Transformation of Vattenfall UK's key processes

The customer

Vattenfall UK (VHUK) are specialists in developing large, city-scale low carbon heat networks. Working in partnership with local authorities, real estate developers and housing associations, VHUK delivers reliable, low carbon heating to local communities across the UK. 

The challenge 

VHUK required a transformation of its critical processes to allow business operations to standardise and improve their audit and controls framework.

This would allow the business to robustly measure performance and track improvements, while maintaining strong profitability across its business. 

VHUK has three regions: London, Bristol and Scotland. The ways of working varies across these regions and needed standardising, while making efficient by streamlining the existing processes and teams.

The solution

Medhya, Director of Business Transformation, provided the objective challenge and input within the comprehensive review and redesign of the Heat Revenues and Connection Fees processes.

This was facilitated by workshops and meetings attended by the subject matter experts and relevant stakeholders.  

The existing processes were used as the baseline for the exercise, where improved ways of working were identified to make the processes more efficient. 

This required...  

• Streamlining and standardising existing process steps, especially where regional variations existed. 

• Adding new ways of working to make the process more effective, simple, and clear.

• Researching and understanding the central global processes, where hand-offs are required, so that these could be aligned within the end-to-end process. 

• Identifying key performance metrics to ensure that the new changes are delivering the required results.  

• Documenting the roles and responsibilities for each step, across the teams involved. 

• Documenting the detailed processes for reference. 

• Developing a training and awareness plan for stakeholders identified by process, area, region, and task.

The result

VHUK can now reliably and swiftly issue invoices and pursue payments for all revenue from connection fees, adhering to contractual agreements.

The 'Heat Revenues' process has been recorded in partnership with the appropriate stakeholders to guarantee it is comprehensively understood and consistently adhered to by the relevant teams, ensuring compliance with audit standards.

These new processes were approved by the senior leadership team and communicated to the wider teams within the regions via regional and UK wide meetings. 

The next step is for the detailed training to be completed with the relevant individuals to support embedding the new ways of working. 

Bhavya Patel, Head of Asset Operations and Performance at VHUK, said: "Medhya very quickly onboarded on the project and provided comprehensive review of the existing ways of working. Medhya contributed with her experience of transforming business processes while maintaining attention to financial auditing requirements.

Medhya led on delivery of stakeholder engagement and development of the documentation that is easy to understand and crucial for training colleagues who would be operating to the new ways of working."