Dakota Electric Association (DEA), founded in 1937 by a group of farmers, is a member-owned, non-profit electric utility serving parts of Dakota, Goodhue, Scott, and Rice counties, just south of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. Covering 507 miles and serving more than 95,000 members, Dakota Electric is the second-largest electric cooperative in Minnesota and is ranked among the 20 largest electric distribution cooperatives nationally.

The company is committed to providing reliable, affordable, electric energy and a high level of personal service to members and the communities in which they live. Because Dakota County cities are growing rapidly, Dakota Electric Association acquires approximately 2,200 new members each year.

To serve its ever-growing population, DEA had to upgrade its obsolete SCADA master station, the most critical real-time system in the business, which serves as the central monitoring and control system used by the electric company to operate its electricity network. As SCADA systems age they can become unreliable, and are difficult to interface to the other computer systems in the business, making it hard for the company to integrate business processes and access critical data.