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Invoice alignment will result in improved system and administrative efficiencies for TransCanada and our customers. Alberta System customers can benefit from greater ease in verifying "real-time" invoices with monthly reporting. In addition, actual costs may now be applied to invoice payments, rather than estimating and then reconciling the following month, so customers have the opportunity to close their books earlier.
"This alignment is the culmination of many years of consultation and collaboration with Alberta System customers," says Steve Emond, Director, Customer Service. "It started with the Tolls, Tariffs, Facilities, and Procedures (TTFP) approval of the Business Process Change several years ago, followed by a rewrite of the Alberta Billing computer system to improve reliability, speed and efficiency, and finally completed with the successful generation of aligned invoices on October 20."
Because of the wide-ranging impact to industry, TransCanada collaborated with the TTFP, Common Stream Operators (CSOs), production and revenue accountants, and billing analysts in developing new reporting timelines and tariff changes for the alignment. Over the past several months, TransCanada prepared for implementation with a concerted change management initiative to ensure that all parties were informed and TransCanada's processes were fined-tuned to meet tighter invoicing timelines.
TransCanada also recognizes the significant efforts made by industry to prepare their back-offices, adapt to the new timelines and ultimately contribute to the success of this implementation.
"One of the keys to our success was a coordinated effort to ensure all stakeholders were informed of the changes," says Stella Morin, Customer Service Projects. "We recognized that communication was a critical component of the program's successful launch. It was imperative for us to identify and communicate to diverse audiences, from invoicing contacts and production accountants, to our own Sales Representatives and Call Centre. To that end, our communications included a broad array of media including cover letters with the invoices, direct phone calls, Customer Express updates, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), e-mails and links to various websites."
The successful implementation can also be attributed to the quality of the system enhancements that were developed to accommodate the alignment. Stella added, "The system processes ran so smoothly that the generation of the aligned invoice within a tighter cycle was completed with no glitches or delays."
As a result, last month TransCanada successfully invoiced customers for the one-time, extra commodity charge (to align the month lag), and CSOs successfully submitted their allocations to TransCanada in accordance with tighter timelines with a 99 per cent success rate! Again, congratulations and thanks to industry for the extra efforts!
For more information, please contact Bob Jones at 403.920.5837.
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