Electricity regulator implements CKB solution

National Electricity Regulator

The National Electricity Regulator (NER) is a statutory body established in terms of the Electricity Act No 41 of 1987

Integrated Document Management System (IDMS) This solution comprises of:

Interwoven for Content Management requirements eWork to automate Business Processes Ascent Capture for the imaging component Rightfax to streamline faxing requirements Workshare for document collaboration ApproveIT for Digital Signatures Filesurf for Records Management

Provide integrated Content Management Solution for all users within the NER. To provide a means for the user to facilitate the processes of capturing, receiving, storing, organizing, sharing, retrieving, re-using, protecting and disposing of information in an electronic environment regardless of format and without geographic or organizational barriers. To provide authorized access by the public to records, information and objects stored by the NER. To meet legislative and policy requirements. To operate in an effective, efficient and economical manner.

Multiplying the knowledge within the NER Electronic user friendly searching facilities which allow users to find information quickly thus improving their daily outputs. Organisational silos are being eliminated by the sharing of knowledge. Integration between the IDMS, BPM and other databases is reducing the amount of duplicate data entries.

Automating the business processes, ensures the right person works on the right piece of work, at the right time. Reduction in parallel activities.

The National Electricity Regulator is the regulatory authority over the Electricity Supply Industry (ESI) in South Africa.

The role of the NER is to license generators, transmitters and distributors of electricity, to approve the prices at which electricity is sold and to set minimum standards for quality of supply of service. The NER also resolves disputes between suppliers of electricity and their customers, as well as between suppliers.

The NER operates under the mandate given by the Minister of Minerals and Energy to be "the custodian and enforcer of a regulatory framework to monitor and ensure that the interests and needs of present and future customers of electricity are respectively safeguarded and met, having regard to the efficiency, effectiveness and long term sustainability of the ESI".

In order for the organization to meet the above mandate as well as the growing needs of their stakeholders and customers, the NER needed to improve their efficiencies and levels of customer satisfaction. Content Management and Business Process Automation were identified as the areas that could show a major impact with regards to these requirements.

The NER were looking for a user friendly, robust and efficient content management system that integrated seamlessly with a business process automation tool.

CKB, specialists in Content Management and Business Process Automation were awarded the tender for their proposal of Interwoven, eWork, Filesurf, Rightfax and Workshare.

All forms of content are now being stored within the IDMS, from faxes, emails scanned documents and electronically created documents. There are even plans in the future to associate voice files from their call centre within the system. However, content is not the only form of knowledge within in the NER that needed to be controlled, and eWork has been used to automate a number of business processes, including the License Application Process, Tariff Application Process, Procurement, Help Desk and Correspondence Tracking.

The solution has been implemented across the entire organization and CKB pride themselves in ensuring the users are trained, comfortable and aware of what happens during the course of the project.

The official Launch of the Solution was on the 19th of June 2003

A world class Regulator providing leadership to the electricity supply industry in support of sustainable growth and development.