InfoPro: Mode Planning

The Software Product "INFOPRO: Mode Planning" (formerly ASTEP) is a multifunctional automated information system for planning optimal equipment modes and calculating technical and economic indicators of TPP.

2025: Separate Settlement Service

The InfoPro development team completed an important stage in the development of the Infopro: Regime Planning product, which the company announced on July 17, 2025.

As part of the work, two key updates were implemented:

• A separate service for calculations - calculations now take place autonomously and do not interfere with the rest of the program's functions.
• The updated optimization algorithm is more efficient and faster, it is already used in tasks such as ranking VSVGO.

According to the developers of InfoPro, the implemented changes made it possible:

• speed up the operation of the program with the simultaneous work of several users;
• exclude slow-down operation during start-up of complex calculations;
• lay a solid foundation for the transition to a scalable microservice architecture.

2012: InfoPro: Mode Planning: Purpose, Features, Architecture, Functionality

Product purpose

According to information as of March 2012, the program product "INFOPRO: Mode Planning" allows you to receive primary data from information and measuring systems (including from paper media), create a storage of process data, create a mathematical model of the station, which allows performing the entire range of calculations for planning the optimal composition and operating mode of TPP equipment, calculations of forecasts, SPD on the operating range and TEI retrospectively at the pace of the process of obtaining primary information. When building a mathematical model, all the features of the station related to its topology, instrument fleet and technical condition of the main and auxiliary equipment are taken into account. The software product is intended for generating companies (OGK, TGC), thermal power plants (independent or as part of production enterprises).

Key benefits

• Unified Production Management and Commercial Dispatching Information System
• primary data (process information storage)
• calculation of technical and economic indicators
• operational and long-term planning of optimal operating modes
• preparation of data for work at the EMR
• Support for Decision-Making at OREM

Fast ROI

• efficient maintenance of optimal modes and their adjustment
• more accurate calculation of the CRP curve in the operating range and the formation of an optimal price requisition
• minimization of losses associated with fuel underutilization/overutilization
• effective participation in the balancing market by determining the most optimal reserve capacity

Not a high total cost of ownership (TCO) of a software product

• self-implementation and support capability
• warranty support period - up to 12 months
• flexible pricing policy of the manufacturing company
• ability to lease a software product

Data completeness and consistency

• reliability of data by storing information in one system
• the historicity of changes in the calculation model, regulatory and technical documentation, conditionally constant values, etc.

Transparency

• the mathematical model of the TPP, including the optimization function, is configured using * software product tools and is available for subsequent analysis and correction.

Application characteristics

• Speed: high calculation speed - TEI calculation time does not exceed 1 s, optimization calculation time does not exceed 30 s

• Documentation: availability of a complete set of documentation for the software product, maintenance of the current state of the documentation

Integration

• Integration with external systems:
• ERP systems (Oracle, Microsoft, SAP)
• Accounting systems (1C and others)
• Metering systems (ADPSCS, ADPCS, ADPCS)

Modularity

possibility of choosing the composition of the software product, priority of module implementation, possibility of replacing the module with a substitute component, with subsequent integration within the software product

Reliability

data protection against unauthorized access during storage and transfer

Presentation

the software product has a large set of tools for visualizing data and information (tables, graphs, diagrams, etc.), tools for generating reports of an arbitrary type and structure, presenting data in the form of mnemonic diagrams (stations, individual nodes), etc.

Customizability

• the ability to independently configure algorithms and calculation methods, configuration of information display, user interface
• software product allows to implement a distributed or centralized corporate system with the possibility of consolidation, analysis, recalculation of data from branches at the level of the Executive Office
• at the same time, in the central office of the enterprise there is complete (up to primary data) and consistent information about the work of all departments with high efficiency (from day to day or less)

Compliance

algorithms for calculating TEI and planning modes comply with the current federal legislative acts, corporate management documents and the regulatory layout in force at the station.

