Core and Extended CIS Components
By Greg Galluzzi, President (June 2004)

CIS Component Model
Customer Information and Billing Systems have been available commercially since the late 1960's. Over the past 40 years, the industry has witnessed an evolution in billing software from a focus on physical meters and premises, to accounts representing financial relationships, to the identification of a customer, and the customer relationship.

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.

CIS Component Definition
The following is intended to provide a brief description of each core and extended CIS component.

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.

CIS Component Models For Three Utility Types
Depending on the primary functions and activities of the utility, CIS Components take on more or less significance. A generic model exists for the following three utility types.

• Regulated Distribution Company
• Deregulated Distribution Company
• Deregulated Retailer/Marketer

In considering a new CIS, the utility must consider the importance of each component as either a:

• Primary Area of Focus
• Secondary Area of Focus, or
• Minimal to No Focus

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.

Greg Galluzzi is the President and Senior Consultant with TMG Consulting. Greg has 25 years of information technology, and consulting, experience across 200 CIS projects. experience across 200 CIS projects. Greg can be reached at gregg@tmgconsutling.com.