www.bradford.ac.uk/management

Culture and Performance

Complementary or Conflicting?

Agenda

• Introduction

• Background to the Case Study

• The Work Requirements

• Performance Requirements

• Outcomes of the Consulting Work

• Issues Arising

• Misalignment or Misunderstanding?

• Questions

Introduction

• Experience-Based Talk

• Consultancy Intervention

• Complicated by number of principals and the

legal requirements each had to comply with

• Indian Outsourcer

• Australian utility owner

• UK utility operating partner

Background to the Case Study

The client bought a number of outcomes:

• 35 Legacy IT Systems into 7 packaged

solutions

• Systems Integration

• Communications to ensure smooth transition

• Process Re-design and implementation to tie

in with systems integration

Business Context

-Gas Distribution Business in North of UK

-Revenue of £137.7 Million for first 6 months ended

Dec 2005

-Holds total consolidated asset value £1.7 Billion

- Covers 6.7 million inhabitants & 2.5 million

customers

- Manages 36,000 Km of gaspipes

Programme :Gas Distribution Network Solution (GDNS)

- NGN bought Gas Distributionbusiness from NGT, UK

- Exit Front Office Management Service Agreement (FOMSA) with

NGT

- Transfer assets information and expertise from NGT to NGN

- Through efficient asset and workmanagement, Improve productivity

and achieve Standard of Service

- Set up Work & Asset Management(WAM) systems within 18 months

- Migrate the existing 53 WAM applications with data to GDNS apps.

-Migrate the WAM business processesto use GDNS applications

-Manage and Deliver the business change

Pro

gra

mm

e D

rivers

Pro

gra

mm

e G

oals

Performance Requirements

SAP

Centric

The Shape of the Programme

Build a compelling

case for changes

Engage change leaders at

every level

Win the commitment

of critical stakeholders

Speed

Benefits

Risk and

complexity

Sustainability

Outcome

Drive the

programme

Design the business to deliver

what’s important

The ‘soft’ requirements

Performance Requirements

• All deadlines had to be met otherwise the

client faced severe penalties

• All stakeholders had to be involved and co-

ordinated

• All suppliers had to provide JIT

• All systems had to be fully functional at

specific times

• Roll-outs were sequential

Team Organisation

Independent AuditPA, KPMG, Deloitte

Indian OutsourcerSystem Integration, Programme Management,

Solution Delivery

UK Utility(Asset Operator)Process Experts, Process Design, UAT

Australian Co (Asset Owner)Programme Management,

Governance, IT Strategy

Other PartnersSAP, ESRI, MDSI, Advantica, Symology, Oracle,

CHED Services, iAnywhere etc

Hardware InfrastructureSUN, AT&T, Vertex

Internal AuditHK owner, UK Utility Group IS

Ste

erin

g G

roup

Challenges at the Start of the Programme

Delivery Challenges

a. Stringent Time Lines :

- Deliver whole WAM transformation

programme within 18 months

b. Consolidate 53 systems into minimum number of systems

c. Migrate huge volumes of data into new

applications.

d. Deliver comprehensive training and Manage Business Change

Implementation Approach

Outcomes of the Consulting Work

• 1200 operational staff fully trained in the new

systems, in combinations relevant to their roles

• ‘Go-Live’ for each roll-out was error-free

• UK utility operations had increased productivity

• Stockholdings lessened (pipes)

• Utilisation of staff better (all contract staff laid off)

• Repair work done ‘on schedule’

• Improved customer relations

• Forecasting improved

• Tighter control of completed work

• Accurate and complete record-keeping

Client Benefits

• Systems set up in 18 months: Minimum development time was required as out of box SAP covered broad

functionalities and business processes. It helped in exiting FOMSA within time.

• Stream lined, optimised & seamlessly integrated business processes

• Stable suit of applications, especially SAP, providing reliable and tightly integrated data

system

• Better planning, control, and monitoring of work activities help become more business

oriented & user friendly.

• Higher asset availability & reliability with improved overall asset effectiveness

• Reduction in operational costs: Planned and optimized utilisation of resources and standardized working

style help reduce operational costs

• Easy decision making using Management Information Reporting functionality

• Real time status update of work gives better control over standard of services and help

adherence to regulatory requirements and SLAs

• Integration with external organization’s systems reduced manual handoffs resulting less

errors and better response times.

Issues Arising

The consulting firm was perceived as not having

done a good job….

• Australian utility verdict: BAD JOB because

– They had to employ internal staff to check outsourcer work due

to silence and non-proactivity and lack of trust

• Outsourcer verdict: EXCELLENT JOB because

– Reference site

– Done on time (although not budget) and to quality

• UK utility: SATISFACTORY JOB because

– Reported to time and budget, but had machinations with staffing

levels

– Met staffing targets for new operating methods.

Misalignment or Misunderstanding?

• Contracts not clearly written up – slapdash or

trusting?

• Operational dynamics – conflict-generating

• Organisational knowledge demonstrated

differently – explicit vs assumed

• Informal vs formal working style

• Onshore/offshore complications

Questions

• Questions about the consulting intervention

and the observations?

• Questions about research areas around this

subject, underway or of interest?

OpsCo Back Office

(SAP)

Miscellaneous ‘Day 1’ Apps-

OpsCo

CMS Advantica

ESS Thesis

Financial

Accounting

HR/Payroll

Procurement

Accounts

Payable

Miscellaneous ‘Day 1’

Apps-AssetCo

Notes

Prop Mgt

Misc DBs

OpsCo

IntranetAssetCo

Intranet

AssetCo Back Office

(SAP)

Financial

Accounting

HR

Procurement

Accounts

Payable

OpsCo Infrastructure AssetCo Infrastructure

Voice

Services

Email MS Office

Thin Client

Data

ServicesSecurity

File Servers Help Desk

Bank Lloyds Cognos

Moorpay

WinterthurEastlands

Fulcrum NRG2 Fleet Mgt

Xoserve

Ceridian

Conquest

SOMSA systems

FOMSA systems Day 1 - High Level Application Architecture

Authors: DLobb & HBoardman

File Version: v0.2 290305

WAM Grouping

Work Management

STORMS

WMS

MIMS 4.3

IDV – Interactive Data Validation

AQS – Asset Quotations System

Asset Management

MIMS 4.3 – (Asset Repository)

TEAR - Transco Engineering Asset

Rep

DL – Data Loggers and Correctors

GIS & Field GIS

NGS

MAPS

Field Force Mgmt

QB5 Networks

QB5 MARS

Field Application

Scheduling & Dispatch

JIS

QB5 Networks

QB5 MARS

Street Works

ETON

Handover

Data loggers,OL5,INFILL

Cloned Applications

PSSR, Graphical Falcon,SRP,

CP Base, Fault DB,HPMIS,DDS,

GL5,GBNA, LINAS

Risk Management

MRPS

Voice

Services

Email MS Office

Thin Client

Data

ServicesSecurity

File Servers Help Desk

Barclays

Key:One way ‘online’ link

Two way ‘online’ link

One way manual

transfer

(no ‘online’ link

required)

Access via NGT services