Sharyland Utilities to Join SAP Controlling 2015 Customer Panel

HPC America is pleased to announce that Sharyland Utilities will be joining the SAP Controlling customer panel discussion on modern cost accounting and regulatory reporting on September 22.

Armando Bustamante is the Controller of Sharyland Utilities, which serves over 50,000 electric delivery points in 29 counties throughout Texas. Armando is responsible for many aspects of SAP Financials at Sharyland, including general ledger accounting and reporting, accounts payable, financial regulatory reporting, and project accounting. Armando is currently leading Sharyland's implementation of the SAP FERC module, and he is a contributor on the implementation of a new hosted CIS module. Armando has more than 20 years of experience in accounting, including Financial Reporting and External Audit. He began his professional career with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in Venezuela and the Dallas offices before joining the Hunt Family of Companies in 2011. Armando is a CPA and earned an MBA from the University of Dallas.

Learn more about the utility company SAP FICO/FERC panel discussion at Controlling 2015.

FirstEnergy to join Utility Panel Discussion at SAP Controlling 2015

Back in January we announced that the 2015 SAP Controlling conference in San Diego would include for the first time some utility-specific content: a panel discussion of utility company accounting experts sharing their latest solutions to SAP cost accounting, regulatory reporting, and other SAP FICO/FERC challenges. (Plus, a networking session for utility industry professionals.)

We're very pleased to announce that Bryan Blom and Gerard Curley, Controllers from RPU and NTUA, respectively, will be joined on the utility industry panel by Steve Law, a business analyst and FICO/FERC subject matter expert from FirstEnergy Corporation, a diversified energy company headquartered in Akron, OH that serves 6 million customers across Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New Jersey, Maryland, and New York.

Steve has more than 35 years of experience in utility accounting, and has worked in General Accounting, Financial Reporting, Internal Controls, and Business Services. Since 1998, Steve's primary responsibility has been Regulatory Reporting; he led the SAP FERC module implementations at General Public Utilities Corp. in 1999, and at FirstEnergy in 2003. Today, he is a project lead on FirstEnergy's upgrade to a "CO-centric" FERC model that enhances external reporting with Controlling module data.

Learn more about the utility industry panel discussion at Controlling 2015, and contact HPC to share any questions or discussion topics that you would like the panelists to address.

SAP Fleet Management for utilities

We're starting another SAP Fleet Management implementation for a utility company this month, based on the HPC Fleet Template and our proven best practices for preventive maintenance schedules, notifications, and fleet costing at utilities on SAP.

This latest project will consolidate several legacy fleet systems into SAP using standard SAP Plant Maintenance and Materials Management functionality—plus HPC America's "fleet dashboard" that provides easy, user-friendly access to common fleet management tasks in SAP for mechanics, fleet managers, and other administrators.

The HPC Fleet Dashboard provides quick access to the daily functions required to maintain vehicles in SAP from purchase through retirement. 

New Software for Utilities on SAP: HPC Cost Flow Forensics (CFF)

Total visibility into complex cost flows—to the penny

HPC Cost Flow Forensics (CFF) is software for utility companies on SAP® that provides total visibility into lengthy or complex cost flows. It enables Rates and Finance professionals to identify the dollars and descriptions associated with every single cost object by FERC account, even those typically obscured from view in between the final (receiver) and source (sender) objects. As a result, HPC CFF improves responsiveness to regulatory inquiries and reduces audit risk, with zero disruption to current operations practices.

Complex Cost Flows Hinder Transparent Regulatory Reporting in SAP

As utilities have grown through acquisition over the last decade, their cost flows have become increasingly lengthy and complex. Key elements in the flow are often obscured from view, challenging Rates and Finance to answer questions about actual costs from regulators and management. The traditional cost model and legacy SAP FERC solution are simply not sufficient to expose the rich detail typically found in internal orders and WBS elements:

HPC Cost Flow Forensics (CFF) Delivers Complete Transparency

In combination with the IS-U/FERC Module and HPC Utility Financials Accelerator, HPC CFF exposes all of the cost objects in between the cost flow's sender and receiver. In doing so, it improves responsiveness and accuracy to regulatory inquiries; reduces audit risk and strengthens rate case positions; and, ultimately, provides one version of the truth between FI, CO, and FERC.

