Empowering Smart Utilities. 0 Brochure Cover Slogan

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1 Empowering Smart Utilities 0 Brochure Cover Slogan C

2 Your Preferred Partner Rapid economic development over the last decade in the Asia-Pacific region has injected dynamism into the region s energy markets, but it has also created new challenges for the utilities industry. Deregulation is forcing gas and water companies to find new ways to manage resources and control their facilities. They are also increasingly subject to mergers, acquisitions and privatizations and many former monopolies have been forced to pursue new models of value creation. Faced with an aging infrastructure, many utility companies are determined to take advantage of technological innovation such as smart grids and advanced metering solutions. NCS, a leading information and communications technology (ICT) provider together with Ferranti Computer Systems, a technology leader in the energy and utilities market now offers MECOMS, a vertical solution for the utilities industry, built on top of Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft s ERP suite. MECOMS is an end-to-end solution for the energy utility and markets. The state-of-the-art technology handles all major elements of utility distribution, including billing, customer care and meter data management. MECOMS is highly customisable and well-suited for deployment in dynamic environments.

3 Empowering Smart Utilities New Demands for a Customercentric Utilities Market With market liberalization, the utilities industry faces many new demands with direct consequences for information management in utility companies. The end customer has become one of the focal points of attention for this market. They have also become main catalysts for change. Increased service expectations, growing credit and collection activities as well as bad debts have made pricing a key issue. At the same time, utilities companies need to adequately deal with the rise of complex products, relocation of customers premises, building owners associations, and unmetered connections. All these amalgamate to pose a challenge for the system. These shifting customer needs have become far more sophisticated and demand a fresh new approach to conceptualization and management of the whole customer experience. Time and energy is often wasted on reacting to complaints that result from poor customer service. Inadequate customer service also increases staff turnover, as these employees are often dissatisfied with the stress and strain of their role. A company should prevent these problems by performing root cause analysis and leveraging on the system to eliminate employee and customer issues. Driving Asset Management and Operational Excellence Asset management is critical, as utility companies are challenged to implement operational and maintenance standards and practices to continually improve the balance between asset reliability and costs. Simplification and integration are needed to efficiently manage these geographically disparate assets and the large workforce that maintains them. Planning activities and the resources they require, is a complicated task. Mobile technology has become a key tool to maximize productivity, as field workers need simple tools that give them straightforward access to company systems and information. Business Analytics for One Version of Truth Finally, in order to make better and quicker decisions, managers need access to information that allows them to see the big picture. They need a single source of information, based on one version of the truth, which allows them to properly measure and analyse the performance of their company, and make the right decisions. Keeping operations, customer needs and regulation aligned is ever more important for improving the overall financial performance. 1

4 Leveraging on NCS Domain Expertise NCS has in-depth domain knowledge and unique capabilities which are focused on creating business value for utilities customers via a wide range of services, including consulting, systems development and integration, business process outsourcing, infrastructure management and solutions, and technology solutions. We have extensive experience in integrating state-ofthe-art front-end Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software and back-end systems such as Billing system, Document Management System, and Workflow and Business Intelligence tools including spatial analysis using Geographical Information System (GIS)-based tool. Our regional experience and depth of knowledge allow us to collaborate with international electricity, gas, and water utilities companies to provide IT solutions that address their business challenges. IT Services Consultancy BPR, SITP and Change Management Outsourcing Business Process Outsourcing, IT Outsourcing including Data Processing Data, Server and Desktop Management, Helpdesk, IT & Network infrastructure, Systems Implementations and Maintenance IT Security Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Customer Management Account Management Order Management Contact Management, Call Centre Complaint Management Sales Management Marketing Management Business Operations Market Operations - Billing Management - Services Agreement - Payment - Credit & Collection - Adjustment - Profiling & Forecasting - Tariff Management - Settlement - Meter Management - Trading - Risk Management - Meter Reading - Work Management ERP & Business Tools ERP Systems Workflow and Document Management Systems Business Intelligence

5 MECOMS Overview In partnership with Ferranti Computer Systems, MECOMS - a fully integrated, sophisticated, meterto-cash and meter data management solution will be distributed and offered by NCS to the region s energy and utilities suppliers, covering Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and China (including Hong Kong SAR). MECOMS enables utilities of any size to streamline business processes and combine high efficiency with first-class customer service. MECOMS also offers utilities the insight to detect operational inefficiencies and discover new business opportunities. The product is built around four major business domains, Customer Care & Billing, Meter Data Management, Market Interaction, and Operations. MECOMS is a business support system for utilities that combines flexibility, efficiency and smart insights to drastically cut cost-to-serve, even in a changing environment. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT DASHBOARD ANALYSIS PLANNING CRM CONTRACTS AND BILLING CREDIT MANAGEMENT CUSTOMER CARE AND BILLING METER DATA MANAGEMENT EUCA MARKET INTERACTION OPERATIONS MESSAGING PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT SETTLEMENT ADVANCED METERING INFRASTRUCTURE VALIDATION CALCULATION ASSET MANAGEMENT SMART GRID SERVICE MANAGEMENT BUSINESS BLUEPRINTS COMPANY ADMINISTRATION FINANCE HRM PROCUREMENT PROJECT TECHNOLOGY STACK SOA PROCESS ORCHESTRATION 3

