Introduction:
Oracle’s C2M, a comprehensive utility product, offers a complete solution for utility systems, streamlining customer care, service order, metering, and billing processes. This essay discusses the challenges faced during the upgrade from legacy systems (Customer Care and Billing v2.5, Meter Data Management v2.2, and Operational Device Management v2.1) to C2M v2.8. It outlines the actions taken to address these challenges and the successful results achieved.
Challenges:
Compatibility and Integration: Upgrading from disparate legacy systems to a unified platform involved complex integrations with various external systems such as Sensus RNI, MVI 90, Weather Information System, GIS System, and more.
Functionality Verification: Ensuring that existing functionalities worked seamlessly after the lift and shift process was challenging. Comprehensive testing was required to validate the end-to-end functionality, including UI, API, and database validation.
Address Validation: Implementing third-party address validation was necessary to reduce address-related errors and enhance mail delivery efficiency.
Automated Testing: Setting up effective automation with Cypress and OUTA tools for functional and regression testing required careful planning and execution.
Configurability and Customizability: Enhancing and configuring C2M features like market message correction, customer insight, and automated bad debt letter generation posed challenges in preserving existing customizations while integrating new features.
Actions Taken:
Automation with Cypress and OUTA: To address the challenge of functionality verification, Cypress automation was utilized for smoke testing, saving time on manual test execution. OUTA facilitated automated functional flow testing using webservices and predefined test case suites, easing sanity and regression testing during each deployment cycle.
Third-Party Address Validation: To overcome address-related errors, a third-party system was integrated to validate addresses, resulting in improved mail deliveries and reduced return costs.
Color-Coded Alerts: The implementation of color-coded alerts helped emphasize critical items, aiding users in identifying and addressing high-priority issues promptly.
Configurable and Customizable Features: The upgrade focused on enhancing C2M’s flexibility by providing configurable and customizable features for market message correction, customer insight, and bad debt letter generation.
Integration with External Systems: Careful planning and seamless integration using SOA middleware and other technologies enabled successful integration with various external systems, ensuring smooth data exchange.
Results:
Smooth Functionality: Through comprehensive testing with Cypress and OUTA, the upgraded C2M system’s functionality was thoroughly verified, and any issues were addressed promptly.
Address Validation Benefits: The implementation of third-party address validation significantly reduced address-related errors, leading to more efficient mail deliveries and reduced costs.
Streamlined Processes: Automation through Cypress and OUTA reduced the effort required for both functional and regression testing, streamlining the development and deployment cycles.
Enhanced Customizability: The upgrade introduced enhanced configurability and customization features in C2M, enabling users to tailor the system to their specific needs without compromising existing customizations.
Successful Integrations: Despite the complexity of integrating with multiple external systems, the upgrade achieved seamless data exchange with Sensus RNI, MVI 90, Weather Information System, GIS System, and other systems.
Conclusion:
The upgrade from legacy systems to Oracle’s C2M posed several challenges, including functionality verification, address validation, automation, and system integrations. Through careful planning and the adoption of appropriate tools and technologies, these challenges were successfully addressed. The implementation of Cypress automation and third-party address validation resulted in time and cost savings, while enhanced configurability and seamless integrations improved the overall efficiency and performance of the utility system. Oracle’s C2M proved to be a powerful and reliable utility solution, catering to the needs of modern utility systems effectively.
