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The central, short-term marketing of transport capacities in high-pressure pipelines requires high standards in grid gas network operators’ IT systems. GAS-X seamlessly integrates capacity marketing processes right up to billing.
The reorganisation of the national gas market by the German Federal Network Agency (BNetzA), based on standardised capacity regulation and central transport auctions (KARLA Gas), requires bayernets to provide complex capacity management and extremely short response times to booking requests. The Munich-based gas grid operator sought an integrated IT solution for marketing gas capacities, including all handling and billing processes.
Key points
- Technical and commercial coordination of gas transports based on GAS-X Grid
- Complex, highly available IT landscape
- Capacity management, capacity booking, contract reservation, allocation and accounting via uniform master data management
Challenge
bayernets feeds natural gas through its 1,300 km environmentally friendly, high-pressure pipeline network in Bavaria.
With network coverage of 36,000 km2, the company is one of the major natural gas grid operators in Germany. bayernets transports some 100 billion kilowatt hours of natural gas via its own supply network, with gas fed in and distributed via 288 technical points and 83 commercial points in the network.
Specifications on transport capacity marketing in KARLA Gas have fundamentally changed how transport clients make bookings. Current developments feature more dynamic transport capacity sales with bookings made within increasingly shorter periods. The result is a steadily increasing number of bookings, contracts and billing tasks. In such an environment, it is essential to provide short, direct procedures, from booking to billing, witout any interfaces or format changes.
Redundancy in master data management and master data interfaces for business partners, the network model, bookings and adding or removing capacity make it difficult to achieve optimum process reliability.
Our solution
Sopra Steria’s GAS-X sector solution is fully established at bayernets. It provides comprehensive support for central master data management and central handling and billing processes, largely due to the inclusion of the GAS-X Grid functional module.
The solution was introduced with an integrated capacity marketing system, thereby optimising the complex IT landscape.
This was achieved by adding further functional components for contract and capacity management, as well as connection to the central European capacity marketing platform PRISMA.
Eliminating a separate contract management system also significantly reduced the number of internal IT interfaces.
How we worked together
A trusting, solution-focused working relationship between Sopra Steria and bayernets set the tone throughout the project lifecycle. bayernets set out clearly structured functional requirements, which Sopra Steria met with its first-class expertise in development, system integration and consulting services.
A joint technical conceptual design was developed at the beginning of the project, based on process descriptions and workshops. Software implementation to create GAS-X Grid contracting product components began three months after the project started.
At bayernets, the testing and documentation work was followed by system integration. Productive operation was then ready to start after a project life span shorter than ten months.
Results and benefits
A trusting, solution-focused working relationship between Sopra Steria and bayernets set the tone throughout the project lifecycle. bayernets set out clearly structured functional requirements, which Sopra Steria met with its first-class expertise in development, system integration and consulting services.
A joint technical conceptual design was developed at the beginning of the project, based on process descriptions and workshops. Software implementation to create GAS-X Grid contracting product components began three months after the project started.
At bayernets, the testing and documentation work was followed by system integration. Productive operation was then ready to start after a project life span shorter than ten months.
Thanks to its corporate culture and state-of-the-art software architecture, Sopra Steria is able to fulfil bayernets’ individual requirements. Moreover, all deadlines were reliably met during the implementation project.
Daniel Diaz, Project manager, bayernets GmbH
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