A virtual meter is a meter that does not physically exist but is used to represent the usage of a group of meters or a portion of a meter. A virtual meter can be used to perform various calculations or adjustments on usage data, such as aggregation, derivation, allocation, or net metering. According to the Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management Business User Guide, to bill the university correctly for a new fast food restaurant that is being installed at the center of the university and whose usage will also be included in the university's master meter, the correct step is:

Use derivation algorithms to exclude the restaurant's usage from the master meter. This can be done by creating a virtual meter that represents the master meter minus the restaurant's meter and applying a derivation algorithm that subtracts the restaurant's usage from the master meter's usage. The virtual meter's usage can then be used for billing the university.

To support the requirement of replacing legacy scalar time-of-use (TOU) meters with smart meters without changing the CIS rates, you can configure Meter Data Management (MDM) in the following ways:

Add an extendable lookup value containing the new device configuration type and the new usage calculation group: This is used to map the new device configuration type that is used for smart meters to a new usage calculation group that will be used to calculate bill determinants for smart meters. An extendable lookup value is a configurable value that can be used to define business rules or relationships between different objects.

Add the TOU mapping rule to the existing usage calculation group: This is used to map the TOU periods of smart meters to the TOU periods of legacy meters. A TOU mapping rule is a usage calculation rule that is used to convert interval measurements into scalar measurements based on different TOU periods.

Set up the new usage calculation group to be identified dynamically by plug-in logic supplied on the usage subscription's type: This is used to determine which usage calculation group will be used for each usage subscription based on certain criteria, such as device configuration type or service point type. A plug-in logic is a custom logic that can be developed by using Groovy scripting language or Java programming language.

You do not need to write a custom algorithm to determine the proper rate, which is a complex logic that can be developed by using Groovy scripting language or Java programming language. The proper rate can be determined by using the existing CIS rates and mapping them to smart meter TOU periods.

You do not need to add a new usage calculation group with a TOU mapping rule, which is a collection of usage calculation rules that are used to calculate bill determinants from measurements. You can add the TOU mapping rule to the existing usage calculation group instead of creating a new one.

Usage transactions can contain date breaks, which are dates that divide a usage period into sub-periods based on certain criteria or events. Date breaks are used to supply date breaks for usage transactions. Date breaks are specified by the requesting system or user input when requesting a usage transaction. A requesting system is an external system or service provider that requests bill determinants from MDM. A user input is a manual entry of data by a user.

Usage subscription BO is not used to supply date breaks for usage transactions. A usage subscription BO is a business object that defines the relationship between a service point and a subscribing system.

Usage subscription type is not used to supply date breaks for usage transactions. A usage subscription type is a configuration that defines the properties and rules for a usage subscription.

Deferred monitor calculation algorithm is not used to supply date breaks for usage transactions. A deferred monitor calculation algorithm is a custom logic that can be developed by using Groovy scripting language or Java programming language. A deferred monitor calculation algorithm is used to perform certain calculations or validations on usage transactions after they are created.

Different validation, estimation, and editing (VEE) rules can be applied based on the VEE roles that categorize the source of the measurement data. A VEE role is an attribute that indicates how measurement data was created or modified. Some of the VEE roles that are provided as part of the base product are:

Manual override: This is a role that indicates that measurement data was manually entered or edited by a user.

Initial load: This is a role that indicates that measurement data was loaded from an external source or system.

Customer provided: This is a role that indicates that measurement data was provided by a customer.

Retry is not a VEE role that is provided as part of the base product. Retry is an action that can be performed on measurement data that has failed VEE rules.

Estimation is not a VEE role that is provided as part of the base product. Estimation is a process that can be performed on measurement data that is missing or invalid by using VEE rules.

Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management normalizes measurements during the Create the Final Measurements stage of loading interval initial measurement data. Normalization is the process of converting interval measurements into a common format that can be processed by Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management. Normalization involves storing each interval measurement as a single record for a specific date and time, regardless of how they are received from smart meter systems.

Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management does not normalize measurements during other stages of loading interval initial measurement data, such as Load the Initial Measurements stage or Validation, Estimation, and Editing (VEE) stage. Normalization is not done for other purposes, such as validation or intervalization.