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9
NEWS
October/November 2012 www.esb.ie/em
ENDURING SOLUTION
There was a major change to the Northern Ireland electricity market in May this year with the introduction of unlimited customer switching and a complete opening of the domestic electricity market to competition.
Making these changes a reality required the biggest IT project ever undertaken at NIE. This month EM talks to Michael Atkinson, the man in charge, to explain Enduring Solution and to talk about meeting tight deadlines.
Tell us about Michael?
“I completed an engineering degree at Queen’s University Belfast in the early ‘80s and at that time gained some extracurricular success in athletics representing NI and GB in field events.
My career in NIE started in 1985, working as an engineer in power station design and operations, before joining NIE Supply in 1992 in a business development role. I headed up the NIE Powerteam in 1999 before a period in charge of Connections and Customer Operations spanning 2001-06, a time of significant business change. I was then invited to take up the role of Programme Director on the NI 2007 IT project; this took on board the first stage of market opening for domestic customers and how NIE interfaces with the all-island wholesale pool.
I was excited to take up this role, as I got to experience complex project management, working with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders and, following successful delivery in late 2007, was then asked to head up the next major systems project referred to as the Enduring Solution.”
What is the Enduring Solution project?
“Enduring Solution is the name given to the major new IT systems which replace a number of legacy systems going back some 40 years. These supported key business functions for Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) and Power NI (formerly NIE Energy).
The new systems for NIE support core functions including metering, billing and market operations; enabling customers to switch suppliers and making sure that the suppliers receive the correct bills.
A team of up to 400 people worked in Antrim and offshore in India to implement the new systems for a period covering some four years in total with the system going live successfully on Monday May 21st.
During the course of the project, the regulators in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland formed a joint steering group tasked with bringing forward significant harmonisation of the market processes for suppliers in both jurisdictions and thereby encouraging new suppliers to enter the market. To enable this, ESB and NIE worked closely together on this project.”
Why was the new system introduced?
“Market opening was introduced in stages by the Utility Regulator; from 2005 to allow industrial and commercial customers to choose their electricity supplier; then in 2007 to allow the first stages of domestic competition and finally in 2012 to enable unconstrained customer switching. NIE, the network company, has been separated from Power NI, the supply business, since 2007, however many systems and processes were still being shared, and were also becoming obsolete, which restricted the competitive market.
The new systems were introduced primarily to replace obsolete legacy systems, provide for full separation of NIE and Power NI systems and enable unlimited numbers of customers to change suppliers.
These new systems will also help to hamonise the electricity market arrangements in NI and the Republic, as the same market procedures and IT market messages will be used. This gives a common set of processes and systems for suppliers operating in both markets, making it easier and therefore more attractive for other electricity suppliers to enter the market.”
Did the go-live go smoothly?
“Yes, it did. In fact it went better than we might have expected. The technical preparations went well, with very high quality data migration, which tends to be the weak point of many IT projects. We had a strong team of external consultants and internal business experts (‘super users’) who were trained to a high level to help roll out the system. There were understandable nerves about the ‘go live’ weekend but we were well prepared and whilst we have encountered a number of hurdles and challenges we are very pleased with how the project has gone and I would like to congratulate everyone involved on their hard work in implementing the system, including the NIE and ESB personnel directly involved.”
What changes will customers notice?
“The main benefits to customers include more choice of supplier up front at the connection stage and full access to the competitive market.
Depending on the service customers require they may be asked to provide slightly more detail than before, for example, when a customer wants to make an electricity connection they will now need to provide the full postal address of the site and, for example, information about particular meter type. This ensures that all electricity suppliers have access to the same accurate information and enables greater choice for customers when they are connected to the system.
Customers will also notice that they will be asked for meter-point reference numbers (MPRNs), which they may not have come across before. This number is used by the system to identify individual meters and their locations and is recognised by all suppliers. Customers can find their MPRN on their meter card, on their last bill, or from their supplier.
Another change for customers is that there is a new meter reading application on the company website. This will allow customers to directly submit their own meter readings to the billing systems with built-in tolerances to ensure that if reads are a lot higher or lower than we expect, the customer has the opportunity to check the read is correct before submitting it.
Most importantly, customers should find that it is much easier to switch suppliers than before.”
What have you learnt from managing this project?
“Delivering this project required intense effort over four years. I believe all the NIE and ESB personnel have gained immense learning and development by taking part.
Given the complexity of the project I believe the key to success has been in understanding the task in hand well in advance to allow proper planning and budgeting. This plus assembling the best possible team in terms of technical and business skills, a ‘can do’ attitude and ensuring that all the key stakeholders remained aligned to the same common purpose ensured go-live went ahead on May 21st with a sound system and within budget!”
The major IT systems have replaced legacy systems in many parts of the business such as connections, metering and the customer contact centre
NIE welcomes class of 2012!
NIE has welcomed 10 new apprentices who have started training in overhead lines. NIE Technical Training Manager Raymond McMenemy explains, “We’re really pleased to welcome our new class of apprentices. NIE places huge importance on apprenticeships in order to replenish the work pool, improve the efficiency of the business and, more recently, help meet its renewable energy targets. The nature of the work that NIE carries out on the electricity network is highly specialised and challenging, that is why we believe that the apprenticeship programme helps us nurture a specialised workforce.”
FACTS: For the second year in a row, NIE had a ‘pop up’ Facebook page. The page was successful and was a good way to communicate with potential applicants.
The page had:
195 fans
219 likes
66 interactive comments
76,067 potential views of the page
STUDENTS SPARK ENTHUSIASM FOR ENGINEERING
Two students from Ballymena and Kilkeel have sparked their enthusiasm for a career in engineering with a summer work placement at Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE). As part of the Nuffield STEM Engineering Bursary, Joe McAleese and Orla Murphy spent four weeks with NIE tackling individual engineering projects on overhead lines. Their placement finished with a presentation of their project findings to a panel of NIE engineers. Cathal Donnelly from NIE mentored Joe during his placement and was overwhelmed by his enthusiasm for the project. He said, “We were very impressed by the students final projects and they have certainly given us some potential areas to research.”
NIE Customer Operational Engineer Rory Lynch, who was Orla’s mentor, added, “Work experience offers individuals an invaluable opportunity to work on real business situations, giving them a better understanding of the sector and hopefully inspiring their career aspirations. There is a shortage of technical and scientific skills across a range of industries and NIE is pleased to be associated with the Nuffield STEM Engineering Bursary that encourages individuals to pursue a career in STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths – subjects.”
Joe and Orla enjoyed their work placement at NIE. Joe said, “I have always been interested in STEM subjects at school and was delighted to receive the Nuffield STEM Engineering Bursary with NIE as my sponsor. The last four weeks have presented me with many challenges, providing me with a better understanding and appreciation of the work that engineers carry out.”
Orla agreed and added: “It has been a fantastic experience and not only has it inspired me to follow a career in electrical engineering but I’ve had fun and met some great people along the way.”
