EDF Energy: SAP

EDF Energy is one of the largest energy companies in the United Kingdom, employing more than 12,000 people. It is the largest electricity supplier for London and southeast and southwest England, supplying energy to nearly 5.1 million customers and operating coal-fired and gas-fired power stations, private CHP plants and wind farms. It is also a major operator of private power networks and holds large contracts with customers including several airports, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and the London Underground. EDF Energy is part of the EDF Group, which supplies electricity to about 43 million customers in 22 countries.

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In early 2004, EDF Energy was running two parallel SAP R/3 systems—one covering its networks business, including transmission, and the other handling operations, including customer management, corporate back office and power stations. In March 2004, the company asked Accenture to quantify the benefits from strategic development of its SAP investment.

Accenture identified major business and IT benefits and recommended that EDF Energy should enact three key initiatives in order to move toward a high performance utility model:

• Consolidate its two existing SAP systems.
  
• Implement SAP BW-SEM to enhance financial management and reporting.
  
• Extend SAP to support regulatory pricing and reporting, improved customer service and enhanced back-office functionality.

As the lead implementation partner for the SAP blueprint and subsequent delivery phase in the third quarter of 2004, Accenture enacted SAPIENS, an implementation program encompassing a wide range of SAP modules, including finance and control; supply chain and procurement; and human resources. We also introduced SAP BW-SEM's business planning and simulation; business consolidation; and performance management modules.

Accenture took on many roles, including program and project management, organizational impact analysis, system configuration and testing, training design and delivery. Accenture also helped with support after the successful completion of the project in the second quarter of 2005. Accenture then helped EDF Energy develop and roll out a solution to integrate the front office as well, including substantial training and systems work.

The multi-phase program created a high-performing operational model integrated around a common transactional solution for finance, procurement and human resources. It also delivered significant cost reductions by removing duplicate systems and increasing the efficiency of the planning and reporting processes. Through BW/SEM, the company gained an accurate and timely view of company results and reduced manual effort in collating and reconciling financial data.