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Organizer:
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Member Spotlight: Eina Ooka
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Member Spotlight: Eina Ooka
Eina Ooka is an active UAI member and provides outstanding influence and contributions to the UAI community through any of our multiple channels, including, but not limited to engagement on UAI Connect, volunteering with UAI, involvement and/or leadership in monthly Community Conversations, and/or speaking at UAI events, plus so much. As thanks, we are featuring her in the UAI Member Spotlight.
Eina is a Senior Data Scientist at The Energy Authority. She develops various forecasting models for electric power markets, loads and utility portfolios, utilizing both statistical and data science methods. She develops production-level models in R, all the way from R&D to the shiny app deployment, and they are utilized throughout the company for portfolio management.
Kevin: How did you get into the utility analytics industry?
Eina: By chance. I studied pure mathematics in my graduate study. So, when I got out of the school I was pretty open to anything exciting without much focus. Given my nature to be easily bored, I feel very fortunate to stumble across an industry that keeps challenging me. It’s approaching a decade since I got into this industry, and it’s great to know that there are many more interesting projects to tackle and many more intriguing subjects to learn.
Kevin: What project have you enjoyed working on most in your career?
Eina: One of the significant models I’ve developed in TEA is a Monte-Carlo simulation for energy wholesale markets and portfolios. This model combines statistical methods, operations research, and data science methodologies. Through the first year of R&D prototyping to productionalization, through the second year of agile feedback-loop to reflect user requests, and through the third year of scaling up for a company-wide adaptation, I got to see the entire lifecycle of a moderately sized model (~25K lines of code). I may not have necessarily enjoyed every step of the way, but it remains to be one of my proudest creations.
All that said, if we purely judge projects by enjoyment, I may have to rank quick collaborative projects higher. It’s always wonderful to get a chance to work with folks from different departments and learn what they do.
Kevin: What has been your biggest professional challenge and how did you work through it?
Eina: “All models are wrong, but some are useful.” And usefulness is often guided by our intuition cultivated by decades of industry knowledge. But everyone has different industry experiences and focus. So, coming to a consensus about a good model is sometimes difficult. The best solution I’ve found is continuous and patient communication. Also actively participating in recurrent knowledge share among team members and across departments can also foster shared understanding which can lead to coherent views and goals in a long run.
Kevin: If you could go back in time and give yourself one piece of advice before entering the utility analytics industry, what would it be?
Eina: Communication is essential to be a capable analyst. Compromise is sometimes necessary for a larger gain.
Kevin: What would you like to talk to fellow colleagues and members about in UAI Connect? Or, what issues or topics would you like to see more discussions on in UAI Connect?
Eina: I enjoy learning a variety of topics. The excitement exists when a methodology jumps across industry and is applied to a particular issue in a new way. So, I’d love to hear all sorts of methodologies and ideas discussed.
Kevin: Thank you so much for sharing with us and for being a highly engaged member of UAI! Do you have any final thoughts, ideas, or comments you would like to share with your fellow UAI members?
Eina: Thank you, Kevin and Leslie, for organizing UAI Connect. Internally within TEA, I also put efforts into creating a collaborative and exciting environment and it’s a lot of work to have busy people commit to sharing. So, I appreciate your effort.
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Kevin Praet
Membership Coordinator
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
Boulder CO
315-440-3033
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3 Replies
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Hello Leslie and all,
We use a company called Veregy Consulting for all kinds of Analytics work, including visualization development, advanced analytics (i.e., data science), data engineering, and more. These folks are top notch, deliver hometown service, and will not break the bank.
Contact info for the Veregy team is as follows:
Srinivas Rajan
704-281-7795——————————
Jeff Yankley
Director of Customer Intelligence & Analytics
Consumers Energy
jeffrey.yankley@cmsenergy.com
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-02-2020 17:57
From: Leslie Cook
Subject: Quick Question – Vendor Development of Complex DashboardsHello UAI Members,
A UAI Utility Member asked me to post the following question on their behalf. Can you provide some feedback, please? Thanks in advance.
“Has anyone worked with a vendor to develop complex dashboard that you would recommend?”
Thanks again!
Leslie
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Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@endeavorb2b.com
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Hi Leslie,
My firm (WNS) provides a wide array of services and constructs related to complex dashboards across the various departments within the Utility (Customer service & experience, finance, etc.) . This can come in the form of a stand-alone basis for one department or for the purposes of providing an enterprise-wide view within multiple departments and functions. I would be happy to set up some time to learn more about the ‘ask’ behind the development of complex dashboards.
Thanks,
Tom McDonnell
SVP E&U Practice
WNS Global Services——————————
Tom McDonnell
SVP, Energy & Utility Practice
WNS
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-02-2020 17:57
From: Leslie Cook
Subject: Quick Question – Vendor Development of Complex DashboardsHello UAI Members,
A UAI Utility Member asked me to post the following question on their behalf. Can you provide some feedback, please? Thanks in advance.
“Has anyone worked with a vendor to develop complex dashboard that you would recommend?”
Thanks again!
Leslie
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Leslie Cook
Membership & Digital Engagement Manager
Utility Analytics Institute (UAI)
719-203-8650, lcook@endeavorb2b.com
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hahahaha! Too funny! Thank you for sharing! :)
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Travis Metcalfe
Strategy, Innovation, and Engagement Manager
Tacoma Power
Tacoma WA
2535028149
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-30-2020 12:45
From: Jeff Yankley
Subject: A little humor to brighten up your dayHello UAI Network,
Thought I’d share a short music video I recently created. I felt our team at Consumers Energy needed a bit of a humorous boost while describing a topic that I’m guessing is on top of mind for all of us.
Let this be a reminder that…
1. Even though we are all doing important work, we can still have fun while we’re doing it.
2. If you can’t laugh at yourself, who can laugh at?
3. What crazy things can you think of to engage your teams in new and different ways?Enjoy–>
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Jeff Yankley
Director of Customer Intelligence & Analytics
Consumers Energy
jeffrey.yankley@cmsenergy.com
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