MECOMS – Metering and COntract Management System


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Issue Oct 2007	MECOMS e-Newsletter
	Meet Ferranti @ Convergence 2007 in Copenhagen Convergence – Microsoft Dynamics Premier Customer Event Meet Ferranti Computer Systems at Convergence 2007 in Copenhagen next week. Bella Center, Copenhagen, Denmark 23 - 25 October 2007 You can find Ferranti at booth N° E 43 Convergence is the premier Microsoft Dynamics event, bringing customers, partners, team members and industry experts together in an environment created for you to discuss solutions, address business needs and establish a true community that can be leveraged throughout the year. For more information and registration, visit http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/convergence/copenhagen/default.aspx
MECOMS Channel Organization
MECOMS (MEtering and COntract Management System) is the reference ERP – CRM solution to empower Energy, Water & Utility Companies. Ferranti has been selling and implementing its MECOMS software product into the Benelux market for many years. Today we are positioning MECOMS in an international context. Our strategy is to develop the international market of MECOMS through a Channel Organisation. We see the partnership in a 2-tier concept. Our partners sell, implement and support our solution. We provide marketing on global market specific events, provide Marketing Intelligence, assist during the sales/pre-sales process, assist during business process mapping & implementation and provide 2^nd line support. Our partners are detected through different channels. The main channel is Microsoft Dynamics, the division within Microsoft that focuses on ERP and CRM solutions. Microsoft Dynamics has a vast channel of existing partners throughout the world. With the help of Microsoft we approach the partners which are the best fit. With each partner contact we assess the readiness to enter into a win-win partnership. Partners that enter into a committed agreement have full support of our dedicated R&D team. We make a continuous investment in understanding the market needs, the best practices and translate this in an industry-class cost-to-serve solution. Our R&D team focuses on ease of use and implementation and flexibility, resulting in major references ranging from solutions with a couple of thousand consumers to Multi – Million consumer systems. We recognize that not only the MECOMS product but also associated services and practices are essential for the success of an implementation. Therefore we offer a wide range of services from training, implementation assistance to support. We are still looking for new partners in Europe, so feel free to contact us, or to visit us at our booth at Microsoft Convergence. www.mecoms.biz Top
MECOMS Goes East
The Central and Eastern European energy market are faced with the challenges of a liberalized energy market now and in the future. Energy companies across CEE are looking to ensure a fair, transparent and competitive environment. Incumbents and new players alike will have to adapt their strategies to capitalize on the emerging opportunities and deliver value to stakeholders and customers. Increased collaboration between all parties is necessary to create a workable framework that supports security of supply and enables future energy demands to be met in a sustainable manner. These changing market forces, including (de)regulation, mergers and acquisitions, pressure on cost of service, new competitors, EU regulations, etc... are pushing the existing energy companies to re-think not only their business processes, but also the underlying IT systems to support these new processes. New players have to create new demands and markets, making their dependence on flexible and rich supporting IT systems even greater. MECOMS is the IT response to these market forces. Our end-to-end value chain solution is a perfect fit: Multi-product (Electricity, Gas, Water & heating), for combined market players Modularity, for a wide range of market parties, from fully liberalized to non-liberalized Flexibility, for smooth adaption to ongoing business process changes Business Bleu Printed, for fast implementation tracks to minimize time to market Based on Microsoft Dynamic AX, for market leader application, technology and localization assurance In our strategy to further internationalize our MECOMS solution, we see a tremendous opportunity in growth in the CEE (Central & Eastern Europe). These growth expectations are confirmed by: the growing number of interested partners the opportunities/projects that are being detected So we will capitalize on this growth and will inform you in the next issue of this newsletter about our new partners in the CEE. Top
MECOMS for Micrsoft Dynamics™ AX
