NamPower: IT Strategy & Transformation

Accenture implemented a world-class, SAP-enabled platform to help NamPower meet the requirements of the Namibian government's policy of de-regulation. The result situates NamPower on the high-performance route.

NamPower is Namibia's sole supplier of electricity, which it sells to the country's 200,000 customers either through the seven municipalities or directly to large enterprises. In line with the Namibian government's policy of de-regulation, NamPower is being transformed from a vertically integrated electricity monopoly controlling both generation and transmission. Instead, it is being organised around technical competencies, into separate regionally based electricity generation and distribution companies.

NamPower appointed a team, led by Accenture, to orientate it towards becoming a commercially oriented, fiscally robust and profitable energy company geared towards seeking new business opportunities in Africa. The appointed team had experience in implementing similar systems in power utilities around the world, devising strategies and implementing solutions that support their goals.

This initiative was named the Integrated Business Information System and its main business objectives were to:

• Implement a fully integrated, cost effective and efficient business solution to support the business processes across all operations.
  
  
• Ensure accurate real-time information to determine the true cost of electricity supply.
  
  
• Create an infrastructure to ring-fence NamPower's business units.
  
  
• Reduce manual work and errors through electronic bank reconciliation.
  
  
• Shorten the month-end processing to ensure faster release of financial statements and figures.
  
  
• Improve financial control through multiple authorisation levels.
  
  
• Provide a real-time view on cost-centre spending.
  
  
• Ensure cost transparency with drill-down functionality.

In collaborative sessions with the NamPower management it was realised that some of the company's processes had to be restructured to facilitate commercialisation. This would be no easy task as the utility was operating with fragmented, old computer applications.

These old applications had not enforced rigour in transaction processing so financial control and audit trails were unreliable. Some tasks were done manually and therefore error prone. Management decision-making was impaired because there was little real-time information available.

A powerful combination of Accenture and AST Technology, together with NamPower's commitment, ensured the successful execution of this innovative, world-class solution within an extremely tight nine-month schedule. Accenture also drew on its global experience in utility solutions and project management of large SAP implementations.

The team devised a modular systems solution to enable NamPower to phase its entry into the commercial world. This entailed separating or ring-fencing business units into self-supporting entities so that they could be spun off into separate commercial operations as and when required.

Work started in August 2002 and the core SAP utility modules were implemented by April 2003. This ranks as one of the fastest implementations of a SAP-based utility solution anywhere in the world for this breadth of functional scope.

The initial implementation included Financials, Logistics, Plant Maintenance, Human Resources, Payroll and the functionality available within SAP's Industry Solution for Utilities, which includes Customer Service, Billing, Credit Management and Device (Metres) Management.

Two additional applications—Corporate Financial Management and Environmental Health and Safety—went live by July 2003. Accenture brought in specialists TreasFin to ensure robust and rapid implementation of the SAP Corporate Financial Management (Treasury) module.

To involve NamPower management and staff in the evolution of the solution and streamline implementation, Accenture used two components of its Business Integration Methodology:

• Prototyping workshops in the design phase gave NamPower management hands-on experience with the proposed solution. The workshop also gave the opportunity to suggest refinements and identify problem areas before the solution was too far advanced. This stimulated interaction and secured management involvement in the process.
  
  
• A dress rehearsal was run in parallel with the old system in the month prior to going live with SAP. This was a final check that the new system was operating according to plan and that staff were confident in their use of it.

NamPower has a world-class platform from which it can confidently engage in competitive activities en route to becoming a leading energy supplier to Africa.

The program yielded the following immediate benefits, to be realised annually:

• Flexible and accurate billing, which will ensure all customers' accounts are accurate and sent timely.
  
  
• Improved disciplines in management of the computer system ensure a structured and audited approach to maintenance procedures.
  
  
• Rigour in the billing process ensures all electricity sales are accounted for.
  
  
• Better management of stock through integrated information.
  
  
• Real-time view on project spending.
  
  
• Improved cost control through various levels of authorisation on expenditure.
  
  
• Real-time tracking of project status, leading to improved planning.
  
  
• Real-time view on cost-centre spending.
  
  
• Cost transparency with drill-down functionality.
  
  
• Real-time information and consolidation, increasing decision making and financial control.
  
  
• Simplified asset tracking.
  
  
• Accurate and organised maintenance history.