The German energy service provider, which is specialised in customised energy supply for wholesale customers,is standardising its software landscape and thus significantly increasing the eff iciency of its electricity supply
contracts for bundled customers.
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minute read
More flexible products and more homogeneous IT systems
Enovos Energie Deutschland GmbH already settlesits gas contracts with the cpX.Energy software solution – but not its electricity contracts until recently. The result was
a heterogenous IT landscape based on various solutions. The energy supplier is now aiming for standardisation.
The goal is to bundle processes and competencies and also to reduce costs.
To achieve this goal, Enovos needed a flexible multi-commodity solution as a uniform platform for gas and
electricity management. The company chose the cpX.Energy software, which was already well integrated. In order
to make use of synergies, the billing processes for electricity and gas customers were standardised.
The all-new system solution introduces a number of benefits, not least a considerable increase in eff iciency.
For example, Enovos can now automatically process and bill new complex bundled customer contracts.
Key points
- Replacement of the previous heterogeneoussystem landscape for electricity
billing with cpX.Energy
- Uniform platform for billing of electricity,
gas and services
- Handling of bundle customers with all
specific requirements
- Increased degree of automation through
a homogeneous software landscape
Challenges
The focus of a uniform billing platform for electricity, gas and services was on mapping bundled customers –with all their specific requirements, such as performance optimisation, processing of transaction data and handling
of advance payment models. The challenge was to ensure that these contracts can be processed reliably,
quickly and eff iciently, despite the large number of contract calculations and transaction data items. A second
challenge was the diff erences in processes for billing gas and electricity contracts.
The task of Sopra Steria‘s project team was to map the electricity products in cpX.Energy, migrate the contract
master data, and build integration solutions so that Enovos Energie could manage its gas and electricity customers
in a uniform software. In addition, the degree of automation was to be increased and a uniform interface to the
subledger system and subsequent processes was to be developed.
The solution
The cpX.Energy team first expanded the existing installation toinclude Enovos‘ electricity products. A common definition
of the product catalogue of gas and electricity products was
created. In addition, new interfaces for plausibility-checked
load profiles were created and the financial accounting
interface was expanded. In a further step, the contracts were
migrated to cpX.Energy and stabilised after Go-live.
The master data setup was automated with data from the
previous system (XML structure for partners, contracts, delivery
points and their assignment to the contract). The same applies
to the import of grid usage invoices and their processing in the
accounting system after verification. In addition, the project
team expanded the reporting component. It now includes reports
for the main customs office and a new master data structure.
How we worked together
The project started at the beginning of the lockdown. The teams therefore worked together only virtually andcompletely without face-to-face meetings. The extremely close and very flexible coordination between Enovos
and Sopra Steria was also due to these circumstances. In addition, a few months of project duration had to be
sufficient, so that Enovos was able to settle the newly won supply contracts of the bundled customers with
cpX.Energy on time.Personnel bottlenecks and a cyberattack were unable to jeopardize the success of the project thanks to great
flexibility and mutual understanding. Sopra Steria and Enovos were able to master all tasks and uncertainties that
arose due to the very short project duration and the accompanying circumstances of the corona situation.
Discussions are currently underway regarding future projects and the use of further functionalities from Sopra
Steria‘s cpX.Energy platform.
Results and benefits
The harmonisation of IT systems and processes results in noticeably lower configuration, administration andoperating costs for Enovos. The inclusion of electricity products and billing in cpX.Energy also have a positive
impact. Cross-segment billing is now possible, and specific solution expertise is only required for one system.
In addition, the system processes large amounts of data quickly and efficiently.
The improved level of automation leads to a significant time saving. Additional acceleration is provided by the
daily running contract calculations with cpX.Energy. Improved process monitoring features, including comfortable
user guidance, enable quick navigation to the business data dialogues. In addition, master data is generated in
a fully automated process, making life easier for case handlers and specialist users.
Another added value is the flexibility: Requirements for the management of bundled customer contracts can bemet by including script components. For example, if there is no invoice from the system operator, a customer-specific
logic for calculating network costs speeds up the billing process. In addition, Enovos secures liquidity through
prompt invoicing, as there is no need to wait for the system operator.
With the introduction of cpX.Energy for our electricity billing, we are consistently pursuing our chosen path of automating our customer service processes. This enables us to achieve significantly higher internal efficiency in billing while at the same time improving billing quality, which automatically increases customer satisfaction. This is the necessary condition for us to successfully continue on our chosen path as a supplier of customised energy supply solutions for large energy customers.
Andreas Loh, Managing Director Enovos Energie Deutschland GmbH
About the customer
Enovos Energie Deutschland GmbH is part of a medium-sized international energy group in Luxembourg withroots in Germany. It is headed by Encevo S.A., which is more than 70% publicly owned. Enovos supplies numerous
large industrial and multisite customers as well as municipal utilities with innovative energy supply solutions.
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