Streamlining Operations for the Fifth-Largest Public Gas Utility in the United States

KEY RESULTS

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Faster batch processing with SAP IS-U

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Faster business and revenue reporting

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Work order capacity per technician per day

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Reduction in batch processing time

CHALLENGES

As the fifth-largest public natural gas utility in the United States, this Midwest utility serves nearly 250,000 customers with natural gas and water services across a major metropolitan area. Their mission is straightforward: provide safe, reliable service to every customer, every day.

But the technology infrastructure supporting that mission had not kept pace. Information for the 10,000 to 15,000 customers billed daily was decentralized across multiple legacy systems. Complex, manual processes slowed billing, time tracking, and daily operations.

Batch processing, the backbone of their billing cycle, took more than 12 hours to complete. Billing data wasn’t available until mid-afternoon. Paper-based workflows limited field technicians to processing just 10 to 15 work orders per day.

The utility’s leadership recognized that these operational constraints weren’t just inefficiencies. They were barriers to the kind of service their customers expected.

They needed a digital transformation partner who understood both the SAP technology landscape and the specific operational requirements of a utility environment.

SOLUTIONS

Tachyon Technologies partnered with the utility on a multi-phase modernization program spanning several core operational systems.

The engagement began with the utility’s SAP IS-U (Industry Solution for Utilities) environment, the system that manages the device-to-cash process: meter reading, billing, payment processing, and financial settlement.

Tachyon’s team optimized billing processes, streamlined exception handling in FI-CA (Financial Contract Accounting), and re-engineered batch processing workflows to eliminate bottlenecks that had accumulated over years of system customization.

Tachyon converted the utility’s existing BW on HANA system to SAP BW/4HANA 2.0, leveraging the platform’s advanced data orchestration capabilities to optimize both data loading and reporting performance. The conversion involved approximately 500 BW objects.

The team also implemented SAP Analytics Cloud, enabling self-service BI for business users who had previously relied on IT-generated reports with multi-day turnaround times.

In parallel, Tachyon implemented SAP SuccessFactors to modernize the utility’s HR processes, replacing manual workflows with cloud-based automation for recruiting, onboarding, performance management, and employee development.

Tachyon also conducted a comprehensive SAP data archiving assessment and implementation. Through interactive workshops, the team developed a multi-year archiving plan covering the utility’s ECC, CRM, and BW systems.

The realization phase archived the highest-impact data objects, resulting in substantial database reduction while maintaining full user access to required historical data. This work directly reduces future S/4HANA migration costs by minimizing the data volume that will need to be migrated.

RESULTS

The modernization program delivered measurable improvements across every operational dimension:

Batch processing transformed

The billing batch cycle that previously consumed more than 12 hours now completes in approximately 2 hours, a 6x improvement. This means billing data is available to customer service representatives and field teams at the start of the business day rather than mid-afternoon, enabling faster response to customer inquiries and more accurate daily planning.

Field productivity multiplied

Work order capacity increased from 10 to 15 per technician per day to approximately 50 per day, a 5x improvement. This was achieved through the elimination of paper-based workflows, real-time mobile access to work order data, and automated status updates that removed manual data entry from the field process.

Reporting accelerated

Business reporting that previously required 15 to 20 minutes per report now completes in less than 3 minutes. With SAP BW/4HANA and SAP Analytics Cloud, business users can access self-service analytics without waiting for IT-generated reports, enabling faster operational decisions and more responsive customer service.

Data foundation secured

The archiving program established processes to control database growth on an ongoing basis, reducing current storage costs, improving system performance, and positioning the utility for a future S/4HANA migration with significantly less data to migrate.

The combined impact: better processes, faster operations, and real-time, actionable information that frees staff to focus on strategic work rather than manual data handling.

Why It Worked

This engagement succeeded because Tachyon brought utility-specific SAP expertise to every phase.

Our team’s experience with SAP IS-U (device-to-cash, billing, FI-CA, exception handling), combined with BW/4HANA conversion capability and data management discipline, meant the utility worked with one partner who understood the full technology landscape and the operational realities of serving 250,000 customers daily.

The multi-phase approach, addressing billing operations, analytics, HR, and data management in coordinated workstreams rather than isolated projects, ensured that each improvement reinforced the others.

Better data quality from the archiving work improved reporting accuracy. Faster batch processing improved the timeliness of analytics. Streamlined HR processes freed operational staff to focus on the core mission: safe, reliable service.

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