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ECOES Release R02.0 Report
Change History
Version
Number
Status
Date of
Issue
Reason for Change
0.1
DRAFT
25/03/2015
Initial Draft of pre-release note, issued for internal review
0.2
DRAFT
26/03/2015
Internal review of initial drafting
1.0
FINAL
26/03/2015
Updated finalised document
Contents
1.
Introduction .................................................................................................................... 2
2.
Change Summary .......................................................................................................... 2
2.1
2.1.1
2.2
2.2.1
3.
VAR136 – Limiting ECOES users to a pre-defined number of searches .................. 2
Introduction .......................................................................................................... 2
Test planning........................................................................................................... 2
Testing................................................................................................................. 3
Other Release Deliverables ............................................................................................ 3
3.1.1
3.2
3.2.1
ECOES User Requirement Specification (URS) .................................................. 3
Other Documents provided by MRASCo ................................................................. 4
ECOES User Guide ............................................................................................. 4
4.
Pre-release Activities ...................................................................................................... 4
5.
“GO” Decision ................................................................................................................ 4
6.
Contacting MRASCo ...................................................................................................... 4
7.
Appendix A – Test Summary .......................................................................................... 5
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1. Introduction
This document provides an overview of the changes in scope for release R02.0 of the Electricity Central
Online Enquiry Service (ECOES). As such, this paper sets out a range of information for stakeholders,
including:

The agreed changes to ECOES functionality to be delivered within the release;

The User Acceptance Testing carried out before out in the period leading up to the planned golive date;

Any problems and resolutions raised during the testing phase;

Recommendation for release to “live” commencing 26th March 2015.
The purpose of this document is to confirm that the system is fit for purpose and will not disrupt the
market.
2. Change Summary
This release delivers one functional change from the previous ECOES baseline.
Details on this change are provided below.
Reference
VAR136
2.1
Title
Description
Following on from the recent ECOES extreme usage
Limiting ECOES users to a (13/08/2014) the MRA Executive Committee (MEC)
pre-defined number of
requested imposing a limitation of MPAN views on
users. This Variation adds a restriction on the number of
searches
views (600) per user per day of the MPAN Details page.
VAR136 – Limiting ECOES users to a pre-defined number of searches
2.1.1
Introduction
Following on from the recent ECOES extreme usage, the MRA Executive Committee (MEC)
suggested imposing a limitation on users to ensure the ECOES web interface does not temporarily
become offline. Users will have the number MPAN Details page views limited to 600 per calendar day.
Users will be blocked for the remainder of the calendar day if they attempt to exceed the threshold.
2.2
Test planning
The Functional Specification for VAR 136 provided by the Technical Service Provider (TSP) was
signed off on 3rd March 2015 according to which the testing plans were prepared by the tester. To
allow for testing of the variation the TSP set up and provided access to a User Acceptance Testing
(UAT) environment.
The ECOES Functional Specification and Variation documentation were reviewed and from this
exercise, the following key tests were identified for UAT:
Page 2 of 5

Checking that daily MPAN view limit can be set and changed;

Exceeding a limit of MPAN Details page views per user per day;

Checking if warning and informational notifications are displayed correctly;

Checking users exceeding daily MPAN Details page views limit are automatically logged out
and their user accounts are locked;

