Kanata Hydro, Nepean Hydro, Gloucester Hydro, Goulbourn Hydro and Ottawa Hydro combined their operations effective November 1, 2000 to create a single new electricity provider -- Hydro Ottawa.
The goal of the amalgamation was to operate the combined utility with lower operating costs than the five independent utilities, with improved levels of customer service. As well, throughout the process -- which is still ongoing -- efforts have been underway to make the transition seamless to customers, and provide the same level of service to all regions of the new organization.
The amalgamation of five distinct entities required new common business processes be established, and new software be used to support and enable the new processes. A critical piece of software is the Customer Information and Billing application. On November 1st Hydro Ottawa implemented two new Customer Information Systems (CIS) to operate side-by-side. The existing system from Ottawa Hydro is in place to handle customers in the old Ottawa Hydro service area, while CIS Infinity from Advanced Utility Systems is in place to handle customers from the old Kanata, Nepean, Gloucester, and Goulbourn Hydro's.
The History
Historically, those living in the Ottawa area received their electric service from a local Municipal Public Utility Commission. These included Ottawa Hydro, Kanata Hydro, Nepean Hydro, Gloucester Hydro and Goulbourn Hydro. This structure allowed the cities in the Ottawa region to grow and receive the benefits of reliable electric service, as well as have hands-on control of the day-to-day electric operations.
The Ontario government enacted legislation in 1999 to combine the municipalities of Ottawa, Kanata, Nepean, Gloucester, and Goulbourn. Bill 100, as it is known, combined government services for these municipalities and, by default, necessitated the combination of the operations of the five utilities. Driven by the government's desire to streamline municipal operations, and reduce overall costs, the five utilities began the path to amalgamation in early 2000.
The operations of the five utilities were sharply different. Ottawa Hydro was the largest utility serving approximately 140,000 customers in the City of Ottawa. Next in size was Nepean Hydro with 43,000 customers, Gloucester Hydro with 38,000 customers, Kanata Hydro with 20,000 electric customers, and Goulbourn Hydro with 8,000 customers. Not only did they differ in size, but also in company culture.
In general Ottawa Hydro, as the largest utility, had more staff and practiced a 'do-it-internally' philosophy, whether that related to computer systems, or to maintenance of plant and equipment. Ottawa Hydro was also fully unionized, with an employee mix of experienced staff. This allowed Ottawa Hydro to develop more specialists, with extensive knowledge in defined areas.
In contrast, the smaller utilities were newer, more likely to seek third parties to handle activities such as software development, and staffed with younger 'generalists' who wore many hats, but had less specialized knowledge.
Instead of becoming a problem, these differences proved beneficial. Kathryn McKay, the CIS Implementation Project Leader from Advanced Utility Systems, said these differences provided for a stronger implementation team. "The different backgrounds of the team members, and the large variety of skills, provided the team with depth, experience and the ability to tackle problems from different perspectives."
The Amalgamation
Amalgamation created a single entity with one set of business practices, and an objective to treat all customers in the same manner from Kanata in the West to Gloucester in the East. A new name has been created -- Hydro Ottawa -- for an entity that will provide service to over 250,000 homes and businesses. Job responsibilities changed for all of the employees. As well, business policies and procedures are changing as common business processes and practices are formed. In order to do this, the numerous computer systems built and in-use at each utility had to be amalgamated.
The Ottawa Transition Board, which had been created to oversee the amalgamation of the region, also had the mandate to ensure that utility amalgamation goals were met. Faced with such a monumental task the transition board immediately established a Utility Amalgamation team, who in turn created sub-committees to oversee specific areas of functional expertise. In this way 'experts' were enrolled to direct activities of specific relevance to their area of training. One such sub-committee was formed to oversee the amalgamation of Customer Information Systems, the software responsible for the utilities' customer service operations. This task is a microcosm of the entire, difficult process. Guy Cluff, former General Manager at Kanata Hydro, and CIS Project Team Leader, was charged with coordinating the implementation of the Customer Information System (CIS). "We had five utilities who had been in business for many years, and who had not only established their own way of doing things, but also used different CIS software.
It was up to the project teams to take the best of the existing processes and create a single new method for ensuring customer needs were met. We had to balance ratepayer needs to control costs and continue to deliver the high levels of service to which Ottawa residents are accustomed."
Customer Information Systems handle billing, customer service, call center and customer information management activities, including the functionality to handle customer data, produce bills, manage service activity and handle customer inquires. This represents a huge portion of the activities of an electric utility, touching all aspects of customer care. Each of the five utilities had an established system in place that staff knew and understood.
