ActewAGL’s Business Process Transformation by Re-implementing
Oracle E-Business Suite R12
Julie Vrkic
Business Implementation Manager
ActewAGL
Shoba Sivanesan
National Practice Manager
Vijay Kakade
UXC Red Rock Consulting
ACTEWAGL'S BUSINESS PROCESS TRANSFORMATION
BY RE-IMPLEMENTING ORACLE E-BUSINESS SUITE R12JULIE VRKIC, BUSINESS IMPLEMENTATION MANAGER, AAGL
SHOBA SIVANESAN, NATIONAL PRACTICE MANAGER,
VIJAY KAKADE, GLOBAL SERVICES, MANAGER,
UXC RED ROCK CONSULTING
5TH MARCH 2014
• ActewAGL was set up in October 2000 when the then Australian Gas Light
Company (AGL), and ACTEW Corporation, an ACT Government owned
enterprise, entered into Australia's first utility joint venture.• 888 staff
• ActewAGL supplies reliable essential services to Canberra and the region• Electricity distribution
• Over 177,000 customers
• 2,400km overhead lines
• 2,700km underground cables
• 583MW net peak demand
• Natural gas distribution
• 130,000 customers and connections
• 4,800km mains lines
• 10,000TJ gas/pa
What we do
• ActewAGL is made up of two partnerships:• ActewAGL Retail is owned equally by ACTEW Corporation and AGL Energy via subsidiary
companies.
• ActewAGL Distribution is owned equally by ACTEW Corporation and SPI (Australia) Assets
Pty Ltd via subsidiary companies.
• Several IT business Transformation Projects running in parallel
• Recognition of the impact on organisational ‘Change Capacity’
• Reduce risk of project fatigue and failure
Recognised Change Management Methodology
• ActewAGL initiated the Financial Information Management
System project in March 2013.
• Objectives of the FIMS Project• Re-implement Oracle E-Business on Release 12.1.3 using out-of-the-box
functionality
• Retire customisations added over the last 7 years
• Simplify the current business systems and processes
Overview of the FIMS Project
Why Re-Implement
Factor Detail
Supportability • Out of support life
• Financials system is not patched to minimum critical
patch levels
• Large number of customisations
Stability • Application of the required patches is currently made
difficult by number and complexity of custom forms,
processes and workflows
Reduce Maintenance Costs • Minimise customisations
• Latest version of Oracle E-Business Suite
• Executive mandate to use standard functionality
• Stable and supportable environment
Business Process Changes
• Redesigned to cater
for:
• Operational
• Financial
• Regulatory
• Statutory
• Governance for CoA
maintenance
• Timesheet entry
• Labour burdening
• Quotations and Project
Billing
CHART OF ACCOUNTS PROJECTS
• Punch-out
• Requisitions
• iProcurement
• Workflow Approvals
PURCHASING
• Adoption of OOTB
functionality
• Minimise
customisations
INVENTORY
Oracle E-Business Suite Modules
General Ledger
Accounts Receivable
Accounts Payable
Fixed Assets
Cash Management
iExpenses
Project Foundation
Project Costing
Project Billing
Project Management
Mobile Supply Chain
FINANCIALS PROJECTS SUPPLY CHAIN
Inventory
Order Management
Purchasing
iProcurement
• Reduced total customisations from
187 to 60 through workshop process
that• Leveraged enhanced standard functionality
in Release 12.1.3
• Cost focus
• Business Process Changes
• Custom reporting to be performed primarily in Oracle Business
Intelligence
• Business made accountable to the Executive for justification of
every re-implemented customisation
Reduce Customisations
13 x Alerts 43 x Interfaces
5 x Forms 9 x Workflows
79 x Reports 14 x Conversions
24 x Ad hoc
• Prepare Technical Design Documentation
• Develop the 60 customisations
• Unit Test scripts
• Production Migration and Installation Documentation
• Testing Support and Defect Fixing during SIT and UAT
• Post-Production support
Offshore Delivery Requirements
• Documentation templates and standards
• Reporting Frequency, Structure and Meetings
• Daily technical catch-up meeting
• Weekly Status Meeting• Status Review
• Risk review and rating
• Mitigation Strategy
• Support required
• Onsite QA process — to overcome any miscommunication
Offshore Work Processes
• Team work with strong emphasis on open communication
• Understanding and bridging the cultural differences
• Bridging the time zone differences
• Onsite Technical Manager with• People management skills
• Experience in managing cross-geographical and cross-cultural teams
• Strong Technical and Functional landed offshore consultants
• Having the right split of onsite and offshore work
Succeeding with Offshoring
• UXC Red Rock worked alongside the Program level with overall
testing activities
• Systems Testing (ST) jointly executed by SMEs and Functional
Consultants• Co-Location
• Knowledge Transfer to SMEs by Functional team
• Knowledge transfer is complimentary to formal training scheduled later in the
project
• Re-use of test scripts IP developed by the functional consultants; • SMEs added business process flows
• Test script reviewed
• Quality Centre tool was administered by UXC Red Rock
Early Engagement in Testing
• Business• Minimise program projects and interdependencies
• Environments• Configuration Management
• Design Phase• Critical Phase - Allow as much time as possible
• Have an environment
• CRP • Allow for 3 Conference Room Pilots with the Business
Lessons Learned