Oracle Customer Care and Billing Utilities at Duqeusne Light Company
Updated February 13, 2020
Oracle Customer Care and Billing Utilities at Duqeusne Light Company
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Oracle Customer Care and Billing
Oracle Utilities is being used by Duquesne Light Co. for billing and customer management, using the Oracle Customer Care and Billing module, managing meter data (MDM module), and coordinating field tasks (MWM module). Due to this comprehensive implementation of Oracle Utilities, Duquesne is fully immersed and integrated into the Oracle framework.
It's most valuable feature is its MWM module and ability to reduce downtime and ambiguity for field activities of pole and line workers. This module integrates seamlessly with Customer Care and Billing and MDM. Introducing customization, as with any software, will eventually cause issues, but by sticking to base we are able to avoid many of these issues.
The Customer Care and Billing module is excellent at organizing customer data and bill calculation. The rate engine in v2.6.0.1 allows greater freedom is designing bills, as well as a simplification in the overall configuration behind our rate structure. One downside is the cluttered appearance, on some screens.
The MDM module is the largest of all these modules, and the database structure of the module results in slow performance from a UI and database querying perspective. Despite this, the module itself is accurate and reads loaded daily without issue.
It's most valuable feature is its MWM module and ability to reduce downtime and ambiguity for field activities of pole and line workers. This module integrates seamlessly with Customer Care and Billing and MDM. Introducing customization, as with any software, will eventually cause issues, but by sticking to base we are able to avoid many of these issues.
The Customer Care and Billing module is excellent at organizing customer data and bill calculation. The rate engine in v2.6.0.1 allows greater freedom is designing bills, as well as a simplification in the overall configuration behind our rate structure. One downside is the cluttered appearance, on some screens.
The MDM module is the largest of all these modules, and the database structure of the module results in slow performance from a UI and database querying perspective. Despite this, the module itself is accurate and reads loaded daily without issue.
- It does an excellent job of displaying bill charges and the coordinating configuration that generates those charges. The close proximity of these attributes makes troubleshooting easier for those in charge of configuration.
- Customer Care and Billing customer contacts in v2.6.0.1 are viewable by account. By this, I mean that a user can search an account and see all comments that users (or system interfaces) have left for the account.
- It integrates well with Oracle Utilities MDM. Having two base products makes the overall end-to-end meter to bill cycle more efficient and accurate.
- More configurable functionality for base processes. For example, payment files that get sent to a bank differ slightly for some banks. Oracle only offers one out of the box solution. Parameterizing algorithms and processes like these allow for less development from users.
- Easier navigation across modules (e.g. MDM) and standardized terminology. Many users of Oracle Utility MDM are unaware of basic Customer Care and Billing terminology, and vice versa, when they're referring to the same items.
- On a technical leveling, suggestions on how to partition Customer Care and Billing OUTSIDE OF using ILM would improve performance.
- Oracle Customer Care and Billing has allowed us to reduce our billing analysts overall by truly automating this function. A feature called "to-dos" allows troubleshooting to occur quickly and precisely on problematic bills.
- It has allowed for a comprehensive customer database and the elimination of legacy systems.
- Integration with external systems is also a plus for Customer Care and Billing.
Previously, my company was on an aging mainframe system. The cost and effort to move to Oracle Customer Care and Billing, as well as integrate with the Oracle Utility MDM and MWM modules, was done out of necessity but also larger external acceptance and innovation. By this, I mean that Oracle's product line was growing quicker with newer features than the competitor we weighed (SAP).
Do you think Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing delivers good value for the price?
No
Are you happy with Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing's feature set?
Yes
Did Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing live up to sales and marketing promises?
No
Did implementation of Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing go as expected?
Yes
Would you buy Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing again?
Yes