SAP Gold Partner Acclimation has recently managed Powerlink Queensland’s transition from on-premise SAP ECC6 on Oracle solution to SAP HANA on Azure to further improve efficiencies through streamlined business processes.
To support the delivery of secure, reliable, and affordable electricity to Australian households and businesses, the Energy Security Board (ESB) has published a series of options for the future design of the National Electricity Market (NEM) titled “Post-2025 Market Design Options Paper.”
One of the reform options being considered by the ESB is to better enable the integration of distributed renewable energy resources. In response to this shift, Queensland Government-owned corporation Powerlink stated that it needed to adapt to the changes in the NEM to continue providing reliable, cost-effective, and safe solutions to its customers.
As the first stage of its comprehensive modernisation program, Queensland’s electricity transmission network services provider Powerlink has recently announced its successful migration of the company’s systems from SAP ECC6 solution to cloud-hosted Business Suite on SAP HANA hosted in Microsoft Azure.
Additionally, the current upgrade to a cloud-hosted solution also forms part of Powerlink Queensland’s roadmap under the SAP S/4HANA platform migration. According to the company’s Preliminary Planning Investment Case, its ongoing program of works to gradually move business functions from SAP ECC6 to the current SAP S/4HANA platform provides opportunities to rationalise functionality currently delivered through other platforms.
Commenting on the company’s move to transition to SAP HANA and re-platform its ecosystem on Microsoft Azure, Darryl Rowell, Chief Financial Officer at Powerlink Queensland, said:
“The Business Suite on HANA migration was the first step in a wider business transformation journey. With the completion of this migration, Powerlink has taken a big first step on the journey to be better positioned to run projects, drive procurement, and implement greater efficiencies for field delivery teams.”
Powerlink moves from SAP ECC6 to Business Suite on SAP HANA hosted in Microsoft Azure
Acclimation, an SAP Software and Services Gold Partner with a certification as Partner Centre of Expertise (PCoE), was awarded the contract to manage the cloud migration from SAP ECC6 to Business Suite on SAP HANA after Powerlink Queensland went through a discovery process.
According to Powerlink, the SAP cloud upgrade was delivered remotely by the Melbourne-based SAP consulting and solutions provider for more than eight months on schedule and without major delays despite the lockdowns and travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mark Pozdena, General Manager, Business IT at Powerlink Queensland, also shared that Acclimation’s group collaborated closely with Powerlink’s dedicated team of experts to efficiently deliver the project.
“Our teams worked very closely together to ensure the solution was sustainable in the longer term. We were even able to navigate the obstacles presented by COVID-19 including delivering the migration and a smooth Go-Live while operating remotely from locations across Australia,” Pozdena further explained.
Meanwhile, Peter Cummins, Director, Northern Region at Acclimation, also said that the transition to Business Suite on SAP HANA has enabled Powerlink to drive efficiencies while also building a foundation for its wider modernisation program aimed at adding value for clients.
Commending Powerlink Queensland’s team on their recent milestone of moving from SAP ECC6 to SAP HANA on Azure, Dan Desnica, Industry Account Director, Energy and Utilities at SAP, said in a LinkedIn post:
“This was a world-class project delivered by a great team of professionals from our partner Acclimation and Powerlink Queensland, and will underpin their journey to S/4HANA.”
