Setting up your IT Systems

This chapter describes who does what and when during registration and the steps required for your IT team to set up your IT systems to interact with AEMO Australian Energy Market Operator’s market systems. Participants are encouraged to commence setting up their IT systems in parallel with participant onboarding.

About setting up your IT

The setting up of IT systems and the processing of registration have steps taking many weeks, and are interdependent. IT systems setup at your end is a complex process and requires careful planning by an experienced IT team.

IT access credentials are sent to your IT security contact during participant onboarding.

Time frames for your IT team to set up your IT systems vary according to the market you are registering in, your organisations individual requirements, and the experience of your IT team. Time frames are provided as a guide only. Organisations are encouraged to progress setting up their IT systems in parallel with participant onboarding.

Who does what when?

AEMO sets up the facilities applicable to the registration such as: domain accounts, folders for batch files, and standing data in the systems, in both the production and pre-production environments.

Participants are responsible for the setting up of infrastructure at their end, including any network, database, and hardware requirements for both the production and pre-production environments.

The time frames provided to set up IT systems vary according to the market you are registering in and are a guide only. They are dependent on your individual IT requirements and the experience of your IT team—please plan accordingly.

Figure 3 setting up IT systems timeline

Checklist for setting up your IT systems

Use this checklist to help you plan your IT system setup. It is a generic checklist of activities required for setting up your IT systems.

Table 4 checklist for setting up IT systems

	What	Who	How
1	Decide on network connection options	Participant	Identify and plan the networking and IT work at your end with your technical teams. AEMO’s default connection bandwidths for new connections are more than adequate for all circumstances, except the most unusual, and can be changed later. Participants arrange the subscription link, hardware, and software with their chosen telecommunication provider—including the access costs.
2	Familiarise and plan IT systems setup	Participant	AEMO has numerous systems with multiple interfaces to provide for the needs of all participants. Careful planning is required to decide what your specific requirements are for interfacing with AEMO’s systems, for example: How will you replicate data between your systems and AEMO’s? Do you have a light demand for data transfer suitable for using the Markets Portal interfaces? Do you have a heavy demand for data transfer requiring an IT infrastructure at your end? Do you have an experienced IT team that can maintain the IT infrastructure at your end and update it for each six-monthly release cycle? To familiarise yourself with AEMO’s systems for your market, read the relevant market section in this guide.
3	Set up data network connection	Participant AEMO	The network connection is set up by the participant’s network specialist and AEMO network specialists (and any third parties as organised by the participant) for their respective ends. The implementation time from point of technical network staff contact to implementation depends on such factors as: Connection type (VPN takes about 7 to 10 business days, Telstra advise a dedicated connection takes at least 20 business days). Participant equipment. Participant configuration. Participant time input. Note: registered participants with an existing MarketNet connection do not require another one. They can however, make changes to an existing MarketNet connection, see Making changes to your MarketNet connection.
4	Test the data network connection communicates to AEMO	Participant	Testing the network connection demonstrates a successful link to MarketNet without requiring access into the domain or systems (such as a “ping” test).
5	Set up access to AEMO’s market systems	AEMO	AEMO takes approximately 15 business days to set up your IT systems access concurrently with your registration application, and your data network connection. AEMO contacts the IT security contact provided in the registration application, advising the IT access credentials and other useful information for both pre-production and production (production is not yet activated).
6	Set up pre-production IT systems	Participant	You can now set up your required pre-production IT systems at your end. For more details about AEMO’s market systems, see the section in this guide for your market.
7	Set up data exchange to AEMO	Participant	Setting up data exchange to AEMO’s systems is complex and requires careful planning by an expert IT team. For more specific details of AEMO’s data exchange systems, see the relevant market section in this guide.
8	Set up user access to IT systems	Participant	The IT security contact who becomes the participant administrator identifies and sets up participant user access to AEMO’s systems, User Rights Management (URM).
9	Test pre-production IT systems	Participant	Using a test system connected to AEMO’s pre-production is ideal for training and familiarisation. Ensure you can see the folders for your participant ID in each system. Access any other systems relevant to you. Perform all the expected operations for your business needs, such as bidding, uploading files, or reporting. Ensure your pre-production system is separate from your production system.
10	Set up production IT systems	Participant	AEMO approves and activates your production environment after a period in pre-production of at least 5 to 10 business days (and may be much longer). Set up your live systems (production) to be separate from your test systems (pre-production). Adjust your production processes based on your experience with pre-production.
11	Test production IT systems	Participant	You are now “live” and can access and enter data into AEMO’s production environment.