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

The BI project is running in tandem with a major technology upgrade to replace the ISO's specialized core systems that provide 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 electronically manages the flow of electricity along California's wholesale power grid, coordinating 40,000 transactions every hour between buyers and sellers. The Folsom, Calif.-based nonprofit electric grid operator's IT systems also must 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 bulletproof product and one ... we knew could integrate with our new applications."

The ISO will use the Actuate tools to marry historical data with real-time information so users have online access to reports containing scheduled energy loads and forecasts. That will help energy companies more easily access online information to better plan for production and establish pricing, Berberich said.