Learn more about HPC Cost Flow Forensics and how it can benefit regulated utilities on SAP.

SAP FERC Implementation with HPC UFA

Another utility company has selected HPC America to implement a best practices FERC regulatory accounting solution in its SAP system. This latest project will strengthen the utility's preparation for and position in rate cases; reduce reliance on processes outside the ERP; and optimize the use of internal and PM orders—all while minimizing disruption to field operations.

To modernize its regulatory accounting configuration and support future growth, the utility has selected HPC Utility Financials Accelerator (UFA), which is certified by SAP as powered by the NetWeaver® technology platform. HPC UFA improves the trace functionality and reporting capabilities of the legacy SAP FERC solution—which HPC had originally created for Pacific Gas & Electric and then sold to SAP in the mid-nineties—and also provides advanced recasting and budgeting features for regulatory reporting on SAP. HPC UFA will allow the utility to go live with its new FERC solution in time for 2015 reporting.

In addition, the project includes replacement of an extensive assessment process with an overhead-centric model that will improve transparency of labor burdens for benefits, payroll taxes, PTO, supervision, engineering, A&G transfer to construction, and store expense burdens on material issues. HPC advocates this design to minimize reliance on difficult-to-understand assessments, improve the predictability of estimating job costs, ensure that shared costs are applied as fairly as possible across WBS elements, and increase the efficiency of the month-end close.

SAP FICO/FERC Expert Duane Fritz Joins HPC America

HPC America is pleased to announce that SAP FICO/FERC expert Duane Fritz has joined HPC as a Senior SAP Consultant. Reinforcing our team's longstanding expertise in utility financials, regulatory accounting, and work management, Duane brings twenty years of experience in the Utilities and Oil & Gas industries, and more than 17 years of SAP experience. 

While at Oklahoma Gas & Electric, Anadarko Petroleum, KBR, Inc., and Enron, Duane configured and supported SAP ERP applications; held team lead and managerial responsibilities; contributed to three full life-cycle SAP R/3 implementations; fulfilled internal and external reporting and audit requirements; and developed SAP redesign and upgrade strategies. Duane has deep expertise in SAP FI, CO, FERC, and FSCM, and additional experience with JVA, AR, AP, HR-Payroll & Time, MM, PP, PS, SD, BCS, and BW. He holds a B.S. in Accounting.

Duane's relationship with HPC extends back to the late-1990s, when HPC assisted OG&E with the implementation of the FERC module, which HPC had originally built for Pacific Gas & Electric and then sold to SAP for distribution to other utilities on SAP. "I'm thrilled that Duane has joined HPC's team of utility finance experts," commented Jerry Cavalieri, CEO of HPC. "I've known him since the early days of SAP FERC reporting and our FERC group in ASUG, and am confident that his experience will benefit HPC's customers as they seek to modernize SAP Financials for utilities." 

SAP Financials Conference recap

After ninety-something demonstrations of the HPC Journal Entry Transfer Solution, casino bells still ringing in our ears, we're back in the office. The 2015 SAP Financials conference was a great opportunity to talk with SAP users in finance and accounting, and those in IT who support them, about their pain points and HPC's 20 years of experience eliminating such discomfort.

We met people from all over the country and across a broad range of industries. Since HPC JETS reduces the time and expense of correcting mischarged cost objects directly in the ERP for any company running SAP Financials, it was relevant to just about everyone we met. Some GRC folks didn't quite get it, and others are part of such large enterprises they're far removed from the problems JETS solves, but after a two-minute demo we saw most heads nod in appreciation.

On the utility front, we also had the pleasure of meeting more finance staff from one prospective customer that we've chatted with over the last two years, and talking extensively with another customer whose SAP FERC optimization project with HPC Utility Financials Accelerator starts next week.

And the biggest draw of the show? Our friendly SAP finance experts.