Leveraging Utilibill. Tim Vanderheide Bluewater Power V.P. Client Services

Transcription

1 Leveraging Utilibill Tim Vanderheide Bluewater Power V.P. Client Services

2 Leveraging Utilibill Tim Vanderheide, V.P. Client Services Bluewater Power

3 What is Bluewater Power LDC -- Local Distribution Company Distribute power to end-use customers Required to bill all end-end use customers at either the spot price or on behalf of a retailer Must settle monthly with the Independent Market Operator on the hourly spot price Calculate and manage the rebate programs Communication via Electronic Business Transactions SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 3

4 Southwestern Ontario SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 4

5 Bluewater Power Who We Are Largest LDC in Lambton County Serve over 35,000 customers 70 full time employees Annual revenues over $65M (1999) Sarnia, Pt. Edward, Petrolia, Oil Springs, Alvinston, Watford SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 5

6 Bluewater Pre-dereg Robust simple systems 10 year relationship with vendor Customized in-house as desired Green screen One monthly invoice from one supplier Annually fixed rates Bi-monthly billing SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 6

7 Bluewater Pre-dereg Adapt Purchase multiple systems Purchase single integrated system Outsource Developing our own solution SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 7

8 Decision process Path of least resistance Considered adapting our existing Very talented programmer Customizing Existing system would not handle the wholesale SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 8

9 Wholesale System Way out front RFP Considerable costs in development Too early Integration issues to deal with SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 9

10 Y2K Lessons Learned Deviating from the standard is very bad Value of a large well-established vendor Value of having access to reputable, reliable and knowledgeable programmers SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 10

11 Y2K Lessons Learned No way we would be able to take our existing system into a deregulated market. SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 11

12 System Selection Small brain-storming groups Very comprehensive wish list SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 12

13 System Selection Fundamental conditions: Would not customize the new system Needed to find a system that had everything as a standard offering SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 13

14 System Selection Employees wanted an ERP A single, fully integrated system solution Paramount decision SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 14

15 Our pitfall Bluewater s strategic business plan Sell mass billing Take over the North American market Fantasy Affected the decision to buy the system and implement it on-site SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 15

16 selection process Comprehensive RFP 4 of the 8 vendors responded Massive amount of time and energy comparing Lowest overall 5 and 10 year costs SAP was selected SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 16

17 The implementation Fast track our implementation Learned a lot about the SAP product and about ourselves as a company Support from SAP and later Deloitte solidified in our minds that we had selected the right tool SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 17

18 The implementation Went live with our system on March 11, month implementation Six weeks after go-live the market opened Seven months after that the market closed SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 18

19 Reality Sets In Needed to focus on power distribution only Selling mass billing didn t pan out Billing is a support competency SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 19

20 Reality Sets In Our clear and chief focus is on power distribution We had a world class fully integrated system on-site We had total control SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 20

21 Reality Sets In We soon realized that we didn t have total control We only had the total responsibility SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 21

22 Reality Sets In We found ourselves having to spend more and more time managing the changes to the software system in order to stay compliant as a distributor We had to stay focused on power distribution SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 22

23 The right tool We had the right tool The system was able to meet the ever changing demands of the industry We had to look for a service partner that could manage our system SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 23

24 On the path to Utilibill The management team at Bluewater determined what qualities a service partner had to possess On top of all the normal requirements we needed extreme flexibility and we needed affordability We wanted access to an extensive service offering with well trained and consistent consultants that were managed by one point of contact We did not want a blanket maintenance agreement that was full of services we probably would not take advantage of SAP introduced us to Deloitte and the Utilibill concept SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 24

25 Utilibill via Deloitte Utilibill system is our fully integrated system It includes: finance, regulatory, project management, material management and CCS CCS includes billing, credit/collection, call center functions, metering, meter reading and retailer management SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 25

26 Utilibill via Deloitte Utilibill system is on our site Deloitte maintains all of the functions As changes occur in the industry, Deloitte will adapt the system As we improve our business processes Deloitte will adapt the system If Deloitte sees the possibility for improvements they will bring them forward Innovation is a continuous process at SAP, Deloitte enables it Deloitte provides training to our staff on an as needed basis Deloitte develops the training that fits our specific needs SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 26

27 Cost Benefits Very difficult to benchmark for measuring cost savings Currently we are back at pre-deregulation staffing levels Huge accomplishment considering that the majority of new obligations add significant complexity and work load SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 27

28 Example From 2 weeks to same day, error free Field meter change: Billing tables updated Meter reading routes updated Inventory updates Retailer is notified SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 28

