Bill presentment solution at CLP Power

Transcription

1 Bill presentment solution at CLP Power André Blumberg CLP ITG 18 Oct 2004

2 Agenda CLP company profile The need for improved customer service Enabling total bill presentment Lessons learned and challenges ahead Q&A 2

3 Agenda CLP company profile The need for improved customer service Enabling total bill presentment Lessons learned and challenges ahead Q&A 3

4 Status quo in 2001 Mainframe based home grown electricity billing system Account centric rather than customer centric Rising consumerism and increasing demand for customer services System costly to run and inflexible to adapt to changing requirements Customer service agents not able to view the image of the bill document sent to customers, can only see raw data online High maintenance effort for bill format changes (Cobol, hard coding etc.) Support for limited number of max. 2 bill inserts Customer web site stores PDF bill images, rising storage costs Bill printing was outsourced in line with mainframe exit strategy, but cutting and insertion done in house; decision to bring total bill presentment process back in house for strategic reasons and as tool for business communication Functional limitations in legacy based systems Technology obsolescence Scalability limitations 4

5 Customer Care and Marketing System (CCMS) Objectives Enable customer centric view (e.g. maintenance of multiple accounts under different tariff schemes for the same customer) Position CLP for future opportunities Revolutionise customer service Incorporate industry best practices Scope Customer services functions, call centre integration Meter reading and meter management Tariff maintenance, billing Integrated multi channel bill presentment Payment collection and credit management Marketing analysis and campaign management Account, contact and activities management Customer Self Services via Internet Selected SAP IS U/CCS, CRM, BW as core architecture for CCMS in

6 Business requirements for bill presentment CCMS batch regular bill printing Average volume 70,000 and peak 120,000 per night CCMS batch and online copy bill (viewing, printing, faxing) Customer service agents process bills decentralised at customer service centres (customer kiosks), bills labelled as Copy bill Need online access to past 12 months history CCMS online bill (viewing, printing, faxing) Similar to above, but this are original bills not copy bills Typically for walk in customers to receive final bill on the spot upon account termination, reflect latest account balance status incl. payments Legacy system ( CISS ) online bill As above, but for legacy system bills, up to 12 months history Must be transparent to user, through user interface of new CCMS system Copy bill reprint request CLP customers request for copy bill reprint for past 12 months through customer service hotline, or IVRS, and receive copy bill through mail Inclusion of customised bill messages, depending on e.g. customer type 6

7 Business requirements (cont d) Customer Self Service via Internet Customers view, print past 12 months (both CCMS and CISS legacy) through CLP website To include both low bandwidth text version, as well as full bill image in PDF, bill inserts in PDF ebill notification Customers who are registered for ebill receive bill notification e mail with a URL link to view their bill online via CLP website, no hardcopy bill is sent CCMS batch Braille printing Bills in Braille format for visually impaired customers Bill sorting and batching to meet different delivery channels Delivery by post, by hand through CLP company couriers (e.g. sequencing by the unit number in the apartment block starting from top floor) Different bill inserts depending on customer relationship and priority Bill layout also needs to support bar charts (consumption history) Support of barcodes required (payment stub) Optical Mark Reading (OMR) to determine appropriate bill inserts during enveloping process 7

8 Complexity of bill forms and layouts 24 different bill types Normal, copy, pro rata, special, group, Braille, warning, disconnection, amended, final etc. 7 different tariff types Domestic, elderly, bulk, general service, large power, public lighting, CLP staff 2 languages English, Traditional Chinese (Cantonese), some bill types bilingual ~ 78 (!) possible combinations in total Two different types of pre printed paper (blue = normal, red = dunning) Results in complex sorting, batching, sequencing criteria; would lead to extensive custom development requirement if done in SAP, hence decided to use standard StreamServe capabilities 8

9 Technical requirements Easy to use design time tools / support for layout design WYSIWYG look & feel, standard SAP Print Workbench too technical Minimise ongoing support requirements for bill form / layout changes Overall tight end to end integration and automation Minimise storage requirement; retrieval rate for historical bills ~0.1% only; don t want to store PDF images of all bills (24M bills, 150KB PDF, ~3.5TB storage just for bill image archiving) SAP certified solution for IS U/CCS RDI (Raw Data Interface) End to end status monitoring of print status (SAP BC XOM interface) and e mail/fax status (SMTP) Support cost effective Microsoft Windows / Intel platform Scalable solution, multi processor capable, parallel processing Support high availability clustering solution Able to resume service at secondary DR site within max. 3 hours failover time, requires data synchronisation from primary to secondary site Proven solution (must have reference sites) 9

10 Agenda CLP company profile The need for improved customer service Enabling total bill presentment Lessons learned and challenges ahead Q&A 10

