ATS OpenPay: Conversion from Other Vendors. Blue Ridge EMC s Experience

Transcription

1 ATS OpenPay: Conversion from Other Vendors Blue Ridge EMC s Experience

2 Share Blue Ridge EMC s conversion experience from the Exceleron PAMS system to ATS OpenPay system. Promote discussion among the group to assist ATS clients considering this change. SESSION OBJECTIVE

3 ATS CLIENTS ON OPENPAY New Prepaid Programs: Converted from Exceleron System: Gulf Coast August 2014 Laurens March 2015 Sam Houston March 2016 South River July 2015 South Central Indiana Nov 2015 Cullman December 2015 Blue Ridge January 2016

4 Program Name = FlexPay Prepaid Program Started = Fall 2009 OVERVIEW OF BLUE RIDGE EMC S PREPAID PROGRAM Prior Prepaid System = Exceleron s PAMS (MyUsage.com) Number of Accounts at Conversion = 4,418 (6% of 74,000 meters) Average Monthly Notifications 21,000 IVR Calls 36,000 Text Messages 109,000 s Cost for Prepaid Account = $10/month additional basic charge AMI System Aclara TWACS Collars NOT installed on each prepaid account Number of Consumption Monitoring Accounts at Conversion = 5,000

5 WHY CHANGE? Streamline the member experience one website which meets all their needs prepaid balance, make a payment, maintain notifications, etc. Lower administrative cost of the prepaid program (software & labor) Increase employee efficiencies with one system vs. two Elimination of errors during setup Reduced administrative employee time for maintaining a separate system Reconciliation Holiday setup Rates (rate changes & seasonal differences) WPCA adjustments Prebilling process to be proactive with issues

6 GETTING PREPARED FOR CONVERSION Formation of core conversion team include staff from IT, Accounting, Member Services, and Marketing/Communications Work with ATS to set conversion date (billing dates consideration) Plan contract cancellation notification timing with Exceleron Plan communication to members timing and methods Plan for document review/updating update all documents that refer to MyUsage.com Plan training for employees (challenge to change terminology) Review all current reporting to ensure we can access same data after conversion Plan timing of when to stop disconnects in Exceleron & when to begin disconnecting (manually, then automatically) in ATS

7 COMMUNICATING TO MEMBERS Added yellow note banner to top of MyUsage.com giving advance notice of the website change & enhancements to come! Sent blasts to current prepaid & consumption monitoring accounts Encouraged members to register for OpenAccess if not already registered Notified members of the elimination of MyUsage.com and date in early Jan Sent reminder the week of conversion Separate messages for prepaid & consumption monitoring Communicated directly via phone call with members utilizing Exceleron s twoway SMS feature Signs on office front counters & kiosks Main member messages Change in website & Notifications

8 THE CONVERSION PROCESS: PREPARING FOR JAN 28, 2016 Enable OpenUsage & OpenNotify for all members (November 2015) Work with ATS Staff on setup (Nov-Dec 2015) Configuration settings Notification wordings Timing of processes (such as timing for daily billing to run) Request test set of data files from Exceleron (December 2015) Prepaid Account data Prepaid Alert data Usage Monitoring Alert data Provide training to employees (January 2016) Utilized ATS documentation and customized for our employees/program

9 January 25 th : Turn off disconnect process in Exceleron January 28 th : Remind employees of system downtime & process changes THE CONVERSION PROCESS: WEEK OF JANUARY 28, 2016 Create list of accounts in Exceleron that are disconnected, but not yet final billed Request final set of data files from Exceleron & forward to ATS Notify vendors (IVR, CRC, etc.) of expected system down-time After data conversion, verify sampling of accounts for Balance Debt recovery balances and %s Alerts (#s, type, timing, no disabled or stopped) Reconcile A/R in CIS Verify that all vendor interfaces are back online January 29 th & ongoing: Manually disconnect/final bill accounts that were off in Exceleron and did not make a payment in ATS when they reach the configured # of days

10 SAMPLE ACCOUNT AFTER CONVERSION

11 WOW THIS IS GREAT!! Add data now in ATS database Reporting within CIS easier to report on statistics by branch! Less time spent on reconciliation & the ability to be proactive with issues during the prebilling stage Cost savings we have since eliminated the $10 extra fee for our members

12 CHALLENGES OpenPay accounts with multiple meters Daily billing amounts inaccurate {change made} Attempting to communicate with the sub-meter {change made} Sending notifications by meter {change made} Operation RoundUp charged per meter Reconnection of accounts occurs when required balance is met; not when SO closed {requested RFF process work around} Tweaking of notification setting times (10 min interval vs 30 min) Unknown meter status issues when no collar on the service {working through} Inability to determine who edited a notification (INET)

13 ENHANCEMENT REQUESTS Ability for daily OpenPay billing to accommodate tiered rates Ability to limit notification methods by type (i.e. no daily balance for conventional billed accounts by text) Two way SMS option Add option to be able to disconnect on weekends Easier reporting of unknown status meters and errors that result Spanish option for notifications

14 QUESTIONS? Amy Crowder, Director of Financial Strategies Blue Ridge EMC (direct line)