Evaluating the format and contents of MPAN view breach report delivered to CAS,
2.2.1
Testing
The ECOES UAT environment provided consisted of an instance of data from the live database. The
testing was carried out by performing MPAN searches, viewing MPAN Details pages and checking if
the limitation rules specified in the Functional and Requirements specifications are fulfilled.
Usability relating to the change was also tested to ensure that the user experience was not negatively
impacted as a result of the change.
One usability issue was identified at the beginning of testing. This issue resolved with assistance from
the TSP and is explained below:
Issue 1.0:
Additional view counts being registered after clicking “Show unsuccessful
registrations” button.
Description:
When a user is viewing the MPAN details screen and clicks “Show unsuccessful
registrations”, it re-loads the MPAN Details page, adding a count towards the search
limit.
Resolution:
The TSP amended this issue so that when both the “Show unsuccessful registrations”
and the “More history details” link was clicked ECOES treated this as the same MPAN
detail view and the count was not increased.
In total 16 tests were undertaken of which all 16 passed; these are summarised in Appendix A.
3. Other Release Deliverables
In addition to the changes outlined above, a number of new or revised documents will be released to
coincide with the release of the ECOES.
3.1.1
ECOES User Requirement Specification (URS)
ECOES URS has been aligned for ECOES Release 2.0 covering all variations listed in Section 2 of
this document. A draft of this document is available on the MRASCo website. This revised version will
have effect from 26th March 2015, subject to MRA parties’ agreement.
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3.2
Other Documents provided by MRASCo
3.2.1
ECOES User Guide
The User Guide for the ECOES web interface gives information on how to navigate the screens in the
web interface and provides guidance on which parties can view particular sub-sets of data.
This document has been updated prior to go-live to reflect the latest ECOES variations that involve
changes to screens visible to users.
4. Pre-release Activities
There have been a number of activities carried out in the lead up to the release. Many of these have
been carried out by MRASCo in order to ensure a successful release. These events are summarised
in the table below.
Activity
Date
Owner
Updated version of User Guide for ECOES Web Interface published on ECOES
website
26/03/2015
MRASCo
Updated version of ECOES User Requirement Specification published on
MRASCo website
26/03/2015
MRASCo
Final Release Note published on MRASCo website
26/03/2015
MRASCo
Formal confirmation of go-live for ECOES by MRASCo Development Board
(MDB)
00/03/2015
MDB
ECOES R02.0 live and available for use by market participants
26/03/2015
MRASCo
5. “GO” Decision
It is the acknowledged that the ECOES Variation VAR 136 outlined in this document has successfully
passed UAT and therefore a decision to “GO” with the delivery and deployment of this Variation into
the live operation environment has been reached.
6. Contacting MRASCo
For any queries relating to the ECOES, please contact the dedicated MRASCo CAS team:

Email:
[email protected]

Telephone:
020 7090 1068
Further information regarding ECOES can also be found via the ECOES pages on the MRASCo
website at www.mrasco.co.uk
Regrettably, the MRA cannot assist with any ECOES queries that are not under its governance,
including those relating to the change of Meter data on ECOES.
Page 4 of 5
7. Appendix A – Test Summary
VAR 136 - Limiting ECOES users to a pre-defined number of searches
Ref
Test
Expected Result
Outcome
1.01
Request TSP to change the parameter to 15
and view 15 MPANs and exceed the MPAN
view limit
Log in as two different ECOES users and
check the limit displayed on the remaining
views counter
Exceed the limit of MPAN views and try to
log in the same day
Maximum number of MPAN views a user can
perform per day is 15
PASS
Both users are initially limited to the same
number of MPAN views, but the views are
counted for each user individually
User is blocked from accessing their user account
PASS
Exceed the limit of MPAN views and try to
log in the next day
Search and open a number of MPANs
User account is unlocked next day
PASS
With each MPAN view the remaining views
number decreases by one
Views are restored to the maximum limit the
next day
"Further attempts to view MPAN Details will
result in you being locked out of ECOES for the
remainder of the day" warning message is
displayed when remaining views number reaches
zero
"Account locked. Daily limit of MPAN views has
been reached. You will now be locked out for the
remainder of the day. Your account will
automatically be re-enabled at midnight."
message is displayed
Logging in not permitted, a message is displayed:
"User could not be logged in (Daily MPAN views
exceeded)
The attachment contains the following columns:
UserID; Date; MPAN Views; User Name; Last
Name; First Name; CompanyName
All columns are populated with relevant data
PASS
Only breaches of that have exceeded the MPAN
view limit for 2 calendar days are listed. Users
that have exceeded the view limits once are
excluded from the report
MPAN Views column contains a count of views
per day of the attempts to view MPAN details
PASS
All searches performed are recorded correctly
PASS
1.02
1.03
1.04
1.05
1.06
1.07
Reach the limit of MPAN views and check the
number of remaining views
Reach the limit of MPAN views and check the
number of remaining views
1.08
Exceed the limit of MPAN views
1.09
Exceed the limit of MPAN views, log out of
ECOES and try to log in again
1.10
Request TSP to provide MPAN view breach
report and check the format and contents of
the report
Request TSP to provide MPAN view breach
report and check the format and contents of
the report
Request TSP to provide MPAN view breach
report and check the format and contents of
the report
1.11
1.12
1.13
1.14
Request TSP to provide MPAN view breach
report and check the format and contents of
the report
Request TSP to provide extract of the MPAN
Detail views database table
PASS
PASS
PASS
PASS
PASS
PASS
PASS
PASS
1.15
Open multiple MPANs in multiple browser
tabs
Remaining MPAN view number decreases
PASS
1.16
Exceed search limits using different web
browsers
Warning notices are displayed in the same way
on major browsers
PASS
– End of report –
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