Usability

• the interface of the software product allows the user to perform maximum functions with a minimum number of actions, taking into account the specifics of the calculation work TEI
• availability of multi-user mode of operation and standard interfaces for data transmission

Architecture and Composition

System architecture

The software product has a three-link architecture with the allocation of a level DBMS including the storage of complex data and the service of interaction with third-party systems, the level of business logic, including the service of calculation and the service of customer interaction, and the client level, with the service of interaction with. Microsoft Excel

Composition of the system

• Administration module
• Source Data Module
• Mode planning module
• Module "Calculation of technical and economic indicators (TEI)"
• Reporting module

Functionality

• Source Data Acquisition
• possibility of obtaining data from any information and measuring systems
• digitization of diagram tapes in the absence of information and measuring systems
• manual input of source data

• Data Verification and Validation
• use of reliability of information and measuring systems
• check that the parameter value is in a valid range
• noise filtering: cutting off unreliable data coming from non-operating equipment
• flexible system of selection of missing (unreliable) data on statistics of surrounding values
• signaling to irrelevant values
• balancing of primary indicators

• Mode planning
• optimization of the mode and composition of the operating equipment of the plant according to the criterion of minimizing fuel costs for specified electrical and thermal loads
• calculation of Pmin and Pmax and the corresponding optimal mode
• calculation of characteristics of relative cost increases in the operating range
• calculation of the optimal mode relative to the current one at the load of the next hour or according to the requirements of the BR, which takes into account the possibility and optimality of the transition process
• using net indicators, which takes into account the change in auxiliaries when calculating the optimal mode
• possibility of medium-term and long-term forecasting of plant operation modes
• calculation of specific and natural values of fuel consumption at optimal and any other mode
• taking into account the maximum number of restrictions when implementing the optimization function:
  • technological limitations
  • limitations on equipment performance indicators due to its design features
  • technical limitations related to the technical condition of the equipment
  • common-plant
  • restrictions on circulating water, on electricity, related to heat dissipation by backpressure turbines implementation of the model of planning of stations loading in the power system, taking into account fuel plans

Calculation of technical and economic indicators (TEI)

• Balance reduction: by fuel, by electricity, by steam and heat
• the ability to independently adjust the calculation model without involving the developer
• arbitrary discreteness of the calculation (retrospectively and at the pace of the process of obtaining primary data)
• possibility of calculations "by shifts"
• control of the validity of the values ​ ​ of indicators, inheritance of reliability by participation in formulas and from the junior period of calculation to the senior
• determination of equipment state and mode by a set of measured values

Audit and Security Management

• safety system, which makes it possible to ensure the implementation of any regulations for the operation of the system
• maintaining audit log of changes in the system
• possibility of control over performed calculations from the control apparatus

Reporting and analysis

• possibility of comparative analysis plan/fact at the manufacturing process pace
• possibility of analysis by key technical indicators, both for the station and for the enterprise as a whole
• formation of regulated reporting
• formation of ad hoc reporting

Data storage

• archiving for any time interval
• building an enterprise data warehouse
• data consolidation
• maintaining a database of calculated modes

Specifications

• Technology Platform - Microsoft.NET Framework 3.5.
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 DBMS.
• Target client operating systems are Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 7.
• Target Servers OS -Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and higher.
• Support for Internet browsers - Microsoft Internet Explorer, Opera, Firefox.

Implementation options

• Standard Windows - Application
• Web application (with the ability to work on freely distributed OS)

Usage formats

• data center
• distributed server capacity
• one workplace

Minimum technical requirements

• Server: Xeon 1.8GHz
  • 3 GB RAM
  • 250GB Hard drive

• Client: Pentium 4 1.8GHz
  • 1 GB RAM
  • 10GB Hard drive
  • Monitor with a supported resolution of at least 1024 * 768

Design methodology

In the development of the software product, the Scrum Agile methodology was used, the UML object design methodology was used in the design.

Implementation methodology

• Analysis
• At the Analysis stage, the project analyzes the Customer's business processes and requirements. The main result (product) of this stage is the Technical Project (TP).

• Design
• At the Design stage, a Conceptual Solution Design is developed and submitted for approval to the Customer, a software product is demonstrated, an implementation proposal is prepared, including a budget for the continuation of work and a project schedule. These documents are agreed and approved by the customer prior to the next phase of Development and Testing.

• Expansion
• At the Deployment stage, the software product shall be installed at the Customer's site. The system is tested and first demonstrated to users.

• Introduction
• At this stage, the system is fully implemented at the Customer's enterprise, and all user trainings are carried out in full.

Technical Support and Support

• If necessary, the Customer can independently provide technical support and maintenance of the software product.
• The company has a Unified Technical Support Service, whose business processes are based on ITIL standards.
• The format of technical support is determined by the Customer - the hourly payment of the actual time, selection of a specific list of services and/or services within a certain time, etc.

(information is current as of March 2012)