This is the second article in a series of four, jointly developed by APQC and ScottMadden on the topic of Financial Shared Services. The series is based on interviews APQC conducted with ScottMadden Partner Brad DeMent, who leads the firm’s financial shared services practice.
This article, published in the December 2010 issue of Nuclear Power International Magazine, outlines our approach for using well defined, quantifiable metrics to benchmark current performance, set “top down” goals for future performance and define specific actions to achieve those goals. Our client for the project as well as our partner in developing the article was Ontario Power Generation’s nuclear generation group, which operates three nuclear generating stations (Pickering A, Pickering B, and Darlington). Thanks to Carla Carmichael, without whom this article would not be possible. Click here to read the full article to learn the specifics for our approach to benchmarking and gap-based business planning.
This is the first article in a series of four, jointly developed by APQC and ScottMadden on the topic of Financial Shared Services. The articles are based on interviews APQC conducted with ScottMadden partner Brad DeMent, who leads the firm’s financial shared services practice.
IT operations are a crucial aspect of most organizational operations. It is necessary to provide a reliable infrastructure for IT operations, in order to minimize any chance of disruption. As the complexities of IT have grown, the demand for computing power has increased the electrical power required for data centers. According to an EPA report to congress, demand for data processing and storage is driven by several factors including the increased use of electronic transactions in financial services, the shift to electronic medical records for healthcare, the growth in global commerce and services, the adoption of satellite navigation and electronic shipment tracking in transportation, and the adoption of Smart Meters in Smart Grid applications. Today’s data centers account for 25% of the corporate IT budget for companies, and expanding data center requirements has driven a steady increase in energy consumption.
During the worst of the financial meltdown of 2008-09, utility stock prices benefited from a flight to their relatively steady returns. However, many uncertainties and some unfavorable trends weigh upon their outlook. In an article in the September/October 2009 issue of Electric Light & Power magazine, Brad Kitchens and Greg Litra look at the challenges, historical precedents, and what industry leaders should do about it.
Click here to read the article on utility financial performance
Want to achieve operational and management excellence for your generation fleet? A team playbook can help your organization improve business results, achieve synergies and economies of scale, address cultural issues, and implement best practices consistently. This report, featured in EEI’s October 2004 Electric Perspectives Magazine, highlights the six rules to help you in developing and sustaining an effective playbook.
In this article in Power Engineering, ScottMadden contributes to the discussion of continued decline in nuclear plant outage durations.
To learn, please visit http://pepei.pennnet.com/display_article/337581/6/ARTCL/none/none/1/How-Low-Can-They-Go?
Author: Teresa Hansen, Power Engineering
Additional Contributing Author: Chris Vlahoplus
Even for an industry that has grown accustomed to structural change over the last decade, the power industry is facing even greater numbers of emerging issues at a dizzying pace today. More and more, Federal and state stakeholders, driven by their histories and constituencies, are crossing into each other’s traditional areas of influence and power.
Sussex Economic Advisors is now part of ScottMadden. We invite you to learn more about our expanded firm. Please use the Contact Us form to request additional information.
