The Customer and Asset Management System (CAMS) offers ISO New England’s customers the ability to directly manage certain aspects of their data electronically, no longer requiring the submission of forms. CAMS allows authorized customers to manage, where applicable, such data as committee representation, contact information, user registration, market applications, and the registration of FCM demand assets. The CAMS web-based interface not only provides data management but also additional levels of control and visibility for the ISO’s customers.
Digital certificates electronically prove the holder’s identity and permissions granted to access information or services online. ISO New England requires digital certificates for access to the Standard Market Design (SMD) applications.
The security administrator (SA) for a company is the person a company’s officer has authorized to manage the company’s users, as well as the company’s information, in ISO-NE’s Customer Asset Management System. The SA is responsible for creating users and assigning them various rights to the SMD applications. Access to the SMD applications allows users to enter into market activity according to their access rights.
The customer’s security administrator is aware of the numerous permissions and roles available and needed for doing business with ISO New England. More information about the CAMS roles is available in the Customer Asset Management System Application Group Roles document.
The certificate application or renewal process begins after a company’s security administrator grants permission to a new user to access a secure application. CAMS triggers this process automatically shortly after the top of each hour, beginning with two instructional emails. The first email is sent to the user with instructions for retrieving his or her digital certificate. The second email is sent to the SA with the user’s PIN number, which is necessary for retrieving the certificate. The SA must forward the PIN to the user for retrieval of his or her digital certificate.
A company officer must sign the ISO New England Security Administrator Signatory Form, and the form must be notarized for an individual to become an authorized security administrator. Incomplete forms will not be processed. The original form, including notary stamp or seal, must be mailed to the following address:
Participant Support
ISO New England
One Sullivan Road
Holyoke, MA 01040-2841
The customer can contact ISO New England’s Participant Support at (413) 540-4220 or via email at askiso@iso-ne.com.
Thirty days before the expiration date of a customer’s digital certificate, the customer’s security administrator will be notified via email of the pending expiration of the certificate and the date of its expiration. If the SA takes no action in the next 20 days, a second email will be sent 10 days before the certificate’s expiration to both the customer and the SA. Once the SA has approved the renewal of the customer’s digital certificate in the ISO-NE’s Customer and Asset Management System, the customer will receive an email with instructions for retrieving the renewed certificate.
It can take up to three hours to gain access to the SMD application with a new digital certificate. For example, if access has been granted and the customer retrieves his or her certificate at 1:30 p.m., access should begin by 4:00 p.m. If the certificate is a renewal, the old certificate will work until the new one is bridged into the system. A customer’s access should not be interrupted if the renewal steps were performed as instructed.
The System and Network Nodal Diagrams are sensitive documents providing Critical Energy Infrastructure Information (CEII). While the ISO has provided a secure environment for transmitting these documents, customers are responsible for taking appropriate security measures for storing and managing the diagrams after retrieving them from the ISO. A company’s SA can grant a customer access to the file shares in CAMS, which will allow access to system diagrams through the SMD applications.
