Thread: Core Application

Deployment challenges
The major challenge was live integration of the various functional components (SAP, OMS, GIS, etc.) without having any downtime in the network. Further matching of meter & distribution transformer codes with SAP codes & updating & cleansing of meter database was other key issue. The database of Metering Group was very old & size very huge, hence integrating it was which was complicated by the high risk involved in updating & cleansing the database. Another challenge was to verify the data in the meter database according to actual data in field & to authenticate the same. Moreover, with different functional modules working on different platforms, integrating them for seamless data connectivity was a major technical challenge.


Technologies used
The project is based on n-tier architecture. The first tier is the front-end where HTML and ASP are being used, the second is the middle-tier which has IIS, the third tier is the Application Layer which uses business logic for integration, while the last tier is the database layer which points towards the different functional databases like SAP, OMS & GIS. It's an in-house deployment with a total team size of 40 and included engineers from Information Technology, Meter Management, SAP, GIS and Operations & Maintenance depts.

Business benefits
The project has been deployed for internal business operations of BSES Power at Delhi. It connects a total 304 offices (120 com¬plaint centers, 118 grids, 33 commercial offices & 33 O&M of¬fices). These offices are spread over a geographical stretch of 950 sq. km. About 1500 stakeholders have access to the data at any given moment. It has impacted business, customer care, technical operations & monitoring and regulatory compliance. The benefits can be quantified as under:
Customer service: The main impact of this project is fast & efficient resolution of the consumers' complaints. 90% complaints attended in less than 2 hrs. Better performance: Power outages decreased by 98%. Transformer failure rate was more than 15% which has reduced to less than 1%.