Stakeholder Use Cases

inspecting a solar panel

The IEDR Program is following a development approach that identifies and prioritizes stakeholder use cases that provide the greatest value to New York residents as the State achieves its nation-leading climate goals. IEDR Program activities will be continually framed through the evaluation and prioritization of use cases.

We are continuing to team up with end users and relevant stakeholders to understand user needs. The NYSERDA team is planning to conduct workshops to get a deeper understanding into the use cases that have a high likelihood of being implemented in the initial public iteration and the minimum viable product.

Interested in submitting a use case? Click the link below to submit a use case and help us to continue developing the IEDR program.

Submit a Use Case

Use Case Overview

Stakeholder use cases will drive and guide the development of the IEDR. A stakeholder use case is a description of the data and information that an IEDR user will access through the platform, how they will use that data and information, and the beneficial outcome that will result from having access to it. Stakeholder use cases will help identify the data and functionality needed on the IEDR platform to accomplish our mission of providing New Yorkers with effective access to useful energy data.

Stakeholder use cases are a central part of the user-centered design process for IEDR. The IEDR Program will continue to expand the number and variety of opportunities within this process for stakeholders and potential users to explore how data and information will enable them to create value while accelerating action against climate change.

The use case format and prioritization framework are under development. Below is an overview of the key steps in the IEDR’s user-centered design approach.

Overview of the User-Centered Design Process

Define personas
Use cases are like mini stories written from the user's perspective, so it's important to first spend time defining the different users who will be using the platform. Personas are an archetype that can be used to help guide decisions about what data are included and at what levels, navigation, interactions, and visual design.
Outline persona drivers
For each persona, it is important to identify what their goals and motivations are, as well as understand their expectations for the functionality of the system. Drivers include characteristics, motivations, pain points, and the outcome the persona wants to achieve, including the problem the persona is trying to resolve with the solution.
Use case development
Use cases should be simple, concise, and align with persona drivers. Generally, use cases follow this basic format: "As (persona), I want (what?), so that (why)." The curation and collection of use cases should include the identification and evaluation of acceptance criteria - what must be fulfilled so that the story can be identified and completed.
Use case prioritization
A prioritization framework must be transparently outlined to categorize use cases based on how critical they are to the overall success of the IEDR platform for key stakeholders
Develop wireframes
Wireframe development begins the transformation of ideas into a high-level solution. This step begins to clearly identify data owners, define data structure and requirements, conceptualize ideas, ideate solutions, and validate designs based on what was uncovered throughout persona research and use case discovery.
Design, test, adapt, deploy, iterate
Prototyping, testing, and adapting designs before deployment ensures that data quality and user functionality requirements are met. As new use cases are collected or prioritized, the platform can be continuously adapted and improved.

Stakeholder Engagement

Meaningful stakeholder participation is essential to the success of the IEDR initiative. Previously, interested stakeholders were invited to participate in an initial process to identify, characterize, and prioritize IEDR use cases. The compiled use case submissions were prioritized for development; you can view our current use case development schedule in the tables below:

Our latest schedule projections have the uses cases listed below completed and included in the IPV by Q1 2023:

Launch	Use Case	Description
IPV – Q1 2023	Consolidated Hosting Capacity Maps	This use case supports DER developers, DER owners and/or utilities to view all hosting capacity maps for the entire state in one map view with consistent data, so that users can site new DERs and monitor the state of DER development in New York accurately. Foundational functionality will be implemented in IPV, with enhancements to hosting capacity maps expected to be developed in future releases.
IPV – Q1 2023	Large Installed Distributed Energy Resources (DERs)	This use case supports Energy Service Entities (ESE) and/or government staff members who want to view all installed DERs that utilities have data on (e.g., over 300kw), so they can site new DERs or monitor the state of DER development in New York. This use case also provides access to the necessary information pertaining to installed DERs including attributes, location, and status in a consistent format across the entire utility service territories.
IPV – Q1 2023	Large Planned Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) (Interconnection Queue)	This use case supports Energy Service Entities (ESE) and/or government staff members who want to view and monitor all planned DERs that utilities have data on (e.g., over 300kw), so they can site new DERs or monitor the state of DER development in New York. This use case also provides access to the necessary information that pertains to large planned DERs including attributes, location, and status in a consistent format across the entire utility service territories.

Below is a list of projected use cases slated for development in the IEDR Minimum Viable Product (MVP) launch. The use cases below are in draft format and not finalized. More details about MVP use cases, including an MVP use case development roadmap, are in development and will be published here soon.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Use Cases	Use Case Summaries	Expected Completion Timeframe
Aggregated consumption energy data for CCA	As a Village, town, city constituent / government employee, I want to understand energy consumption for my community so that we can decide where to source our electricity from and do so at a competitive price.	Q2 2023 - Q4 2023
Consent for already identified customers	As a DER Provider, Building Electrification Provider, I want to request and access the energy consumption and billing information for accounts that have indicated interest in my organization's products (e.g., through sales process, filling out online form, etc.).	Q2 2023 - Q4 2023
Utility Upgrades Project Information	As a DER developer, DER owner and/or utility, organization that sites DERs (e.g., land trust) I want to access planned dates for local distribution upgrade / recent requests to utilities for service upgrades.	Q2 2023 - Q4 2023
Non-Utility Data for DER Siting (Solar)	This use case will support local governments and community solar developers who would want to accelerate the process for identifying, selecting, and negotiating site agreements for community solar projects in order to deploy available capital more quickly and increase the amount of clean energy available to NY electricity customers.	Q1 2023 - Q4 2023
Aggregate Building Energy Consumption - Building Manager	As a building manager / property management company / product service provider I want access to whole building energy data for the buildings that I manage.	Q2 2023 - Q4 2023
Aggregate Building Energy Consumption - Government Agency	As a government agency I want access to whole building energy data for all buildings that meet the criteria for not needing customer consent.	Q2 2023 - Q4 2023

Interested stakeholders were invited to participate in an initial process to identify, characterize, and prioritize IEDR use cases. The compiled use case submissions are available below. NYSERDA may publish this use case information in additional formats in the coming weeks.

A compilation of all submissions is available here via Excel and PDF.

Stakeholders are still welcome to submit use cases beyond the July 23, 2021 deadline which has passed. However, these use cases may not be able to be processed and prioritized as part of Phase One activities, depending on when the use case is received. Stakeholders may submit comments individually or as a member of a group.