Forecast With Tight Time Constraints
Problem- Forecasting system must run in less than 12 hours
- Using major data center, legacy system did not always finish in time
- Utility also needed to increase system size and capacity
- Utility needed to accurately bid in futures market
Solution- Fractal Programming enabled new demand forecasting system to be written and deployed in a single business quarter
- Dramatically increased accuracy and number of scenarios that can be run
- Uses full customer data set instead of just a data sub-set
- System runs in minutes instead of hours
Impact- Added accuracy of forecasting 100% of the data, not samples, impacts millions of dollars of futures contracts each year
Why Fractal- Fractal Programming enabled the development of a demand forecasting application that runs over 1,000 times faster than the legacy application
- Forecasting system was delivered in a single business quarter and is more accurate than legacy system
Insight From Multiple Sources · Internal and External
Problem- Key customer insight data is often located outside of systems-of-record
- Valuable customer information is located department-level computers or desktop spreadsheets that are not accessible by systems-of-record
- Customer entered and customer maintained data needs to be incorporated into customer insight apps
- Public domain information (eg. tax records) must be incorporated into customer insights
Solution- Implement continuous real-time data import from systems-of-record
- Implement continuous real-time data import from department-level computers and desktop applications
- Implement continuous real-time data import from public domain sources
- Implement continuous real-time data import directly from customers
Impact- Deeper key customer insight
- Enables all customer information, regardless of where it resides, to be incorporated into 360 degree view of customer relationship and customer activities
Why Fractal- Fractal Programming enables continuous real-time data import
- Data import tools work with internal and external data sources, including public domain data
- Data import tools work with desktop resources such as spreadsheets and text files in addition to data exports from systems-of-record
- Customer data entry / import supported
Exception Detection · Analysis · Alarming
Problem- Data provider service level agreements can be challenging to monitor, analyze and manage
- Data service level shortfalls can lead to billing problems with customers
- Quick early detection of data provider problems is needed to prevent downstream issues
Solution- Parallel meter data management system
- Analyze all meter and sensor data to locate any missing data elements and test against service level agreement metrics
- Reconcile all data to check for consistency
- Machine learning module to identify unusual patterns that can indicate data issues
Impact- Increase in bill quality
- Reduction is customer billing complaints and issues
Why Fractal- Delivered parallel meter and sensor data management system with Fractal Programming
- Parallel Fractal application identifies missing data and data errors
- Automatic alerting and alarming of failures to meet data service level agreement metrics
- Now able to bill with confidence that underlying data is correct
Customer Data Available On · Desktop · Mobile Devices
Problem- Customers want access to billing data on digital devices
- Customers want to do scenario analysis for rate plans
- Customers want budget forecasts
- Customer want to supplement their data
Solution- Parallel customer care and billing system that is accessible from customer's digital devices
- Instant customer visibility to their real time bill
- Customer can test different rate plans in real time
- Customers have easy access to budget forecasts
- Customers can self-service their data needs which frees up key account and call center resources
Impact- $10 million development cost savings and customer support cost reduction for customer information portal
Why Fractal- Delivered a parallel customer care and billing system in 90 days with 90% less cost than legacy systems
- Application provides customer rate plan scenario analysis, budget forecasts, green energy metrics, and enables customer to enter supplemental information about energy efficiency projects
- Customers can self-service their information needs on web portal from their digital devices
Web Services · Metering · Billing · Customer & Program Info
Problem- Customers increasingly requesting programmatic access to their data
- Large customers want convenient access to their entire portfolio of accounts and associated information
- An API is necessary in order to make many third party services available to customers
Solution- Web services API's are exposed as components of parallel systems for managing meter data, billing, and customer information
- Customers can access the data both via interactive web portals and via programmatic APIs
- Multiple data format supported (JSON, XML, CSV) as well as custom data formats
Impact- Increased customer satisfaction
- No additional load on IT resources
- Third party services easier to enable for customers
Why Fractal- Delivered parallel data management system with Fractal Programming
- Make metering, billing, weather, and other customer data available without imposing any load on legacy systems-of-record
- Consistent interface and interaction for customers across all data types and data requests
Data For · Demand & Financial Forecasting · Scenario Analysis
Problem- Weather data is required for many business functions and applications
- Consistent weather assumptions must be made across multiple business processes and applications
- Required weather data may need to be integrated from multiple data sources
Solution- Weather data management system
- Integrates data from multiple data sources
- Provides data at multiple levels of time granularity (5-minute, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly)
- Data accessible via interactive graphical user interface(s) as well as application programming interface(s) API
Impact- Increased consistency across business processes
- Increased quality and consistency in analysis and forecasting processes and applications
Why Fractal- Delivered weather data management system with Fractal Programming
- Integrates data from multiple data sources and reconciles the sources for a consistent data view
- Data accessible both interactively and programmatically via web APIs
- Insures consistent weather assumptions across business processes and applications