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It's a big deal!

Enterprise Solutions implemented at Georgia Power

After more than three years of planning, numerous levels of testing and countless hours on the job by a dedicated team of employees, the first phase of Enterprise Solutions is finally a reality.

The Oracle iExpense system went live Oct. 5, replacing SAM and El Paso as the single expense reporting system for Georgia Power employees.

"As the first operating company to implement this critical component of the Enterprise Solutions initiative, Georgia Power faced a significant challenge," said Lamont Houston, executive sponsor for the Georgia implementation. "Thanks to the tireless efforts of a dedicated implementation team and the cooperation and support of all our employees, we were successful."

The launch of iExpense was followed two weeks later by the launch of Oracle General Ledger, PowerPlant, SARA and SOFIA. All are financial applications that will improve business processes and provide better security and support options.

The October milestones represent the first of four phases of a Southern Company system-wide implementation. Even as Georgia's Enterprise Solutions implementation managers celebrated Phase I's successful launch, their focus had shifted to the work that must be done to ready employees and systems for Phase II, which is set to launch in February 2010.

"I want to personally thank all the employees who were involved with the implementation for all their help with data conversion, user acceptance testing, end user training, cutover and business process activities," said Sheila Puleo-Kosek, one of the project's implementation managers. "This was a tremendous team effort, and I am extremely proud of the entire team."

Enterprise Solutions is made up of three projects: GLSCAPE, The Maximo Project and CASPR. These projects were formerly separate, but came together as Enterprise Solutions because of their parallel goals and schedules.

Upon its full implementation, Enterprise Solutions will overhaul the processes that lay the foundation for Georgia Power's everyday operations. Everything from expense statements to processing invoices to requesting and receiving materials will be different.

Fittingly, the tagline "It's a Big Deal" has been adopted to fully convey the project's scope.

A critical ingredient to their success to date and moving forward is a group of employees dubbed Change Champions, said Henry Kelly, one of three implementation managers for Georgia Power.

These employees acted as advocates for major organizations within the company and ensured that employees were ready when the new systems and business processes went live in October. They focused on communications, training and go-live preparation.

"We could not have executed the way we did without the work of this group," Kelly told the champions following the Phase I launch. "Our success to this point is due in large part to what you did. We need folks who are tied to the business working hand-in-hand with us, and you did that."

Their ultimate goal was to make sure employees were fully prepared to use the new applications and understand Enterprise Solutions' goals, activities and timelines, said Sharon Jones, Georgia Power Change Champions team lead.

In addition, Change Champions were instrumental in identifying all those who needed training for the first phase of the new systems.

"The work they've done so far has been key," said Chris McCrary, Georgia Power training lead for Enterprise Solutions. "With their help, we were able to refine the number of employees who needed instructor-led and intranet-based training."

As of early October, more than 1,000 employees had attended some form of instructor-led training. An additional 5,000-plus had completed intranet-based training.

Georgia's remaining Enterprise Solutions implementation schedule looks like this:

Phase II: February 2010 – Georgia Power Budgeting and Billing
Phase III: May 2010 – Maximo work management and supply chain management applications and accounts payable invoice processing for Georgia Power and all of its plants.

As of early October, more than 1,000 employees had attended some form of instructor-led training. An additional 5,000- plus had completed intranet-based training.