MECOMS For Microsoft Dynamics™ AX is a highly customizable, CRM and ERP solution for the Energy & Utilities market. The purpose of this brief overview is to outline for our customers and partners the future direction of MECOMS For Microsoft Dynamics™ AX. The MECOMS product is modeled by several business drivers ensuring the further evolution of the product. Certainly exciting innovations are scheduled for 2008 meeting the demands of customers and partners, adapting brand new technology and improving the way MECOMS can enable your businesses in the Energy & Utilities market. The aspects listed below are just a few highlights of the MECOMS innovations. MECOMS Application Improvements Contract Management & Billing The MECOMS Contract Management & Billing system is enhanced with several new functionalities and additions allowing efficient contract authoring and editing in a B2B / B2C environment. Enabling complex multi site contracts , direct pricing making use of current market prices, contract authoring using MECOMS “Snippet” functionality fully integrated in Microsoft Office. These are just a few of the improved and enhanced features in the Contract Management module. The modular billing engine of the system is further improved and new options are available to be able to provide an even more customized service matching the specific needs of every type of consumer. Market Releases As the market changes MECOMS is updated with functionality to reflect the market model and interaction between different parties. This does not only handle messaging exchange but also structural evolutions in the market such as the introduction of Smart Metering and all the challenges related to this new possibility creating model. The MECOMS Smart Metering Communication Bus acts as a truly transparent interface to provide meter reading on demand, billing reads, cut-off functionality , peak shaving and much more. Corporate Performance Management is a concept introduced by Gartner Research in 2001, which can be summarized as "all of the processes, methodologies, metrics and systems needed to measure and manage the performance of an organization”. The MECOMS product makes optimal use of the new Microsoft technology performance point server to address the complex and diverse needs of the energy & utilities sector with regards to Corporate Performance Management. Wave of Innovation 2008 features the new release of Microsoft Dynamics AX 5.0. This product release focuses on usability and functional improvements maximizing the productivity of users of the system. The MECOMS system uses these features to provide an even more role-tailored user experience, simplification of workflow and user interaction and increased modularity making use of dynamic rules. These changes are not only reflected in the MECOMS back office system but also in the dynamic MECOMS enterprise portal. Top
MECOMS and Business Process Performance Management
Managing a utilities business requires insight in what is happening. A measurement and monitoring infrastructure of the business processes is therefore essential. As utilities adopt a more process-oriented view of their operations, the requirement for process analysis and improvement methodologies and of how these techniques can be implemented within IT systems is becoming more and more critical. The concept of Total Quality Management, based on the ideas of Crosby and Deming and a quality improvement initiative such as the Six Sigma methodology is now being applied to a wide range of business process scenarios, often in conjunction with other techniques such as Lean. Business Intelligence offers tools to provide the analysis information. There is much more to Business Intelligence than implementing the technology. There is a strong synergy between the use of these methodologies in a service-centric business environment, and the implementation of Business Process Management (BPM) solutions, since the latter enable the modeling, analysis, measurement, and simulation of processes, upon which these methodologies are based. The MECOMS philosophy strongly believes that KPI should be designed together with the processes. MECOMS Performance point is a solution that covers these areas. It is build on exciting new technology from Microsoft, Microsoft Performance Point Server, which offers a platform to help organizations improve performance by integrating monitoring, analysis, and planning into a single solution. Performance Point extends MECOMS for Microsoft Dynamics AX with dashboards (either operational, tactical and strategic) that present the Key Performance Indicators, provide trend analysis and much more. Reporting and analysis can be based on business process flow activity logging, on operational data and on cubes that can be configured using the dimensions provided by MECOMS. Top
MECOMS Used for Grid Fee Settlement Process at Large Energy Supplier
The Grid Fee is a fee which in the Belgian liberalized energy market model is billed by the DGO (Distribution Grid Operator) to the Supplier(s) for the usage of the distribution grid. It is based on consumption data. The process of reconciling these invoices with the validated consumption data is often not supported by the Backoffice systems in place. Suboptimal systems and workarounds take a lot of time and often lead to errors and related rectification processes. This is why a large Belgian energy Supplier has chosen for MECOMS for Dynamics^TM AX to support this process. MECOMS “Read-Process” stores all invoice-, consumption- and master data (including tariffs) using its market-compliant messaging system. The “Treat-Process” then starts validating and checking on correctness and completeness of these data and will start the reconciliation. Also, for B2B customers where more complex algorithms apply, MECOMS validates the full cycle before passing this information to the billing system. This validation takes place before billing of the customer. In the end, the reconciliation and settlement process is performed in a much shorter cycle with fewer errors. Also, MECOMS build in flexibility allows the customer to faster respond to changing market conditions due to regulation or other related to grid fee. Top
Some of our Customers
Delta Essent HVC Indexis Nidera RWE SPE Waternet Click here for an overview Top