Digital home access: IVU and SoftProject cooperate

“The house connection process requires considerable coordination effort and can easily get bogged down if it is still paper-based or involves media disruptions,” explains Georg Baumgardt (pictured), the product developer responsible at IVU. “Building owners today no longer understand when they are supposed to download a form for a house connection, fill it out and perhaps fax it back. But even at the municipal utility, the process stutters when data has to be stored in different places and processed in different forms by various departments.

Things can be completely different if the entire house connection process is controlled digitally and consistently in an end-to-end system. In other words, if the process is directly linked to the customer, all data automatically ends up in the relevant systems, the project history is directly visible to the departments involved in the utility company, and offers can be made and invoices issued quickly – regardless of the line of business and application. The portal can be used for both new connections and connection changes as well as for the electricity, gas and water sectors. But PV systems, wallboxes, heat pumps and even broadband connections are also fully integrated here. The entire process is controlled by the customer via an intuitive user interface. Other systems, such as asset management, can be seamlessly integrated.

In the eyes of Rene Beele (pictured), utilities industry sales manager at SoftProject, the pressure for system and process integration continues to increase due to the energy transition: “Due to the expansion of photovoltaics and electromobility, every new house connection becomes a capacity issue in two aspects: On the one hand, calculations and analyses about the power grid in the neighborhood will become increasingly important for background processes in the future. On the other hand, it must also be taken into account that only limited numbers of applications can be handled with existing processes and resources.”

With the integration into ENER:GY, the technical-operational processes are closely linked with the commercial world. “As a data hub, our platform networks heterogeneous system landscapes and promotes efficiency,” explains Rene Beele. “Our digital house connection process enables a complete and predefined process flow: from the house connection application to the control of installers and service providers.” Georg Baumgardt adds, “On the other hand, we ensure that all documents and data required for the grid connection process are transparently stored in the appropriate places in the system, that quotations can be calculated and handed over, and that billing can take place – and all together, as standardized as possible and without manual intervention.” ENER:GY remains the master data management system, with the essential basic information for the portal already being supplied from ENER:GY. After the house connection application, the offer calculation as well as the creation of the master data takes place directly in ENER:GY, so that a central data stock is automatically available in the so-called network file. Downstream processes, such as meter installation, can also be planned directly from the KIC network file via WFM.

The most important task is the implementation of intelligent interfaces. This is not trivial because, on the one hand, a wide range of data is exchanged between the systems, and on the other hand, the house connection process is lived individually and includes special cases, such as construction electricity or construction water. “We design the processes in such a modular way that we also map requirements that may be added later,” says Georg Baumgardt, describing the goal. “Everyone is given the glasses with which they look at the process. But everyone works on the same task on a uniform database and makes their contribution. This is another example of digitization as we envision it: creating restriction-free consistency of digital processes!”

“For users, such deep integration creates absolute added value,” Rene Beele is convinced. “Network operators avoid internal errors and delays in the process, which saves a lot of time and increases efficiency enormously. In addition, they convey the impression of a competent and high-performance partner to customers, which radiates to the entire utility.”

Where does the project currently stand? “The concepts have been written, development has started,” reports Georg Baumgardt. “With a pilot project, we are putting our solution on the road in practice.” Interest is high. IVU will offer the integrated home connection process as software as a service from its own data center.