Using a post-analysis software to monitor and improve system performance

The use of postanalysis at Southern Company Services, Inc. (SCS) to compare systematically the actual pool dispatch against the ideally planned strategy is discussed. The post-analysis report, which is generated each morning by the operations planning department, provides system schedules with concrete feedback on how well the system was dispatched the previous day. The practice has proved to be very effective in raising the cost awareness among system dispatchers and sharpening their intuitive knowledge of the overall system economics. The software tools that are used at SCS to perform postanalysis are described, and two case studies are presented to illustrate the use of these tools in a day-to-day operating environment.<>