Orlando Utilities Commission Boosts Service Reliability, Operational Efficiency, and Employee Productivity with Integrated Enterprise Applications
 
 

Orlando Utilities Commission Boosts Service Reliability, Operational Efficiency, and Employee Productivity with Integrated Enterprise Applications

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Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC), the second-largest municipal utility in Florida, provides residential, commercial, and industrial customers in Orlando, St. Cloud, and parts of Orange and Osceola counties with clean, reliable, and affordable electric and water services. OUC, which is owned by the citizens of Orlando, serves nearly 221,000 customers. Recognized as a green leader, OUC has been the state’s most reliable power provider since 2002, due, in part, to its rigorous and proactive maintenance program and systems.

Operational efficiency is also key to OUC’s ability to fulfill its mandate to serve Orlando citizens and responsibly manage the public funds entrusted to it. Over the years, OUC has relied on Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne applications as the foundation for its effective and efficient operations and business processes. The platform helps the company achieve operational savings, improve employee recruitment and retention, reduce regulatory risk, capitalize on new business opportunities, reduce waste and emissions from facilities and operations, and foster a healthier working environment and satisfied customers.

Over the years, OUC has expanded its JD Edwards EnterpriseOne footprint and functionality. During a recent upgrade, it reduced customizations, gained an improved user interface, and elevated security.

OUC also continues to adopt self-service functionality. For example, it deployed JD Edwards EnterpriseOne human resources (HR) self-service applications to provide employees with online access to key data, such as payroll stubs and benefits information. The applications have also reduced phone and e-mail inquiries to the HR and payroll teams, including questions about merit days, PC loan eligibility or various payroll balances. Employees can get immediate answers, and HR and payroll have been able to redirect more than 1,000 work hours annually to other priorities.

OUC also introduced custom tools built on the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne foundation, including two pension calculators that employees can use, based on their retirement plan.

 
 

 
 

Challenges

A word from Orlando Utilities Commission

  • “Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne applications help ensure that the Human Resources and Payroll departments operate as efficiently and productively as possible. We also strive to give our employees the tools they need via employee self-service, so they have easy access to ‘their’ data. This makes for a happy community of employees.” – Sherri Harley, Senior Business Analyst, Orlando Utilities Commission

  • Ensure efficient operations across the publicly-owned utility―from power generation and water purification and distribution processes to finance and human resources functions―to ensure uninterrupted service and optimize value delivered to utility customers and citizens
  • Support companywide commitment to recruiting and retaining the best possible employees, as they are essential to business continuity and high levels of customer service
  • Continue to adopt self-service business processes for added employee convenience and improved productivity, particularly in the HR area
  • Reduce regulatory compliance risk by ensuring that OUC can accurately and transparently report on business operations, including financial and facilities management processes
  • Reduce the utility’s environmental impact―from power generating activities, to front-office operations

Solutions

Oracle Product and Services

  • Established an accurate, reliable system of record for critical business data by adopting Oracle’s JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Human Resources as the organization’s enterprise application foundation, meeting demands for transparency, operational efficiency, and productivity
  • Increased efficiency and productivity by migrating many employee processes to self-service applications
  • Worked with Oracle partner CSS International, Inc. to upgrade and reduce customizations and provide employees with single sign-on access to multiple service areas (including payroll and HR) —saving time, ensuring security, and minimizing interoffice paper shuffling.
  • Provided self-service applications for employees and managers (with plans to roll out capabilities to suppliers) to meet the needs of a modern and increasingly mobile workforce
  • Reduced phone and e-mail inquiries to the HR team—such as questions about merit days or payroll balances—thanks to self-service applications―allowing employees to get immediate answers and enabling the HR team to redirect more than 1,000 work hours annually to other priorities
  • Implemented pay stub inquiry functionality and gave employees 24/7 access to their paystubs online
  • Introduced custom tools built on the JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Human Resources foundation, such as a cash balance pension calculator that helps employees estimate how pension contribution changes will impact their retirement plans, giving employees immediate information and saving HR staff several hours per week
  • Replaced a home-grown legacy system with JD Edwards EnterpriseOne’s compensation planning application, enabling the utility to more efficiently manage merit pay increases
  • Eliminated hardcopy forms for many HR processes, such as address, phone, competency, and W4 updates―saving thousands of pages of paper, contributing to sustainability goals, and reducing intra-office mail
  • Gained the ability to log electronic payments and send them directly to the bank, and enhanced report production and check printing, thanks to out-of-the-box integration with Oracle Business Intelligence Publisher
  • Ensured audit-trail and segregation-of-duties capabilities, which are necessary for a community-owned utility
  • Reduced equipment downtime and avoided associated costs while extending lifespan by using JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Capital Asset Management to manage work orders for maintenance on large transformers and turbines, as well as to schedule and track fleet maintenance
  • Used Oracle Internet Directory to enable users to log into JD Edwards EnterpriseOne applications with their network user IDs―saving time for HR employees and helpdesk staff, increasing productivity, and improving security
  • Created more than 120 training courses for JD Edwards and other Oracle applications with Oracle User Productivity Kit―giving employees 24/7 access to application documentation and training modules (many including video clips) to improve user adoption and productivity
  • Reduced time and costs associated with IT training, thanks to Oracle User Productivity Kit’s ease of use, which eliminates the need for business users to rely on IT staff to create training materials

Why Oracle

A JD Edwards EnterpriseOne user since1999, OUC has improved its systems with various upgrades and new features over the years. In August 2009, the utility rolled out employee self-service. It added features to the portal throughout 2010 and early 2011. In December 2011, the utility deployed printable W2’s.

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