The existing software for marketing, processing, allocation and billing was completely replaced
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Consolidation of gas sector market processes
The requirements for gas transmission system operators in the German and European
market with regard to data availability, data quality, cost efficiency and automation have continuously increased
in recent years. In the case of the transmission system operator, these requirements resulted in a consolidation of the system landscape.
The gas sector market processes were transferred to a completely new, homogeneous IT system and the
company‘s existing system infrastructure was completely replaced. In two extensive projects, the legacy systems
for marketing, processing, allocation and billing were bundled in Sopra Steria‘s software solution cpX.Energy.
During the project, the project team had to quickly adapt to the new legal requirements for setting up virtual
interconnection points (VIPs). The result is the significant advantage to work with only
software system and one point of contact for mapping the entire transmission system operator (TSO) process.
The system operator is thus technologically and procedurally future-proofed in this IT field for the coming years in
order to efficiently map the upcoming requirements in the market environment together with its business partners.
Key points
One software for the entire TSO process chain including remote meter reading,
energy calculation (GDM module) and billing (Billing module)
MANGAT project: implementation of the .Grid components for processes following the gas transmission process
VIP project: setup and mapping of virtual
interconnection points in cpX.Energy
MAXIMA project: implementation of the .Grid components preceding the gas transmission process
Challenges
The central challenge for the project team was to merge eight different legacy systems into an all-in-one solution in the .Grid module. The requirements and wishes of the different internal departments, which
handled separate processes and systems before the introduction of cpX.Energy, had to be reconciled.
In the course of the project, the team had to respond to various circumstances. These circumstances included
new legal requirements and organisational adjustments in collaboration and project communication via online
channels as a result of the Corona pandemic. There was also a change from the waterfall methodology initially
used in the MANGAT project to an agile project approach in the VIP projects and in the MAXIMA project.
Our solution
Over a project period of several years, Sopra Steria hasconsolidated large parts of the process chain in .Grid with the supplementary modules
.GDM, .ZFA and .Billing. In close cooperation with
the customer, the project team created a system that maps a
large part of the customer’s value chain. From the marketing
of capacities, nomination, metering and allocation to balancing
and billing, cpX.Energy controls all relevant processes using
a single software system.
During the project, the customer
also initiated a number of organisational changes in order to
be able to react more quickly to new requirements. However,
not only the software and the organisation, but also the approach
changed during the project - from a waterfall-oriented
approach with requirements and functional specification
to a completely agile project process.
When harmonising the software systems, the project team
also took into account future requirements that will become
relevant.
How we worked together
Consulting and coaching took place in cross-departmental teams, so that organisational changes could beinitiated which significantly increased efficiency. The various requirements of the specialist departments were
obtained, prioritised, consolidated and optimised within the framework of the projects.
Thanks to the successful project results and the respectful cooperation, further joint projects are already planned.
Results and benefits
With the implementation of .Grid, the consolidation of our customers‘s gas market processes and the setup of the VIPs are successfully completed. The grid operator now has a uniform software platform that
maps all of the company’s gas market processes end to end. The processes in energy volume calculation as well
as in capacity marketing and commercial dispatching were restructured in cpX.Energy.
The development of portal applications for self-service processes and data provision complete the service for transport customers. Taking into account the requirements of all departments has also triggered further
organisational change processes.
Working with the Sopra Steria team was and is professional and always fun. I‘m already looking forward tothe next projects!
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