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How to Avoid Five Common Workday Implementation Pitfalls

 July 18, 2016

Picture this—your Workday go-live date suddenly seems too close for comfort, as numerous challenges are threatening to derail your implementation. The completeness and accuracy of the data for your go-live tenant can’t be verified, it’s not clear who will maintain integrations, and reports that were supposed to be approved by now have not even been developed. On top of it all, your implementation team is burned out. To varying degrees, this scenario becomes a reality for many HR and finance implementations when it can be avoided.


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Strategies and Tools for Workforce Management: A Blueprint for Solutions

 July 11, 2016

On the Utilities Horizon | Quintiq

This article, developed in partnership with workforce management solution Quintiq, helps utilities to better understand how they can think more strategically about the scheduling of their workforce across all planning horizons (long-term, short-term, and day of operations).


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A Business Case Methodology for Advanced Outage Management

 July 11, 2016

Nuclear Energy Insider | July 2016 Newsletter

This article focuses on a Business Case Methodology (BCM), a guide for utilities drawing up a business case to adopt emerging digital technology. The article, featured in the July 2016 issue of the Nuclear Energy Insider newsletter, reviews the challenges and benefits for enhancing nuclear power plant performance through digitized processes.

ScottMadden’s nuclear generation practice expertise focuses on business and cost management, peer-to-peer benchmarking, organization structure and staffing, plant turnaround and improvement. For more information about the BCM study or applying digital technologies to work processes, please contact us.

Are Traditional Weather Normalization Practices Used by Utilities in the Ratemaking Process Appropriate Given Increased Climate Variability?

 July 5, 2016

Changing weather patterns are becoming more common, and predicting them is becoming even more difficult. This is especially true for electric and gas utilities, which use historical weather data when developing predictions of future weather patterns, which are in turn used to project future demand and ultimately rates. In the past, public utility commissions have accepted the practice of using 30-year historical averages to develop weather normalization curves and forecasts submitted as part of the rate case process.


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Roles and Risks in Financial Shared Services Today

 June 30, 2016

In this Q&A interview with Brad DeMent and Trey Robinson, partners at ScottMadden, APQC examines the current and future state of financial shared service organizations.

This is the first in a two-part series. To access the second article in the series, please click here.

The Role of Robotics in Financial Shared Services

 June 30, 2016

In this Q&A interview with Brad DeMent and Trey Robinson, partner at ScottMadden, APQC asked how robotic process automation (RPA) is set to change financial shared service organizations (SSOs). Find out the details in this report.

This is the second in a two-part series. To access the first article in the series, please click here.

Inventory Versus Material Availability

 June 30, 2016

When dealing with system maintenance, many plant managers prefer to have a repair or replacement part in his or her warehouse, just in case. On the other side, some supply chain professionals argue for lower inventory levels to reduce financial holding costs.


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From Bitcoins to BTUs: How Blockchains Are Opening the Industry to New, Non-Utility Players

 June 28, 2016

As part of the New York REV proceeding, a pilot program using a blockchain platform has allowed residents within a microgrid to sell their excess power directly to their neighbors without going through the utility. The blockchain technology first rose to prominence in 2009 due to its innovative role in tracking the cryptocurrency Bitcoin.


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New York PSC Issues Order to Re-shape the Utility Business Model

 June 27, 2016

On May 19, 2016, as part of the Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) proceeding, the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) issued an order to the New York investor-owned utilities regarding further instruction to modernize the utility business model. The Order Adopting a Ratemaking and Utility Revenue Policy Framework, or the as it is commonly referred to as the “Track 2 Order,” outlines the near-term requirements for utility compliance and long-term vision for REV markets.


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First Corporate Sustainability Bonds Issued in the United States

 June 22, 2016

In May 2016, Starbucks, the Seattle-based coffee chain, announced that it had closed an offer of $500 million in bonds to fund sustainability projects. The move was made to “fund programs that ensure coffee is grown and distributed in a way that can be maintained over the long run.”


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Cybersecurity in Shared Services Organizations

 June 21, 2016

The number of cyber attacks against organizations continues to grow in complexity, frequency, and severity. SSOs handle confidential and restricted personal data, making them a target for cyber crimes. Since the SSO is accountable for protecting sensitive corporate and employee information, care must be taken to understand and protect the flow of this sensitive data.


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Five Legislative Priorities of the American Public Power Association

 June 20, 2016

The American Public Power Association (APPA) is a non-profit, non-partisan trade association for public power utilities in the United States that focuses on, among other things, advancing the legislative and regulatory interests of its members.


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Welcome to ScottMadden!

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.