Client
City Power
On the Web
www.citypower.co.za Project
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Business Challenge
How Accenture
Helped
High Performance Delivered Executive Summary
 In April 2001 Accenture was named the preferred partner for
City Power's mission-critical Financial and Billing Systems implementation.
Accenture delivered early—and within budget—a world-class solution that gives
City Power a firm base for profitable growth.
City Power, the electricity utility company for the Greater
Johannesburg Metropolitan Council (GJMC), was formed in January 2001 after the
merger of five municipalities to form South Africa's largest metropolis. The
merger is in line with national government's municipal re-structuring
initiatives.
Johannesburg's iGoli 2002 re-structuring strategy, which
will help make it a world-class city, included a plan to upgrade the quality
and delivery of basic services such as electricity to all areas under its new
jurisdiction.
Johannesburg's 250,000 customers buy 70 percent of the total
energy in the city from City Power. The balance is sold to them by national
electricity utility Eskom.
City Power sells 8,200 GWh of energy annually. This is
distributed through 12,500 distribution transformers over an area of 815 km2
and brings in R1, 937 million.
Business
Challenge City Power aims to be a world-class electricity utility
delivering quality, competitive services that meet national standards, grow its
customer base, and enhance its commercial viability through the optimum use of
assets and service delivery.
How Accenture Helped In April 2001 Accenture was named the preferred partner for
City Power's mission-critical Financial and Billing Systems implementation
based on SAP R/3 and SAP IS-U/CCS (SAP’s Industry Specific Utilities solution
for Customer Care and Service).
Accenture brought to the project its vast international
experience in implementing SAP R/3 and IS-U/CCS. This is the first time that
SAP IS-U/CCS has been used in an electricity implementation in South Africa.
Securing executive sponsorship from City Power's CEO, vice
President of Customer Services, and vice President of Finance was crucial in
driving the project forward and ensuring deadlines were met. Regular meetings
were held with the CEO and his executive team to ensure acceptance of all
design work, and they took an active interest in its progress.
Accenture’s proven project management expertise on large and complex implementations came to the fore at City Power because it encourages client and partner participation. This ensured system acceptance and knowledge transfer. Half of Accenture’s strong team of specialists included City Power employees, which underscored ownership by the customer of the new system and built new skills within the utility. The 12-month strategic project was completed two months
ahead of schedule through the project team's intelligent use of jump-start
material and re-use of templates. This cut by 25 percent the time spent on
business process design and accelerated system configuration.
This fast system implementation meant City Power could start
accurate billing sooner than anticipated and correct the under-recovery of
money for electricity sold.
Rollout started in January 2002—first with the
implementation of the back-end SAP R/3 financial and commercial systems and was
completed in April 2002—with the implementation of SAP IS-U/CCS Customer Care
and Billing system for 10 000 commercial and industrial customers.
High Performance
Delivered Accenture delivered early—and within budget—a world-class
solution that gives City Power a firm base for profitable growth.
The immediate impact of the improved billing capabilities
was a once-off benefit of about R80 million. This was achieved through
shrinking the time between meter reading and invoicing from 45 days to five
days, efficient use of the software which enforces rigour of customer data
input so invoices and debit orders are accurately processed, and payments are
promptly received. Interest is also being calculated—and recovered—on late
payments.
Ongoing financial benefits will flow from efficient use of
the new software that enforces rigour and disciplined business processes. City
Power's customers perceive that the utility is in control of its billing
operation. Warning notices of overdue payments are sent out timeously, whereas
previously customers could be disconnected without warning.
Meter reading is now more efficient as it is easier to
pinpoint faulty meters. Planned meter-reading routes ensure faster gathering of
data by meter readers for billing purposes.
City Power's Information Systems Board—comprising senior
executives—have praised the quality, focus and implementation of the project
and awarded it an 'A plus' rating for overall performance.
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