CaseWorks Client Presentation [1] · 2012. 5. 11. · CenterPoint Energy, Washington Gas, Otter...

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CaseWorksSM

Copyright © 2008 AUS. Inc.

Rate Case and Regulatory Affairs Management Using

CaseWorksSM


Contact Information: Andre Chon, VP Marketing, 609-668-1591, [email protected] Rossi, Managing Director, 216-288-6961, [email protected]

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Table of Contents• What’s CaseWorks?• Utility Industry Trends and Pain Points • Who benefits from using CaseWorks?• Will CaseWorks Benefit Your Organization?• CaseWorks Benefits• Current CaseWorks Customers• CaseWorks Features and Functions• Solution Overview• BG&E Press Release• About AUS• About Flexnova• CaseWorks Overview and Screen Shots

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What’s CaseWorks?• CaseWorks provides utilities complete case management and workflow

for managing regulatory and rate case processes.• CaseWorks automates all the procedural steps in a docket/case,

including drafting, reviewing and filing business critical documents (testimonies, briefs, data requests, etc and coordinates regulatory activities with external groups such as legislative bodies and legal counsel.

• The CaseWorks framework can be leveraged to support other processes important to utilities: Complaint Tracking, Legislative, Transmission and Distribution Projects, SOX, NOPR/NOI

• CaseWorks was jointly developed by AUS Consulting and Flexnova• AUS specializes in Utility Industry consulting (expert witnesses, costing

and rate design analysis, utility management and operations training)• Flexnova specializes in developing utility industry business solutions

using Microsoft information worker and business process management technology

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Utility Industry Trends and Pain Points• With escalating energy costs, many utilities are planning to file rate cases

in the near future• Most utilities have no recent experience with filing rate cases, so they are

worried about doing it right and capturing the learnings for future rate cases

• Current rate and regulatory processes are extremely manual and time consuming

• The volume of work during the discovery phase of a rate case is overwhelming (literally thousands of mini-projects requiring close collaboration between disparate groups)

• Critical documents are stored all over the place (hard drives, shared drives, email, databases, paper)

• Aging workforce – utilities are worried about knowledge walking out the door (40% are eligible for retirement in the next ten years)

• Utilities are legally bound to provide timely and consistent responses to regulatory information requests and orders

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Who benefits from using CaseWorks? • Rates Department• Regulatory Affairs• Director/VP of Rates and/or Regulatory Affairs• Manager in Rates/Regulatory Dept. • Senior Attorney or Rate Case Attorney• Lobbyist• Accounting, Finance and all other departments that are involved in

Rate Case planning, filing and providing responses to data requests• Senior Management

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Will CaseWorks Benefit Your Organization?

• Are you planning to file a rate case or are you currently managing a rate case?

• Are you concerned about the consistency of your responses to regulatory information requests?

• Do you have trouble finding the most current version of a critical document or file?

• Are your current processes for handling regulatory and legislative affairs very labor intensive?

• Is your process for assigning, distributing, reviewing, tracking and filing data requests cumbersome?

• Are your people complaining about too many emails and meetings?• Do you need to respond more quickly to regulatory changes and

compliance orders?• Are you concerned about retaining the knowledge of workers who are

leaving or retiring from the company?• Are you trying to provide your internal customer with a focused business

solution that requires little customization?• Do you have special requirements regarding document control, access, and

retention?

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• Do you have difficulty handling and communicating regulatory activities across multiple jurisdictions in a consistent manner?

• How well does your Regulatory Affairs department support the company’s public policy?

• In a rate case, how well does the company coordinate and collaborate amongst departments (i.e. legal, regulatory affairs, rates, accounting, etc.)?

• How well does the company retain rate case knowledge; now and future?• How does the company train new personnel for a rate case?• Does the company distribute rate case information to the right people on

time?• Does the company know at all times, the exact status of each data request?• What type of search tool is available for research to support the company’s

rate case activities?• How does the company manage version control and retention of business

critical documents?• How does the company support hearings? Do they bring reams of paper

documents in bindings or would it be preferable to have all these documents readily accessible on a laptop?

Will CaseWorks Benefit Your Organization?

