Over the past year, the California Independent System Operator (ISO) has been replacing Excel spreadsheets and reporting tools from Business Objects SA and Microsoft Corp. with query, reporting and analysis tools from San Francisco-based Actuate Corp., said Steve Berberich, CIO and vice president of technology at the electric grid operator.

The BI initiative is running in tandem with a project to upgrade the specialized core IT systems that provide the ISO's internal users with electricity demand data, prices and the ability to settle transactions, Berberich said.

The project is slated to be completed in November 2007.

The ISO manages the flow of electricity along California's wholesale power grid, coordinating 40,000 transactions every hour between buyers and sellers. The not-for-profit electric grid operator's IT systems are also used to manage demand forecasts, track prices and settle transactions.

'The data that we provide and how we provide it actually facilitates the market,' Berberich said. 'We're very demanding in what we use. Because of the role we play, it was important to have a bullet-proof product and one ... we knew could integrate with our new applications.'