Issue
The client is an unregulated utility with newly acquired gas- and coal-fired generation serving municipal and cooperative customers.
The client needed an ETRM to manage the merchant activity of its new asset portfolio end to end:
- Requirements spanned deal capture, inventory valuation, risk and credit management, and final settlement.
- Its coal and gas inventory methodology was especially hard - an earlier attempt for a regulated affiliate had failed and left it dependent on Excel.
- Without a working system, the new portfolio could not be managed or valued reliably.
Solution
MidDel proved the platform out first, then configured native-first and customized only where the client's methodology required:
- Delivered a Proof of Concept, then produced the Project Charter, Functional Requirements, Project Plan, and Test Scripts.
- Configured trade entry, pricing, confirmations, valuation and VaR, credit and margining, and back-office settlement using native functionality.
- Extended the system only where needed - to value the client's unique coal and gas inventories - and built user security, alerts, and SOX controls with internal and external audit.
- Left documentation and job aids so the client could add counterparties, products, indices, and locations unassisted.
Result
The client eliminated a multitude of manual spreadsheet processes across front, middle, and back office, with trading and scheduling results flowing seamlessly into credit, risk, accrual, and invoicing - where an earlier customization-heavy attempt had failed.
Key Takeaways
- Configure native functionality first and reserve customization for what is genuinely unique — here, the client's coal and gas inventory valuation methodology. The earlier attempt failed for the opposite reason; disciplined scoping of customization, proven out with a Proof of Concept, is what makes an ETRM implementation succeed where a prior one did not.
- Design for the client's independence from day one. Embedding user security, alerts, and SOX controls into the configuration alongside audit — and leaving behind documentation and job aids — let the team add counterparties, products, indices, and locations on their own. The mark of a strong implementation is how little the consultant is needed afterward.
Ready to do the same?
Implementing or re-implementing an ETRM with inventory-valuation or SOX-compliance complexity? MidDel configures native-first, customizes only where your methodology demands it, and hands you a system your team can run. Let's scope it.
For more case studies highlighting our work, please go to: Current Case Studies
