Abstract: A method of calibrating a multivariate controller in a coordinated control system of an electric power generating station includes an expert system for collecting data at a plurality of operating parameters of the power generating system and providing that data to a characterizer block. By using the calibration data, which is predictive of the response of the power generating system to an external disturbance, the characterizer block provides a feedforward signal to the multivariate controller before the effect of the external disturbance can propagate throughout the power generating system. In the method of the invention, the expert system is implemented as a spreadsheet with a DDE interface to the power generating system and an automatic script file generator for communicating to the characterizer block.