Overview of Lahore Electric Supply Company ( Lesco ) Pakistan Essay Example

milestone was achieved by LESCO's Main Computer Centre through the development of in-house software for automating electricity billing and collection processes. The following provides a brief overview of each of these systems:

General Description of Billing System

Meter reading and billing are conducted throughout the month in a continuous cycle to serve different groups of customers. Meter reading lists are prepared in advance by LESCO's Main Computer Centre in Lahore and its sub-centre in Sheikupura, which specifically serves the Sheikupura Circle.

The metre readings are initially sent to the liaison Divisional Office, which is the Revenue Office. The liaison office arranges for the metre readings to be entered on the lists by the metre reading staff in the Sub-Divisional Office. After the readings are entered, follow-up metre readings are manually prepared in the Sub-Divisions.

Once the readings are entered, the lists are returned to the Revenue Office. In the Revenue Office, control records for the computing machine charge are maintained. After entry in the computing machine records, the metre reading lists for each sub-division are collected together in a batch file.

The batch files are then passed to the LESCO Computer Centres on a storage device for further processing. In the Computer Centres, consumer's measures are prepared. These measures are then sent back to the Revenue Office for distribution to consumers through Bill Distributors.

The Bill Distributors are under the control of the Sub-Divisional Officer. Figure 2 depicts the block diagram of this system.

The Computer Centres send the following studies, lists and notices to Divisional and Sub-Divisional Engineers for appropriate decision/action (WAPDA, 2000):

• Customers' assessment list shows charges on each measure, along with total number of

consumers connected, temporarily disconnected, and with equipment removed in each batch.

General Description of Collection System
Customers make payments for current measures, Demand Notices for new electricity connections, and reconnection fee for restoration of interrupted supply to specified banks and station offices. The bank/post office receives the bill or Demand Notice, enters the receipt on the bank's coil, and keeps the stub. The bank sends a copy of the bank coil and stubs to the Revenue Office daily. The Revenue Office Accounts department checks the bill counterfoils against the bank coil for any discrepancy/error.

The coils and stubs are sent daily to the LESCO Computer Centres where the Computer processes each consumer's payment into the Consumers ledger database. The Computer provides a sum of hard currency for each charge batch and the sum of unidentified hard currency, new connection/reconnection fees, and other grosss, to match the total amount of bank coil for each Division. If any discrepancies are found, the Computer Centres will treat the amount shown on the stubs and return the coil to the Revenue Office for re-checking and confirmation. Additionally, the bank subdivision remits the collected sums to aggregation history in their local head offices as designated by LESCO and sends a copy of the bank statement to the Revenue

Office, detailing the total money received during the week and money remitted to the Head Office Collection Account weekly and at the end of each month. The Revenue Office Account Section reconciles the bank statement with the report from the Computer Centre and provides a copy of the reconciliation to LESCO's Finance Director (WAPDA, 2000).

Recent improvements in the payment channels of the collection system have made electricity bill payments much more convenient for customers. Previously, customers had to wait outside banks for extended periods of time due to manual payment processes.

Additionally, there were concerns regarding bank hours and delays in remittance processing. In order to address the need to assess the level of service provided to customers, the CEO of LESCO decided to investigate payment channels. The LESCO Computer Centre undertook this initiative and suggested a plan to implement e-service and generate printed electricity bills. As a result, the system was officially implemented in March 1995.

Currently, about 25% of bills in LESCO are collected through a system that is implemented in 355 subdivisions. These bills are paid at designated bank branches, post offices, and retail stores, but with a technical distinction. The teller uses a barcode scanner to scan the bills, similar to how a retail store cashier scans groceries. This allows all the information encoded in the barcode to be instantly transferred to the software. As a result, bank tellers can generate daily/monthly reports and summary of the collected amount (Collection, 2009).

Figure 3 illustrates the cashier user-interface of the hard currency aggregation package. Additionally, the client can deposit electricity measure by using LESCO's website. To do so, they must log in by providing their

unique electricity measure reference number. After logging in, they will enter their debit/credit card information for payment. The Card Processor will then confirm and charge the card. If the card is validated, the amount will be credited to the consumer's account and the transaction will be recorded in the database.

