Johannesburg, 19 Feb 2009
City Power engaged the GijimaAst/NokusaEI consortium to automate and improve its business processes flow using SAP, and to integrate documents electronically into the business processes using SAP Enterprise Content Management (ECM) functionality. The project was driven by a need to improve and standardise business process efficiency in line with the company vision, and to achieve regulatory compliance.
City Power is the wholly owned entity established by the City of Johannesburg in 2000, responsible for the purchase, distribution and sale of electricity to approximately 300 000 customers in greater Johannesburg. It has an annual turnover of approximately R3.8 billion. It has total assets of R5.5 billion and contributes 22.9% of the total economic value added in the City of Johannesburg.
City Power has a staff complement of almost 2 000 people, and a major purpose of the project was to improve business process flow and information retention among staff. The actual benefits are very widespread, and range from the automation of leave approval to the control and automation of the refurbishment and repair of substations and equipment used in the field.
Automation, document management means cost, risk reduction
The power utility industry is a heavily regulated industry in South Africa, and business automation and document management technology play a key role in maintaining regulatory compliance and accountability to the shareholders and client base of the company.
Employees need rapid, efficient and auditable access to correct and up-to-date information to be able to make informed business decisions.
The project concentrated on automation of the enabled process to a “push” rather than a “pull” of information, with downstream processes automatically informed of upstream progress. This means that not only is the process efficiency improved, but also that the role players are always up to date with the latest information.
Project objectives, success
A successful project requires careful planning and hard work. The project was preceded by a strategy project for both business process automation as well as the document management requirements within City Power.
The project spanned five phases over a two-year period, which included pilot, rollout and anchoring phase. Skill transfer and retention was very important to the client to ensure sustainability of the implementation.
A project team of 13 implementation consultants with various skills and 200 business people participated in making the project a success.
The City Power General Manager for Business Strategy Improvement and project sponsor, Lungi Mbewu, said: “The organisation recognised the efforts put in by the whole project team and the value that the project has delivered to City Power. The organisation was thankful to every individual that contributed to the success of the project.”
Project at a glance
Company
Name: City Power
Location: Johannesburg - South Africa
Industry: Electricity utility
Products and services:
* Supply of electricity to domestic, commercial and industrial properties.
* Customer services for all domestic customers ie, processing applications, customer queries, customer complaints, customer accounts and revenue management.
* City Power provides retail customer services to key customers, commercial and industrial customers as well as prepaid customers.
Revenue: R3.8 billion
Employees: 1 921
Web site: http://www.citypower.co.za
The project:
Business process flow and document management automation
Implementation partner: GijimaAst/NokusaEI
Challenges and opportunities
* Requirement for improvement in business process efficiency to be in line with company vision
* Frequent misplacement or loss of business process supporting information and documentation
* Non-standardised business processes throughout departments within the organisation
Objectives:
* Improved productivity
* Better process management
* Adherence to corporate governance principles
* Reduced business and financial risk
* Improved customer service
* Improved compliance
* Cost savings
* Mitigate business risk
* Improved productivity
Solution and services:
* SAP business workflow tool
* SAP Document Management System
* SAP Archivelink and Imaging Toolset
* Kofax scanning and processing
Why specific solutions and services?
* Improved return on ERP investment
* World-class document management functionality
* Strong recommendations from existing users
* Tight integration with existing plant maintenance and materials management functionality
* Friendly user interface
Implementation highlights:
* Met schedule and budget on agreed scope of work
* Achieved strategic objectives and vision set for project
* Achieved high level of user acceptance and usage in the organisation
* Extended benefits to supply chain vendors through automation of invoicing process
Benefits achieved:
* Standardised processes and user interface for business process automation and document management and retrieval
* Simplified access, use, and support of document management and automation infrastructure
* Attained universal user acceptance
* Achieved a standard company-wide approach to classifying, retrieving, and controlling governance documents
* A Web development was also incorporated into the implementation to enable City Power's vendors to receive updates on progress of the procurement processes as they occur on the City Power SAP system as well as a facility to upload invoices in electronic format directly on City Power's Internet Web site.
Third-party integration:
* Database: Kpro - MaxDB
* Hardware: Hewlett-Packard
* Operating systems: UNIX
* Microsoft Windows NT
* Scanning interface: Capio
* Imaging processing: Kofax
Sources
http://www.citypower.co.za
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