SAP delivers for Origin Energy

When energy retailer Origin Energy (Origin) needed to consolidate its complex business processes and ensure continuous service delivery, the organisation settled on SAP.

Working with implementaiton partner DXC Technology, Origin integrated multiple SAP solutions including SAP S/4 HANA, SAP Ariba, SAP Concur, SAP Asset Manager, SAP Analytics Cloud, OpenText VIM and xECM.

The project was deployed as a two-stage release, with the first going live in April 2021, followed by stage two in July of the same year. Despite the impact of the pandemic and much of the team working remotely, Origin was able to successfully migrate existing data and integrate with non-SAP systems. Since implementation, Origin has seen a reduction in reconciliations of over 90% compared to the previous ERP and can now make decisions more rapidly and confidently based on increased visibility and control over data.

“Consolidating and upgrading our ERP system to SAP means we’re now able to see the complete picture, remove risk from our asset management practices and realise significant savings out to the end of FY24,” said Glenn Joseph, Head of ERP, Planning & Reporting Systems, Origin Energy.

"There’s been high impact since implementation across the business; for example, Origin can now plan maintenance activities more effectively because all our data is in one system – creating visibility across our entire Generation portfolio. Increased speed and efficiency are pivotal to ensuring Origin has a greater focus on getting energy right for our customers,” he said.

As part of a broader initiative to adopt a digital-first strategy, Origin also took the opportunity to modernise systems within its P&C (People & Culture) function. As part of this, the organisation implemented SAP Employee Central Payroll to replace its previous payroll platform. In parallel, a new time management application was also introduced to automate complex award entitlements.

Through the use of SAP Cloud Platform Integration (CPI), Origin was able to leverage pre-built integrations to seamlessly integrate its core P&C systems. Following the new P&C system implementations, Origin has streamlined processes, with 90% of employees now paid fortnightly with standardised pay cycles, alongside a huge culture shift for the team on how they record time and apply employment awards.

To further progress the digital journey, Origin developed a customised self-serve HR portal, to host all policies, procedures and employee-facing content in one place to simplify and improve the employee experience. This has resulted in an over 50% reduction in volume of inbound employee tickets raised with HR, delivering a more positive and empowering employee experience across the business.

“The energy market is undergoing a significant transition, and having the right technology in place can go a long way in helping organisations drive efficiency and save costs. By supporting Origin Energy’s ERP upgrade, SAP has helped it gain greater visibility over its assets, meaning it can deliver more accurate energy to its customers,” said Damien Bueno, President and Managing Director, SAP Australia and New Zealand.

“We’re also proud of the work we’ve done to modernise Origin Energy’s people and culture function, making payroll and timekeeping simpler so that teams can focus more of their time, energy and resources on performing higher value tasks,” Bueno said.

Image credit: iStock.com/bymuratdeniz