Customer Information System Features Browser-Based Design

Vertex Business Services has announced the availability of eCIS+ Version 3.0, the company’s next generation customer information system (CIS).

Derived from Vertex’s E-CIS platform, eCIS+ has a unique, browser-based interface design that is grounded in real-life usability studies of utility customer service representatives (CSRs), and thousands of hours of analysis around call types, user behaviors and Web best practices. The result is a highly interactive desktop application that is designed to achieve optimum business performance and empower CSRs.

eCIS+ shifts the burden from the user to the system with streamlined, guided processes for the highest volume call types, along with robust safeguards for accurate data input on every call. Reduced training time, faster call handling on the floor, increased customer and user satisfaction, and higher accuracy of customer records all add up to operational savings and lower costs for today’s resource-constrained utility.

• Revenue Management: eCIS+ improves back-office operations by streamlining the meter reading to usage calculation to billing processes.
• Exception Handling: Bills are flagged for review based on the utility’s specific criteria, such as a change in usage pattern or dollar variance. eCIS+ provides billing technicians with tools to complete the reviews in a timely manner, focusing on accounts with exceptions.
• Enforced Business Rules: A key to data integrity within eCIS+ is the ability to enforce business rules during data entry. A visual editing tool empowers technical business analysts to maintain business rules, eliminating the need for a programmer to make these changes.
• Integration with External Systems: eCIS+ is open, agile, and extensible following a service oriented architecture (SOA). The eCIS+ architecture allows for rapid integration with external systems leveraging APIs and out of the box interfaces.
• Scalable Architecture: The eCIS+ server architecture is based on the massively scalable IBM Power Systems POWER7 series of machines. While typical eCIS+ installations only require a 1-2 processor configuration with a Commercial Processing Workload (CPW) rating of 6,000, this architecture is capable of scaling up to 16 processors with a CPW rating of 98,000 CPW.
• Roadmap for Utilities’ Future Needs and Emerging Trends: Greater competition and emerging trends such as smart metering, demand response, and energy efficiency will place unprecedented new demands on CIS platforms. With eCIS+, utilities benefit from a state-of-the-art architecture and clearly defined development roadmap.