Customer Management System
There are tons of systems out there trying to improve business processes of utility companies in general or electric companies in specific.
The key is still doing the re-engineering process well and the application system will just a tool to follow the processes. I put some of my thoughts about Electric Management System in this blog. Feel free to read and comment.
Aside from the migration of information from the Current Systems into New Systems, the Conversion Process also includes assistance in the identification of a practical and sound division of the Implementation into sub-phases.
It is not always practical and is rarely advisable for a new system to go live using the whole client base of a company. Sometimes for sheer volume of the customers involved, it would be an enormous task to monitor the results as the new system goes into production for the first time.
The subdivision of the entire company client base may be done geographically, by load type, customer type, functional divisions, or in any other way that seems viable, logical and manageable.
In studying different alternatives, it is important to note the following:
1. Possibility of having the most control over commercial operations
Minimizing the area to be converted for each phase facilitates the creation of controls for both the conversion process as well as those mechanisms practiced by the users of the system, making it possible for a swift and safe resolution of incidences that might come about.
2. Risk reduction
The conversion by logical subdivisions guarantees a development involving a concentrated area of operations, therefore making whatever procedures to be carried out over the data less costly.
3. Increase in efficiency and quality of the Conversion Process
The experiences acquired by the users from the first phase could be used in the remaining areas to be converted.
4. Current System setup
It is best to segregate implementation phases based on database independence. Implementing for one region with an independent database minimizes any integrity controls necessary for remaining phases.
For Client, with each branch having a certain degree of operational area and database independence, it is highly recommended that a geographical area or region be chosen as separate Implementation Phases for the New System.
To be able to identify the Pilot Region or Pilot Phase, a comparative analysis of the regions that comprise the geographic area of influence of the company must be undertaken, taking into account the following aspects:
• The volume of clients/services to be converted should be of reasonable quantity but sufficient enough to measure the quality of the actual results
• The possibility of reaching the commercial offices in reasonable time to be able to attend to whatever unforeseen incidents that could arise during the first phase of the implementation
• The communications infrastructure as a fundamental aspect of the implementation
• The commercial activities of the region’s offices to be selected must involve a majority of the commercial functions supported by the new system
• The capability and receptiveness of the personnel in the event of modernization should be taken into account, as well as their ability to pass on acquired experiences and knowledge
• To avoid, as much as possible, carrying out the first implementation in regions with a high concentration of clients (i.e., clients per geographic area)
• It is recommended that the region be as isolated as can be, from a geographic point of view, from the rest of the regions so as to minimize the overlapping of commercial operations between the actual and the new system.
The Conversion Process consists of a series of activities designed to make the migration (or transfer) of information from one system to a similar application possible, efficient and reliable.
The elaboration of a conversion methodology entails the identification, selection, gathering, and initial loading of all the necessary data to the databases of the new system to be implemented.
The conversion aims to successfully transfer information from the current Contract and Billing Systems to new Customer Management System (CMS).
It is possible to summarize the general tasks of Conversion with the following simple questions:
1) What do we need?
This involves a study of the new requirements of the CMS version to be installed for the company.
2) What do we have?
This refers to an inventory and diagnosis of all possible data sources that the Current System uses. This may include system files, procedural documentations, operational laws to abide by, flat files, etc.
3) How do we relate the two?
Once both what we have and what we need have been identified, the next step would be to scrutinize the information:
a. Which of the Current System information can be used for the CMS?
b. Which of the Current System information still have to be verified for their usability in the CMS?
c. Which of the Current System information can be discarded as non-useable or non-relevant for the CMS?
d. How can we get CMS required information that are unavailable in the Current System?
For the current project, migrating information from the Current System into the new data structure of the CMS involves the following tasks:
• Analysis of the Current System information to be uploaded to the CMS and the identification of the amount of historic data to be migrated from the Current System into the CMS.
• Definition of data selection criteria and conversion processes, as well as the development of controls to ensure the quality of the converted information, as well as the data gathered from other non-system sources.
• Study of conversion risks and alternatives to be able to minimize the impact the defined conversion procedures would have on the resulting information.
• Establishment of a cut-over procedure for all the business offices that will use the CMS which implies a necessary but temporary hold on selected business processes before the actual conversion.
• Actual execution of all Conversion and Cutover procedures.
• Presentation of the quantitative results of the conversion to ensure parity with the information from the Current Systems.
It must be remembered that there may also be basic CMS data that are not readily available nor can be derived from the Current Systems. To procure the unavailable information, data must be gathered from the field, through surveys or research activities, in what is collectively known as “Data Gathering Campaigns.”
The development of a series of validation processes and programs is also necessary to guarantee the quality of the information gathered. Furthermore, procedures must be defined to keep the gathered information up-to-date from the moment the campaigns were initiated until the final Conversion.
