t keynote 1020_de_lost wylie
DESCRIPTION
TRANSCRIPT
A collaboration of:
Standing Up an Entire Utility in Less Than
14 months
Ruth DeLost-Wylie, SVP CIO
Peoples Natural Gas
Slide 2
Agenda
Company Overview - From the Industrial Age to the
Technological Era
Situation
Actions taken and Results achieved
What worked well and “Post Go Live”
Questions
.
.
Slide 3
Company Overview
• Peoples Natural Gas was founded in
1885 and was the first recorded LDC in
the Pennsylvania Gas Charter book
• Peoples was the originator of gas
compression technology
• We serve over 420,000 customers
throughout 18 counties
• Peoples has over 11,500 miles pipeline From Industrial Age
to Technological Era
Slide 4
Situation
• 12 years ago Peoples became a subsidiary of a multi-
state utility
• February 2010 that utility sold Peoples to a private firm
that brought our headquarters back to Pennsylvania
• We had a Transition Service Agreement that gave us
less than 18 months to build the systems/utility
• Everything at the selling company was a shared service
with the exception of Operations
And that’s where the fun begins…
Situation
• Information Technology, Customer Service, Finance,
HR, Legal, Supply Chain, Asset Management etc. were
all part of a shared service and didn’t come with the
sale. This means:
Just Data, Customers and Pipeline came over
No Staff No Headquarters
Building
No Data
Center
No Voice or
Data Networks
No Hardware or
Software Applications
Situation
Starting from Scratch When I started at Peoples Natural Gas
in March 2010, I had a desk, a chair
and a blank white board
Situation
• Pressured to have 72 IT systems in production mode by
the time Transition Services Agreement ended
• Signed a Sale’s Settlement Agreement with the Public
Utility Commission to significantly improve Customer
Services
• Filed a Rate Case within the same 18 month period
• Our Parent Company decided to purchase another Gas
Utility to the north of us so we had to perform Due
Diligence within the same time period
Situation
• We didn’t manage the seller’s staff or their source
systems
• Seller was doing major upgrades/ system changes as
we were working through conversion
• We couldn’t make copies of test or re-establish the
source data bases on an as needed basis
• Many FTES that knew the source system took “early
outs”, thus a good portion of the knowledgeable staff
was no longer with the “selling” entity for conversion
Action
In less than 18 months we:
• Interviewed and hired a staff
• Established a PMO
• Gathered requirements
• Created and issued dozens of RFPs
• Completed the bid process for every bit of Hardware,
Software, Voice and Data Networks and Equipment and
for Implementation providers
• Further negotiated with vendors and benchmarked pricing
Action – It’s not just applications
As we were working through the system builds we :
• Found a HQ Building
• Built a Data Center
• Procured and installed all of the Hardware
• Implemented all of the voice and data connectivity including
Fiber and Microwave throughout 18 counties
• Built a Call Center
Building the Data Center Action-
Slide 12
Building the Data Center Action-
Slide 13
Building the Data Center Action-
Slide 14
Building the Data Center Action-
Slide 15
Keep in mind that we had to build a
second infrastructure at a D/R site in
the same timeframe
Building the Data Center Action-
Action
• Created detailed project budgets down to the lowest
level (22 Project Budgets – 1 SAP with 13 Sub projects)
• Developed implementation plans with multiple short
term goals
• Established daily status meetings
• Senior Management kept their finger on the pulse by
being thoroughly involved in the detail and being a
visible and integral part in all phases of the project
Action
Providers and Tools
• A proven PMO to manage all projects
o I needed a PARTNER not a VENDOR
o out of Pittsburgh won
the PMO
• Chose ECC and CR&B as the
backbone ERP foundation
Action
Providers and Tools (cont’d.)
• Needed a World Class Implementation Provider for
SAP
o was the winning Implementation Provider
• Utilized Agile ASAP Methodology for all 72 systems and
interfaces
• Utilized other tools such as Emigall and Solution
Manager
Modules Implemented
• To meet the obligations under the Settlement
Agreement and significantly improve customer service,
reliability and safety, Peoples implemented SAP’s:
o Customer Relationship Management and Billing
o Customer Financial Management
o Collaborative Services Management
o Energy Data Management
Action
Modules Implemented (cont.)
o Financial Supply Chain Management
o Resource and Supplier Management
o Treasury and Risk Management
o Environmental, Health and Safety
o Business Objects BI
o Process Scheduler – Redwood
o And other ancillary packages such as Composer, Help Launch
Interact etc.
