Making compliance a key element in a major utility’s transformation
Upgrading Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) controls as part of an SAP-based customer service management implementation
Making compliance a key element in a major utility’s transformation
Upgrading Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) controls as part of an SAP-based customer service management implementation
Client
A U. S. regional power utility
Industry
Power and utilities
Primary goal
Upgrade compliance along with new billing and service options
Primary platforms
SAP S/4HANA IS-U
Key outcomes
Making a measurable difference
80% reduction
in reported SOX risks
More than 75%
of controls are now automated
More than 3.5 million
customers have data protection
Client transformation journey
We enabled the organization to reap more benefits from their investment in SAP, taking advantage of the opportunity to transform the control landscape even as the business was transforming its systems and processes.
Jonathan Levitt
Director Advisory, KPMG Advisory GRC Technology
With another contractor assigned to manage the planning, process development and technical implementation of the project as a whole, the KPMG Risk team focused on identifying existing risks in application security and SOX controls, defining how these risks should be remedied, and testing new approaches and technology in advance. Key steps included:
After the design and validation phases of the project, our risk team began building a new security structure aimed at rationalizing and consolidating financial reporting risks in order to eliminate redundancies and create a more clearly defined risk landscape. Achieving this required:
The new SAP-based system was successfully rolled out in early 2021, winning fast acceptance from consumers and employees, and establishing the client as an industry leader in customer support. Key security and compliance outcomes included:
Taken together, these measures not only made the client’s risk and compliance structure more accurate, efficient, and adaptable but also advanced trust among management, employees, customers, and regulators
Post rollout, KPMG continued to provide support and stabilization services to the client through the end of 2021. We also established continuous tracking and monitoring functions for security, controls, and GRC.
To summarize how the new system had performed to date, our risk team also deployed data analytics in the form of process mining to show the client how processes had already been improved and where further efficiencies might be gained in the future.
SAP’s S/4HANA ERP platform and its industry solution for utilities (IS-U) helps digital transformation deliver real benefits by increasing efficiency, simplifying processes, and enabling delivery of new services. But implementing SAP’s solutions also means highly regulated utilities must adopt more robust risk, security, and compliance strategies.
Making compliance a key element in a major utility’s transformation
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