Gas Pricing using Lodestar Pricing Expert

Geode Software has been working for Oracle Utilities on a number of projects in the UK and now supplies a number of ASP developers to work on site. We worked to extend their web application to provide a detailed breakdown of all the costs involved in a gas supply contract. The web pages were written in Javascript ASP, linked to an Oracle (10g) database and the Lodestar framework. XML technologies were used heavily to manipulate the data for display.

Introduction

LODESTAR, now part of the Oracle Utilities group, produce a software package called PricingExpert, part of Customer Choice Suite for the energy market. Energy companies use the software to generate contracts for each of their customers, based on their particular patterns of energy usage. The software is very complex internally, although this complexity is presented to sales staff through an easy to use browser interface.

The end client has operated in the UK since 1999, are now the second largest supplier of gas to business customers and supply many of the largest electricity consumers in the UK. They are also market leaders in Load Management services.

The client chose to use Lodestar PricingExpert to compute the costs of providing gas supply to large customers. Costs such as transmission and distribution vary throughout the day, depending on load. Each service point (site) has different costs associated with it, and many service points can be covered by one contract with the customer. Other costs associated with preparing and operating the customer account can also be factored into the price calculations.

Summary of the Work

Cost Summary Screen

The customer required a new tab to sit alongside the product's existing tab set. This tab would show the cost summary for the contract, as well as for each service point in the contract. They wanted the summary level table to show the aggregate figures, and to have expandable sections in the page to view the detailed information for any service point in the contract. XML was used to manipulate the results from the database and AJAX was used to improve page load times, bringing back the information that the user required as it was requested.

Web Page Performance

AJAX was used to allow the user to stay on the same page, while allowing the data for any service point to be displayed. This improved performance of the page because database queries were executed only when needed; in other words only when the user clicked on a service point.

Credit Checking

Geode implemented a set of screens to manage the credit cover available for each customer. Using the screens, sales teams could enter values for additional credit requirements for a customer. Lower requirements could be authorised by sales, higher levels of credit needed to be authorised by the finance team. The screens allowed the sales person to see the existing credit offered to a customer, and to apply for additional credit. It steered the application towards the correct team for approval by generating a work-queue for that team.

Technology

• ASP. Javascript used both server-side and client-side
• XML/XSLT (Transformations).
• AJAX. For improved performance and more application-like behaviour
• Oracle (10g).

Benefits

• Easier to create energy contracts for multiple sites.
• All costs calculated by PE are visible on screen.
• Energy contracts can be negotiated by adjusting margin and re-calculating.