In 2004, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation had been searching for an easy-to-use, reliable software that provided compatibility with Reclamation’s relay database, good manufacturer support and all at a cost that wouldn’t break their budget. With those criteria, RTS was the advantageous choice for their relay testing needs. Not only has it allowed their users to share test plans, thus ensuring reliability and repeatability of testing procedures, it also decreases the number of staff days necessary to test electrotechnical, solid-state and microprocessor based relays. Reclamation’s experience has shown manual testing of a SEL-300G relay could take up to 5 staff days. The same testing can now be done using RTS in just over 4 hours and becausethe testing is automated it removes the chance of variation in outcome due todifferences that might occur in the tester’s interpretations of the manufacturer’s instruction manuals, as can commonly occur with manual testing.

Another major influence in Reclamation’s selection of RTS was its ability to control multiple relay test sets. RTS allows control of the various test sets currently owned by Reclamation, and also allows them the freedom to pick future test sets based on the hardware capabilities rather than the manufacturer’s software limitations. The use of multiple relay test sets from different manufacturers required employees to undergo software training specific to each test set. They now can invest 2 days in an RTS training course and put their users on the fast-track to time-saving, reliable testing.

An important point made by Reclamation is that “while automated relay testing decreases the training necessary to test relays, the technician must still be knowledgeable in relay operation and protection to ensure the relay is being tested as intended. If the relay doesn’t pass a particular test, the operator needs to have a firm understanding on how to troubleshoot relays.” RTS is not meant to make relay testing a mindless, repetitive chore, but rather to provide users with a powerful software to help make their job easier and more accurate thus saving them valuable time and resources.