The final straw...

undercover_peon

I thought it best to put some feelers out before launching into my tirade.

Firstly would people here be interested in hearing from someone in trenches as it were?

Secondly would I breaking any of the rules here by doing so? I wouldn't do anything to in any way breach data protection, but people need to know what is going on in energy companies and how remote those making decisions have become from those on the ground and by extension customers.

In case you are wondering the final straw came from reading today that my employer wants to be number one in service, this comes after days of the system being down and when it is not down it simply does what it wants.

I don't think it is entirely fair to blame the system although it has caused major problems for at least two other suppliers that I know of, that should've been fair warning really for anyone contemplating spending a huge sum of money on a SAP system.

It can't just be the system though, its a whole culture under-pinned I think by people not having a clue what is involved on the ground. Telling the front line staff to achieve certain numbers with zero back up, the feeling of being truly ashamed at having to apologize all day for errors you cannot stop and don't fully understand.

I think the chap who did undercover boss should come back and see how things are going following the investment in new systems he promised was part of the solution.

Let me know if you want to hear more...

Cornucopia

More please... always interested to hear "from the other side".

Cornucopia

And does that translate into good service for your customers? (Honest question).

C_Mababejive

All hail the GOD that is SAP. Spend millions on its implementation for it will cure all ills and make you market leader. The gurus have spoken and their acolytes will follow. If it doesnt work then it is clearly down to disaffected employees either being stupid or sabotaging it... (<irony)

sheffield_lad

There are always issues with software and folk don't like change but sometimes in a modern world we have to change example digital tv.

You don't hear the other uses of SAP (BMW, Coca-Cola, Disney, Unilever, Sony, Starbucks and Wal-Mart to name drop), moaning.

I worked for a retailer with a new system we hated it but thinking back or worse going back to the old system now would be unthinkable.

undaunted

undercover_peon wrote: »

I thought it best to put some feelers out before launching into my tirade.

Let me know if you want to hear more...

:rotfl:Tirade you say - seemingly from an unhappy Npower employee?

Launch away!

undercover_peon

Sorry I kinda left this thread hanging, I intended it to be an outlet so I have to be in the mood to let off some steam. Having had an awful day I am certainly in the mood.

Regarding
"You don't hear the other uses of SAP (BMW, Coca-Cola, Disney, Unilever, Sony, Starbucks and Wal-Mart to name drop), moaning."

I would draw your attention to the fact that EDF had to write an explaination to Ofgem regarding why the system they brought in to improve service had so decimated it. I think most staff would agree it is fine if you are moving stuff around or in banking or something, but whether it fits this industry Im not so sure.

There again it could be just that the companies are inept. Here is a simple example. They banged on, before we got a glimpse of the promised land, that one truly ace thing is they can change things in the system to meet your needs. Got to be a good thing.

So imagine our surprise when told if someone wants a refund you have to split amounts to make up the amount you want to refund. On the old system press refund, type amount, job done.

On the new system cancel direct debit (puzzling I know), observe the customer has been paying 50 per month and is in credit but doesn't want the whole amount back. Finally make up the right amount after much swearing only to realize you now dont have the 19 days (long time isn't it?) to re-set the direct debit. Customer is bemused why the direct debit even came into the equation (it is even worse on a payment more frequently in cash)

Or perhaps a more straight forward example. Every supply has a reference number, it is MPAN for electricity or MPRN for gas. Not in SAP. In SAP its a POD (Point of delivery).

Apparently we can't change that, but it already has a perfectly good name and you are only saving one letter.

Nevermind. Lets go onto more serious issues. Bills are being delayed, refunds are either delayed, not happening, or being done at random (for example on a six month bill instead of an annual bill like they are supposed to be). The date of issue on a bill is no longer a date you can trust in, it is merely a bit of decoration.

As staff we have no effective means of raising issues or getting help if we are unsure. The 'answer' is ask your manager. This is the manager who had the same training you had who sees the system a couple of times a day if they are lucky. They will either panic, make something up, or blather on about how busy they are (maybe because customers are complaining because nothing is working as it should???).

We cannot get through to the complaints team, presumably as they are also swamped.

It can't just be the system, although I think it is partially to blame, some of the blame must lie with the company. They claim they did trials with customers and staff but so many of the issues 'discovered' and defects which are 'fixed' would have hit anyone who deals with customers on a daily basis right in the face.

There are delays most days, at best it may only be a few seconds but you still sound like a moron when it takes you 5-10 seconds for the screen to load with every mouse click. The old systems updated overnight which wasn't ideal, and this one updates in real time (in theory). What actually happens is either the program or the servers can't handle the demands placed on them so you have delays or the system is completely unavailable.

I'd better stop there for now in case I put people off reading. Perhaps I could pause after asking how, if you were in charge, what you would do? Will be interesting to see if anyone hits on the actual approach taken by the company...

Capt.Radar

Hi Undercover,
I can only agree with you on two counts: SAP is an absolute burden to those who have to make it work day to day. The major company that I work for applied SAP and expected to get the cost (c90 million) back in improvements. That was some years ago and so far no savings have been identified! I can believe there may be some good applications of SAP, because its all about how its implimented in terms of user interface and what the business is trying to achieve. In our case its a very bad application.
The second one is EDF: I've had an absolute nightmare with them related to a FIT application, recieved on time before August 1st cut off last year but 'system' says NO.... (incidentally, other energy companies systems were resiliant enough not to say 'no' in the same circumstances).
You have my full sympathy!