Subject: continental power - the case for greater experience / breadth of view
in the controllers ' position
sally
further to our discussion on friday i summarise my view of joe gold ' s issues
with the mo control process
joe expressed some frustration with the current status as follows : -
the dpr has historically been ' filled with noise ' around adjustments for
edits on trades , provision restatements etc which negates it ' s effectiveness
for him as a control / supervisory report
the risk team appear to have been reacting to p & l ' noise ' - particularly
around transmission adjustments rather than proactively finding booking
solutions - or instructing it to flex enpower
settlements have gained a perception in the market place for ' errors ' such
that originators are informing joe that business is being ' lost ' due to our
perceived inability to support transactions - ( must be careful here as no
specifics on errors have been provided )
the risk team ( post neil tarling ' s transfer to ebs ) is relatively junior
and does not possess many ' years ' of experience of power support
james new as power , gas and credit controller has ( necessarily ) too broad a
role for him to focus on these detailed issues
in mitigation
the recent continental book split ( which is only now being ' settled ' in to
the daily process ) and the clean up of historic provisions / reserves prior to
neil tarling ' s transfer has exaggerated the base issue around certainty of
daily p & l
designing an approximate booking process for transmission has not been a top
priority for the risk team in the recent past ( this was either wrong or the
prioritisation call was not effectively communicated to joe ) - and it is
felt that there are no it resources to code these solutions to enpower (
also london struggles to influence houston it resource prioritisation )
the settlements infrastructure has been supporting a business volume growth
it is not designed for and supporting acitivity on this platform requires
' skilled ' staff ( we are down on resources for continental power ) -
continuing growth in volumes are expected along with junior settlement staff
being asked to join commercial groups
we are experiencing generational change as a result of barry ' s move to ebs
- resourcing is james and my top priority
i believe what joe is asking for , is what we are trying to provide - namely :
upgrade in resourcing in the risk group where we are insisting that the lead
individual has full responsibility , end to end , for the business including
the assessment of operational risk and effectiveness of the business process ,
focus on identifying and implementing the necessary quick hit solutions that
eliminates ' manual workarounds ' and consequently ' noise ' in the process
more proactive communication with commercial - especially to manage
expectations
a definitive plan for how the strategic upgrade in applications architecture
for mo will benefit / change his business support
however , we are behind in finding the ' right ' replacement for neil ( one with
experience and breadth of view potential ) , we have found a continental power
settlemetns manager but he does not arrive until july 3 rd , we have been
struggling with book split when that should have been completed a month ago
and it is taking time to get all the ducks lined up re our plans for
enlighten / dtl / envoice / autoconfirms / dcaf - hence his frustration about lost
business opportunities now ! !
hence i would love to find someone who could deliver the above ( ie be neil
tarling ' s replacement ) or could assist us in
providing and communicating the judgement calls on transmission and other
adjustments - so improving perception of c . p . dpr
prioritising and influencing enpower development agenda ( along with others )
project manage issues around ' unstable ' documentation and settlement process
vis a vis client sensitivity
provide leadership in changing expectations / perceptions
i ' m sorry for the length of the note but it may help you in determining a
' best fit ' person
please call if any of the above is unclear .
mike