Action
Other Systems and Interfaces
• In addition to SAP, we had to implement 71 other systems,
with all of their underlying infrastructure including:
o SCADA
o Compliance and Pipeline Integrity
o Mobile Data
o Gas and Energy Trading & Gas Supply Measurement
o Meter Reading
o Built an entire custom Customer Data Warehouse
o Implemented about 100 interfaces
Action
Slide 22
Interfaces to just one module of SAP
• The TSA end date was August 1st, 2011
• We converted earlier on June 27th, 2011
• SAP “Go Live” check was good
• We balanced to all of the Source Data
• Successfully billed our customers the first night in
production
• The entire project came in slightly under budget
• Our customer service and satisfaction metrics
improved year one
Results
Customer Satisfaction Survey
Peoples Customer Satisfaction Survey
87%
79% 79% 81% 84%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Ease ofReaching Co
AutomatedPhone System
Ease ofAutomated
system
Choices ofautomated
system
Wait to speakw/rep
2009
2010
2011
2012
Settlement Metrics
Settlement Metrics
Average Call Abandonment Rate
7% 6%
5%
3%
0%1%2%3%4%5%6%7%8%
2012Settlement
Goals
2013Settlement
Goals
2014Settlement
Goals
PNGPerformance
2012
2012 Settlement Goals
2013 Settlement Goals
2014 Settlement Goals
PNG Performance 2012
Settlement Metrics
Average busy-out rate must be <0.5%
0.50% 0.50% 0.50%
0.00% 0.00%
0.10%
0.20%
0.30%
0.40%
0.50%
0.60%
2012Settlement
Goals
2013Settlement
Goals
2014Settlement
Goals
PNGPerformance
2012
Average busy-out rate mustbe <0.5%
Settlement Metrics
% of Meters not read in 6 mo. Must be <.25%
0.25% 0.25% 0.25%
0.11%
0.00%0.05%0.10%0.15%0.20%0.25%0.30%
2012Settlement
Goals
2013Settlement
Goals
2014Settlement
Goals
PNGPerformance
2012
% of Metersnot read in 6mo must be<.25%
Slide 29
0.03% 0.03% 0.03%
0.02%
0.00%
0.01%
0.01%
0.02%
0.02%
0.03%
0.03%
0.04%
2012Settlement
Goals
2013Settlement
Goals
2014Settlement
Goals
PNGPerformance
2012
% of Meters notread in 12 moshould be <.03%
Settlement Metrics
% of Meters not read in 12 mo. Must be <.03%
Slide 30
3% 3% 3%
0% 0%1%1%2%2%3%3%4%
2012Settlement
Goals
2013Settlement
Goals
2014Settlement
Goals
PNGPerformance
2012
# Customerdisputes notissued w/in 30days <3%
Settlement Metrics
# of Customer disputes not issued w/in 30 days <3%
Slide 31
Settlement Metrics
0.00000%
0.00200%
0.00400%
0.00600%
0.00800%
0.01000%
0.01200%
2012Settlement
Goals
2013Settlement
Goals
2014Settlement
Goals
PNGPerformance
2012
% of bills not rendered once every billing period
2012 Settlement Goals
2013 Settlement Goals
2014 Settlement Goals
PNG Performance 2012
• We chose the right people and partners…you have no
chance at success if you don’t o An Excellent PMO is key (Innovative Decisions saved us)
o An Implementation Provider that is a true Partner with the
provider’s continuous Executive presence (IBM)
• Change Control – Kept constant communication with
the business and used understandable analogies
• Implementation plans had multiple short term goals
• Invested in Training and assigned business super users
for every area
What worked well
Senior Management took command and control of the
project
• Constant follow up
• Issues were raised and solved rapidly
• With such a massive project and short timeframe, we
couldn’t let one day pass without addressing the issues
• “The devil is in the details” - pay attention to the details
• Continuously kept our finger on the project budgets and
resources
What worked well
Made every effort to understand the business
• Built a Historical Customer Data Warehouse (CDW)
• Added cross reference tables
• Installed dual monitors for Customer Service that would pop
both the CDW information as well as new SAP data
• Implemented full “Statement of Account”
Slide 34
What worked well
Analyzed trade offs, risks and rewards
• Determined what functionality was “enough” to go live
• Made sure that we had a solid, extremely detailed
cutover plan
• Thoroughly trained super users in process and
procedures for cutover
• Identified and hired solid and experienced support
resources
What worked well
Post Cutover is essential
• IT and Super Users were scheduled around the clock
with on-site support at each field location for two weeks
after implementation
o The Cutover process included specific escalation procedures
o Had a daily 2 PM conference call with the Super Users to
understand issues
• Implemented an aggressive TPR and GAP process to
address the bugs and enhancements
95% of the bugs and gaps are complete
What worked well
Enterprise Information Layer- Clean up
o Optimization of SAP Business Warehouse for consolidated and
complex reporting (reduced process chains from 14 hours to 3
hours) and provided solid base for future analytics and navigable
storage.
Customer Portal for FULL Consumer E-Services
o Setup of customer e-services suite of products
o Track consumption/cost, Enter meter reading, Upload meter read
images, Report outages… and more self services are planned
Human Resource Compensation and Forms
o Worked with Marvel to setup CompEZ and FormsEZ for HR
Post Go Live - The Fun doesn’t stop
Rest is overrated
• Purchased TW Phillips Gas Utility
o Converted ECC modules in 2012
o Implementing CRM & B, Mobile, Gas & Energy Trading 2013
• 2012 entered into due diligence for yet another utility
servicing Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky
o Planned Closing before the end of 2013
o With this transaction Peoples will be the largest LDC in
Pennsylvania.
o Implementation plan is for 93 systems in less than 7 months
Post Go Live – No Rest for the Wicked
Slide 38