29 The Future The net effect of IT investment on profits should be positive Cost savings: EDM will replace our existing wholesale system Investigating: Asset & Work Management Customer Relationship Management Enterprise Portals SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 29

30 Bluewater Power Bluewater Power believes that in order for a small or mid-size utility to remain viable we must beat the benefits that traditional economies of scale promise 1) Quality of Service 2) Competitiveness of end-user rates 3) Actually returns to the shareholder SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 30

31 Bluewater Power Bluewater Power will choose our own future, we will grow our distribution business in deliberate and well thought out strategies, and guaranteed Utilibill will be there supporting our efforts SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 31

32 Copyright 2002 SAP AG. All Rights Reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or for any purpose without the express permission of SAP AG. The information contained herein may be changed without prior notice. Some software products marketed by SAP AG and its distributors contain proprietary software components of other software vendors. Microsoft, WINDOWS, NT, EXCEL, Word, PowerPoint and SQL Server are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. IBM, DB2, DB2 Universal Database, OS/2, Parallel Sysplex, MVS/ESA, AIX, S/390, AS/400, OS/390, OS/400, iseries, pseries, xseries, zseries, z/os, AFP, Intelligent Miner, WebSphere, Netfinity, Tivoli, Informix and Informix Dynamic ServerTM are trademarks of IBM Corporation in USA and/or other countries. ORACLE is a registered trademark of ORACLE Corporation. re registered trademarks of the Open Group. hood, MetaFrame, WinFrame, VideoFrame, MultiWin and other Citrix product names iwin and other Citrix product names referenced herein are trademarks of Citrix Systems, Inc. e trademarks of Citrix Systems, Inc. egistered trademarks of W3C, World Wide Web Consortium, Massachusetts Institute of ogy. ark of Sun Microsystems, Inc., used under license for technology invented and implemented by d by Netscape. ointly owned trademarks of SAP AG and Commerce One. P Logo, R/2, R/3, mysap, mysap.com and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 32

33 Copyright 2002 SAP AG. Alle Rechte vorbehalten Weitergabe und Vervielfältigung dieser Publikation oder von Teilen daraus sind, zu welchem Zweck und in welcher Form auch immer, ohne die ausdrückliche schriftliche Genehmigung durch SAP AG nicht gestattet. In dieser Publikation enthaltene Informationen können ohne vorherige Ankündigung geändert werden. Die von SAP AG oder deren Vertriebsfirmen angebotenen Softwareprodukte können Softwarekomponenten auch anderer Softwarehersteller enthalten. Microsoft, WINDOWS, NT, EXCEL, Word, PowerPoint und SQL Server sind eingetragene Marken der Microsoft Corporation. IBM, DB2, DB2 Universal Database, OS/2, Parallel Sysplex, MVS/ESA, AIX, S/390, AS/400, OS/390, OS/400, iseries, pseries, xseries, zseries, z/os, AFP, Intelligent Miner, WebSphere, Netfinity, Tivoli, Informix und Informix Dynamic ServerTM sind Marken der IBM Corporation in den USA und/oder anderen Ländern. ORACLE ist eine eingetragene Marke der ORACLE Corporation. UNIX, X/Open, OSF/1 und Motif sind eingetragene Marken der Open Group. Citrix, das Citrix-Logo, ICA, Program Neighborhood, MetaFrame, WinFrame, VideoFrame, MultiWin und andere hier erwähnte Namen von Citrix-Produkten sind Marken von Citrix Systems, Inc. HTML, DHTML, XML, XHTML sind Marken oder eingetragene Marken des W3C, World Wide Web Consortium, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. JAVA ist eine eingetragene Marke der Sun Microsystems, Inc. JAVASCRIPT ist eine eingetragene Marke der Sun Microsystems, Inc., verwendet unter der Lizenz der von Netscape entwickelten und implementierten Technologie. MarketSet und Enterprise Buyer sind gemeinsame Marken von SAP AG und Commerce One. SAP, SAP Logo, R/2, R/3, mysap, mysap.com und weitere im Text erwähnte SAP-Produkte und -Dienst-leistungen sowie die entsprechenden Logos sind Marken oder eingetragene Marken der SAP AG in Deutschland und anderen Ländern weltweit. Alle anderen Namen von Produkten und Dienstleistungen sind Marken der jeweiligen Firmen. SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 33

34 Corporate Colors for PPT SAP Blue SAP Gold SAP Gray You can use this colors with gradations SAP AG 2002 Leveraging Utilibill, Speaker Tim Vanderheide 34