Gain insights from Tom Turchioe, SAP Global Partnership Technology Lead and VP at TRC Companies.
Things are changing fast in the utility industry. Companies are currently managing notable transformation, driven by the need to modernize aging infrastructure, integrate renewable energy sources, and meet the changing demands of today's customers.
Migrating to SAP S/4HANA, a powerful ERP system that can streamline operations and enhance decision-making, is at the heart of this shift. Upgrading GIS systems — the legacy geometric network that has served the industry for over a decade — is also on deck for forward-thinking utilities.
ERP and GIS: Sequential v. Parallel Implementation
While many utilities have both ERP and GIS upgrade projects on their roadmap, they are often completed sequentially — first, the S/4HANA migration, followed by the Esri GIS update. This may seem to be the logical approach, but it has significant drawbacks:
- Increased business disruption: Sequential implementations lead to two separate periods of disruption, impacting productivity and potentially causing longer overall downtime.
- Delayed benefits: The advantages of integrating the two systems are delayed until both projects are finished, potentially hindering operational efficiency and innovation.
- Higher costs: Sequential implementations can increase costs due to additional resources, extended timelines, and potential rework when integrating the systems later.
- Missed synergies: Separate projects may lead to missed opportunities for collaboration and shared resources between teams, resulting in inefficiencies.
- Increased complexity: Managing two separate projects with different timelines and dependencies adds complexity and coordination challenges.
Instead, performing these upgrades in parallel is a major step towards attaining asset data quality and eliminating both the technical debt and the complexity of master and transactional data replication from your S4/HANA system.
Utilities should take advantage of the unique opportunity to not only modernize their ERP capabilities but also simultaneously implement or upgrade their GIS systems. The benefits extend beyond the mere coexistence of these technologies; they also enable a new level of operational efficiency, data-driven decision-making, and cost savings.
Leveraging RISE and Utility Network for Successful System Integrations
Achieving this is possible using RISE with SAP—a comprehensive, subscription-based offering that bundles the necessary software, infrastructure, and services for a smooth and efficient transition to S/4HANA in the cloud. But to accomplish this, utilities should consider moving to Esri’s services-based Utility Network — a solution that provides a central data view and increased awareness of systems analysis with a higher level of precision.
Esri's Utility Network is a services-based GIS platform that offers a comprehensive and precise representation of the entire utility network, spanning from power generation to the customer. Launched in 2018, it offers superior capabilities with a truly services-based architecture and represents a modern implementation aligned with current technological advancements.
For utilities already leveraging both SAP and Esri, migrating their GIS data to Utility Network on the SAP HANA platform during their S/4HANA migration is a strategic move. This approach provides a greater opportunity to properly integrate data and processes between the two systems while eliminating the need for costly and time-consuming data synchronization.
Minimize Disruption
With RISE, a side-by-side implementation minimizes business disruption by aligning two major transformations into a single, streamlined process. This reduces the overall implementation timeline and accelerates time-to-value so utilities realize the benefits of both technologies sooner. Plus, the cost of implementing Utility Network is a small fraction of the overall ERP migration expense.
Expand Adoption
It also can lead to greater adoption across the organization. One example of this success is a utility company that recently went live with SAP S/4HANA and Utility Network to more than 5,000 field workers. The company’s employees embraced the integrated solution and achieved an incredible 80% adoption rate—a testament to the power of simultaneous implementation and the positive impact it can have on an organization. The company now benefits from a harmonious flow of information that empowers teams to make informed decisions faster than ever before.
Data Access
There are far more upsides to this integration that are made possible by a simultaneous implementation. It allows real-time or near-real-time access to asset data. It also eliminates outdated ETL processes that create technical debt and operational overhead. With Utility Network residing on the same platform as S/4HANA, utilities gain instant access to the state of their assets within the SAP system. This creates a unified digital twin that bridges the gap between IT and OT, leading to greater efficiency across the entire organization.
Digital Twins
For example, city planners in Incheon, South Korea developed a location-intelligent digital twin to support management across city departments including fire, traffic, sanitation, facilities, development, and revitalization. The city intends to expand its digital twin to manage even more assets such as sewer systems, power grids, telecommunications, and subways.
Get Ahead of Issues
Beyond the creation of digital twins, integrating Utility Network with SAP S/4HANA offers several other great advantages. Utilities can harness the capabilities of SAP HANA's spatial functions to perform real-time analysis of network performance, identify potential bottlenecks, and optimize maintenance schedules. These features enable utilities to anticipate and address issues before they impact customers.
Visualization
Utility Network's advanced visualization tools provide a clear and intuitive representation of the network's health and status through interactive maps and dashboards. This enhanced visibility across the grid, from IT to OT, provides a pathway to more informed decisions and proactive responses to potential issues.
Analysis
Consider a scenario where an analyst needs to examine power consumption patterns by zip code and then further refine the analysis by sub-circuit. Traditionally, this would necessitate modifying ETL processes, involving development, testing, and change control approvals, causing delays in obtaining key insights. However, with the simplified side-by-side integration offered by Utility Network on HANA, analysts can directly query the system, significantly accelerating the analysis process and enabling agile decision-making. This agility empowers utilities to adapt swiftly to changing conditions and make data-driven decisions that optimize grid performance and reliability.
Collaboration
The integration of GIS and ERP systems promotes improved collaboration between different departments, such as engineering, operations, and customer service. Field crews, for instance, can access real-time asset data on their mobile devices, ensuring they have the right parts and information to complete their tasks efficiently, minimizing unnecessary trips and improving productivity.
Outage Management
Utility Network's capabilities also play a vital role in outage management. The decade from 2011-2021 saw 64% more major power outages compared to the previous ten-year period, with weather-related events being the main culprit. Utilities can proactively communicate with their customers and streamline restoration efforts by visualizing the impact of outages on the network and identifying affected customers. This makes for happier customers and a more resilient community.
A New Pathway to Thrive
Organizations seeking to modernize asset management, enhance operational efficiency, and thrive in the digital age can gain significant advantages by simultaneously implementing GIS systems with Esri's Utility Network alongside an SAP S/4HANA migration via RISE. This approach allows utilities to realize the full potential of their data, streamline workflows, and achieve unprecedented levels of agility and responsiveness.
The time to act is now. As the pace of digital transformation accelerates, organizations that seize this unique opportunity will gain a significant competitive advantage and position themselves for long-term success.
Tom Turchioe is SAP Global Partnership Technology Lead and VP at TRC Companies.