S/4 Hana Utilities: 24-hour change of supplier

Uniper is a European energy company with global reach, headquartered in Düsseldorf and operations in more than 40 countries. With around 7400 employees, the company makes an important contribution to security of supply in Europe. By switching to SAP S/4 Hana Utilities, the company was pursuing the goal of making its process landscape, which is heavily individualized to the large customer business, efficient and future-proof. In particular, the introduction of the SAP MaCo Cloud for standardized market communication is intended to drive automation as well as the upgrade and release capability of the system.

Transformation approach

Uniper's billing system is characterized by few but highly complex data structures and highly individualized processes. The aim of the transformation project was to bring Uniper's process landscape closer to the SAP standard and harmonize it with SAP's master data reference model. In this way, Uniper aims to seamlessly combine standard and customer-specific processes. A particular challenge in the almost four-year project, which included a preliminary study, was the product maturity of S/4 Utilities for the "supplier" and "balancing group manager" market roles. Adesso, Uniper IT and SAP worked together on the project to further develop the solution for productive operation.

A hybrid approach was chosen as the transformation strategy, which enabled the adoption of already established processes and customized system adaptations. This approach ensured the integration and introduction of new processes and components such as the SAP MaCo Cloud. Partial historical data migration made it possible to significantly reduce the database volume of the new system's Hana database and thus save costs. The legacy system remains in read mode to ensure access to all fully historical data. Real-time access to data and new tools such as S/4 Hana Embedded Analytics and Customer Engagement as well as various Fiori apps ensure optimized processes and more efficient work.

In the project, Adesso was responsible for the comprehensive analysis of the source systems, processes, master data models and interfaces, among other things. The IT service provider also took on the data migration to the new S/4 system using Natuvion DCS, the integration of the SAP MaCo Cloud and the introduction of the new functionalities mentioned above. Adesso also successfully supported the change management of all Uniper employees affected by the changeover. Using change impact analyses, the project team identified and evaluated changes in working methods so that communication and training formats could be implemented together with the project management and Uniper's multipliers to suit the target group. These made a decisive contribution to the rapid acceptance of the new S/4 Hana system within the energy group.

With the early introduction of the new system, Uniper is already optimally prepared for an upcoming change in the German energy market: From June 2025, technical supplier switching, i.e. changing the electricity supplier at a point of consumption, must be possible within 24 hours on working days. The early go-live gives Uniper, with the support of Adesso, sufficient time to stabilize the system by then and to meet the new requirements smoothly.

"This go-live is more than just a technological success. It is a decisive step towards digitalization and automation that creates the basis for further growth and innovation," emphasizes Kieron Kennedy, Director of Commercial Operation at Uniper. "With SAP S/4 Hana Utilities, we now have an IT infrastructure that not only meets current requirements, but also optimally prepares us for future market changes."

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