RPC Data Limited carries out ERP Implementation for ZESCO ahead of schedule

RPC Data Limited (RPC), Botswana’s leading IT solutions provider and consulting powerhouse announced today that it has carried out a successful Oracle E-Business Suite R12 re-implementation for ZESCO Limited to address a critical change in their financial year.

ZESCO Limited is a state-owned power company involved in the generation, transmission, distribution, and supply of electricity. ZESCO Limited generates 80% of the electricity consumed in Zambia and having a combined generation capacity of 2,557.75 MW and approximately a total length of 9,975 KM of both transmission and distribution lines. ZESCO Limited also represents Zambia in the Southern Africa Power Pool.

The ZESCO Limited board passed a resolution to change its financial year from April-March to align with the Government of Zambia’s financial year of January-December. This was a major undertaking further compounded by the fact that the implementation was to be completed before the fiscal-year close. Mr. Rogers Chisambi, Finance Director, ZESCO said, “We clearly understood the implications and challenges of the proposed change and leveraged our relationship with RPC on previous engagements as our trusted solutions provider.”

RPC’s 25 plus years of experience in implementing complex enterprise level solutions cross-industries, cross-border – came to full force as it proposed and implemented a two-stage solution which called for enabling a Secondary Ledger effective from the new financial year followed by a re-implementation of the Oracle E-Business Suite. Mr. Rob Pool, Executive Chairperson, RPC said, “ The innovative solution successfully addressed the financial year change, while protecting the integrity of data – a significant source of risk in such implementations – , and ensuring that all customizations and dependent systems were fully operational post-implementation.”

RPC had partnered with the Financial Management System ( FMS ) Team, a division of ZESCO Limited tasked with managing the operations of the Oracle system. Together with the FMS Team, RPC leveraged its expertise in approaching the task with disciplined Project Management and an obsessive management of risk and organizational change ensuring minimal business impact. Mrs. Lucy Zulu, Client Project Manager FMS, ZESCO Limited said, “RPC managed to go-live ahead of schedule and resolved the user issues in the shortest time possible post go-live.”