News

CITY OF JOHANNESBURG NEW SAP SYSTEM

• Migration of WEST PROPERTIES (all accounts starting with 30) 6/11/2009
  
• Migration of MIDRAND (all accounts starting with 900 & 901) 25/02/2010
  
• Migration of EAST LOGIC (all accounts starting with 205, 206, 207) 26/03/2010
  
• Migration of MODDERFONTEIN (all accounts starting with 800) 26/03/2010
  
• Migration of SOUTH (all accounts starting with 50) 16/04/2010
  
• Migration of SANDTON (all accounts starting with 201 & 202) 26/04/2010

Due to the fact that the City of Johannesburg has failed to put in writing the current situation regarding the migration of Johannesburg properties to SAP and the continuing frustration of not receiving answers and results it became clear that we again need to explain the current situation to all involved...

SAP is a new software system which has been implemented at the City of Johannesburg to replace the old Venus system from where accounts and clearance figures are generated.

It has been 6 months since the implementation of the new SAP system on all Johannesburg accounts. Areas were moved to the new system at different intervals. (see above for dates) When this move happened on each area, all clearance figure applications needed to be resubmitted on the new system, regardless of the progress made on the old system. An attorney registration letter needed to be submitted to create the attorney details on the system and generate a new attorney code.

Council decided that if an area moved to SAP for example on the 1st February 2010, they wanted the account to bill for at least 1 month before we could apply on the new system. The reason for this is to ensure that the system recognizes the services on the account as it has billed at least 1 month. Only then could we reapply on the new system. So if it moved on the 1st February and billed on the 1st March 2010 then we could apply from the 2nd March 2010.

Once the new application and payment has been made, the application is captured by 1 person at council (this is called the First analysis) this exercise merely allocates a reference number to the property and captures an application on council side. The application is given to a second person manually to now attend to the second analysis. This process will then give a list of possible notes and queries. Unless the second analysis is done the application process can not move forward.

The SAP system is designed to locate all 5 services which should bill all accounts each month (namely rates refuse sewer water and electricity).

Because the services have only been billing on the account from the time of the migration - the system will automatically raise a query in all situations for the first 4 months after migration because the property appears to be "new". Once the services have all billed on the account for more than 4 months then this should no longer be a query in future. This query we call an ERROR NOTE which needs to be closed by the clearance department.

Possible scenarios for NOTES

Scenario 1 - all services billing correctly

If all the services are in fact billing correctly on the account the note needs to be closed as the note raised is in fact an error as no services are in fact missing but a note is still raised because it appears to be new. In each instance the clearance department will need to print all relevant pages of the system and then hand to a supervisor who then has 10 days in which to confirm all in order and to close these notes. Currently the council has 17000 notes to close of which 2 people have been assigned to do this. Once the note is closed the application must then be returned to the person who did the second analysis, who will then print and issue the figures. Almost all applications will have notes to close for the first 4 months after being on SAP and in each instance that a note is raised, the above process must be followed.

Scenario 2 - missing service with reason

If one or more of the charges are in fact missing for 1 or more reasons (example the property is vacant and does not have electricity or the property is vacant and does not require refuse charges) then an error note will also be raised for each missing charge. This note will be raised for any charge that is missing. If there is a valid reason for the missing charge - then the evidence or proof of reason why charge is missing must be produced and then the note can be closed by the clearance department in the same way as above.

Scenario 3 - missing service needs to be corrected on account.

If a charge is missing which should in fact be on the account, then the charge will need to be loaded on the account by the designated department, and the backdated charges for the period will need to be calculated and loaded in the form of a journal. Once the missing charge has been loaded to the account - the note that was raised will then need to be closed by the clearance department in the same way as above.

Scenario 4 - needs readings

If all charges are billing on the account, but the account is billing interim charges for water and electricity for the past 3 months instead of actual readings, a note will be opened and a reading will need to be done for each meter so that council can ensure that the correct amount for arrears and in advance monies is used when calculating clearance figures. Once the reading has been loaded the account will need to bill the actual reading so that the interim charges billed over the period are reversed and the actual reading loaded. The difference between the actual and the interim charge is the interim reversal which can either result in a debit or a credit depending on whether the interim was estimated too high or too low. The result of the reading will determine what consumption is actually used on the property currently. If the council bills a high interim each month which is not true it would be unfair to request arrears and money 6 months in advance on incorrect values if the figures are not in fact correct. If billing does not go through this can also affect the outcome of figures as the client would have in fact been billed interims as well as the actual which is a duplication. The billing actually reverses interims which is a credit in theory. Once readings are loaded and account has billed the application will then need to go back to clearance department for them to close the note that was raised initially to confirm all now in order. The same process follows as above

The next exercise is that Johannesburg water, City Power and Pikitup will all be migrating to the new SAP system over the next 2 weeks. This means that all properties that were billed by one of these utilities will be consolidated to the councils billing system. This is good news for clearance figures in the future as we will no longer need to apply for figures for other services from other departments. In the past council did not have access to these accounts and had to request these figures separately causing much delay. So in future all figures generated can be done quicker by the council without having to wait for the missing pieces from other departments. But until then no utilities can issue figures for their services, until the services have moved. This will mostly affect the Sandton area which most water is billed directly by Johannesburg water. We will have to wait until the water accounts have been moved to the council records, only then can we reapply for those clearance figures. At that stage we hope that all balances will be available so that figures can be processed in the new manor.

Please note that City of Johannesburg has now trained up most of their staff. However there is still limited access to certain functions. If meters on a property do not match meters on an account the meters on the account will need to be removed and new ones loaded. At this stage council staff do not have the access to correct this procedure.

Change of ownership for rates and loading of ground value can now be completed on the new system. New deposits can be done but refunds have not yet started refunding accounts from the new SAP system. All refunds have come to a stand still where migration has taken place.