ESBIE implement SAP as their new customer and billing system

Since 1999 ESB Independent Energy (ESBIE) has led the way in the competitive market by being one of the first supply companies to compete in the evolving de-regulated electricity market in both the Republic and North of Ireland.

The strategy of ITS in these markets has always been to offer quality customer service, thereby building a strong customer base for ESB competitive generation. To build on its strategy ESBIE recognised that the existing stable of systems did not support their growth targets for the future and a decision was taken to invest in new technology and replace some of the existing systems.

Following normal procurement procedures, SAP was selected as the preferred integrated system for their business requirements.

In 2006 the project was formally launched by the project sponsor Liam Molloy MD, ESBIE. In launching the project Liam outlined the project mission very clearly, "Implement a system that will accurately and timely bill our customers to best practice delivered on time and within budget."

As it turned out Liam could not have asked for a better result. The project was delivered on target and within budget. So what contributed to the success?

A Project Board was established to oversee the delivery both in terms of the project goals and business benefits. The composition of the Board reflected all strands of ESBIE's business - Sean O'Loughlin, Operations Manager, Dermot McArdle, Financial Controller, Bob Turley, Commercial Manager, Colm de Burca, Business Development Manager, Gerry Conlon Manager ISC ITS, Susan Kinane, ESBIE Project Manager and Steve Cull, SAP Project Manager. The group met every month and more frequently as required.

A Project Steering Group was established to assist the working of the Project Board. The members were Vivian Young, IT Governance, Pat Fenlon FC, ESBI (now General Manager, ESB Customer Supply), John McSweeney, Manager ESBI Investments and Liam Molloy. The project was fully supported by ESBIE Board and Michael McNicholas, Executive Director ESBI.

The implementation had three major milestones:

• Blueprint - where business processes are defined to ensure all functionality is identified and scoped.
• Build - where the requirements identified in the blueprint phase are realis
• Test - this is where the build and migrated data come together for robust testing ready for cutover

The big challenge for the business, as always, is balancing the project demands with 'business as normal'. The business was very supportive throughout the project and this commitment to the project is starting to pay back now" says Susan Kinane, Project Manager.

Alan Kilkenny, Functional Architect says "Leading the business team through the process of designing how our processes will work within SAP was a demanding phase for my team. We had to challenge ourselves to ensure we delivered best practice for the business and I think we are starting to see the benefits even after the first two months."

Jenny McElroy and Ken Tobin, who worked on the Market Messaging, ensured ESBIE secured re-qualification with both regulators north and south. "The impacts of the many changes, not just in terms of systems but also processes needed to be communicated to all staff. This was a significant task to achieve in a relatively short timeframe, says Annette Meade, Change Manager. "A detailed communication plan was developed to ensure all impacted parties, not just staff, were fully informed."

"Managing the technical build across various physical locations was a feature of this project", says Declan Furlong, Technical Delivery Manager. "We worked very closely with ITS, who provided technical support for SAP and also Mentec, our service provider for the integration middleware. All parties worked together to ensure our ambitious milestones were met."

Numerous SAP ISU projects throughout the world have highlighted the importance of data migration as a significant factor in ensuring a successful implementation.

Liz Connell, Data Migration Manager had the task of managing this segment of the project. "We started looking at the data at a very early stage in the project. This helped us resolve most of the problems before we started the dress rehearsals. The experience I gained on previous projects certainly helped me to identify the big issues."

Three dress rehearsals were completed before the management team agreed to allow the new system Go-Live. Susan Kinane had many sleepless nights at this stage and wasn't happy until she was satisfied everything was perfect.

To prepare everybody for this day all staff had undergone extensive training in each of the necessary applications. Carol O'Connor, Ursula Wallace, Alan Daisey, Michael McDaid, Norah Lyons, Elaine McManus and Marie Boylan designed and delivered expert training to all ESBIE staff, giving them the necessary skills to operate the new system. "In addition a dedicated training software tool was purchased for this task. This investment in a training system will continue to support our customer service initiatives into the future," commented Annette Meade.

So on April 4th ESBIE staff arrived into work with a new system up and running.

Two months after implementation how is the business managing? "When the project was launched in June 2006 nobody could believe that Go-live would be achieved for 4th April 2007. This is a major achievement by the project team who worked really hard to deliver on the milestones set at the beginning of the project."

"We have now completed a second billing for most of our customers and we are seeing the bills produced quicker and with greater accuracy. This is helping to lay the foundations on which we can continue to build a strong business and enhance our Customer Service," Sean O'Loughlin, Operations Manager commented.

"Customer Service is very important to ESBIE and the delivery of this investment will greatly enhance our ability to provide a first class service," says Liam Molloy. "With a new dedicated Customer Service Team and the best system in the world, we are well equipped to deliver excellent customer service to our customers."

"The successful delivery of this project is a credit to ESBIE who worked together with the project team and SAP to deliver a much needed system for the business, customers and staff. I wish them well as they reap the benefits from this investment", said Michael McNicholas at the recent ESBIE Board Meeting. EM