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CaseWorks Benefits• Reduces time spent on research, review, response, and approval processes• Reduces the risk of non-compliance• Improves timeliness, accuracy, and consistency of information• Improves knowledge sharing, teamwork, and communication• Improves the ability to manage multi-jurisdictional regulatory activities simultaneously • Automates the handling of data requests via intelligent email notification• Provides web-based access to outside lawyers and consultants making it possible to reduce

billable hours for research and review processes• Reduces “reinventing the wheel” by providing access to all information, best practices, and history

from past cases• Reduces paper costs• Reduces mailing costs• Reduces time spent in meetings getting everyone synchronized and up-to-date• Reduces the amount of travel needed to collaborate with remote locations• Improves the ability to quickly retrieve critical information during hearings• Improves the ability to track compliance with regulatory directives• Decreases the time needed to train new team members• Enables the utility to be more proactive in its dealings with regulators• Provides the ability to coordinate regulatory activities with various internal and external groups such

as legislative and legal for managing public policy• Provides a common collaborative platform for all team members

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Current CaseWorks Customers

• American Electric Power (AEP)• AGL Resources• Arizona Public Service (APS)• CenterPoint Energy• Consolidated Edison• Constellation Energy • Kansas City Power and Light• Otter Tail Power• Pepco• Washington Gas

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CaseWorks Features and Functions• Administration – the creation, deletion, and maintenance of cases, data requests, procedural steps, user

roles, and case templates• Automatic email notification of appropriate users upon the occurrence of specific events (beginning of

document review cycle, acknowledgement of review by all assigned reviewers, assignment of witness, expiration of the time allotted for review)

• Ability to set deadlines for generation of automatic reminders when time allotted for review has passed• Automatic disaggregation of multiple data requests into individual data request sites on the case

management application• Re-aggregation of user-selected data requests and associated responses into a Microsoft WORD

document conforming to a consistent and agreed upon layout• Ability to manage both inbound and outbound data requests• Ability to customize data request formats by jurisdiction• Availability of draft, review and commentary functionality in all procedural steps (i.e. Testimony, briefs,

Comments, etc.)• Ability to track and automatically update the number of review cycles• Ability to search for and locate all files and documents stored in the case management application

(Boolean search is supported)• Ability to download all documents from a case or docket to a portable or desktop computer for offline

availability and portability.• Ability to bulk assign multiple data requests to a witness• Ability to edit multiple data requests simultaneously• Automatic generation of notification for all assigned data requests in a set as a single e-mail to all selected

parties (i.e. witness, case coordinator, assigned lawyer)

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CaseWorks Features and Functions (cont.)• Ability to route data requests for Drafting, Review, and Departmental Review • Ability to designate particular data requests as confidential or public• Ability to modify/change witnesses and roles for each case• Automatic status changes/updates at the case level to reflect the current procedural step• Automatic population of the filing date into the data request response document at the time of filing• Ability to display and maintain Contacts, Events, Announcements, and Tasks at various locations in the

application • Ability to display and maintain Case schedules• Ability to link to a public utility commission’s web site for access to service lists• Ability to categorize different types of interrogatories (i.e. hearing requests, settlement negotiation

requests)• Ability to track the number of review cycles for each data request• Reporting on various aspects of active and completed data requests (status, due dates, late, assigned to,

etc.)• Ability to “Submit” responses at any stage of the standard data request lifecycle (i.e. skip certain stages

and go straight to filing)• Ability to back up to any previous stage of the data request lifecycle and restart the process from that point

forward• Ability to customize email notification messages• Ability to automatically create document folders for assigned witnesses at the creation of each case• Ability to designate documents as “draft” or “final”• Ability to delete all “draft” documents automatically following the completion of a case• Audit trail of email notifications generated and the recipients to whom they were sent.

Solution Overview:Solution Overview:Rate Case & Public Policy ManagementRate Case & Public Policy ManagementSolutions Area: Rate Case, Regulatory and Public Policy ManagementRate Case, Regulatory and Public Policy ManagementSolution Name: CaseWorksCaseWorks

Delivery Partner(s): AUS Consultants/FlexnovaAUS Consultants/Flexnova

Solution Scenario: Utilities can automate the management of regulatory, legislativeUtilities can automate the management of regulatory, legislative and customerand customercomplaint complaint processes with CaseWorksprocesses with CaseWorks’’ public policy management module. Itpublic policy management module. Itprovides flexible and provides flexible and configurable workflow, centralized documentconfigurable workflow, centralized documentmanagement, and tracking capamanagement, and tracking capabilities to streamline docket management andbilities to streamline docket management andpublic policy processes acrospublic policy processes across multiple jurisdictions. s multiple jurisdictions.