According to Collection (2009), consumers have access to online reception for printing. The current aggregation system is depicted in Figure 4, highlighting that bank data is transmitted to online servers daily via the internet. If there is no internet connection available, a collection file can be generated and saved on portable media. As a result, any modifications made to the billing information are transferred to the online server.

Customers can access true online web-based services at the company website, which includes the following:

Payroll Information System

The Computer Centre prepares payroll for various departments of LESCO on a monthly basis. Officers and staff have separate master files. Each employee's data is stored on multiple master files within their respective section. The Payroll Master File contains one record for each employee and includes properties such as Department Code, Employee Code, Processing Code, Name & Designation, Station Code, Pay Account Head, Conveyance Allowance, Medical Allowance code, Income Tax Deduction, Union Fund Deduction, GPF Number, GPF Deduction, Voluntary contribution, National Tax Number,
Type of Progress,
Total Amount of Advance,
Bank Branch Code,
and Bank Account Type.

The records in the File are maintained consecutively and sorted by Department Code and Employee Code.

Data is received from various sections on prescribed Performa 's by the coordination subdivision of Computer Centre. The Data coded in these Performa 's can consist of the addition of new employee paysheet information, changes to

existing records, or the omission of existing records. Figure 5 depicts the Data Flow diagram of the Payroll System. The Data is inputted into the Computer through Entry Machines operated by Key Punch Operators. After entry, an edit List is generated using an edit listing program. This List is carefully checked by the Data Coordinators against the actual information on the input Performa 's, and any punching or coding errors are corrected.

Any changes, additions, or deletions of bing record are communicated to the Computer Centre by the concerned section using a prescribed Performa. The Master files of officers and staff are then updated based on this information. Following the update, various types of end product studies are prepared, which include:

• Payroll Listing
• Listing of different types of agendas
• Account Head wise Summary
• Pay Slips
• Bank Summary Etc
• Reports are sent to respective sections after thorough checking.

Additionally, every year in the first week of December, after the completion of Payroll processing for the month of November, the annual pay increases are assigned to each employee's Pay in accordance with their respective wage scale. A Pay Fixation list is prepared prior to the implementation of the Pay Increment process, which shows the Current Basic Pay with the addition of one increase. This section-wise list is sent to each section for verification and confirmation. If any section wishes to retain an employee's increase, appropriate action is taken.

Management Reporting Systems

At LESCO Computer headquarters, two Alpha 2100 computing machines equipped with Alpha processors have been installed. These computing machines are being optimally utilized to assist in timely analysis, generating critical information for the top management. For example, the division-wise computerized receivables reporting and monitoring system, which provides 20 different arrears analysis reports, has been expanded to provide duty-wise information as well. These reports have also been further extended to support monitoring at the sub division level. Furthermore, there is a performance data monitoring report that reflects various types of charges, consumers' statistics, and line losses monitoring system (Technology, 2009).

Critical ANALYSIS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS EMPLOYED BY LESCO

The Importance of information management is emphasized by the fact that primary factors of production now include information in addition to capital, labor, and land. As the world transitions from an industrial society to a service-driven economy, information becomes a catalyst for economic development. Therefore, effective Information Systems have a critical and expanding role in business activities. Business professionals rely on various information systems that use different Information Technologies, such as computer hardware technologies, computer software technologies, telecommunications network technologies, and data resource management technologies. Additionally, rapid advancements in Information Technology will lead to changes in the roles of IT professionals and information users.

A new generation of skilled users will contribute to the development of mission critical applications and the IT department will shift from a centralized repository and control of information to business map areas as client-server technologies replace mainframes. The twenty-first century Chief Information Officer (CIO) will be expected to enhance the value of information at various points along the value chain, and

their responsibility will extend beyond the traditional boundaries of the IT department. In fact, the CIO will be required to exert leadership throughout the entire organization. Based on the discussion, it can be reasonably concluded that the role of the IT department has transitioned from technical execution to strategic planning, from reactive business support to driving innovation and competitive advantage.

