Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 26TH OCTOBER - 1ST NOVEMBER 2018 | 25 Operations & Assets Utility Week Awards winner case study N ational Grid won the 2017 Utility Week Award for Best Back Office Team for its project to spin off National Grid Gas Distribution from the rest of the group. What was the aim of the project? The aim of the project was to estab- lish National Grid Gas Distribution as a legally separate entity to enable its sale at the best possible price, while minimising the disruption to the rest of the National Grid group. How big was the project? At the time, National Grid employed approximately 25,000 staff and had an annual of turnover of £17 billion. The project required the transfer of the roughly 4,000 people employed in the gas distribution operations to the new company, in consultation with trade unions. The project team also had to amend around 1,000 back office processes, replace or renew 1,100 contracts, move across thousands of properties and land rights agreements and carve out and migrate 1.8 billion data items. All this had to be done within a nine-month period to enable the sale to be completed within the same financial year. How was the project undertaken? In January 2016, a team of 50 people was assembled to carry out the initial scoping and create a roadmap for the transition. Their primary focus was defining the scale of challenge across all National Grid's operations. The size of the team grew over time, reaching 300 the following March as they began mobilising the various workstreams and activities. To free up resources, all non-strategic initiatives were cancelled, and a new interim organisation was created to control the project and report back to executives on its progress. With the project bringing together people from across the wider company, National Grid undertook numerous initiatives to instil a sense of belong- ing, establish a common purpose and ensure strong communication. These included holding monthly town halls, weekly inter-team meetings, apprecia- tion awards and social events. The team conducted a go-live rehearsal to make sure everything went smoothly when the final separation took place. What did the project achieve? A new FTSE 100-sized company was created, serving just under 11 million gas customers across the UK. The project was delivered on time, within budget and with no unplanned disruption to the rest of the group. More than 1,200 critical milestones were met between March and October 2016. When a 61 per cent stake in the new company was sold to an international consortium of investors, the gas distribution business was valued at £13.8 billion, with £4 billion of the proceeds being returned to shareholders. National Grid voluntarily set aside £150 million to help fuel-poor house- holds in Great Britain; for example, by paying for first-time gas central heating systems and promoting energy efficiency measures. You can go your own way Separating out National Grid Gas Distribution from the rest of the group was a mammoth task, and one that earned the company a Best Team Award at last year's Utility Week Awards. Here's why. National Grid on awards night Best Team – Back Office Award winner: National Grid • Title of project/initiative: Separation of Gas Distribution Business • Annual company turnover: £17 billion • Number of directly employed staff: 25,000 Entry criteria: • Quality of entry (clear, evidence based) • Evidence of how the team brought about measurable benefits for the business • Evidence of how the team brought about measurable benefits for customers • Evidence of teamwork • Evidence of how the team brought in input from customers and stakeholders • Evidence of going beyond business as usual The 2017 Utility Week Awards were held in association with CGI and Capgemini. Sponsorship opportunities are available for the 2018 awards – for more information, contact Utility Week business development manager Ben Hammond on benhammond@ fav-house.com or call 01342 332116. What the judges said… Judges said the winning team came together to oversee a "landmark change" for National Grid with "minimal disruption and maximum efficiency".

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