Dutch water utility PWN streams 106 billion liters of pure, high-quality water to a million and a half citizens in North Holland. The utility monitors and maintains the health of the dunes that act as a natural filtration mechanism for 25 percent of the water, but that complicates service delivery. And running both the business side of the utility and the systems to monitor water quality requires enormous data stores. PWN found one answer for both issues: moving its SAP estate from an expiring cloud hosting provider to Microsoft Azure to meet PWN’s complex business needs. With all the data on one platform, the utility can better manage its assets, communicate with customers, predict climate change effects, and help protect against them.
“I’m convinced that the ease of extracting and visualizing data with SAP on Azure with Power BI will help us to manage our three billion euros’ worth of assets optimally, to the benefit of our customers.”
Gijs ten Bosch, Chief Operations Support Officer, PWN
PWN approaches its mission to supply fresh, pure water to the citizens of North Holland in a holistic, future-driven way. The water utility develops purification and supply technologies, consults with water-challenged nations, and maintains the dunes that naturally purify a quarter of the North Holland water supply. PWN applies its out-of-the-box thinking to its data systems. Until its Microsoft Azure migration, that meant a SAP ERP system plus other SAP modules, including SAP Business Warehouse (BW) for business intelligence reporting, in a traditional on-premises datacenter. It kicked off its move to the Microsoft Azure cloud platform with a new data insights platform on Azure to replace its SAP BW system, followed by its customer relationship management (CRM), and other SAP systems plus its innovative Internet of Things (IoT) water management data. The result? A platform that ties water usage data for individual customers to the entire water network system to help the utility better predict and prepare for the future.
Staying ahead of climate challenges
After centuries of struggling to keep water out, the Netherlands faces water shortages following record droughts in 2018. This especially affected water service in the province of North Holland, which depends on the IJsselmeer (in English, Ijssel Lake) for its drinking water. Salinity rose as water levels fell, threatening potability. PWN placed IoT sensors in the dunes surrounding the lake to give its decision makers valuable predictive data. But the utility knew that IoT data could also help individual customers make smarter use of water in their homes and businesses—alerting them of leaks that inadvertently waste water, for example.
The utility sought to connect two unrelated systems: IoT sensor data from process automation modules in the Plenty system and granular, customer-specific data in its SAP system. PWN adopted Azure as its information ecosystem, choosing to run SAP on Azure and dissolving the barriers between customer account and water usage information.
Optimizing the business behind the water
PWN Chief Operations Support Officer Gijs ten Bosch views optimizing operational health as key to supporting innovation. And just as the PWN innovation team looks to Azure to prepare for water sustainability challenges ahead, he sees running SAP on Azure as a way to take PWN operations to the next level. “Not only have we achieved a substantial cost benefit, it’s made us future-ready,” he says. “We feel that our data is in good hands with Microsoft. Its certification, contracts, and adherence to a general European processing agreement, part of GDPR compliance, best meet PWN’s requirements.” In early 2019, his team migrated the PWN SAP estate to Azure seamlessly through a joint effort with Microsoft, Accenture, and Avanade.
The utility uses SAP ISU, a module designed specifically for utility companies, stores its customer data in SAP’s CRM module, and relies on SAP Intelligent Asset Management for its IoT assets. PWN included all three in its move to Azure.
“Assets are the heart and soul of PWN,” says Ten Bosch. “I’m convinced that the ease of extracting and visualizing data with SAP on Azure with Power BI will help us to manage our three billion euros’ worth of assets optimally, to the benefit of our customers.”
Visualizing data and making it more secure
PWN derives great value from its SAP data. With SAP on Azure, it’s easier than ever to export data to Microsoft Power BI for fast insights for users of all skill levels. PWN analysts elevate that value with interactive visualizations. They easily create their own dashboards without relying on IT. That helps with efficiency and compliance, which is vital to a public entity like PWN. “We have a Power BI dashboard for the whole organization that we use to drill into non-compliant areas for remediation,” explains Ten Bosch.
PWN guards its data zealously. “Without our data, we are nothing,” says Jojanneke van Mourik, Senior Communications Advisor at PWN. “Security is number one.” The utility proactively guards against attacks, scheduling hackathons with ethical hackers, conducting routine audits, requiring all employees to attend regular safety trainings, and thoroughly vetting technologies for security strength prior to implementation. “I’m reassured by the stringent security we can achieve with Azure,” says Ten Bosch. “PWN could never set up datacenters with the same level of physical security as Microsoft.”
Innovating for tomorrow
As a water utility, PWN focuses on conservation, prioritizing innovation as its employees work to ensure a sustainable water supply. “Now our innovation team can quickly spin up test environments in Azure, thoroughly explore their ideas using huge amounts of comprehensive data, and then remove the environments just as easily afterward,” explains Ten Bosch. “This greatly lowers the barrier to innovation.”
Faster, cheaper innovation is just one part of an optimistic future at PWN. With business data flowing in from the SAP on Azure system and IoT data from sensors in the dunes and in customer premises, using one cloud for everything simplifies management and security. Ten Bosch also looks forward to the Azure Sentinel SIEM solution, which will allow fast insights and prompt remediation of security incidents on its Azure platform.
“Ultimately, our customers benefit from more services and higher water quality because our data analysis helps us to predict future needs,” says Van Mourik. Ten Bosch agrees. “We’re better able to continue to provide customers with a safe, plentiful water supply,” he says. “And with the smart water meters we’re developing, we hope to inform our customers as soon as sensors detect a leak or the water temperature climbs to a level where harmful bacteria might grow. Combining the IoT functionality with our SAP CRM system, we’ll have a powerful tool not only for solving issues before they happen, but also for communicating proactively with the public.”
“Ultimately, our customers benefit from more services and higher water quality because our data analysis helps us to predict future needs.”
Jojanneke van Mourik, Senior Communications Advisor, PWN
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