11 Implementation project highlights Tendered for implementation of bill presentment solution, including production printers, in mid 2002 Reviewed five different solutions and consortia, short listed three Thorough evaluation across multiple criteria Product and functionality evaluation (bill presentment capabilities, bill message / batching / distribution, output management) Technical evaluation (platform, system architecture, integration with SAP and archiving solution, scalability, availability) Implementation requirements (implementation plan, system test approach, training, warranty and maintenance) Supplier evaluation (ability to demonstrate relevant expertise, market position (e.g. Gartner, IDC), vision, financial strength) 5 year total cost of ownership, and cost per bill Awarded tender to IBM / StreamServe consortium in Q3/2002 IXOS chosen for integrated archiving solution Implementation Q4/2003 Q2/2004, aligned with CCMS programme CCMS go live in two phases: July + November

12 Simplified bill presentment workflow 12

13 Detailed bill presentment architecture SAP GUI (e.g. executing CIC) View bill (1) PDF preferred Retrieve archived CCMS data and CISS data Online printing bills (1) Call centre representative views preview and selects to print Customer calls Call Center e.g. past month high bill complaint Call center representative communicates to customer based on what is displayed on the SAP GUI Pre printed forms Customers Bill (1) printout given to customer CCMS (SAP IS U/CCS 4.64) Win2000, SQL Application generates bill 2. Uses form within CCS (via Print Workbench) 3. Prints file in RDI or ASCII to spool subsystem Sequential Tapes CISS Legacy (mainframe) Archive Legacy Data (archived in tapes) in ASCII flat files Archive CISS Data in print lists and document lists Archive closed data once retention is reached Retrieve archived CCMS data, archived legacy CISS data Retrieve archived CISS bill print list to transfer to BPS for IXOS online printing and Archive adhoc PDF generation system Output spool file in RDI or ASCII StreamServe Bill Presentment system (BPS) Archive Storage media Archived CCMS data files Archived legacy CISS data Request for online bill (1) SAP WAS Web server(2) BPS autogenerate bill (1) in PDF format and Web server retrieves the PDF file via HTTP Batch printing bills (1) ebill notification Online printers Pre printed forms IBM batch production printers Microsoft Exchange server (SMTP) Internet Mail distribution to customer ebill notification Customer specific bill (1) retrieval Note: (1) Bills represent both CCMS and CISS bills (2) Web server is part of the CSS component 13

14 Process flow CCMS batch regular bill printing Pre printed forms CCMS (SAP IS U/CCS 4.64) Win2000, SQL2000 Nightly batch RDI files Print status StreamServe Communication Server Print output files Print status IBM Infoprint Manager Print output files Print status Pre LaserMax Spliced Preprinted forms IBM batch production printer Post LaserMax Cutter & Inserter machines Mail distribution to customers: Delivery by Hong Kong Post Other forms of delivery (hand delivery) Customers Meter reading data Bill Document Print Document RDI files One RDI file can represent 1 bill or many bills. The RDI files are dumped into SAP spool queue for bill batch printing. 14

15 Printing room operations 15

16 Process flow CCMS online copy bill SAP GUI (e.g. executing CIC) RDI file CCMS (SAP IS U/CCS 4.64) Win2000, SQL2000 RDI file Print status or Fax Completion Notification with PDF file attachment StreamServe Communication Server Fax Completion Notification Print output files Print status Microsoft Exchange (SMTP) IBM Infoprint Manager with PDF file attachment Fax Completion Notification Print output file Fax Server * * CLP currently outsources its fax services to PCCW PDF file Customer at customer service site Pre printed forms Online printer(s) at customer service agent site Print status 16

17 Bill samples English and Chinese versions 17

18 Bill samples bilingual 18

19 Process flow Customer Self Service (CISS bill) IXOS archive system Archive Storage media Request for Legacy (CISS) ASCII file Legacy (CISS) ASCII file Request to view bill Display text bill view Request to view graphical bill PDF file SAP WAS Web Server Request to view bill Send back the bill data for text bill view CCMS (SAP IS U/CCS v4.64 & CRM v3.1) Win2000, SQL2000 RDI file / ASCII file StreamServe Communication Server PDF file 19

20 Customer self service bill retrieval 20

21 Online bill display text version 21

22 Online bill display graphic version 22

23 Online bill display legacy CISS bill (Chinese) 23

24 Online bill display bill inserts 24

25 Process flow CCMS batch Braille printing CCMS (SAP IS U/CCS 4.64) Win2000, SQL2000 RDI Print status StreamServe Communication Server Extract Address labels Address in Braille codes Extract & Format Print file Print files for bill and label Print status IBM Infoprint Manager Print file in Braille codes Label printer Address Labels print file Address labels Manual insertion and send to customers Braille bill Print driver Zebra 140xilll Customer Embosser Juliet Pro 60 25