Zero to Hero: How AmeriGas Put the Power of SAP in the Hands of the Field in a Ma:er of Months

Transcription

1 Orange County Convention Center Orlando, Florida June 3-5, 2014 Zero to Hero: How AmeriGas Put the Power of SAP in the Hands of the Field in a Ma:er of Months Mar;n Gibbins, AmeriGas Wayne Semisch, Excellis Interac;ve

2 In This Session Learn how AmeriGas successfully developed a na;ve mobile applica;on that allows its field personnel to send and receive data directly from SAP ECC Learn how the company overcame a disjointed and manual set of processes Learn how they reduced data processing ;me by up to 50% Find out how the organiza;on now delivers simple and accurate informa;on to its field service personnel

3 What We ll Cover About AmeriGas, Inc. Disjointed reality The technology Delivering a usable and useful solu;on for the users Why na;ve ios? The results The outcome of the solu;on Wrap- up

4 About AmeriGas US propane supplier Headquartered in Valley Forge, PA Formed in acquisi;ons since 1982

5 AmeriGas Business Overview $3.2 billion in sales 2.2MM customers 16MM transac;ons per year 8,500 colleagues serving all 50 states 17th largest fleet in America $6.4 billion enterprise value on the NYSE 1.4 billion gallons sold 160 brands cover the na;on 2,000 Locations Servicing all 50 States

6 The Disjointed Reality Over 100,000 meter customers Palm Pilot and outdated mobile technology being used Hundreds of meter readers in the field Manual monthly reads Residen;al and commercial All paper- based meter capture with customer service retyping reads into SAP Time- intensive and error prone due to manual collec;on and data entry Billing problems due to incorrect transla;on of data!

7 What We ll Cover About AmeriGas, Inc. Disjointed reality The technology Delivering a usable and useful solu;on for the users Why na;ve ios? The results The outcome of the solu;on Wrap- up

8 Mobile Technology AmeriGas has three mobile applica;ons in use and integrated into SAP AmeriMobile Capture bulk propane deliveries Meter Read Capture all meter customers Soon to be released AmeriMobile 2.0 Inbound interface from the handhelds create idocs in SAP idocs are then processed to create data colla;on reports Automa;c pos;ng of data colla;on reports is one of the main benefits

9 The Technology (cont.) Na;ve ios app iphone and ipad Connect directly to SAP Via SOAP Simple UI Can work off- line Leveraging exis;ng architecture

10 What We ll Cover About AmeriGas, Inc. Disjointed reality The technology Delivering a usable and useful solu;on for the users Why na;ve ios? The results The outcome of the solu;on Wrap- up

11 Understanding the User Base The Meter Read applica;on is being used for commercial and residen;al customers across the con;nental United States The majority of the meters in the field require a manual reading to capture usage AmeriGas employees 8,500 field employees and manages over 100,000 customer meter readings each month Field technicians can now manually read customer meters and send the readings to the SAP backend immediately or at the end of the day Mobile technology has tradi;onally been ruggedized and industrial- based, not consumer- based

12 Methodology Mul;ple itera;ve design sessions held with business and field users

13 What We ll Cover About AmeriGas, Inc. Disjointed reality The technology Delivering for the users Why na;ve ios? The results The outcome of the solu;on Wrap- up

14 Why NaIve? Usability on proven ios devices Does not require docking sta;on or WiFi connec;vity More responsive than Web due to low connec;vity Solu;on was small and simple Keep overhead in app light Be:er user interface Easier to support that exis;ng solu;ons Founda;on for future field applica;ons

15 What We ll Cover About AmeriGas, Inc. Disjointed reality The technology Delivering a usable and useful solu;on for the users Why na;ve ios? The results The outcome of the solu;on Wrap- up

16 The Results Manual and palm- based meter read applica;on that required device to be connected to download detail replaced by ipad Mini applica;on that updates using wireless data plans or WiFi connec;on Training was ini;ally onsite Moved to virtual and now on- device training Due to success and simplicity, rollout accelera;ng across the U.S. Applica;on can easily be supported by any AmeriGas facility as long as the SAP backend can generate desired routes

17 DemonstraIon of the ApplicaIon View the experience of a field technician using rou;ng and meter reading Demonstrate how using the applica;on needed to be easy to figure out while in the field

18 Challenges Unique to the SituaIon The tool required ease of use and intui;ve naviga;on to reduce training needed by field technicians The applica;on needed to be architected to: Allow the users to quickly update the routes if they have been updated by the SAP backend Minimize the bandwidth required to reduce cost and accelerate adop;on Users must be able to service a single geographic area or mul;ple areas based upon their login creden;als The applica;on needs to integrate business rules that prevent the user from entering bad data, and allow quick capture of meter detail

19 Challenges Unique to the SituaIon (cont.) Users need to apply personal notes to each meter so that they know the condi;ons and issues associated with specific loca;ons Users need to use the mapping tool for direc;ons to specific meters

20 The ResulIng ApplicaIon The applica;on follows a simple flow: Login Success routes downloaded User selects route and then customer loca;on Can add text or view map if needed User enters meter read Validated User uploads meter read(s) to SAP and route removed from applica;on

21 Lessons Learned Applica;on Bridged web- based designs into a simplified mobile applica;on to deliver required func;onality Added screen pull- down to dynamically update all routes Design Itera;ve process used that involved business and field users worked well in improving the applica;on delivered Tes;ng Cer;ficate integra;on with DEV, QA, and PROD environments took some ;me Once established it worked well

22 What We ll Cover About AmeriGas, Inc. Disjointed reality The technology Delivering for the users Why na;ve ios? The results The outcome of the solu;on Wrap- up

23 The Outcome Meter read accuracy improved to over 99% More accurate billing less customer calls Fastest adop;on of any technology rolled out Created a larger drive to deploy ipads for all service and delivery ini;a;ves Now developed into a three- year roadmap

24 What We ll Cover About AmeriGas, Inc. Disjointed reality The technology Delivering for the users Why na;ve ios? The results The outcome of the solu;on Wrap- up

25 Key Points to Take Home Design solu;ons to support how the end user works Don t let the status quo or your current technology get in the way of crea;ng a real solu;on Inves;gate consumer technology (like the ipad) as a true op;on for resolving enterprise challenges Accelerate ideas into quick proof of concepts Engage end users in UI feel early and open Understand the business implica;on of your solu;ons ROI comes from the change in metrics aper your launch Build the mobile roadmap with the business

26 THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING Please provide feedback on this session by comple;ng a short survey via the event mobile applica;on. SESSION CODE: 0701 For ongoing educaion on this area of focus, visit