We have launched the largest billing system in Poland

In early November, A2 Customer Care, a company of the Atende Group, effected a production launch of the largest billing system in Poland. This is a billing system for Polska Spółka Gazownictwa which is based on SAP for Utilities and SAP CRM for Utilities solutions. 

Due to the hard work of the PSG and A2CC teams, the last of the six “tariff areas” (TA Tarnów) was modified at the turn of October and November, with more than 1.6 million active gas customer contracts. We would like to remind you that as part of the cooperation with PSG A2CC, migrations for OT Warsaw (2021), TA Poznań (05.2021), TA Wrocław (11.2020), TA Gdańsk (11.2018) and TA Zabrze (2013) were successfully performed. Furthermore, data replication to the SAP CRM for Utilities system is performed for each newly launched TA.

“At this point, we would like to thank very sincerely all those involved on the part of PSG, both in preparing the data for migration and in other design works which contributed to the success of this project,” said Krzysztof Biezmienow, Managing Director of A2CC.

Today, a total of more than 7.4 million active customer contracts are settled in the SAP for Utilities system by PSG, and more than 8 million GSP (Gas Supply Points) are supported, which makes it the largest billing system operating in Poland.

Since November, electronic market communication between gas market participants has also been fully operative and it complies with the EDIFACT standard. EDI communication consists in the processing of messages regarding, among others, change of the seller, starting or ending the supply, or making the data of “exit points” (GSP) available.  99.9% of the messages are processed automatically in real time and the seller receives confirmation or rejection of the request within a few minutes. The market participants were also provided with the eBOK portal, which has been equipped with the SAP Fiori tools to allow for submitting all types of applications concerning the customer, and to download measurement data, lodge a complaint, submit a nomination, etc.

All the SAP solutions launched under this project work on the basis of the state-of-the-art HANA database technology. The use of that technology has made it possible to shorten the calculation of the distribution service based on the actual readings and SLP profiles (sigmoid function which dynamically calculates the hourly values of profiles based on a number of variables) for WS customers (W-1.x to W-4 tariff customers) to just a few hours. The distribution service is calculated for each GSP connected to the PSG network, on a monthly basis. For WR customers (referred to as “large” customers), profiles of 5-, 10-, and 15-minute samples aggregated to hourly profiles are used. For missing measurement samples, data interpolation and extrapolation methods are used. The entire billing solution for WR customers is based on the SAP EDM (Energy Data management) mechanism and the RTP (Real Time Pricing) function.

“SAP for Utilities is only partially a classic billing system which calculates charges on the measurement and tariff basis. The greater part of it is a system which combines information on the supply and measurement points and other processes provided by Utilities,” explains Krzysztof Biezmienow.

At PSG, SAP for Utilities is used, among other things, for the purposes of trade balancing, preparation and handling of nominations, data exchange with market participants in a deregulated market, managing measurement systems and the lifecycle of devices, managing work with measurement systems and the network, central managing of settlements, payments and debt collection.

“No other system available on the market (provided by domestic or foreign producers) is capable of handling the processes of energy companies as comprehensively as the SAP solution. Typically, billing systems are simple invoicing systems encased in a range of add-ons and interfaces. In the case of the SAP for Utilities solution, we have at our disposal a highly parameterizable, comprehensive, complementary integrated IT system with very high scalability. It is worth noting that we believe that the gas market has overtaken the energy market by at least several years. First of all, due to the centralisation of the PSG solution, consistent market communication based on the EDIFACT standard has been implemented, and the numbering of all exit points (GSP) has been changed acc. to the GS1 standard,” adds Krzysztof Biezmienow.

The energy market is still waiting for the launch of the CSIRE system. A2CC is a member of a consortium of Atende S.A. (the leader) and Atende Industries (a member of the consortium), which has been placed on a short list of companies fighting for the possibility to implement the transformation of the energy market under the CSIRE project; thereby, it effectively competes with the largest IT companies in Poland and across the world.

“No-one else but us has the knowledge and competences gained in the domestic market which covers data exchange in a deregulated market, and it is only us that can boast the largest measurement and billing data management project the scale of which is similar to that of the planned project.  We are extremely happy that a project of that complexity at PSG was actually entrusted to A2 Customer Care. Thank you for your trust; we are pleased that thanks to our joint efforts, we have succeeded in completing the project on time, with due diligence and professionalism. Once again, we have confirmed that the A2CC team is a contractor who implements billing and customer service projects on such a large scale, within the set deadline and project budget,” concludes Krzysztof Biezmienow.

 To learn more about A2CC, go to: www.a2cc.eu