Electric Power Board Case Study

Originally implementing Prophix purely as a budgeting package, Electric Power Board (EPB) now uses Prophix to produce all of their financial reports, which are subject to strict federal regulations. With its new business processes in place, EPB has realized dramatic improvements across their entire organization-positively impacting the working roles of everyone involved, from operational managers to senior executives.

Background
Electric Power Board is a non-profit organization that provides electric power to the people of the greater Chattanooga, Tennessee area, as well as surrounding counties and parts of Northern Georgia. One of the largest publicly owned electric power providers in the United States, EPB serves approximately 170,000 customers. Established in 1935, the organization has grown to house ten divisions as both an electric utility provider and a communications company.

Recognizing the Problem
Electric Power Board required an advanced solution to manage their budgets. Using spreadsheets, the process of rolling up the company's 10,000 accounts became very time consuming, and entering data frustrated members of their corporate accounting group. Keystroke errors and broken links or formulas carried the risk of leading to larger issues. EPB also needed to follow regulations set out by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for their electrical system and the Federal Communications Commission for telephone, Internet, and video. The ideal budgeting solution for EPB would not only address the problems and requirements mentioned above, but also communicate with their Oracle G/L.

Implementing a Solution
After undergoing a grueling budget cycle in the previous year, EPB implemented the Prophix solution. Following just three days of training, EPB's financial experts began to train other users within the company. The organization then used Prophix to develop new budgeting processes. As Gary Hurst, EPB's Manager, Corporate Accounting, explains, "We have a very complicated chart of accounts and we have to follow various regulations, so I was very impressed that our consultant was able to look through all of the clutter and provide some really great ideas."

Benefits
Electric Power Board has received much more than they expected from Prophix. "We first used Prophix purely as a budgeting package," says Hurst. "And it turned out to be a wonderful package in that regard. Since then, we have started using it for our monthly and annual financial reporting." EPB increased their corporate accounting group's productivity and significantly reduced the amount of time that they spend on budgeting. Moving forward from their reliance on spreadsheets, they have eliminated the risk of formula and keystroke errors because the Prophix solution automatically calculates the vast majority of values, including variances. This generates more accurate and available information, plus additional time for members of the corporate accounting group and C-level executives to analyze the health of the business.

Consolidating reports using spreadsheets posed a major challenge for EPB, but Prophix was able to simplify this process as well. PROPHIX 10 combines the company's accounts and automatically generates reports, including income statements, balance sheets, cash flow breakdowns for each entity, and other management reports. EPB now closes their monthly financials in only five days. Prophix has not only helped EPB's upper management to develop a more efficient reporting system, but has also improved processes for lower-level managers who run the company's day-to-day operations. According to Hurst, "Our end users complimented us on how easy it was to use. Our CEO also complimented us, saying that he can get very high-level information and doesn't have to spend a lot of time reviewing all of the details."

Future Plans
EPB reviews their Prophix models annually in order to improve their processes and operate more efficiently. For similar reasons, the company joined a regional Prophix user group, where they share ideas and experiences with their peers and look to adopt the best practices of other Prophix experts. As Hurst says, "I've really been impressed. Each time our Prophix consultant visits, the services that he provides are just outstanding - allowing us each year to carry the system one step further. My hope is that we'll continue to use Prophix to come up with better reports for [our executives] and also our managers."

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