The decay of concern procedures over time is a natural result of outdated systems that were designed in a different era when both the organization and available technology were very different than what they are today. If we analyze the Billing System of LESCO from today's technology perspective, it has become an outdated system that no longer provides optimum performance and quality service to its internal/external clients due to manual processes involved. Reading residential power, water, and gas meters through site visits is a tedious, inconvenient, and prone to human error method. Additionally, there is no guarantee that consumers will be present during utility visits to read meter readings. In such cases, utility forces may inaccurately estimate consumption, leading to consumer dissatisfaction. Recent advancements in metering technology, mobile networks, and internet services have led to the proposal and development of measuring techniques, billing systems, and energy management systems.

Many public-service corporations are implementing automated metre reading (AMR) systems for meter reading and power restoration. Some have also suggested using AMR systems for metering communication services using radio mobile public networks.

IT Technology Deployed by LESCO

Hardware Components

LESCO is using VAX 4000 minicomputers (midrange) for centralized processing of data in various Information Systems. It is believed that the power and versatility of client/server networks composed of

personal computers and servers have made many midrange and mainframe systems obsolete.

According to industry experts, the growth of web computing machines on the internet and intranets is expected to replace many personal computers, especially in large corporations.

Software engineerings

Most of the software packages for Information Systems, as mentioned before, are developed using COBOL structured language. However, modern applications are built using Object Oriented languages such as Java, C++, and VB.Net etc.

Network Technologies

As depicted in Figure 4, LESCO's mainframe-based network includes several end user terminals for centralized data processing. Recently, it has been connected to an Application and Online Web server to manage client payment channels.

Furthermore, in the Billing and Collection System, batch files created in the Revenue Office Computer Section are delivered by specific couriers on a portable media to LESCO Computer Centers for centralized processing. However, wireless Wide Area Networks (WAN) can be used along with client/server engineering to manage geographically distant processing and web communications.

Database Technologies

LESCO has designed its database structures in the COBOL language, which is a traditional flat file system. However, there are many issues associated with managing flat files, such as redundant data, complex operations for retrieving reports, excessive storage requirements, and increased time and cost. Conversely, modern Database Management Systems based on relational and object-oriented techniques are highly efficient and free from such complexities and errors.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Integration of IT and Customer Service

E-service offers a unique opportunity for businesses to create new models for service design strategies and new service development. Although e-service has changed many aspects of customer engagement, it has not fundamentally altered the importance of building and maintaining

strong customer relationships. Therefore, when adopting IT-based computer-based customer service functions, it is crucial to ensure that the technology used enhances rather than damages the relationship between the customer and the company. The interface between the customer and the company is crucial. When it comes to websites, Meister et al. (2000) highlight that one of the main challenges of e-service is balancing the increased customization, which often leads to more complex websites, with a simple, accessible, and user-friendly web interface. Additionally, companies that keep track of individual customer preferences can stay updated with market trends, provide products, services, and information anytime, anywhere, and offer customer services tailored to individual needs.

Internet engineering is now focusing on customer relationship management (CRM), which many companies are implementing as part of their customer-focused strategy to improve their chances of success. CRM involves using IT to integrate and automate customer-serving processes in sales, marketing, and customer services, giving the company a competitive advantage. Additionally, CRM systems consist of software tools that enable businesses and employees to provide fast, convenient, reliable, and consistent service to customers.

E-Service in LESCO

A review of LESCO's e-service for electricity bill payment and other related services shows that they are still in the early stages of developing and implementing a comprehensive e-service strategy.

However, in order to improve client services in payment channels, they have taken an extreme measure. It is essential for LESCO to keep up with the rapidly changing IT environment by periodically updating the technology employed in their information systems, as these systems heavily rely on Information Technology.

Mentions

1. Khuller, A.,2006. Quarterly Newsletter of the Sari/Energy Small Grants Program with Support from USAID. Vol. X, April 2006
2. Available

at: hypertext transfer protocol: //www.sari-energy.org/PageFiles/WhatWeDo/SmallGrants/ newsletter.asp [ Cited: 13 July, 2009 ]

WAPDA Printing Press, Lahore.