THE PALESTINIAN ENERGY PROJECT

(PEP)

Billing System is Launched and Fully Operated

for PETL

March, 2018

This publication was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development.

It was prepared by AECOM.

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THE PALESTINIAN ENERGY PROJECT (PEP)

Billing System is Launched and Fully Operated for PETL

March, 2018

DISCLAIMER:

The author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United

States Agency for International Development or the United States Government.

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Table of Contents 1 Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................... 3

1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 3

1.2 Scope ....................................................................................................................................... 3

1.3 Billing Project Phase Major Milestones .................................................................................. 4

1.3.1 Requirements Gathering ................................................................................................. 4

1.3.2 Implementation .............................................................................................................. 4

1.3.3 Training and User Acceptance Testing (UAT) .................................................................. 4

1.3.4 Customizations & Integration ......................................................................................... 4

1.3.5 Go Live and Closing ......................................................................................................... 4

2 Billing System Operation and Actual Use ........................................................................................ 5

2.1 Means of Verification .............................................................................................................. 5

2.1.1 Actual Invoices for NEDCO & TEDCO .............................................................................. 5

2.1.2 Summary of Sales Invoices from the date of Go-Live up to February 2018 ................... 7

2.1.3 Invoices Report based on Subscriber type and Service Type.......................................... 8

3 Post Go-Live Support ...................................................................................................................... 9

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1 Executive Summary

In its pursuit of supporting key activities of PEP under Component 4: Build Palestinian Authority

institutional capacity to oversee the commercial and operational administration of the Palestinian

energy sector; AECOM has issued a subcontract with Experts Turnkey Solutions to provide a billing,

ERP, Archiving, and Mobile Billing Systems as well as third party software and hardware which will

eventually enhancing PETL’s financial reporting capabilities, improve and automate its internal

processes, and manage and administer its workload.

Since the core application for PETL’s type of business is the Billing application, this document

hereinafter will emphasize on the implementation process of this application along with the

verification means from the system that shows the application is launched and fully operational.

1.1 Introduction Experts Billing System is a multi-branch, multi-cycle, multi-currency, and multi-lingual

modular system designed to manage the complete billing cycle that includes: Applications,

Meters reading, Invoicing, Collections (Cash, Checks, Credit Cards, Bank Accredits,

and Tampering cases-Electricity Theft), debts scheduling, setup system, and security system.

Additionally, one of the most integral parts of the billing system is our Mobile Billing System

which was developed from scratch by our specialized team. The billing system has four main

modules: Setup Module, Applications Module, Billing Module, and Integration

Module. Additionally, Experts Billing System is integrated with GIS, and other systems

developed by Experts such as, Financial, HRMS, and Archiving Systems to form a complete

business suite.

1.2 Scope The scope of the billing project phase had been defined to be divided into three major phases:

Inception and Requirements confirmation

System Customization and Implementation

Testing, implementation and acceptance

During the life of the project, those three major phases were divided into sub-phases where separate

deliverables’ documents were submitted and approved by the end of each sub-phase which includes:

Project Plan

List of Mile Stones

Detailed Requirements Specifications Document for the Billing system

Master Data – Data Acquisition, Conversion and Data Quality Strategy: contains the templates

used for loading the master data for Billing system

User Guide for the Billing System

Project Phase Acceptance Letters: Two Project Phase acceptance letters were submitted for

the Billing system, one for the Training and UAT phase and the other for Project Phase Closure

Experts Turnkey Solutions team conducted on-site visits to gain a better understanding of the existing

procedures and processes inside PETL and held small-group discussions with key PETL staff to discuss

the high-level requirements and understand PETL expectations from the new Billing System

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1.3 Billing Project Phase Major Milestones The following sections discusses the major project milestones.

1.3.1 Requirements Gathering

Comprehensive Requirements gathering sessions were conducted to touch on all the business

requirements and daily operations of PETL in order to setup the system in such a way that will

address the unique requirements of PETL and support its operational and financial needs.

As the outcome of this phase, a Detailed Requirements (Scope) Document for the Billing

system was submitted to PETL

1.3.2 Implementation

The implementation for all applications’ modules was performed on two different instances

(Production and Test) in accordance to the data and documents obtained in the Requirements

Gathering phase.

1.3.3 Training and User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

Full training was provided for both the functional and Technical PETL staff on the Billing and

Mobile Billing systems

Real life test cases were performed on the TEST instance for every documented business

requirement on all applications’ modules. Full cycles of operations were also conducted to

make sure no gaps exist in the whole process and the business cycles are running smoothly.

As the outcome of this phase, an acceptance letter for the Training & UAT phase was

submitted by Experts and signed by PETL to officially close this phase of the project

1.3.4 Customizations & Integration

Experts has performed the following customizations based on PETL request after the UAT phase:

1. Customized the payment screen to allow entering bank transfers 2. Experts and PETL has discussed the invoice layout and designed new invoice per PETL

requirements

Experts has also developed an out of box integration between the Billing system and the

Financial system.

1.3.5 Go Live and Closing

Full time On-Site support was provided to PETL financial and technical staff. Functional and

Technical teams from Experts were dedicated for this purpose and were available in PETL

premises throughout the whole On-Site Support period

The Billing Project phase has been completed and delivered based on the scope and the

Project phase has been closed as of 22-JAN-2018.

As the outcome of this phase, an acceptance letter for the Billing and Mobile Billing application phase was submitted by Experts and signed by PETL to officially close this phase of the project.

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2 Billing System Operation and Actual Use

Since the date of Go-Live, PETL team started using the system effectively and performed all the Billing related operations which can be summarized by the following:

1. PETL billing team entered customer agreements 2. Experts Migrated all the old invoice to the system 3. PETL billing team opened new cycle 4. PETL billing team prepared the reading sheet and Inserted the readings 5. PETL billing team calculated the invoices 6. PETL entered the payments 7. PETL billing team printed the different reports from the system

2.1 Means of Verification The following sections presents some of the invoices and reports printed from the system

2.1.1 Actual Invoices for NEDCO & TEDCO

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2.1.2 Summary of Sales Invoices from the date of Go-Live up to February 2018

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2.1.3 Invoices Report based on Subscriber type and Service Type

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3 Post Go-Live Support

Experts is committed to provide the support for PETL staff whenever it is required as per the support

contract agreement to make sure that the Billing System is being fully utilized and PETL gained the

total benefits from implementing it.

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U.S. Agency for International Development

www.usaid.gov