SAP Implementation Technical Bulletin

Transcription

1 SAP Implementation Alerts (Update #9): National Fuel will post notices concerning the status of various features of its new billing system. Check the web site often to stay current with the resolution of issues as they arise. Please direct any questions to Transportation Services at (716) or by 6/22/2016 The Company is aware the some 820 EDI Remittance transactions inadvertently excluded BIPP (Billing and Payment Processing) fees. As a result, the 820 s indicated that the ESCO payment would be larger than the amount that was actually transferred. The Company is fixing the defect. 6/22/2016 A problem was discovered and corrected for multiple meter accounts (this issue does not pertain to single meter accounts). The Start and End Read Dates provided in the 810 (invoices) did not always match the billing periods in the individual 867MU s. The 867's for each installation will be when the meter was read. This may differ from the 810 because the Company may not read all meters of the account on the same day, so even individual 867 s may have different dates. Example: Two 867 s for a single 810 Month 1 Schedule Read Date 03/31/16-04/03/ Meter #1 End Reading of 100 for period 03/31/16-04/02/ Meter #2 End Reading of 150 for period 03/31/16-04/02/ Bill period 03/31/16-04/02/16 (uses the earliest "bill from" date and the latest of the "bill to" date from the 867's) Month 2 Schedule Read Date 04/03/16-05/04/ Meter #1 End Reading of 150 for period 04/02/16-05/03/ Meter #2 End Reading of 200 for period 04/02/16-05/05/ Bill period of 04/02/16-05/05/16 (uses the earliest "bill from" date and the latest "bill to" date from the 867's) Month 3 Schedule read date 05/04/16-06/07/ Meter #1 End Reading of 175 for period 05/03/16-06/05/ Meter #2 End Reading of 210 for period 05/05/16-06/06/ Bill period of 05/03/16-06/06/16 (uses the earliest "bill from" date and the latest "bill to" date from the 867's) The new system has been modified so that it now functions as the former billing system did. If you have any questions or concerns please contact Transportation Services at (716) or by TSD-Billing@natfuel.com and provide any pertinent details. 1 SAP Alerts & Notices - June 22, 2016

2 6/16/2016 Data validation and processing of month-end files (810/867 CME's) has been completed. Thanks for your patience. Please contact Transportation Services at (716) or by with any related questions or concerns. 6/13/2016 Processing of month-end files has not yet been completed. Data validation continues. The Company is working to get the data as soon as possible within the next several days. 6/13/2016 The Company is aware of a conversion defect that initially affected historic meter readings for approximately 1700 accounts. While the defect has been addressed for most of these accounts, the usage reported for the remainder of these accounts is not directly available to the new system. As a result, usage reported for the Historical Bill Calculator, on CII usage screen and in 867HU transactions for the remaining accounts is not accurate. Should an ESCO or NGS receive historic usage information that it believes to be incorrect, it should contact Transportation Services at (716) or by TSD-Billing@natfuel.com to obtain the correct information. The Company is investigating potential solutions for the remaining accounts but the conversion defect will phase out on its own as history is built in the new system. 5/13/2016 The Company has been experiencing problems with M2 web file generation (Marketer Price Changes). The M3 web file, which shows the marketers all the rates/prices in effect (including the rates that have been changed), is operable. The Company is investigating potential remedies and hopes to have the M2 web file issue resolved within a few days. Until then, ESCOs and NGSs may continue to enter their rates and should rely upon the M3 web file. 5/11/2016 The Company is aware of some issues concerning the display of information and/or functionality within the Customer Information Inquiry (CII) web screens. In some cases, these issues can be resolved by using a newer version of Internet Explorer or a different browser. The Company is still cataloging and investigating CII issues; a time frame for addressing these issues will be developed. 2 SAP Alerts & Notices - June 22, 2016

