ERP and CIS Modernization Services

The Vendor is required to provide enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer information system (CIS) modernization initiative to integrate business processes, evolve customer experience, improve efficiency, enhance data accuracy, and support better decision-making.
- The targeted ERP and CIS solutions will work cohesively to replace fragmented legacy platforms, streamline internal enterprise operations, and elevate the overall customer journey.
- Strategic drivers
1. Business drivers
•    Increase operational efficiency: streamline and automate core business processes to eliminate manual work, reduce errors, and improve productivity across departments.
•    Enable data-driven decision making: provide real-time access to accurate, integrated data for leadership and staff, supporting informed decisions and agile responses to business needs.
•    Enhanced financial stewardship: strengthen internal financial controls, improve budgeting and reporting, and ensure transparent, efficient use of resources.
•    Foster a culture of continuous improvement: empower teams to adopt new ways of working, adapt to change, and continuously optimize processes and services.
2. Technical drivers
•    Integrate and unify systems: replace fragmented legacy platforms with integrated solutions that enable seamless data flow and cohesive business operations.
•    Enable future growth and adaptability: implement technology that can scale and evolve as business needs, regulations, and customer expectations change.
•    Leverage cloud and modern architectures: adopt cloud-based solutions to ensure reliability, flexibility, security, and accessibility for all users.
•    Automation and advanced analytics: utilize automation and advanced analytics to optimize workflows, support proactive decision-making, and unlock new insights.
- ERP: financial administration
•    Enable users at different levels to work collaboratively and view up-to-date information for making utility-wide financial decisions. 
•    Simplified chart of accounts (COA) for fund accounting and GASB compliance, improving internal controls, automated GL posting, and financial reporting. 
•    Provide full three-way matching between purchase orders, invoices, and receipts to improve process efficiency and audit compliance. 
•    Provide comprehensive grants management capability to support the full lifecycle, including project funding, cost reimbursement, drawdowns, and automated regulatory reporting. 
•    Support multiple budget segments, automated budget-to-actuals variance analysis, and flexible multi-year project planning that maintains compliance with annual approval requirements. 
•    Automate reconciliation, cost allocations, and period-close cycles through integrated workflows and real-time dashboard reporting.
- CIS: customer engagement and experience
•    Provide a unified customer 360 view aggregating data from billing, service, field, and communication systems to empower staff to deliver tailored, proactive service. 
•    Deliver a unified online portal compatible across multiple devices (e.g., web, desktop, and mobile) and self-service experience consolidating billing, payments, history, consumption data, and program management in one easily accessible location. The online portal should support online capabilities for the following customer categories: residential, small commercial, large commercial and very large commercial. The portal should also offer native applications from the apple or google play store for customers to download on their devices. 
•    Automate Omni-channel communications (SMS, email, push notifications) and unify customer contact preferences across all departments. 
•    Support digital application workflows and automated, rules-based eligibility checks for customer assistance programs for new customer service applications, transfers, discontinuance of service and demand-response initiatives. 
•    Customer engagement and experience at agency is composed of six (6) core capabilities with corresponding functions as appropriate, as noted in figure 2.
- CIS: revenue management and billing
•    Establish real-time, API-based integration with advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and meter data management systems (MDMS) to support accurate usage tracking and automated exception management. 
•    Apply a flexible, native rating engine capable of handling tiered, time-of-use, seasonal rates, specialty rates, drought surcharges, and demand charges, with automated effective-dated rule changes. 
•    Enable robust rate design and scenario simulation to support data-driven decision-making and regulatory compliance modeling. 
•    Automate budget-billing true-ups, leak adjustments, and flexible payment arrangements with rule-based, end-to-end workflows. 
•    Centralize bill print and statement generation with modular, template-driven designs and synchronized e-bill delivery.
- CIS: payments and finance
•    Consolidate online, in-person, kiosk, and automated payment processing into a centrally governed capability offering a consistent user experience. 
•    Provide unified reconciliation workflows that consolidate all payment types and automate comparisons of processed, posted, and settled amounts. 
•    Automate general ledger (GL) synchronization between the CIS and ERP platforms to ensure accurate transaction mapping, aging reports, and rapid period-close cycles. 
•    Automate the distribution of annual deposit interest to each customer account with deposit on file. 
•    Support flexible payment plan management, delinquency management, and automated adjustment and credit workflows.
- CIS: service fulfillment and field operations
•    Establish event-driven, bidirectional integration between the CIS and agency work management system (WMS) and field mobile applications to synchronize work orders without duplicate data entry. 
•    Automate service order creation, assignment, and status tracking for routine operations (e.g., move-ins, disconnects) and exception-driven activities triggered by AMI data. 
•    Provide integrated mobile workforce management tools with optimized routing, dispatching, GPS-based mapping, and real-time visibility for field technicians and customer service staff.
- CIS: enterprise enablement
•    Establish a unified integration framework with centralized API and ESB governance to connect the CIS seamlessly with other enterprise and third-party applications.
•    Deploy a configurable rules engine and low-code workflow automation to standardize decisions, accelerate approvals, and reduce manual tasks. 
•    Provide an online support portal that provides governed analytical datasets, advanced reporting capabilities, and automated data quality controls to enable proactive, data driven decision-making. 
•    Enforce policy-driven, automated records retention and archival processes, complete with immutable audit trails and strict segregation of duties for regulatory compliance. 
•    Offer governed analytical datasets, robust reporting tools, and automated data quality controls to empower proactive, data-driven decision-making.
•    Maintain robust security and data privacy through policy-based access controls, integrated multi-factor authentication (MFA), and centralized identity access management (IAM).