Scanenergi

Scanenergi used to have four separate systems and an enormous amount of Excel spreadsheets to manage its business processes. Due to the growth of Scanenergi’s business and the rapidly changing market, this system could no longer meet the business needs.

Heidi Skøtt Godiksen, CIO of Scanenergi: “Many things are happening in the Danish electricity market, and we have to keep up with these changes. We needed a flexible system so we could introduce new products to the Danish market. One of our main challenges was scalability. Another one was duplicate master data, spread in several different systems.“

Michael Mikkelsen, CEO of Scanenergi: “Our existing database was very old and had a completely customized structure. It was not standardized and some of the people who developed it were not working here anymore.“

Mr Mikkelsen: “Our main goal is to further increase our customer service. Therefore, we started looking for a future-proof system that is both flexible to introduce new products, while also offering a higher performance to improve our efficiency. The new system would have to be integrated, with all data stored in a single database, accessible to all parts of the business. Furthermore, we had to prepare for future business functionalities: mainly the transition from AMR to smart metering. We needed a system that could handle high-frequency metering data from several different sources in real-time.“

Ms Godiksen: “We also looked at our IT strategy and the platform we would like to use in the future. Since we were already using several Microsoft products, this was our preferred technology platform.“

Mr Mikkelsen: “Looking at the Danish products that were available, we quickly realized that for a system like we envisioned, we had to look abroad.“

Ms Godiksen: “We talked to several Danish systems integrators, and CGI’s proposal quickly stood out. They offered a solution based on Ferranti’s MECOMS™ product. MECOMS was already in use in several countries, and CGI could provide localization for our market.“

Mr Mikkelsen: “We saw a system that was totally integrated, where reliable master data is a reality and not a slogan. Moreover, MECOMS is capable of processing AMR while allowing a gradual transition to smart metering. CGI is a Danish company with a strong reputation, so we knew they could support the system. Therefore, we chose the MECOMS solution.“

Ms Godiksen: “The MECOMS project is the biggest project in Scanenergi’s history, but it is also the most successful. The project started in the summer of 2010 with some scoping workshops. We wanted to stay as close as possible to the standard functionality of MECOMS. The development gaps we identified were mainly our core business processes of energy optimization. Based on this scoping, we created an ambitious time schedule of one year to complete the project.“

Mr Mikkelsen: “During the implementation phase, we faced many challenges, which is unavoidable in any large IT project. The main issue was data migration: the undocumented structure of our old database was extremely complex to understand. Luckily, CGI and Ferranti provided specialized people who were able to solve this problem and ensure a reliable data migration.“

Mr Mikkelsen: “I also especially want to mention the excellent collaboration between our own project team and the teams of CGI and Ferranti. Everyone was highly flexible, especially in resource allocation and competences. The teams quickly developed a way to deal with unexpected challenges, and I think this is a great example of how three parties can work together effectively.“

In the end, the system went live in June 2011. In addition to the traditional ERP functionality of Microsoft Dynamics AX, the solution covers: billing and settlement of over 150,000 customers, automatic meter reading (AMR) of up to 50,000 meters, CRM handling advanced electricity contracts and products, customer service functionality with a self-service portal and tools for performance management, forecasting and portfolio management.

Business value

Christina Jørgensen, Market Manager at CGI: “For CGI, working with MECOMS is a strategic effort in our increased focus on the energy and utility industry in Denmark. Therefore, we are very pleased with Scanenergi going live with MECOMS™ as a complete solution for its entire business. It showcases the great width and depth of the solution, as they – besides being an energy consultancy company – also operate as a metering company, electricity supplier and balance responsible in a joint solution.“

Mr Mikkelsen: “We just took the system live, but we can already see improvements in our performance, and we expect the service for our customers to improve even more. The manual work has been reduced throughout our organization, and the automatic way of doing things is being picked up by all of our staff. We look forward to seeing MECOMS bring even more value.“

Claus Kousgaard Larsen, Chief Accountant at Scanenergi: “MECOMS is incredibly practical and provides you with an instant overview. All customer data is consolidated, providing you with a great overview of one single system.“

Ms Godiksen: “One of the big values of the system is the efficiency. Many processes have been completely automated, but manual changes have become much easier too. For example, it used to be very cumbersome to adopt new rules for market messaging. With MECOMS™, the rules were implemented much quicker and without complications. During every customer contact, the recorded information is stored and made accessible to everyone in the organization. This ensures that our staff is always in sync and able to help the customer in the best possible way.”