use these documents to see, in detail, exactly what MultiSpeak-compatible integration is included in the vendor product interfaces. This type of testing is performed by the NRECA-approved testing agent when pairs of vendors specifically request and pay for such testing.

It should be noted that, in some cases, products may be interoperable, but the vendors have chosen not to pay for testing to document this fact. For some vendors, whose products are expected to integrate with a large number of software products offered by different vendors, the cost of testing all possible combinations of software can be burdensome. Thus, they may choose not to perform all these tests.

MultiSpeak does not inherently include considerations of data security. However, messages that exchange MultiSpeak-formatted data may be secured at the option of the utility if software vendors provide security support. For more information about how security can be implemented over a MultiSpeak interface, see Appendix E of the User’s Guide and the separate document, Security Considerations in Implementing MultiSpeak®-Compliant Applications. Both are available from the MultiSpeak web site (www.MultiSpeak.org).

There are two ways for you to get software that supports MultiSpeak functionality: (i) purchase MultiSpeak-compatible applications directly from your current software vendors or (ii) write your own compatible interfaces.

If one of your current software vendors does not provide MultiSpeak-compatible interfaces, you may use the MultiSpeak specification to write your own compatible interface for that product or get a third party to write such an interface. There are many developer tools for web services that simplify the job of writing interfaces. In addition, the MultiSpeak offers its Integrator Training workshop, a full day that describes how MultiSpeak exchanges data and how web services are supported in MultiSpeak. Integrator training is available for interested utility staff. The MultiSpeak specification is freely available on the MultiSpeak Initiative web site (www.MultiSpeak.org).

There is no direct charge to utilities from NRECA or the MultiSpeak Initiative for the use of MultiSpeak. However, users should be aware that vendors have invested significant time, energy and capital in the development of MultiSpeak-compatible interfaces, and most must recover these investments in some manner. Some vendors may choose to offer MultiSpeak interfaces as part of their core software package and recover the costs from all users; others may offer MultiSpeak interfaces as add-on components and recover the costs for such add-ons from the customers who request them. As vendors serving the electric utility industry develop more MultiSpeak-compatible interfaces, the overall cost of interoperable software should drop for all users.

MultiSpeak uses an assertions document to describe in detail the MultiSpeak-compatible integration shared by two software products. The assertions document describes the level of MultiSpeak integration between two products that have passed Version 3.0 interoperability testing. Assertions documents are written to inform utility staff. They answer the following questions:

• What can I do with the software products that would not be possible without the MultiSpeak integration?
• Why is this shared functionality important to my business processes?
• How have the vendors used MultiSpeak to accomplish the integration described?
• How much of the MultiSpeak-defined interface capability do these two products support?

Some vendors may incorporate features of MultiSpeak compatibility in their products without submitting their products to MultiSpeak for testing. But the best way to know that two products work together and how is by purchasing MultiSpeak-compatible products or requiring MultiSpeak integration in your RFP.

The MultiSpeak specification is intended to be a living document that is modified as necessary to meet the most common needs of small electric utilities. If there are common application types that are not covered by the specification—and for which interfaces with other types of software would be beneficial—utilities or vendors should suggest to the MultiSpeak User’s Group, to NRECA or to the MultiSpeak project coordinator that these applications be added to the specification in the near future.

There are three things that a utility can do to further the development of the MultiSpeak specification:

• The best way to influence the future direction of the specification is to attend the MultiSpeak User’s Group meeting, which is typically held at NRECA’s TechAdvantage conference. Input is solicited at such meetings from both the vendor and user communities for enhancements to the specification. Additional information about the User’s Group meetings may be found on the MultiSpeak Initiative web site (www.MultiSpeak.org).
  
• Consider the benefits of MultiSpeak compatibility when purchasing new or upgraded application software.

Since vendors have limited development funds, and target those funds to meet the goals of their users, it is vital that utilities communicate to vendors the importance of MultiSpeak compatibility in vendor offerings.