Report of PSA activities 2013

BIENNIAL GENERAL MEETING 31/10/2013

Report of the work of the Association over the past 2 years – Ver 3 21/11/2013

Inception

Following the period of development of the Protocol, the Protocol Standards Association was formed on 27^th September 2011 at Interim Committee Meeting #8. The first Committee meeting of the new PSA was held on 11^th December 2011. The Committee then consisted of:

Vendors:

• Andrew Scott – Serck Controls (now Schneider Electric)
• Guy Fitzpatrick – ITT Water & Wastewater (now Xylem)
• Stuart Combellack – Technolog
• Malcolm Tyler – Grontmij
• Gavin Rawson – CSE-Servelec
• Mark Davison – Metasphere

Users:

• Simon Harrison – Anglian Water
• Harry Wilkin – United Utilities
• Russell Wheadon – Thames Water
• Jim Baker – Water Corporation of Western Australia
• Martin Pritchard – Severn Trent Water
• Russell Rees – Dwr Cymru/Welsh Water

Meetings

Over the past 2 years the Committee have met monthly, 4 times a year at a face-to-face meeting and the remaining months via a teleconference. These teleconferences have been successful in enabling discussions without time-consuming long distance travelling. Nevertheless the Committee have always felt that face-to-face meetings are desirable at least 4 times a year.

Committee changes

Chairman Malcolm Tyler resigned in early 2013 due to health problems. Martin Pritchard of Severn Trent Water took over as chairman after a vote by the committee. Charles Williams joined the Committee as Grontmij representative.

Membership

Take-up of the PSA membership was brisk, with the membership levels generally increasing as follows: 

Date	Corporate Members	Additional members	Total Membership
Dec 2011	30	33	63
January 2012	32	33	65
February 2012	35	32	67
March 2012	36	35	71
April 2012	39	37	76
May 2012	37	36	73
June 2012	39	37	76
July 2012	39	37	76
August 2012	33	39	72
September 2012	38	36	74
October 2012	39	40	79
November 2012	39	40	79
December 2012	39	40	79
January 2013	39	41	80
February 2013	39	41	80
March 2013	39	41	80
April 2013	39	41	80
May 2013	39	40	79
June 2013	39	39	78
July 2013	44	39	83
August 2013	44	40	84
September 2013	40	49	89

Treasurer’s and Secretarial Services

These duties have been undertaken throughout this period by Ed Oborn. 

Financial accounts

The accounting period has been chosen as the anniversary of the first transaction of the PSA bank account which was on 13^th January 2011. The financial year thus runs from 13^th January to 12^th January the following year.

Financial accounts have been drawn up by Mr Alan Matthews FCMA FCCA

Chartered Certified Accountant to cover the period 12^th January 2011 to 13^th January 2013.

Bank account

The PSA bank account is held at NatWest Bank Bristol and is managed by the Treasurer. The bank balance over the period has generally increased from zero at 23^rd January 2011 to the current (end September 2013) of £22,524. The balance has always been healthy and has shown a general upward trend.

Website

The PSA has operated a website at www.witsprotocol.org The original website name was changed in 2012 to eliminate the emphasis on the UK. The website has proved difficult to manage and maintain so a new format website is currently under development.

Technical issues during the period

A variety of technical issues have been raised which have been discussed and tackled by the technical team. There have been no issues raised from vendors or users which have proved impossible to resolve. No serious technical problems which could have jeopardised the validity of the Protocol have arisen.

Constitution changes

There have been several changes to the Constitution following issues that arose during the period. There were no major changes made apart from the introduction of Honorary membership. The Constitution now stands at Issue 1.5 as of 4/10/13

 

WITS Protocol Release records

WITS-DNP3 version	Document release pack	Supplemented with TBs	Device Profile version	Log File version	IC version	Functionality	Tested with PSA Spec version
2.1	Release 5-SAv5		1.5	3	4	Added details to support High Speed Sampled Data configuration and log retrieval Added functionality for counter reset after periodic logging Minor document corrections	2.1
2.0	4 (July 2012)4a (Feb 2013)	TB#43, TB#44	1.4 (with updates Feb 2013)	2	3	Added details to support DNP3 Secure Authentication version 5 Minor document corrections	2.0a
1.3	Release 5-SAv2		1.5	3	4	Added details to support High Speed Sampled Data configuration and log retrieval Added functionality for counter reset after periodic logging Minor document corrections	1.3
1.2	3 (June 2011)3a (Dec 2011)3b (Feb 2013)	TB#40, TB#43, TB#44	1.4 (with updates Feb 2013)	2	3	Added Control Profile functionality and the associated new IC record Additional HCDS bit to show local IC change Added “end of period” action to IC for integral, state runtime and state counter points Added “end of period” reason to WITS quality attribute in logs and data sets Minor document corrections	1.2b
1.1	2 (Dec 2010)2a (Feb 2013)	TB#37, TB#38, TB#40, TB#43	1.3 (with updates Feb 2013)	1	2	Base functionality after completing interoperability testing by the founder members and: Change to the units of time on the scheduled call IC record	1.1b

 

WITS PROTOCOL STANDARDS ASSOCIATION
9 Purn Lane
Weston-super-Mare
BS24 9JG

Email: enquiries@witsprotocol.org
Website: www.witsprotocol.org