6 CRM CONTRACTS AND BILLING CREDIT MANAGEMENT Customer Care and Billing MECOMS does not force utility companies to choose between improving customer service and cutting cost. Integrated customer self-servicing, smart user interaction design and fast invoice processing increase both efficiency and customer satisfaction. Customer care staff are empowered to handle even the most complex situations in fluent workflows, while dynamic rules make it easy to customize MECOMS TM for specific situations. In order to increase customer intimacy, MECOMS TM offers an Internet portal for customers, automatic voicerecognition systems and OCR card scanning. Digital TV applications and other rich media appliances for the smart home of the future will complement the MECOMS TM offering. MECOMS TM CRM offers customer care staff a 360 cockpit view for a quick and complete view on all information related to a customer, from meter readings and consumptions, to contracts, invoices, payments, installations, repair, and maintenance. A state-of-the-art screen enables real-time completion of all Move-In procedures, such as final invoice, contract creation and catch up of payment advances, while the customer is on the phone. These features significantly reduce call times and improve the satisfaction of both customers and employees. A tight integration with Microsoft Office allows data to be imported, exported and used around the entire organization. Workflows and wizards are provided for every conceivable utility process, such as address changes, meter reading requests or customer transfers. MECOMS TM also allows the creation of complex contracts with customized tariffs for specific customers or customer groups. The exact products being billed, such as green energy or waste water, are specified in the customer s contract. The specificities of each customer s contract are seamlessly taken into account by the billing system, which calculates invoice-lines on-the-fly as meter and consumption data enters and flows through the system. Scheduled and on demand meter readings are handled seamlessly, and future price changes are used for calculating advances. This workload spreading allows for a fast billing run when the actual invoices are generated. The collections module automates the matching of open invoices with incoming payments, based on dynamic, configurable rules. Ambiguous payments are flagged to be reviewed by the staff. Non-paying customers automatically receive reminders and a list of those customers who still fail to pay can be sent directly to a credit-collector agency. ADVANCED METERING INFRASTRUCTURE VALIDATION CALCULATION Meter Data Management Meter Data Management focuses on data quality and controlling the information flood that utility companies constantly face. MECOMS TM handles all aspects of meter data collection. It can communicate with any automatic or smart metering device, and organizes the manual meter reading processes. Meter readers can use MECOMS TM on wireless portable terminals for their meter reading rounds. Both regular rounds and on demand reading requests are handled through MECOMS TM Mobile. Meter readers have access to relevant information (such as meter location within a building) while meter readings are validated immediately when entered in the device. Meter readings are stored and validated in MECOMS TM using flexible business rules in the validation module. MECOMS TM allows the definition of business validation rules in a user-friendly manner, without any development. Multiple rules can be active at any point in time, and prioritized to match changing business needs. Consumptions are then calculated from the meter readings in the calculation module. Single or separate meter readings can be used for billing different products. Estimations, based on profiles or historical data, can be substituted in case of missing meter readings.

7 ASSET MANAGEMENT MESSAGING SMART GRID PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT Operations SERVICE MANAGEMENT Simplifying end-to-end processes is essential to becoming a leader in the industry. Keeping up-to-date with field working practices remains a major issue in the utilities industry and is part of the enormous asset management challenge that companies are now facing. MECOMS TM enables utilities to tackle these asset management issues while complying with the PAS55 standard. Utility companies have tens or even hundreds of thousands of meter devices installed at customer premises. These meters need to be installed, maintained, calibrated, repaired or replaced. The MECOMS TM Asset Management module controls all the assets in the system from pipes and cables to connections, and stores communication properties for Automatic and Smart Metering. MECOMS TM Operations allows for gradual deployment of smart meters throughout the grid, without impacting ongoing business. MECOMS TM Service Management plans and assigns work to field workers, for example meter installations and decommissioning. Using mobile devices, these technicians can do their work on site and can be connected in real-time to the back office system via GPRS. Rescheduling, communication, alerts and notifications can all be accomplished using these portable terminals. By eliminating inefficiencies and unnecessary work, productivity is significantly improved. SETTLEMENT Market Interaction An increasing amount of utility companies operate in a de-regulated market, or expect their market to be de-regulated in the future. MECOMS TM is already being used in various types of de-regulated gas and electricity markets, by different market players like suppliers, metering companies, grid operators, etc. MECOMS TM is flexible in that it can both handle traditional integrated utilities, and deal with any market reform. A key aspect in a de-regulated market is the interaction between all market parties and the associated business processes. The MECOMS TM Market Interaction modules manage these aspects by focusing on data communication in EDI or XML format to exchange customer scenarios, master data and meter reading and invoice information. The system also supports several core processes such as forecasting, allocation, reconciliation and grid fee settlement. Performance Management MECOMS TM Performance Management brings business insights to every role in the organization, using all data available to the system. It enables direct assessment of KPI s, such as customer profitability, environmental impact or staff productivity. Past trends can be analysed to make forecasts about future evolutions. And interfacing possibilities allow exporting the data to other analytical applications. MECOMS TM empowers utility companies to run their businesses based on informed decisions. 5

8 Partners for Growth NCS, take on a revolutionary, customer-oriented approach to enable utilities customers in the business of energy distribution. We are committed to bring the best in IT and engineering solutions and services for our utilities customers in Asia and beyond. Backed by the largest pools of dedicated, highly skilled and multi-disciplinary engineers and consultants in Singapore, we ensure that our project managers are fully competent and equipped to manage large scale multi-platforms implementations. The MECOMS value proposition is backed up by many successful implementations. Through an international partner network, MECOMS has been adopted by utilities in several industries, on multiple continents and in different markets. Ferranti Computer Systems, which develops MECOMS, has been serving the utility market for more than 20 years. Throughout the years MECOMS has been implemented at water, gas, electricity and district heating companies. Based on this experience, MECOMS has gained broad and deep functionality, incorporating specific requirements for all these commodities. The company, product names, images and pictures displayed are protected under copyright laws and owned by their respective owners. Reg. No G. Copyright 2009 NCS Pte. Ltd. All Rights Reserved NCS NCS Pte. Ltd. 5 Ang Mo Kio Street 62, NCS Hub, Singapore T: F: E: [email protected] Website: A member of the SingTel Group