Management of Energy Generation Facilities with MATRIX42
Service management exists outside the IT sector as well. And the processes are similar, if not identical. This gave the utility company HAMBURG ENERGIE an idea: it also relies on Matrix42 solutions for the operation and management of its power generation facilities.
How do you manage the operation of about 90 power generation plants with just six employees? – With digital support, of course. But what if you can’t find an off-the-shelf system and don’t have the development resources? – You look for a product that can be easily customized to your specific needs.
The parent company, HAMBURG WASSER, was already using the ITSM system“Matrix42,”which, in addition to its asset management component, includes its own configuration management database—or CMDB, as it’s known in the industry. Frank Wehmeier, then IT coordinator at HAMBURG ENERGIE, put forward a hypothesis that electrified everyone equally: the administration and operation of energy facilities are comparable to service processes; therefore, the requirements should actually be implementable using the Matrix42 system—in other words, with “on-board tools.” Furthermore, the argument went, synergies could certainly be achieved if the same tool were used across different areas. For example, redundant data storage would become unnecessary. The purchase of new products and licenses would largely be eliminated.
And even more importantly: master data and the authorization structure would only need to be set up once. Last but not least, this would eliminate the need for interfaces, which not only cost money but are also prone to errors and can “break” with every system release. Ultimately, the implementation of the ITSM platform also aligned with the company’s strategy. “We wanted to reduce the variety of systems anyway, become less dependent on specialists, and limit the interfaces to a minimum,” explains Christian Pfister, who took over the project.
Since 2014, Pfister has led the Plant Operations team, which now consists of six members and is responsible for all technical and operational matters related to the more than 90 plants currently in operation. His team’s responsibilities include managing technical service providers as well as contract management, payment processing, and financial control.
The Five-Point Plan
The first step was to tackle the management of assets such as equipment and machinery: Pfister wanted to map all configurations of the equipment and components in an audit-proof manner—ideally in a CMDB. In addition to the “inventory,” HAMBURG ENERGIE pursued at least four other objectives:
- Modeling the lifecycle of all components
- Documentation of systems and operational activities
- Integration with a document management system (DMS)
- Mapping of operational processes
The first and most important priority, however, was modeling the projects and systems in the CMDB. Initial attempts to capture the master data using Excel and other productivity tools failed because there was no single source of truth: over time, the data in the various Excel spreadsheets began to diverge more and more from one another.
Manageable effort
On the advice of Matrix42, Wehmeier reached out to Consulting4IT, the leading Matrix42 partner based in Waldbronn, to discuss “the basic process mapping and feasibility of the project.” When they first made contact in early 2018, his request was simple: to improve IT support for the operational management of the energy facilities.
Apparently, the discussion went well. Consulting4IT helped management identify and evaluate potential optimization strategies. They agreed to start with the master data and later set up a ticketing system for handling routine maintenance and incidents. The proof of concept also proved encouraging. “It turned out that we could actually use the system for plant modeling,” says Pfister. Consulting4IT estimated the effort required to implement the basic project at 20 to 30 person-days. And this timeframe was adhered to.
Consultation days used efficiently
HAMBURG ENERGIE’s facility management—or “asset management” in IT terminology—is currently organized into three hierarchical levels: The top level consists of “projects”; this could be, for example, an energy network. At the second hierarchical level, the energy network is divided into individual facilities, which consist of various components at the third level. These components include boilers, pumps, inverters, and gas meters, as well as entire combined heat and power (CHP) plants.
At the same time, HAMBURG ENERGIE stored the master data for all component types in a separate database called “Inventory Items.” These component types are maintained centrally and synchronized with the asset management system in Matrix42. Here, individual energy systems can then be linked to their corresponding standardized component types.
Incident Management for the Flexibility Team
With the help of Consulting4IT, the HAMBURG ENERGIE team also set up the ticketing system, including a self-service portal, based on Matrix42. According to Pfister, this required “only minimal adjustments,” even though the processes in utility management differ in some respects from those in IT service management. Whereas in ITSM it is usually the users themselves who report a problem, in HAMBURG ENERGIE’s service system, reports often come from internal departments, such as customer service or internal sales.
Operational issues, such as equipment failures or malfunctions, are reported via an email connection integrated into the system and centrally assigned to one of the defined “roles” so that the appropriate members of Christian Pfister’s team can address the issue directly. Service providers responsible for maintenance are also managed via the email function from the service desk, ensuring that as many processes related to a system as possible are transparently recorded in the system.
Typical incidents are recorded
The self-service portal is also used by other departments, as Pfister’s team coordinates services for sister departments. For example, for the “Flexibility Team,” through which HAMBURG ENERGIE offers services to optimize the operation of combined heat and power (CHP) plants for external plant operators.
Under the name “Electricity Market-Optimized Operation,” the energy supplier helps biogas plant operators market the electricity they produce in the most effective way possible. For this team, plant operations management is handled by the Fault and Plant Management department.
Lessons learned
According to Pfister, he learned two things from the project: It’s helpful to have someone on the team who understands both the IT and business sides. It’s difficult to manage a project like this alongside day-to-day operations. “You can’t just put day-to-day operations on hold,” says Pfister. To solve this dilemma, you either need much more time or more external support—which HAMBURG ENERGIE gets from Consulting4IT. All in all, the project has already more than paid off, Pfister believes: “We were able to significantly professionalize our operations. Together with HAMBURG WASSER, we developed a very effective emergency response plan: A control center staffed 24/7 receives fault reports by phone and can immediately access the system master data via the self-service portal to log incidents. Additionally, in an emergency, the relevant decision-makers are notified via email as needed.”
Pfister personally handled the training of the colleagues responsible for handling service requests at the parent company: “After all, they’re not computer scientists or operations specialists, but technicians and tradespeople,” he explains, outlining the need for training.The new Matrix42 system also proved its worth during the COVID lockdown. “The rollout at the beginning of the year came at just the right time,” Pfister recalls, “otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten through the three-month work-from-home period from mid-March to June without any hiccups.”
About HAMBURG ENERGIE
Since its founding in 2009, the municipal green energy provider HAMBURG ENERGIE has been the alternative to nuclear and coal-fired power. Since then, the company has been driving the energy transition forward, not only supplying clean energy but also producing it itself—in Hamburg and the surrounding area. Anyone who chooses an eco-friendly energy supply from HAMBURG ENERGIE is therefore also supporting the expansion of renewable energy. The Green Electricity Label from environmental organizations certifies this. In addition to photovoltaic and solar thermal systems, HAMBURG ENERGIE also operates wind turbines and combined heat and power plants to provide climate-friendly energy to residential neighborhoods. In addition, the utility also offers natural gas blended with municipal biogas from Hamburg’s wastewater treatment plant, as well as electric mobility solutions. For instance, HAMBURG ENERGIE supplies all public charging stations in Hamburg with green electricity. Furthermore, the company develops storage and control systems and operates a virtual power plant.