Solution Results: Streamlines the management of multiStreamlines the management of multi--jurisdictional regulatory activities resulting jurisdictional regulatory activities resulting in improved timeliness, regulatory compliance, and accuracy and in improved timeliness, regulatory compliance, and accuracy and consistency of consistency of information. Reduces time spent on research, review, response, information. Reduces time spent on research, review, response, and approval and approval processes. Automates and effectively manages all procedural stepprocesses. Automates and effectively manages all procedural steps in a docket s in a docket such as drafting, reviewing and filing testimonies, data requestsuch as drafting, reviewing and filing testimonies, data requests, s, comments/briefs and compliance filing utilizing workflow, task tcomments/briefs and compliance filing utilizing workflow, task tracking, racking, intelligent email notification, and real time reporting. Providintelligent email notification, and real time reporting. Provides the ability to es the ability to coordinate regulatory activities with various internal and extercoordinate regulatory activities with various internal and external groups such nal groups such as legislative and legal for proactively managing public policy.as legislative and legal for proactively managing public policy.

Customer Installs: Constellation EnergyConstellation Energy, AEP, Con Edison, KCP&L, APS, PHI, AGL Resources, , AEP, Con Edison, KCP&L, APS, PHI, AGL Resources, CenterPoint Energy, Washington Gas, Otter Tail Power CenterPoint Energy, Washington Gas, Otter Tail Power

Contact Information: Andre Chon, VP Marketing, 856Andre Chon, VP Marketing, 856--234234--9200 X262, [email protected] X262, [email protected] Rossi, Managing Director, 216Steve Rossi, Managing Director, 216--288288--6961, [email protected], [email protected]

CaseWorksSM

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Baltimore Gas & Electric Press ReleaseBaltimore Gas and Electric Chooses AUS Consultants’ and Flexnova’s CaseWorks product for Docket/Case Management.

MOORESTOWN, N.J. (BUSINESS WIRE – June 15, 2005) - - AUS, Inc., a consulting company for the energy and public utilities industries, today announced that Baltimore Gas and Electric Company has selected AUS and Flexnova, Inc. to implement their comprehensive docket/case management solution named CaseWorksSM.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE), a regulated utility and subsidiary of Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEG), serves nearly 1.2 million business and residential electric customers and approximately 620,000 gas customers in Central Maryland. When BGE managers determined that there was a need for a docket/case management system to coordinate and manage the company’s regulatory cases, including the often arduous data request process, they chose AUS and Flexnova’s configurable case management platform designed specifically for the needs of the regulated utility industry.

“With AUS and Flexnova, we found a solid case management solution that met our greatest need - to improve efficiencies in our ongoing regulatory activities, especially in managing the time-critical data request process," said Wayne Harbaugh, Manager, Pricing and Regulatory Services. “We went with AUS and Flexnova because of their respective reputations and vast knowledge of the energy industry. The central database will create multiple efficiencies, simplify regulatory case information and provide the real time information our managers need to more effectively manage our activities,” continued Harbaugh.

“CaseWorks, which was jointly developed by AUS and Flexnova, helps utilities coordinate all of the case information and myriad of documents related to a utility’s filings, thereby streamlining their processes and improving the accuracy and management of regulatory proceedings,” stated Andre Chon, vice president at AUS. “Given BGE’s commitment to operational excellence, we are proud to have been chosen to help them strengthen their regulatory filing processes.”

“We are committed to helping companies such as BGE improve the way they execute critical business processes that are unique to their industry,” said Steve Rossi, president of Flexnova. “We also believe in reducing time to value by leveraging standard technologies. The time it took BGE to move CaseWorks into production for a live rate case was dramatically reduced because our tool leverages Microsoft SharePoint portal technology, a platform that BGE’s IT department felt was a natural fit for their environment.”

About Baltimore Gas and Electric Company: BGE is a member of Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEG), a FORTUNE 200 company based in Baltimore. Constellation Energy is the nation's largest competitive supplier of electricity to large commercial and industrial customers and the nation’s largest wholesale power seller. Constellation Energy also manages fuels and energy services on behalf of energy intensive industries and utilities. It owns a diversified fleet of more than 100 generating units located throughout the United States, totaling approximately 12,500 megawatts of generating capacity. The company also delivers electricity and natural gas through the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE), its regulated utility in Central Maryland. In 2004, the combined revenues of the integrated energy company totaled $12.5 billion.

