Business Intelligence Drives More Effective Decisions, Utility Professionals Reflect at EUCG's 35th Anniversary Workshop

SAN ANTONIO, May 1  /PRNewswire/ -- An electric utility's success is related to how well and how fast the right information and intelligence get to the right people, author and business consultant Gary Cokins cautioned attendees of EUCG's semiannual spring workshop in San Antonio in April.

EUCG is a global association of energy and electric utility professionals who meet to discuss current and emerging industry issues, share best practices and exchange data for benchmarking purposes.  The association celebrated its 35th anniversary at this spring's workshop.

"Utilities are not unlike other industries that spend tons of resources collecting information, including measuring all aspects of operational performance under the sun, but fail to convert this information into actionable intelligence," said Cokins, an expert in performance management for SAS, a leading business intelligence software provider, and author of Performance Management: Finding the Missing Pieces to Close the Intelligence Gap.  "Most businesses can tell you their customer satisfaction score or on-time delivery performance, but they cannot tell you with great certainty what drives these scores. The data is often treated as discreet measurements, but in reality these scores are interrelated and interdependent.  Performance management and business intelligence programs provide much needed context and advance management decision making."

"The EUCG membership spent a great deal of workshop time sharing best practices and discussing individual business intelligence and performance management programs," said EUCG President Stephen Saunders of Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).  "Rapid decision making is becoming increasingly important within the electric utility industry, and our members are discussing how to leverage human, technological and financial resources to support quick action."

"Our industry is data intensive, and Mr. Cokins challenged utilities to convert this information into intelligence to help drive customer satisfaction and shareholder wealth," said EUCG Vice President Mark Derry of Exelon (NYSE: EXC).  "Our ability to manage utility operations through the present-day supply and cost challenges may rest on how well we're able to use intelligence to justify capital programs, secure revenue adjustments and communicate with customers in a meaningful way."

EUCG welcomed approximately 180 workshop participants from more than 60 different utilities, including four foreign countries, to its spring workshop, said George W. Sharp, EUCG international marketing director, of American Electric Power (NYSE:AEP). "Our workshop theme focused on leveraging information to improve business decisions, and many of the presentations addressed that topic," said Sharp.

  Each committee pursued individual workshop agendas, including:

  -- Nuclear Committee:  Presentations during the workshop included an
     update on the construction of a new nuclear plant in Romania and an
     interactive panel discussion on project management practices at four
     major companies, said David Ward, Nuclear Committee chair from Duke
     Power (NYSE:DUK). "Our committee continues to provide a forum for
     discussions on key industry topics and a network for obtaining a blend
     of company solutions to emerging initiatives.  With the prevailing
     nuclear renaissance, new issues are being discovered, and we believe
     strongly in nuclear technology playing an important role in balancing
     the world's need for environmentally friendly energy supply."  Other
     topics discussed by the Nuclear Committee involved recent developments
     in nuclear fuel management and ways to improve the committee's database
     to assist members in transforming the data into business intelligence,
     Ward said.

  -- Fossil Committee:  Plant safety and cost management were the overriding
     themes discussed by the Fossil Committee, reported chair James Patrick
     of Ameren (NYSE:AEE).  "Safety continues to be a popular topic for our
     committee, and we were able to review a couple of fantastic
     safety-related case studies from our members."  The cost impact of
     managing current and future environmental regulations continues to
     weigh heavily on the minds of the membership, Patrick added.  "We are
     planning to discuss how members develop their long-term capital plans
     during the upcoming fall conference, along with presentations in the
     areas of safety, the environment and the building of new power plants."

  -- Information Technology (IT) Committee:  The IT Committee focused on
     refining its cost benchmark model and sharing information about member
     companies' corporate environments, IT organization structures, CIO
     metrics and IT governance models.  Best practice discussions centered
     on case studies of technologies that member companies use to support
     key business functions.  "One company described its use of data
     warehouse technologies to support business analytics and decision
     making; another shared its lessons learned from implementing project
     and resource management practices and technologies to optimize staff
     utilization and project planning functions," said Jack Flack, committee
     chair from TVA. "Our members are interested in determining the optimal
     resource allocation and structure within a utility for an IT
     department. We plan to spend much of our workshop time during the fall
     continuing discussions about lessons learned by our members during the
     execution of major IT projects.  We're also going to discuss 'smart
     metering' and integrated work management issues when we meet in San
     Francisco this September."

  -- Hydroelectric Committee:  Hydro plant staffing, work force planning and
     data analysis for management decision making were the overriding themes
     that the Hydro Committee discussed during the spring conference,
     according to Jim Miller, committee chair from TVA.  "We are focusing
     much of our efforts on using our committee's database to determine best
     performers and, more importantly, what processes, resources and best
     practices help drive these best performers," said Miller.  The fall
     conference will continue developing on the theme of best performers,
     including an updated analysis of member accomplishments over the past
     three years.

  -- Transmission and Distribution (T&D) Committee:  T&D Committee attendees
     heard presentations about the SmartGrid concept and the impact that
     renewable energy and energy storage will have on future utility
     operations, among other issues.  During the fall conference, T&D
     members are planning to discuss execution strategies for developing a
     successful safety culture, developing and implementing disaster
     recovery plans and a roundtable of different members' "green"
     strategies.




EUCG will hold its 2008 fall workshop in San Francisco Sept. 14-17, when it will continue celebrating its 35th year of operations.  All energy professionals are invited.  Interested parties should visit the EUCG website ( http://www.eucg.org/ ) for more information.

About EUCG:  EUCG is a global association of energy and electric utility professionals who discuss current and emerging industry issues, share best practices and exchange data for benchmarking purposes.  The 35-year-old association is organized into five separate committees that represent specific utility functions:  Transmission & Distribution (T&D), Fossil Plants, Hydro Plants, Nuclear Plants and Information Technology (IT) departments.  Members attend semiannual workshops that focus on strategic planning, maintenance practices, operations management, outage management and various other aspects of the electric utility business.  Membership is open to all utility companies and professionals worldwide.  Interested parties should contact Pat Kovalesky, EUCG Executive Director, at 1-623-572-4140.  Email:  . Website: http://www.eucg.org/ . 

DATASOURCE: EUCG



CONTACT:  George W. Sharp, EUCG International Marketing Director,

[phone], 



Web site:  http://www.eucg.org/ 



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