Announcement: Model Company for Utilities v3.0 Released!

[DavideDeLuca]

In recent years, the Utilities industry has experienced significant growth in complexity: traditionally, the layout comprised generation, transmission, distribution, and retail processes. But this model has evolved over the last few years, as new trends emerged:

Global Decarbonisation and new energy sources (such as renewables) determined a decentralisation energy generation, in a trend which is gradually converting Consumers to active actors of the supply-chain (also known as Prosumers);

Deregulation is creating a new breed of competitors in several countries, capable to face the same challenges of traditional Utilities supply Companies.

In parallel, new Technology trends are bringing powerful tools for the Digital Transformation of all participants in the utilities value chain:

• the Internet of Things is currently helping to create new value, such as improved customer engagement and smart grid optimisation;


• the Cloud Computing has been recognised as the quickest and cheapest way to deploy an IT Solution for a business model, with a leaner Change Management Process and centralised software upgrades;


• the Machine Learning is currently helping to identify energy consumption behaviour and the likelihood of asset malfunctions, or speeding up the communication and the engagement processes with the end-Customer by evaluating the likelihood with the Company historical data;

In this era of digital growth, the role of SAP is to offer a digital business framework of pre-packaged, ready-to-use, end-to-end reference solutions that are customised to meet the needs of utilities providers. The SAP Model Company services for Utilities help customers simplify, accelerate, and enable digital transformation by providing a framework based on the broad business process expertise SAP has acquired as a result of decades of project experience.

SAP Model Company for Utilities offers a ready-to-run, comprehensive reference solution for support of targeted core business processes in the utilities industry. It is delivered with relevant business content, accelerators and enablement services, helping Customers to reduce costs, decrease risks, and accelerate adoption during discovery, exploration, and realization activities.

Since its inception 2 years ago, the Model Company for Utilities has grown in maturity and customer base. And as it was intended, it has become a true accelerator for larger deals to those customers that appreciate its capability to speed up S4/HANA adoption and bring down cost.

That’s why we are proud to announce that now version 3.0 has been released, bringing more content and solutions and a better user experience. All available scope options are now part of the SAP Product and Services portfolio and can be consulted directly on our SAP Cloud Appliance Library.

 

SAP Model Company for Utilities version 3.0, is based on SAP S/4HANA (release 1709) and the current release of SAP Cloud for Customer. There are two scope options, one for Regulated Markets, focussing on Meter-to-Cash and Customer Service processes, and one for Transmission and Distribution, focussing on Capital Project related processes. The changes compared to version 2.0 are:

• Regulated Markets: An enhanced scope of functionalities including customer self-service scenarios based on SAP Multichannel Foundation for Utilities and the New Connection process, easy to handle from the Customer Service perspective;


• Transmission & Distribution: A Water Data Model, Fiori Apps for better user experience and functionalities for extended Risk Analysis and Scoring Models of project proposals. From the perspective of easy financial planning, MS Excel based workbooks functionality within CPM (Commercial Project Management) has been made available.

 

Davide De Luca

SAP UK
Digital Business Services ENR - Utilities