Today, the CIS solution is organized around a solid core of CIS
functions or modules or subsystems. Surrounding the CIS Core is
an entire spectrum of add-on components offering extended CIS functions
and capabilities. In discussing customer systems some or all of
the components identified in the CIS Components Model may be included
as part of a comprehensive customer application architecture.
C1. Customer Service and Care. The management
of customer contacts received through various media including:
the telephone, integrated voice response, computer telephone integration,
fax, email, the Internet, customer correspondence, the bill, and
various payment mechanisms. The system will allow for recording,
scripting and managing the contact. This module will provide for
marketing and sales to both current and prospective customers.
It will allow for the identification and measurement of user performance,
customer satisfaction and the determination of program effectiveness.
C2. Customer Management. The capability of identifying
and tracking customers in the system independent of the account.
This module allows for the identification of existing customers
and the input of extensive profile and demographic information.
An existing customer may have a single account or multiple accounts
with the ability to track specific information at the customer
level across all of the customers accounts.
C3. Financial Systems Interface. Any activity
associated with revenue is accommodated through this module. Deposit
processing, payment processing, returned check processing, refund
processing and required interfaces to financial management systems
including the general ledger, accounts payable, and accounts receivable.
C4. Service Order Management. The processing
of requests to initiate service based and meter based work orders.
A pending order process, the update of orders, the dispatching
and closing of orders and the viewing of historical orders is
accommodated.
C5. Account Management. An account is created
to reflect the establishment of a financial agreement for the
provision of a product or service. The account is the primary
path for accessing and viewing customer account related information.
An account can be defined as a single account, a master account,
or a temporary account. It reflects available and installed service
offerings, product offerings, equipment offerings, and program
offerings. It supports a wide array of account views associated
with account transactions, consumption, payments, billings, adjustments
and account specific notes.
C6. Credit & Collection Management. The
establishment of an extensive customer credit profile for use
in managing account credit and necessary collection activities.
Credit checking, credit reference, credit bureau interface and
a flexible credit scoring process. Accommodation of third party,
guarantor and co-signer relationships. The ability to quickly
view outstanding account balances, transfer of account balance
across accounts and the freezing of an account for dispute resolution.
A flexible collection process regarding notification and cutoff
activities, collection agency interface, and public assistance
agency interface. The processing of late payment penalties, returned
checks and the creation and management of payment arrangements.
The processing of bad debt accounts, accounts in bankruptcy, accounts
with deceased customer and an executor and account liens.
C7. Service Address Management. The identification
of legal parcel information and the service address for purposes
of account management. A process to support the establishment
of new service for both permanent and temporary addresses with
the ability to associate current and historic information (i.e.
meters, customers, equipment) with the address. Multiple service
points are associated with a service address, these points may
be metered or unmetered.
C8. Rates and Portfolio Management. A flexible
pricing structure to accommodate rates, charges, fees, surcharges,
taxes, adjustment clauses, rate determinants and dynamic rate
assignments. This module also provides for rate development activities.
From a portfolio perspective, it allows for the viewing of all
available programs, products and services (the portfolio) that
the utility can provide to the customer. This module will support
a wide variety of implied and special negotiated service contracts.
Various rates and pricing plans can be associated with each portfolio
item.
C9. Usage Management. The capability of capturing
consumption based upon a passage of time as well as, a measured
flow. The creation of a route with automatic rerouting features.
The initiation of readings and an interface with the hand-held
or other meter reading devices. The validation of consumption,
the processing of reads, and the tracking of unauthorized usage.
C10. Customer Choice. Within a competitive based
retail market this module will provide for the registration of
market participants and the customer registration and termination
process. The system will accommodate a marketer going out of business
(certification revoked, merger, etc) with reassignment of customers
back to a utility or to other marketers. The function will provide
for the invoicing of charges to a market participant for billing
or the receipt of invoice items from a market participant for
billing, the processing of payments, a settlement process and
resolution of disputes. The module provides for an industry standard
interface to accommodate the communication of information between
market participants.
C11. Inventory Management. The identification,
access and management of meter, equipment and product inventory.
The function supports meter based billing activities, inventory
based activities and meter testing programs with applicable interfaces
to external meter inventory systems.