As well, through monthly bills customers were used to a distinctive 'look and feel' to their utilities statements. Kanata and Goulbourn used software created by Advanced Utility Systems. Nepean and Gloucester relied on software developed by another software firm, while Ottawa Hydro utilized an in-house, mainframe system developed by their staff. CIS software has a great impact on how customer relations are handled, and the goal at the new utility was to treat all customers in the same manner. Therefore it was imperative for the amalgamating utilities to move to a single system. However in order to meet the November 1st deadline mandated by the provincial government the transition board elected to migrate to two systems in the year 2000, and in the 2001/2002 periods migrate to a single system.
On November 1st two systems became operational. The first system is the existing software from Ottawa Hydro. Customer records from the old Ottawa Hydro system will be retained within this software. The second system is a new application provided by Advanced Utility Systems, called CIS Infinity. Customer records from Kanata, Gloucester, Nepean and Goulbourn were transferred to CIS Infinity. Laurie Elliot, the Manager of Electricity Revenue at Hydro Ottawa, feels CIS Infinity will be readily adopted by the Hydro Ottawa users, "As a Windows system, the software is very easy to use and understand. It is functionally rich, and we'll need time to properly learn the extensive functionality we have available to us. But for now, our users are fielding customer inquiries and dealing with customers wondering about the change. Over time the enhanced customer contact features, meter inventory management capabilities and service order generation routines will enhance our service levels."
Staff at Hydro Ottawa will be trained so that they can use both systems, depending on the geographic location of the customer. A customer inquiry from the old Ottawa Hydro region will alert the call handling employee to access the Ottawa Hydro software, whereas a call from all other locations will trigger the representative to seek out information in CIS Infinity. Janet Achorn, the technical lead on the project, was responsible for ensuring system performance. "The speed of CIS Infinity exceeded our expectations. We made sure we purchased the right servers, and established a high quality network connection, and now the system is humming. This will allow us to deliver top-notch service to all customers of Hydro Ottawa."
In 2001/2002 Hydro Ottawa will select a single CIS application. This will allow the staff to select the software that is 'right' for the users and management of Hydro Ottawa. It spreads costs over a three-year period, allows training to be completed in a structured manner, and ensures business process and staffing issues are solved before the final software decision is made.
The Results: Has the strategy worked?
The answer is Yes. The staff at all the utilities are to be trained in both systems, so that they can use both systems and easily switch between systems, depending on the customer's geographic location. In this way, customers will receive top-quality service no matter where they are located.
A single call-centre was staffed in November 2000 with individuals from each of the five utilities. Located at the existing south Ottawa offices of Hydro Ottawa, the call centre will have both CIS solutions operational. Thus a pool of staff trained in both systems, and able to access customer information from two data systems, will handle customer phone inquires or e-mails. The Goulbourn, Nepean and Gloucester sites will be closed for customer 'walk-ins', but will still act as service hubs. Kanata will act as the western hub for service, and still handle customer 'walk-ins'.
However, there are hurdles to overcome. The level of change is high, making it difficult for both staff and management to handle, as well, the pace of change is quick.
Staff who are accustomed to dealing with customers from 'their town', using Customer Information software they are comfortable with, are being asked to handle a broader group of customers, learn new technology, in many cases relocate offices, and 'reapply' for roles that have been redefined.
Another issue is the pace of change. The decision to move two of the utilities to CIS Infinity was made in August. Users in Gloucester and Nepean not only moved to the new software at a new call centre, but they also had to learn the Ottawa Hydro software as well! It is a testament to these employees that they are handling this change. The software was installed at the end of August, but that is merely the starting point, for the Advanced Utility Systems software must be 'set-up or configured' based on the business processes to be established at the combined utility.
Over 100 staff received training, and training is continuing. Leslie Kirke, Director of Training for Advanced, is excited by how quickly the software users picked up on how to effectively use CIS Infinity.
Effective use of the software depends on well-trained, expert users. The team at Hydro Ottawa is well on their way to becoming experts.
In the training classrooms call center representatives soaked-up the information to be ready for the November 1st go-live." Hydro Ottawa staff will continue to receive technical and training services in the months of November and December, in order to continue to improve customer service levels.
The process of amalgamating the utilities and introducing a new Customer Information System has been a challenge but the challenge has been met. Now that the main components of the project have been completed, the new Hydro Ottawa is well positioned to provide excellent customer service to all the residents and businesses of the Ottawa region, and is able to meet the challenges of deregulation, planned for the year 2001 in Ontario. ET