About AUS Consultants, Inc.: AUS Consultants is a division of AUS, Inc., a Moorestown, NJ based global market research and consulting firm. Founded in 1967, AUS provides its energy and utility clients with a wide range of sophisticated market research, systems, and consulting services. AUS Consultants includes experienced teams of economists, engineers, public utility rate specialists, and valuation professionals.

For more information, please visit the AUS website at www.ausinc.com.

About Flexnova, Inc.: Flexnova helps clients optimize the flow of critical business information and knowledge across organizational and technological boundaries. Flexnova’s enterprise portal and business process management (BPM) solutions give Global 1000 companies the ability to manage, measure, and integrate business processes to improve their productivity and capacity to collaborate and innovate. Flexnova provides a full range of enterprise portal and BPM related services including business process analysis and optimization, application integration, portal governance, ROI analysis, taxonomy development, and adoption strategy.

For more information, please visit the Flexnova website at www.flexnova.com.

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About AUS, Inc.

• Founded in 1967 • Provides Subject Matter Expertise Consulting to all Public Utilities

and Market Research Services to all Sectors• AUS Consultants

– Rate of Return, Cost of Capital, Lead/Lag Studies, Cost of Service, Rate Design, Depreciation Studies, Asset Valuation, and CaseWorksSM

• International Communications Research (ICR)– Top 25 Market Research Firms– Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty, Brand Equity, Market Share and

Segmentation• Marketing Systems Group (MSG)

– Provides state-of-the-art information designed for survey research and other marketing activities

• Headquartered in Mt. Laurel, NJ, with offices in Harrisburg, PA, Fort Washington, PA, Media, PA, Milwaukee, WI, Dallas, TX and other satellite offices

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About Flexnova• We architect and build portal and business process management

solutions for Global 1000 companies to better manage, measure, and integrate key business processes

• Technical partner to AUS in the development of CaseWorksSM, a web-based docket and case management tool designed to meet the unique needs of the regulated utility industry

• Our consultants have been implementing portal-based solutions for companies such as Constellation Energy, Con Edison, KCP&L, APS, FirstEnergy, JonesDay, PHI, Otter Tail, Washington Gas, Progressive Auto Insurance, Rockwell, ConAgra Foods and Johnson & Johnson since the inception of the technology

• We are innovators in the use of portal and business process management technologies to streamline legacy business processes and provide intelligent access to applications and shared files

• Microsoft Partner - We have extensive experience with Microsoft technologies including the SharePoint portal platform

• Headquartered in the Midwest – We serve customers nationwide

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Advantages of the AUS/Flexnova Approach• Combination of deep expertise in utility industry, portal technology and

business process enablement

• Solution comprised of pre-packaged components configured to suit client processes

• Core capabilities

– Automated workspace and workflow creation

– Document indexing, storage and retrieval

– Event based notification

– Automated event based calendar synchronization

– Tight integration with Microsoft Office Suite

– Group notification lists easily managed

• Leverage industry accepted components

• Underlying solution platform (SharePoint Portal) can be reused for other business critical work processes

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CaseWorks Overview and Screen Shots

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Data Request Process

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CaseWorks Home Page

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Case/Docket Home Page

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Data Requests Dashboard

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Data Request Item Home Page

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Data Request Item Attributes

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Procedural Steps

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Assignment of Reviewers

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Case Calendar

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Testimony Workspace

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Submission of Items for Filing

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Sample Event Notification Email

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What’s a Portal?

• It’s a single, secure, web-based interface to all relevant content, applications and workflows that you use in your business

• It’s a collaboration space where you can work better together even though you’re in different locations

• It’s a gathering place where you can stay in touch with your colleagues, stakeholders and customers

• It’s a knowledge library where everyone can share, retain and organize documents, data, and best practices

• It’s an executive dashboard where decision makers have real-time access to key performance indicators with drilldown capability

• It’s a personalized workspace where you can store and access all ofyour important documents and frequently used resources

CaseWorks Client Presentation [1] · 2012. 5. 11. · CenterPoint Energy, Washington Gas, Otter...

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Transcript of CaseWorks Client Presentation [1] · 2012. 5. 11. · CenterPoint Energy, Washington Gas, Otter...