Professional Documents
Culture Documents
WIPRO TECHNOLOGIES
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ................................................................................................3
Conclusion ..................................................................................................7
Appendix ....................................................................................................8
References ................................................................................................. 8
Information accuracy is one of the topmost concerns for the Distribution Utilities in today’s ever changing & dynamic
environment. Accuracy in the information helps Utilities to judge their own performance on the set of defined standards &
benchmark themselves against the competitors. Moreover, one of the key requirements from the regulator is to accurately
report the information on the set of standards specified on an annual basis. This whitepaper presents an approach to help
Utilities to follow a structured methodology to improve the data accuracy & get better prepared to face the challenges on this
front.
Introduction
Importance of the quality of the data which is reported within an organization cannot be undermined as it provides the yardstick
to measure, manage & benchmark performance. Distribution utilities however have an additional challenge of ensuring the
confidence of the data quality which is reported to the regulatory bodies. This Whitepaper addresses key challenges involved in
this space, critical factors and methodologies that can help utilities to succeed in overcoming the challenges in an efficient way.
The methodology will inculcate the awareness, understanding and process centric culture in the organization which serves as a
foundation of data quality.
Build single source of truth from vari Scale of confidence in accuracy of d Organization wide clarity in underst
ous reporting systems across Enterp ata reported to Regulatory bodies anding of data definitions
rise wide applications
Meet internal targets for performan Capability to meet challenges in aud Year on year consistency in data und
ce improvement & prepare for price iting erstanding & reporting
review with regulator
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WIPRO TECHNOLOGIES
Smart data diagnostics - Key to Information accuracy for Utilities
This phase consists of identification of the areas of assessment, preparing the data level definitions & aligning with the
organisation's view of reporting requirements. One off the important activities in this phase is to identify the critical factors
which are important for the evaluation of data accuracy & give appropriate weight age to each of them based on the criticality
and importance. A target setting for each report is carried out based on thee requirements of the business for each report.
The parameters which are important for data accuracy are presented below. Each parameter will be allocated a specific weight
age and the target score will be defined based on the needs of the business.
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WIPRO TECHNOLOGIES
Smart data diagnostics - Key to Information accuracy for Utilities
In this phase, a questionnaire template is also designed and given to the client. This helps to capture the existing process of
reporting and key data quality issues in the reporting regime. It provides inputs to carry out detailed assessment of each process
step involved in preparation of report.
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Smart data diagnostics - Key to Information accuracy for Utilities
Wipro’s assessment methodology is designed for an end-to-end assessment of data flow at various touch points in the reporting
process. For all the data touch points, issues are highlighted and consequences of data quality corruption are identified. This
helps in identification of gaps, preparation of a solution plan to overcome these gaps and achieve targets.
The assessment process is carried out by closely working with the Business Process Owners and the Report Owners. The
outcome of this process is documenting the gaps in the data flow across all the layers of the data generation. The industry will
be most at risk when the experienced employees retire, shifting the small middle group into leadership with support from a
large group of inexperienced employees.
Based on the gap analysis, the as-is score for each report is determined. This helps to identify the areas of improvement to
bridge the gap between the Target State & the As-Is State.
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Smart data diagnostics - Key to Information accuracy for Utilities
The approach to implement the data accuracy improvement initiatives can be developed on case to case basis, within the overall
framework depending on the vision of the utilities in this area. Utilities can adopt a big bang or a phase wise approach which is
best suited. This depends on the findings of the assessment phase, its vision of data accuracy and most importantly
benchmarking against the industry best performances.
Conclusion
Utilities which have made significant investments in the areas of Enterprise Resource Planning (like SAP) and Business
Intelligence Systems (& tools) need to analyze and assess the efficacy of the reporting suite, which is critical to the performance
of business operations and compliance to regulations. Moreover, the accuracy on the reporting will help the utilities to track and
monitor their performance on set of standards and provide an area of improvement by benchmarking the data against the
competitors.
Given the end-to-end assessment of the data diagnostic process, utilities can expect increase of data accuracy and improved
confidence of data reporting. The attributes of data diagnostics and the weight age can be customized depending on the
business criticality and needs. Considering the impact of penalties of incorrect data and lower position to negotiate for price
review in absence of measured performance, it becomes vital for the utilities to emphasize on the data quality and its accuracy.
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WIPRO TECHNOLOGIES
Smart data diagnostics - Key to Information accuracy for Utilities
Appendix
References
• Utility Data Integration – SISG report 2009
• “Meeting the Data Quality Challenge” by Tony Fisher , 2005 , Computer World
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Smart data diagnostics - Key to Information accuracy for Utilities
Wipro’s unique value proposition is further delivered through our pioneering offshore Outsourcing Model and stringent quality
processes of SEI and Six Sigma.
The cumulative experience of over 5,500 person years spans IT Consulting, Systems Integration, Business Process Outsourcing,
Application Development and Application Management services.
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