3 5/11/2016 Some ESCOs have noticed that CII History Screens and 867HU EDI transactions only contain 12 months of historical usage rather than the 24 months that had been available from National Fuel s legacy system. This is because only 12 months of usage history was loaded into the new system. The base requirement for usage history is controlled by New York UBP 4.C.2.a.11 at 12 months. The Company plans to return to providing 24 months as the history is built within the new system. An additional month will be available via CII or EDI each month forward until a year from now when up to 24 months of history will be available. 4/27/ SR Cycle Billing Issue MCB The Company is aware of a formatting issue in 810SR Cycle EDI Transactions. Typically customer consumption is split over three rate blocks. While the initial block is being communicated properly in terms of the applicable rate and consumption, the next two blocks are being combined in terms of consumption and a weighted average rate is provided. The total bill, however, is still correct. Since the first months after go live are generally low consumption months, this formatting issue may not be readily apparent. The Company plans to address this issue during the stabilization period. 4/27/2016 Web file G0 availability MCB Web file G0 will not be available at go live and at this point, there are no plans to make it available post go live. The information contained in the G0 web file is available in an 810SR EDI transaction. With all ESCOs and nearly all Direct Customers EDI compliant, this web file has become non-essential. Web file H0 will be available; the details of the G0 file are available in H0. 3 SAP Alerts & Notices - June 22, 2016

4 4/22/2016 Transition Period EDI Processing & Web File Creation EDI transactions received through the evening of Wednesday May 4, 2016 will be processed in the current system. The next day, the usual daily files/edi Responses (Accepts/Rejects, Historical Usage, NFG Initiated Drops, Cycle 810s, Cycle 867s, etc.) will be created/sent. Please be advised that on a one-time basis, the Monthly processes that are customarily are run the night of Control #3 that typically produce the large monthly files will be moved to run on Control #21 along with the nightly processing the night of Wed May 4th (morning of the 5th). With the extra processing load, there may be some delays on the morning of Thursday May 5th. NFG s EDI Service Provider will have a blackout period between 5:00 PM EDT on 5/4/2016 and 7:00 AM EDT on 5/5/2016. ESCOS/NGSs should not send any transactions during this period. The new system will resume processing of incoming transactions 2:30 AM on Tuesday May 10th. Please be advised that as of 5/5/2016, the format of any EDI transaction sent should conform to the post-sap Implementation For example, enrollment and change should include tax information, as applicable. The current format will be accepted until Wednesday 5/4/2016 at 5:00 PM EDT. During this transition period (Thursday 5/5 through Monday 5/9), ESCOs/NGSs may send EDI transactions; they will not be rejected, however, responses will be delayed as discussed above. For the most part this would appear and function very much like a Thanksgiving Holiday weekend no processing Thursday night through Sunday night. 04/20/2016 In preparation for implementation of the new billing system, the following links on the Services for Marketers, Producers and Suppliers web site will be disabled during the four days leading up to implementation. Supplier / Customer Download Files Transportation Customer Enrollment Customer Information Inquiry Billing Options Update The links will be removed from the site at 6AM on Thursday, May 5th and will be made available for use again on Monday, May 9th at 7AM. 4 SAP Alerts & Notices - June 22, 2016

5 4/18/2016 Revised New File Layout Daily MCB Adjusted Meter Reads (file E3) affecting the following fields: 1) Ratepayer Number (RBA) Changed from "7 ch" to "9 ch" 2) Meter Read Source Desc Changed from "30 ch" to "40 ch" 4/18/2016 E3 files (MCB only) now available for testing. Impacted ESCOs should contact Transportation Services to request a test file. 4/18/2016 Unlike the current system, pending period processing of changes via the 814C EDI transaction (and/or web entry) will no longer be available. Once SAP processes a valid enrollment transaction and sets the customer s assignment status to Pending (with respect to the ESCO/NGS that submitted the enrollment), no changes will be accepted until the enrollment status becomes Active. ESCOs/NGSs should wait until the assignment status for the customer changes from Pending to Active before submitting changes (but before the first bill is issued). If changes are submitted prior to Active status, an EDI 814 Account Change Reject Response will be sent. To avoid the issue, ESCOs and NGSs have the option of providing these segments in the 814E. The 814C EDI segments most impacted are ESCO Rate Code, Current Budget Billing Status, ESCO Late Fees, and Customer's Tax Rate for ESCO Charges. This issue should only be a concern for UCB supply scenarios the above segments are not relevant to Dual or MCB billing. The Company is evaluating whether to enhance SAP to process changes in the same manner as the current system. 04/18/2016 The A2 Monthly Choice Billing Revenue Report web file will not be available at go live. The Company does not believe this web file (which is actually a report) is widely used. Most of the information will be available through EDI (867, 810 and 820 Transactions) and given that most customers are covered by POR, the report may not be as critical as it was before POR was implemented. The Company plans to address this issue at some point in the first couple months after go-live. 5 SAP Alerts & Notices - June 22, 2016