UMIG6
Developing a mig6 transition implementation roadmap for a Belgian energy supplier
Client Profile
This Dutch Utility has supply, distribution, installation and renewable energy production activities in the Benelux, France and the United Kingdom. In Belgium, the company is a top 5 player with over half a billion in revenues. The organization is constantly looking for innovative solutions to improve its customers’ energy management and rethink its market positioning. It strives to be a pioneer by making sustainable energy affordable to everyone.
Business Challenge
The utility market implementation guide (UMIG) details the processes and related information exchange between parties in the liberalized energy market. Since 2011, its development is guided by Atrias, a joint venture of the Belgian distribution grid operators (DGOs). The largest update yet, version 6, is set to be introduced in January 2018 and brings change along three areas.
Firstly, market evolutions such as local production and smart metering are incorporated in the MIG6 by adapting existing processes and adding new ones if necessary. The goal is to allow for fair billing in a transformed market and to create business opportunities for new and existing market players. Finally, every market domain – Structure, Operate, Measure, Bill and Settle – is revisited to resolve long-lasting flaws in existing mechanisms by focusing on improving data quality across players and removing the need for ad-hoc communication. On the technical side, EDI-message communication via a Value Added Network (VAN) is replaced by the Central Market System (CMS). The CMS is a present-day system using internet technologies and an XML-based data format. It will take over some of the responsibilities currently belonging to the DGOs and their respective clearing houses, increasing the implementation consistency of the MIG and reducing communication complexity.
Results
We are guiding this organization through the complexity of the MIG6 transition. All stakeholders became more knowledgeable regarding the impact of this transition on their systems, processes and daily routines. We gathered business requirements and mapped them on both the market communicator and the back-end systems. Next we managed the adaptation of existing functionality, user interfaces and reports. Heavy impact changes include:
- the SDP identifiers;
- support for local production;
- the change from SLP to RLP;
- Preswitching
Next to the MIG6 content & the IT development planning, we also helped address the following:
- Transition & data migration
- Vendor communication and selection
- Mapping new functionality to business opportunities
- Drafting and delivering tailor-made information for different stakeholders such as marketing, legal, customer operations and management
Deliverables
For the B2C the goal was to deliver an RFP that could be used in contract negotiations with software vendors. For the B2B, the existing system will be adapted by the vendor based on our documentation.
For both B2B and B2C, we delivered:
- A scope analysis which started by gathering and prioritizing topics through workshops.
- Specifications of changes to the market connector and data flows to other systems.
- An impact analysis on existing systems, processes and data flows resulted in business and functional requirements that were moulded into an implementation roadmap.
The project continually decomposed the initial high-level topics by researching them on different levels. We evaluated further analyses for time and complexity constraints to guard the scope and deadline of the project. The main approach focused on compliancy and keeping at least all current capabilities, before expanding the scope to include business opportunities.
irex Value
irex provided a team of analysts uniquely combining MIG knowledge with experience in stakeholder collaboration and complex IT landscapes. To properly research the impact of the MIG6, we leveraged expertise in data analytics and know-how on building functional documentation and technical architectures. By strongly including the business stakeholders through workshops and validation sessions, the project moved quickly and produced high-quality results.
We played a leading role in all the phases of this project including scoping, documenting business requirements and translating them to functional specifications. We will be included in the migration and testing phases as well. As MIG6 project owner, we also handled Atrias communication, reviewed its documentation and built an internal knowledge base.
This is an ongoing project.
About Us
irex Consulting is a straightforward business engineering consultancy specialized in the energy industry.
We are experts in energy market dynamics and processes, consumer challenges and energy technologies.
Further to our consultancy activities, we are actively building energy management and control software.
Our Clients
Energy market players - Our consultancy services range from strategic advice over business operations engineering down to energy technology design.
Large energy consumers - As experts in energy engineering, we adopt a fully integrated approach and assist our clients from idea sizing to project implementation.
GET IN TOUCH
- Location: Boulevard Saint Michel 47, 1040 Brussels, Belgium
- Phone: (+32) (0) 24020013 Email: info@irex-consulting.com