Challenges

Deploy a common Meter Data Management (MDM) system to provide a common platform and new functionality.

Upgrade the MDM system across all three operating companies.

Solutions

Go-live and post-go-live business production support and vast hands-on technical and business subject matter expertise.

Business analysis, testing services (SIT and UAT), production MDM data repairs and production billing activities.

Results

Quality deployment of new MDM system for utility company.

Improved electricity billing services to almost 10 million customers.

Client overview

The Client is a major utility company operating multiple electric and gas providers that serve three large metropolitan markets in the US. Their project was to upgrade the MDM system for all three operating companies. This major undertaking would see a common MDM system provide a single platform and new features lacking in the existing independently deployed versions.

Legacy MDM system had become operational liability

The Client’s existing MDM system was dated, with limited functionality. There was no single common platform for the Client, which it needed across its operating companies (OpCos), so the Client sought to:

  • Deploy a common MDM system across multiple OpCos.
  • Reduce IT operating expenses and standardize on a common major sub-component.
  • Store meter data and provide daily usage data calculation back to the billing system for processing and monthly bill generation.

Successful MDM system implementation through diverse approaches

Qualitest formulated and provided a comprehensive, strategic, and business assured solution comprised of carefully selected and deployed tools, technology, services and activities. This included business analysis and product ownership for specific functional areas​; testing services (SIT and UAT); production MDM data repairs and production billing activities​ and go-live and post-go-live business production support.

Our testing services and guidance helped to develop a comprehensive User Acceptance Testing (UAT) process for use by the Client’s teams. We were on hand with testing support for pre-go-live disaster recovery drills and mock customers. For the post-go-live phase, we performed system acceptance testing in the production environment.

We trained the Client’s team in HP ALM and, between AMI release testing, we also performed activities in support of the billing and IT teams, including:

  • Manual billing of customer accounts in the production environment.
  • MDM data repair (IT level) in the production environment.
  • Updates to customer production accounts in the form of customer credits and customer account annotations
  • Continued subject matter expertise and training of business users.

Our Quality Assurance services spanned functional area owner / business analysis; ​change and release management; test and defect management; production billing and data repair, and MDM product and billing operations subject​ matter expertise.

Key benefits

The Client was able to upgrade its MDM system for all three operating companies to provide a single MDM platform and new functionality with features lacking in the earlier versions. This enabled the utility companies to better serve almost 10 million customers. The Client also:

  • Reduced its IT resource requirements (hardware, IT support staff, system down time and maintenance) by 60%.
  • Reduced its production deployments/upgrades to a single server/environment which reduced downtime and resource by 65%.
  • Has a Regression Test Suite to be utilized on future MDM maintenance release and upgrades.
  • Gained tools to quickly create and upload test cases into ALM, with test creation time reduced by 40%.
  • Reduced billing backlog from over 300 delayed accounts down to zero in three months.​
  • Received training on MDM 2.2 which reduced the number of accounts being submitted to formal Data Repair by 60%.​
  • Received training on MDM data repair which reduced turnaround time — from up to two weeks per account to be repaired — down to hours.
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