C12. Billing Management. Support of cycle driven,
date driven and event driven billing schedules. The process will
input time based and volume based consumption and will provide
for consumption validation and estimation algorithms. The process
will identify appropriate contract clauses and utilize associated
rate schedules and pricing plans. The billing process will provide
for flexible billing periods and accommodate prorating. In addition
to batch billing the system will provide for on-line account billing
for ”what-if” analysis and adjusted billing.
E1. Bill Production and Distribution. The acceptance
of single or multiple bill print files with input to a sophisticated
and configurable bill formatting software. Once formatted an image
of the bill can be returned to the source systems where it is
available through the CIS application and/or the Internet for
viewing by both internal user and external customer. Another image
is used to generate a hardcopy which is printed and passed to
the bill finishing process where it is sorted, stuffed, bundled
and sent to a USPS facility for mailing. This function typically
includes various third party software to validate mailing addresses
for a postal discount, and service address to insure system and
operational accuracy.
E2. Metering. The physical metering hardware
and software responsible for recording consumption across various
meter types. This typically includes multiple interfaces to various
metering subsystems that are utilizing hand-held devices, walk-by
devices, drive-by devices, remote communication devices, and static
meters such as a fire hydrant meter measuring water usage. The
device is part of a complete metering solution including software
which provides the necessary controls, validation, reporting,
and scheduling features to effectively operate the devices and
successfully complete batch and real-time uploads/downloads to
the CIS.
E3. Agency Processing. This component is associated
with third party organizations specializing in credit and/or collection
work. The function is responsible for supporting the utility in
the identification of customer credit worthiness during new service,
connection, reconnection, and deposit events. The collection component
involves the exchange of data between the utility and the collection
agency for late paying and bad debt customers. In addition, there
are complete credit and collection solutions available in the
market which require more extensive interfacing with CIS.
E4. GL, AR, AP, Other. This is the organizations
accounting, financial and organizational reporting component.
Typically an interface exists between CIS and the financial system
allowing CIS to provide receivable and revenue information on
a regular basis (daily, monthly, bi-monthly). An interim system
may exist which inputs the data stream to provide different reports
targeted to specific work groups such as rates development. Additional
functions include returned check processing, refunds of all types,
and miscellaneous billing through the A/R function.
E5. Payment Processing. This component encompasses
all of the payment methods available to customers paying their
bill including: including manual cash receipting, cashiering workstations,
complete retail cashiering systems, credit cards, direct mail-in,
lock box, drop box, Internet billers, etc. The solution is responsible
for cash control, reporting and integration with other systems
requiring access to cash payment information.
E6. Data Access and Analysis. The ability to
access, manipulate and report on data inside the various applications
is provided for within this component. It may be a set of data
marts, a data warehouse, or many of the other forms of data storage
and retrieval methods (e.g. knowledge management). Usually a replication
or subset of data from the CIS.
E7. Customer Interaction. The customer interaction
center is the point at which all communications with the customer
are first initiated. It includes all media such as telephone,
fax, web, etc.
E8. Customer Relationship. This component includes
a Customer Relationship Management suite of products. The intent
is to focus on the customer rather than the account. This software
may include: marketing, sales, customer management, service, and
analysis tools.
E9. Marketing and Sales. Without a robust CRM
most organizations have components or pieces of software which
address the sales and/or marketing function only. These typically
have limited integration with a CIS application.
E10. Customer Field Service. This component
provides for all automation of field service personnel from field
crews to collections personnel. A sophisticated interface is required
to the CIS solution to provide for the upload and download of
data and real-time status of orders.
E11. Distribution Management. All aspects of
the operations environment may be included within this component.
The most typical one is the outage management and restoration
system which requires an interface to assist in the determination
of problems, to manage customer calls during the outage, and to
notify customers when the outage will be repaired.
E12. Commodity Management. This component is
required to provide for the management and administration of the
retail environment and all energy based transactions. The utility
typically uses a number of systems to support the commodity function.
E13. Open Access. The ability to interact with
other market participants through a common market interface.
The type of utility and applicable market rules govern operations
and the need for specific CIS application components. For example:
an energy company may be a startup venture most interested in a
complete front-office and back-office turnkey solution. However,
if it is associated with a transmission and distribution utility,
it may utilize legacy or new applications with the caveat that energy
company operations and information remain separate and distinct
from that of the wires or distribution company.
In considering a new CIS, the utility must consider the importance
of each component as either a:
Obviously, a utility may vary from the generic model, however,
it can be used as a starting point and point of comparison to demonstrate
the different needs of the various utility types.
