Offering SAP expertise to Utilities across North America

Many Utilities operate with a large inventory of disparate, non-integrated systems that provide financial accounting, budgeting, procurement, inventory, payroll/human capital management, and utility asset /work management processes from multiple vendors interfaced together to support the businesses processes. Multiple systems mean complex infrastructure, interfacing, higher maintenance costs, non-optimal returns on IT investment, and higher total cost of ownership (TCO). Add to that the churn of Regulated and extremely competitive environment resulting in Mergers, Acquisitions and Takeovers and the distributed corporate offices and geographically spaced locations and management teams. In such an environment business processes and management decisions are often based on aged historic information rather than current real time information critical for decision makers of these fast paced changing times.

SAP ERP technology provides a transparent view of accurate and real time information to better manage the business with reliable information and provide a "single version of the truth" derived from data entered only once into the system and propagated to appropriate parts of the business. Utilities need implementation partners with industry experience and expertise who can help strategize, design, build, implement, operate and support integrated enterprise solutions.

Sparta is one of the fastest growing SAP Service Partners in the United States with a strong focus and competency in SAP IS-Utilities applications. We partner with utilities organizations to improve operational efficiencies, optimize asset utilization, deliver management reporting, and integrate planning solutions and regulatory compliance. Our Program Managers, Architects and Leads have deep domain knowledge of utilities processes and best practices.

Sparta's Utility Practice is committed to Providing low cost, high quality SAP solutions throughout North America for your Utility needs!

Overview:

• Strong Focus and Competency in Utilities Industry Vertical
• Cost effective, No-Nonsense, Customer Oriented Approach
• Providing Low cost, High quality SAP for Utilities Solutions
• Strong Focus on Utilities Industry Specific Solutions
• Comprehensive Utilities Toolkit - Accelerators and Knowledgebase
• Unique Customized Pre-Packaged Proprietary Utilities Solutions
• World Class Utilities Practitioners with deep domain knowledge and experience in Utilities Processes and Best Practices

Key Statistics:

• 1000+ SAP Consultants including experienced Utilities Practitioners
• Have Serviced over 5 SAP Utilities Customers in North America
• Have Serviced over 14 SAP Utilities Customers Globally

SAP Relationship:

• Partnering with SAP providing Utility Solutions, Tools and Templates
• SAP Services Partner & Consulting - Gold level partner

SAP Utilities Practice at Sparta Consulting

Our SAP Expertise in End to End Utilities Solutions :

Sparta provides offerings across the entire SAP Solution value chain, with focused customized offerings in the SAP for Utilities space including IS/U-CCS (CIC) and Smart Grid etc.



Our Utilities Practice provides customized SAP Solutions Design, Implementations and Support services in following SAP Solutions:

• EAM - (IM, PS, PM, Fleet, AM)
• ERP - (FICO, SCM, SRM, SD)
• HCM Suite
• BI, IP, BOBJ
• SAP IS/U and AMI
• FERC
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• Customer Interaction Center and IC Web Client
• Communication Enabled Processes (IVR, CTI, Email)
• Billing and Bill Printing
• FI-CA and Customer Financials Management
• Meter and Device Management
• AMI and Smart Grid
• NetWeaver
• GRC
• Upgrade Assessments and Implementation
• Application Management Services (AMS) (On-going support)

Our Mission Statement:
"Value driven provider of SAP centric solutions to the utilities industry group, leveraging our proprietary SAP utilities methodware delivered in a collaborative client-centric engagement model leveraging world-class utilities practitioners".

Our Pillars of Differentiation:
We provide services to our Utilities clients based on three pillars of differentiation that hold us apart from our competitors:



1. Comprehensive Utilities Methodware - Toolkit, Accelerators, Knowledgebase

Our service offerings include a comprehensive set of Tools, Accelerators and Knowledge base that seamlessly integrates SAP's best practices, ASAP and SolMan Application Management Platform with our industry expertise and intellectual toolkit.

Our SUPERIT (Sparta Utilities Process Enabler and Rapid Implementation Tool) includes custom templates, questionnaires, process analyzers, process solutions, configuration guidelines, pre configured packaged solutions and knowledge base contents that help significantly reduce risk, cost, effort and rapid implementation of Utilities solutions.




2. Collaborative Approach

Our Utilities experts provide a unique blend of on-shore business transformation capabilities and off-shore application management, development and support services. This model helps pass on a very unique price competitive blended rate to our client's advantage.

We have a Strong Focus on Utilities Industry specific solutions, fully leveraging our strong SAP solution footprint. We have a long term commitment to the Utility Industry.

We have a strong SAP Solutions Footprint across Utilities and non-Utilities space that provides us the unique capability to leverage the depth and width of our experience, capabilities, competence and skill-set so critical to succesful implementations and post implementation services to the Utility industry.

We are lock stepped and fully aligned with SAP in not only in our Methodware that seamlessly integrates with SAP tools and accelerators but also in our partnership to leverage our best strengths and bring a unique collaborative model to the Utilities that offers the best blend of quality and value.

We are committed to Customer Service and Long Term Relationship with our clients. In the spirit of collaboration, mentoring and advisory role to our clients we offer free Discovery and Evaluation Workshops upfront, that assist our clients in clearly seeing their vision and strategy thereby enabling them to building a sound implementation strategy and roadmap to manage people, processes and performance.


3. World Class Practitioners

We have over 1000 SAP professionals including world class Utilities practitioners who have deep domain knowledge in utilities processes and best practices. We have successfully serviced over 250 SAP customers globally (including 16 Utilities).

Our Senior Architects and Consultants have Utility based end-to-end implementation experience in IS/U-CCS (CIC), CIS, CRM, AMI (MDM, EDM), HCM, EAM (IM, PS, PM, Fleet, AM), FICO, SCM, BI, IP, GRC and Netweaver.

Our Utility consultants have proven experience in SAP IS/U- CCS/ CIC, CRM, CIS Integration and upgrades in multiple Utilities.

Our SmartGrid/AMI/MDM Utilities consultants have experience and skill set in the integration processes and communication technologies that integrate the Smart Metering Header End System and the AMI - Meter Data Management System with SAP for Utilities.

Sparta Utilities Practice has successfully partnered with utilities organizations in implementation projects that improve operational efficiencies, optimize asset utilization, deliver management reporting, and integrate planning solutions and regulatory compliance. Here are few examples:

• Successfully implemented an end-to-end SAP solution at a major Gas Utility in the Pacific Northwest including:
• SAP solution fully integrating Operations, Work Management, Fleet and Maintenance to Finance, Capital Budgeting, Procurement, FERC regulatory requirements and Human Capital Management (including Payroll).
• GRC components of Access Enforcer, Compliance Calibrator and Fire fighter to meet SOX needs.
• Recently delivered a successful SAP BI implementation for a major Gas Utility company in the Pacific Northwest involving the following:
• SAP BI workshop and Assessment – including helping client to develop reporting strategy
• SAP BI based analytics for HCM and EAM Data
• SAP BusinessObject based data visualizations and reporting
• SAP IP based planning applications
• Legacy data migrations
• KPI development and implementations
• Delivered a complete BI roadmap for a major utility company in North America
• Successfully developed and delivered a market data analytics for a major US Utility company
• Large volume of market data analysis to help the company make business decisions
• HCM Dash boarding including portal deployment
• Provided Utilities experienced BASIS (NetWeaver Technical of SAP System) consultants to a major Electric Utility for services including Maintenance, Security, Transports Management and EP Upgrade. Also assisted in upgrade and landscape assessment for ECC 5.0 to ECC 6.0, using Sparta Proprietary Upgrade tool.
• Assisted a Utility company in the mid west with Utility experienced consultants to implement ESS/MSS, Portal, HCM/Adobe Interactive Forms and DUET.
• Implemented end-to-end Procurement–to–Pay (P2P) business processes including SRM-MDM Catalog Management. Solution deployment across 18 Operating Areas in a Gas utility company. Also provided complete SAP ECC 6.0 Support in FICO, SD, MM, BASIS and ABAP.
• Provided end to end support including support in architecting the solution to building a complete customized reporting suite using Business Objects Platform in a Sothern Gas Utility.
• Successfully implemented a Extranet based on Business Object solution in a Southern Gas Utility company:
• An intuitive interface for the non-IT savvy users working on satellite bandwidth (not very fast!!!)
• Integrate Business Objects with a desktop application for parameterized reporting
• Single sign-on with absolutely no user input
• Required integration with a home-grown SSO agent for user credentials
• Single-click functionality to avoid navigation complication
• Content and data personalization based on the geography and access level
• Embedding active controls within Business Objects reports for single click report formatting and personalization
• Implemented a Business Planning and Consolidation project at a North East Energy Utility:
• Provided architecture support, functionality specifications and subject matter expertise around business planning best practices
• Provided support on the legal consolidation framework that would help AES executive management to get a clear view on new entity acquisition and merger impacts on its operations.
• Assisted a major Gas Utility in the North East in setting up the SAP Strategy Management (SSM) infrastructure and designing visualization and decision making platform using BuisnessObjects Xcelsius platform.
• Implemented SAP‘s BusinessObjects Enterprise Performance Management suite to create dashboard framework for monitoring and measuring key operational metrics for Energy Utility company’s executive and operations managers.
• Currently leading a BPS to BPC conversion project at a major Power Utility in North East.
• Recently started on a BPC and BI implementation project at a Power Utility in the Midwest.